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California health officials say it appears the Omicron peak has passed.
Dr Monica Gandi is an infectious disease expert at UCSF and says between vaccinations and natural immunity with so many people having had Omicron, that she says it's time to reduce the rules. "I think a lot of us just feel numb," said Amy Langdale, an emergency room trauma nurse. "There's just an underlying depression, there's definitely a very high burnout." The percentage of new cases that result in death of omicron is declining, and while it’s still too early to be precise, chances of dying if you get COVID are much lower now, dramatically so if you are vaccinated. But the chances of being infected were more than twice as high in California in recent weeks than last winter.
But health officials still urge vaccination and boosters, as it is the surest way to protect against severe infection. “New variants will continue to evolve as long as there are large proportions of unvaccinated people,” according to the California Department of Public Health.