CDC: More than half of Americans, 3 in 4 US kids have caught COVID-19

According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 58% of all Americans and about 75% of all U.S. kids have caught COVID-19 since the pandemic again. The study focused on seroprevalence, which indicates signs of previous infection.

“These findings illustrate a high infection rate for the Omicron variant, especially among children,” the report’s authors said. The report, which covers Omicron’s spike from December to February, found that prior to Omicron, only 34% of Americans and 45% of U.S. kids had signs of previous COVID-19 infection.

“The greatest increases in seroprevalence during September 2021–February 2022, occurred in the age groups with the lowest vaccination coverage; the proportion of the U.S. population fully vaccinated by April 2022 increased with age,” the authors wrote. “Lower seroprevalence among adults aged ≥65 years, who are at greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19, might also be related to the increased use of additional precautions with increasing age.”

One notable name to be added to the list of Americans who have caught COVID-19 is Vice President Kamala Harris. Her press secretary announced the positive test Tuesday.

“She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the Vice President’s residence,” Vice President Press Secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement. “She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules.”

Tuesday’s CDC report came on the same day new White House COVID-19 Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha made his first appearance. He talked about the state of the pandemic at White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s daily briefing. Clips from his briefing appearance in included in the video above

“We are, I believe, we are at an inflection point. One hand, we know that BA.2, the sub variant of Omicron, has become dominant,” Dr. Jha said. “Cases are rising across the country, but hospitalizations are at the lowest level of the pandemic. Right? And deaths are continuing to fall.”

Jha also detailed the Biden administration’s plan to expand the availability of Paxlovid, better known as Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill. The plan includes expanding outreach to doctors and starting to distribute the pill directly to pharmacies.

“Currently, there are about 20,000 sites in the United States that carry Paxlovid. We expect with this change that we will very quickly get to 30,000 and within the next couple of weeks I expect us to get to about 40,000 sites,” Jha said. “Paxlovid will be widely available everywhere in America.”