More than 66,400,000 Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic began in early 2020. The country has seen more than 900,000 deaths and that number will likely climb to over a million. The total number of Americans who had COVID-19 could be much higher due to asymptomatic cases.
Hospitalizations have fallen in the last week by about 20% and immediately politicians want to lift all restrictions. however 98% of states in America are at high risk of transmission.
About 60,000 people are still in hospitals and there are still about 2,500 deaths a day due to COVID-19. On top of this there are still about 250,000 new cases every day. Now is not the time to let your guard down.
Things could be dropping to a base line level in the coming weeks unless a new variant emerges.
16 states so far have found COVID in their deer populations. Up to 30% of the deer tested have the virus. Some deer are being re-infected. The virus can circulate in an animal population and then re-emerge and infect humans in a new variant. Some researchers believe that Omicron was circulating in mice and then re-emerged in its highly infectious form. Our immune systems don’t recognize the new variant and thus the virus can spread unchecked.
It has not yet been proven that a deer can infect a human but certainly humans can infect deer. An unvaccinated hunter might be the next conduit for the next wave of the pandemic. Venison when properly cooked can not spread the virus.