Nearly 1 million cases of the new coronavirus were confirmed in the US on Monday, the highest number reported from any country in the world since the outbreak of the pandemic; SARS-CoV-2 seems to be slowing down – on the contrary, it is now dominant.
The number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals has risen by almost 50% in the past week: now more than 100,000, according to data compiled by Reuters. This is the first time this has happened in the last year.
The new outbreak of the pandemic is causing waves of flight cancellations, Broadway shows, etc., and in some cases overturns plans to reopen schools after the holidays. In Chicago, unionists called on teachers in the country’s third-largest education district to stay home.
In Los Angeles County, the head of the judiciary, the largest in the country, has ordered the postponement of all criminal trials for two weeks due to the wave of infections.
Nationwide, the United States recorded an average of 486,000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 in the past week, a number that has doubled in seven days and is not comparable to those reported by authorities in any other country.
The 978,856 cases reported Monday include some that were not reported at the weekend.
Although the average number of deaths due to complications of COVID-19 remained relatively stable in December and the first days of January – around 1,300 per day, according to data collected by Reuters – the increase in deaths usually follows that of cases of hospital admissions and intubation.
Omicron confirms in practice that it is much more contagious than previous variants: it has become instantly dominant. It was estimated to account for 95.4% of cases on January 1, according to estimates by the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Tuesday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that evidence so far indicates that Omicron is causing a less severe form of the disease. However, experts warn that the volume of hospital admissions alone threatens to cause saturation of the system, while some institutions were already struggling to cope with the wave of admissions of vaccinated patients with COVID-19.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, mobilizing 1,000 National Guard men to help deal with the health crisis, as hospital admissions broke records and more than 3,000 people were hospitalized. the number recorded seven weeks ago.
“The truth is that the next four to six weeks will be the period that will be the biggest test for us since the outbreak of the pandemic,” Mr. Hogan said in a statement to the press. He explained that statistical projections show that patients with COVID-19 in hospitals can exceed 5,000.
The previous record of hospitalized patients (1,952) was set in Maryland last year.
Other states – Delaware, Illinois, Ohio, the capital Washington and its suburbs – are announcing record import numbers in recent days.
“Unrepeatable” outburst
In Kentucky, which reported a record 6,915 cases yesterday, Governor Andy Besiar urged citizens to get vaccinated and wear masks.
“Omicron is causing a sudden outbreak that is unrepeatable and at this rate our hospitals will be filled,” patients with COVID-19 warned via Twitter.
More than 3,200 schools closed due to infections this week, according to the website Burbio. Those who remain open face staff shortages amid the generalization of concern.
In Boston alone, where more than 54,000 students returned to school yesterday, Education Director Brenda Casselius told the press that 1,000 staff members were ill – 461 teachers and 52 bus drivers. This “makes our day difficult from the beginning,” he acknowledged.
More than 325,000 cases of the virus among children were reported in the United States in the week ended Sept. 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Association of Pediatric Hospitals; that of the previous two weeks.
The Biden government is finalizing contracts for the purchase of 500 million high-speed tests for SARS-CoV-2, which it intends to distribute free of charge to Americans, the White House announced on Tuesday. The initiative was taken to address the shortage of these diagnostic tools, which caused huge queues and problems in several US urban centers.
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