Cabinet members, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Broadway actors and the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut were positive.  Cases at Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins University are reinstating mask requirements on these campuses as staff seek quarantine space.
Known infections are likely to reveal only the tip of the iceberg – with actors and politicians being checked regularly at work.  The official data on the cases are certainly huge measurements of how widespread the virus is due to home tests and the mild illness that does not bother to test at all.
Across the nation, mask use is at an all-time low since April 2020, said Ali Mokdad, a professor of health measurement science at the University of Washington in Seattle.  For every 100 infections, only seven are recorded in official accounts, according to the latest estimate by its model group.  This means that a place like New York that has an average of 1,600 cases a day has a dramatically higher actual infection rate.
Mokdad expects the high level of US immunity created by previous infections and vaccinations to protect the nation from a major surge.
“We will have some infections here and there, but it is not going to close the country,” Mokdad said.  “Life has to go on. We have to be vaccinated and strengthened. We have to protect the vulnerable, but we have to get used to it.”
On Broadway, several performances of the comedy “Plaza Suite” were canceled after Matthew Broderick tested positive, followed by his wife and co-star, Sarah Jessica Parker.  Daniel Craig has also been sidelined by the revival of Macbeth.
Large indoor gatherings with optional masks have led to infections, with a high-profile party in Washington, DC, which is now seen as a possible outbreak.  Other non-regularly controlled infection groups may not be detected, said Josh Michaud, deputy director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington.
“It is more difficult now than before we know what is happening. The future is a bit more bleak because we do not have that much information in our hands,” Michaud said.  “If you are not an actor in a Broadway play or a politician, you may fall into rehearsals.”
The public health response will vary from community to community based on what is happening locally, Michaud said.
“We are fighting smaller fires instead of raging fires across the country and these smaller fires can be disruptive,” Miso said.  “It leaves everyone to choose their own adventure in terms of dealing with the pandemic and individual behaviors.”
In Washington, the outbreak was particularly high – striking several Cabinet secretaries and members of Congress along with Mayor Muriel Bowser and Georgetown University President.
At least a dozen of these infections can be detected at Gridiron Club Dinner, an annual DC social calendar program held on Saturday for the first time in three years.  Dinner is an example of a return to near-absolute normalcy that takes place across the country, leading to an increase in positive tests, but not necessarily to a corresponding increase in serious illness or hospitalization.
Washington, DC, like most of the rest of the country, has greatly relaxed its stance on COVID-19 in recent weeks.  Bowser allowed vaccination and indoor vaccination orders to expire, and the city health department stopped reporting daily virus counts in early March.  Attendees at the Gridiron Club dinner, which Bowser did not attend, had to provide proof of vaccination, but otherwise no coverage or social distance protocols were followed.
Other key elements of the DC social calendar also return to normal.  The city’s annual Flower Festival has been running for weeks – with dozens of related events, including a parade scheduled for Saturday.
In the midst of this general reversal of pre-pandemic behavior, there are some precautionary steps back.  Georgetown University has announced that it will reinstate its indoor mask mandate amid growing infection numbers involving University President John DeGioia
Announcing the new restrictions, Georgetown’s director of public health, Ranit Missouri, described the increase in infection as “significant” – especially among undergraduates.  “Fortunately, with the vast majority of our community informed about vaccination, we do not see any cases of serious illness,” Missouri wrote.
DC Health Chief Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, in comments to reporters this week, cited the continuing low level of hospitalization as evidence that vaccinations have successfully reduced the severity of the disease.
Virus counts in Washington have risen in the past month, according to the city’s health department.  The weekly incidence per 100,000 inhabitants increased from 51 at the beginning of March to 110 at the end of March.  But this is still much lower than the weekly incidence rate of 865 per 100,000 inhabitants reported in the second week of January during the increase in the micron variant.
Nesbitt said there are no immediate plans to re-establish any of the expired virus protocols, but that remains an option in the future.
“We have to remember that living with the virus does not mean forgetting the virus. It is still out there, it still causes people to get sick and some people to die,” Miso said.  “If we are not prepared, we could quickly find ourselves in a bad situation again.”