WE NEED TO RETHINK COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS

THE RAPID SPREAD OF OMICRON, THE LATEST AND MOST transmissible COVID-19 variant to date, underscores the tremendous need for updated COVID-19 policy in the U.S. No longer should we be guided by case counts, because (owing to vaccination, the nature of the variant, or both) relatively few cases produce severe illness. The most important metric now is hospitalizations, and those are rising at a far lower rate than infections. Public-health measures should adjust accordingly. It is time to move beyond the cycle of asserting, removing and reinstating COVID-19 restrictions based on metrics that are no longer clinically relevant, and concentrate instead on protecting those at risk of severe infections.

Highly transmissible variants, such