Infectious disease experts are suggesting that the United States could be on the verge of reaching a turning point in the spike in COVID-19 cases cause primarily by the omicron coronavirus variant.The number of new COVID-19 cases is either leveling off or falling in 31 states, including Massachusetts.”We have falling cases. We have plateauing hospitalizations. We have 50% of our hospitalizations not being treated for severe COVID-19,” said Dr. Shira Doron, hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.Doron said the state’s COVID-19 numbers are improving to the point Massachusetts residents, especially those who are fully vaccinated and boosted, could see significantly lower risk from the coronavirus.”We have this paradoxical situation where your individual risk is lower than it has been before, but society’s risk and the health care system are in bad shape,” Doron said.The other 19 states in the union are still seeing a rise in COVID-19 cases and the U.S. as a whole is still averaging 700,000 new cases per day. Many hospitals nationwide are still packed with COVID-19 patients.”Nobody is exaggerating this. These are some of the sickest patients that we’ve seen in our entire careers,” said Kaelyn Duesterbeck, a registered nurse at Mercyhealth Hospital in Janesville, Wisconsin.Last week, more than 1 million children in the U.S. tested positive for COVID-19, but there are also more signs of hope.World health officials said Monday that they are optimistic about the growing immunity to the omicron variant and the end of this emergency phase coming soon.Doron said when COVID-19 cases drop in the coming weeks, it will be safe to gather again with friends and family.”I would especially love to see us use that time to give children the normalcy that they really, really deserve,” Doron said.Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said the U.S. could get a break from COVID-19 in the coming weeks barring any sudden coronavirus variants.