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The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is now the predominant variant in the United States, according to government data. Seventy-three percent of new infections in the United States are due to Omicron, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced Monday (local time). That’s a jump from just 12.6 percent of cases attributed to Omicron the previous week.
Omicron has pushed Delta, the previously predominant variant, into second place. According to CDC data, on the Pacific Coast in the northwestern United States, more than 90 percent of new cases of infection are already due to Omicron. In the South and parts of the Midwest, a majority of cases are also already attributable to the new variant. In light of the new numbers, President Joe Biden wants to support hospitals with the help of the military.
About a thousand military personnel are to be mobilized, including doctors, nurses, paramedics and other military medical personnel, a senior administration official announced. They are to be deployed to overburdened hospitals in January and February. “God willing, we won’t need all of these soldiers, but if we do, they are ready and mobilized,” she said.
Biden plans to address the nation in a speech Tuesday. According to his spokeswoman Jen Psaki, however, the speech will not be about new restrictions, but about vaccination and testing. Biden has no plans to send the country into lockdown again, Psaki said. But he wants to once again “directly and clearly address the American people” to emphasize the benefits of vaccination, he said.
Testing and vaccination capacity to be expanded
In addition, federal emergency medical teams will be deployed in several states, the statement added. At the same time, hospital capacity expansion is to begin – the federal government will provide funding, it said. The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will provide hundreds of ambulances, it said.
If states have a need for masks, gloves or ventilators, the Strategic National Stockpile Reserve could help out, he said. Biden also wants to expand access to free CoV testing and create new vaccination centers. Vaccination would also see bureaucratic hurdles cut and more mobile vaccination teams on the road.
Closures ruled out for now
The U.S. government went on to emphasize that Omicron is a cause for concern, but not panic. It was prepared for an increase in hospitalizations of the unvaccinated in the coming months, it said. The government had ruled out closing stores and schools last week. Tools, knowledge and planning are in place to manage it, it said.
Biden regularly appeals to his countrymen to get vaccinated and boostered. However, he is falling on deaf ears among broad segments of the population: In the U.S., only 61 percent of the population has received basic immunization so far – significantly less than in other industrialized countries. “The only real protection is to get vaccinated,” Biden had warned just last week – and predicted “a winter of serious illness and death” for the unvaccinated.
“Tough weeks and months” expected
Biden’s top pandemic adviser, Anthony Fauci, had also recently prepared people in the U.S. for a harsh winter. The U.S. faces “tough weeks and months,” the infectious disease expert told NBC News on Sunday. Omicron has an “extraordinary ability to spread” and is already rampant around the world. It threatens to overwhelm the health care system, especially in regions with low vaccination rates, he said.
source: orf.at/picture: pixabay.com
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