The Omicron wave is fully in the Southwest. Cases and hospitalizations are at an all-time high throughout our synod. All counties are at extremely high levels of risk for unvaccinated people.

• Extremely high risk counties for unvaccinated people in our synod include Apache, Clark, Cochise, Coconino, Gila, Graham, Greenlee, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Pima, Pinal, Santa Cruz, Washington, Yavapai, and Yuma counties.

State of the virus

• With the Omicron variant spreading rapidly, the country is averaging more than 700,000 new cases a day, far more than at any previous point in the pandemic. Omicron appears to cause less severe illness than prior forms of the virus, but has contributed to a surge in hospitalizations.

• Reports of new infections are rising steeply almost everywhere in the country. Case rates are highest in Northeastern states, including New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

• Hospitalizations of people with the virus have increased more than 80 percent over the last two weeks, surpassing the previous record. Many Covid patients are critically ill, but that count includes other so-called incidental infections of people with minor symptoms who are hospitalized for reasons other than the virus.

• Case numbers have started to fall in recent days in Washington, D.C., one of the first places in the country to see a major Omicron surge. Hospitalizations in the Washington area remain at record levels.

• Deaths have started to rise nationally. More than 1,600 deaths are being announced most days, an increase of more than 30 percent since late December.

• With many people testing themselves on at-home tests, and other infections going undetected, reported cases are an undercount of actual infections, but indicate how the virus is spreading. Case trends help officials, businesses and residents assess risk and make decisions. Hospitalizations show strain on health care systems and can indicate the severity of recent infections.

The New York Times published county-specific guidance for common activities to help you lower your personal risk of getting Covid-19 and to help you protect your community. This advice was developed with public health experts at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies.

“Providing transparent, real time information about what people’s risks are is empowering,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, who is a former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the president and C.E.O. of Resolve to Save Lives. “You want to know how hard it’s raining Covid.”