Analysis: Where the U.S. stands as it heads into a third COVID autumn

A third Covid autumn is upon us. Here’s a look at where we stand Where things stand now with the pandemic, and who is being hurt the most, as the country prepares to enter its third Covid autumn. J. Emory Parker STAT

As the country heads for its third autumn and winter with Covid-19, the forecasts are not auspicious. Given how transmissible the SARS-CoV-2 virus is, models anticipate more than 100,000 additional deaths by the time next summer rolls around.

The toll will depend on whether new variants emerge and how humans behave. Will many Americans, for example, decide to get the new, Omicron-tailored booster that could be available as soon as this weekend? Will we continue to see a shapeshifting of the Omicron variant, or will something entirely different appear that’s not as good a target for the vaccines?

The charts and text below show where things stand now with the pandemic, and who is being hurt the most. Even as death rates overall have fallen dramatically, there has been a steady stream of lives lost and a stealthy increase in children hospitalized for Covid this summer. And as colder weather arrives, schools start, and more workers return to the office, SARS-2 could be primed to surge yet again.  

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