Indiana doctor talks about possible impact of recent surge in overseas COVID cases
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Coronavirus infections are surging once again in certain areas of the world, with China reporting its highest daily count of COVID infections since the 2020 outbreak.
The county recently sent tens of millions of citizens into lockdown as a result.
News 8 spoke with Dr. Shaun Grannis, vice president of data and analytics at the Regenstrief Institute, about what effect this spike may have on the United States.
“China’s elderly population may not be as well vaccinated as we are in the United States,” Grannis said. “There’s a lot of conjecture here as we’re not getting a lot of information out of China. But, this appears to be an omicron surge which the U.S. is very well protected against.”
In addition to disparities in vaccine rates, U.S. health officials point to the differences in how the U.S. and China have responded to the pandemic. China’s lockdown policy was more restrictive than those in the United State and may have backfired, leading to higher clusters of infection instead of lowering the rates.
China is not the only country seeing a recent surge in COVID cases, as parts of Europe, including the United Kingdom and Germany, have also been hit hard.
Grannis says this is, again, the omicron variant passing through the population.
Grannis says the U.S. should not be concerned, as he believes we are close to putting omicron behind us.