The prevalence of the omicron variant among new Covid cases reported in the US and the explosion in the disease’s numbers in recent weeks have led the Biden administration to diversify its pandemic-fighting strategy to prioritize more than just vaccination — 61.5% of Americans are with a complete vaccination schedule. The Democrat must announce on Tuesday (21) a new package of measures.
The availability of 1,000 health professionals from the Armed Forces to help overburdened hospitals, the production of 500 million rapid tests to be distributed free of charge to citizens and the creation of new testing and vaccination sites are some of the actions that will be implemented, according to senior officials. government officials reported to the American media.
The 500 million tests, according to authorities, will only be available in January and will be distributed in the homes of those who request them through an official website. To account for the volume of production, Biden intends to invoke the Protection and Defense Law, a legal instrument that authorizes the Executive to interfere in the country’s production system in cases of emergencies or wars.
Since the first case of the omicron variant was identified in the US, on December 1, in a person who had traveled to South Africa, the numbers of the disease have exploded. The moving average of new daily cases hit 132.6 thousand last Sunday (19), according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The last time the country had registered this volume was in September.
The situation has led the country to retreat from open easing. New York City, once the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, is considering canceling the New Year’s celebration in Times Square. In mid-November, the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, said the celebrated event would return “in full force” this year. But then came the omicron.
“We’re hoping that the omicron will be a quick and temporary phenomenon,” said the Democrat, who also promised to announce a ruling on the party before Christmas. “We expect that in the coming weeks we will have a very, very large increase in the number of cases, more than we’ve seen before, but we also expect that, over a period of time, it will [a variante] will dissipate.”
New York has recorded record numbers of new Covid cases daily. The moving average of new cases reached 8,000 on Sunday, the highest since the onset of the health crisis, according to CDC records.
Omicron accounted for 73.25% of new Covid infections in the US during the week ended December 18, as announced this Monday (20). While some features of the variant, such as its ability to deliver more severe cases, remain unclear, American health experts are concerned about the ability of hospitals to respond to the new outbreak.
The number of patients hospitalized with Covid in the country has been growing since November and reached 58,600 on Sunday. The deployment of military doctors, nurses and paramedics, which Biden plans to agree with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, is intended to alleviate the situation and improve the health system’s responsiveness.
In an appeal to the population, Biden he wrote on a social network that cases of omicron will increase in the coming days, even among those vaccinated. He asked, however, for everyone to get vaccinated and thus have greater chances of having mild or even asymptomatic cases of the disease, as shown by the first scientific evidence.
“If you are an adult and choose not to be vaccinated, you will face an extremely difficult winter for your family and community,” he said.
The country’s accelerated community-based transmission of omicron could also prompt the Biden government to ease travel restrictions to southern African countries, imposed on Nov. 29, shortly after South African scientists sequenced the variant for the first time — though not know where it originated.
Immunologist Anthony Fauci, Biden’s top adviser on pandemic-related issues, said lifting the restrictions should come soon, as there were “enough infections in the US.” “We are allowing in people from other countries who have as much or more infections than countries in southern Africa; so let’s look at that carefully and see if we can back off.”
The US has 50.7 million confirmed cases of Covid and 803,000 deaths from the disease since the beginning of the pandemic. About 72.9% of the country’s population received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 61.5% have a complete vaccination schedule (two doses or a single dose). The booster dose was applied in 29.8% of Americans.
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