«It’s going to take responsibility,» Fauci, the nation’s top epidemiologist, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday about the Omigron variant, urging Americans to get vaccinated and get their booster shots. «And be careful of everything else you do: wear a mask when you travel in your crowded indoor settings.»
«We can not get away from that jack, we can not,» he told CNN’s Jack Tapper. «Because with Omigran, we’ve been dealing with it for a few weeks to months when the winter gets deeper.»
According to the World Health Organization, Omicron cases double every 1.5 to 3 days with documented spread. In the United States, it is expected to become a «dominant strain» in the coming weeks, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
«This omigran variant is unusually contagious. It’s contagious like measles, and it’s about the most contagious virus we’ve ever seen,» CNN medical researcher Jonathan Rainer said Saturday, warning of a «tsunami» for unvaccinated Americans.
Scientists say it is too early to say whether Omigron will cause a milder form of Govit-19 disease. But regardless, it will put pressure on the health system, Rainer said.
«Why are you going to such a war completely unarmed?» Said Rainer, a professor of medicine and surgery at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences. «Our vaccines will protect you, especially if you have triple vaccinated. Those who have not been unvaccinated should start the procedure now. Go ahead and get vaccinated at your pharmacy.»
It is important to be vigilant to prevent hospitals from coming into the «swamp». Although Omicron causes less severe infections than delta, the number of infections that Omicron can produce could overwhelm U.S. hospitals.
«We need to protect our health care system, which is why every American must now mask and wax up because our health infrastructure is at risk right now,» Rainer said.
‘Don’t wait’ to get a booster, says the expert
The protection provided by two-dose MRNA vaccines — such as those produced by Pfizer / Bioentech and Moderna — is «particularly good against serious diseases,» Fauzi said Sunday.
“But when you come to Omigron, security is significantly reduced,” he said. «But the good news is, if you raise someone, it goes up again.»
According to recent data released by the CDC, those who are not vaccinated are 20 times more likely to die from Covit-19 and 10 times more likely to get a positive test than those who have been fully vaccinated with booster.
The data suggest that the risk gap between those who are not vaccinated and those who have a booster is greater than the gap between those who are not vaccinated and those who are fully vaccinated in their initial series.
Outgoing Director of the National Institute of Health Dr. Francis Collins said CBS’s «Face the Nation» should not wait until Sunday to cheer people on.
«The big news today is that if you get vaccines and boosters, you will be better protected against Omicron, which can cause serious illness,» he said. «So, 60% of Americans deserve a booster, but haven’t got one yet. This is the week to do it. Don’t wait.»
New York is again at the forefront of daily new cases
«It’s not like the beginning of an epidemic,» Hochul said in a statement on Saturday. «We’re ready for the winter surge because we have the tools.»
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio echoed that message at a news conference Sunday, pointing out, in part, the availability of vaccines and boosters.
«We’re not here to reduce the size of the challenge — it’s going to be very challenging,» the mayor said. «But this is something we can meet. This is something we can overcome. We have the tools, but we need everyone to get involved in the game.»
In New York City, Govt-19 cases have more than doubled since the beginning of the week until Saturday, December 13th. On Sunday, De Blasio recorded an average of 5,731 new cases over the seven-day period, which he described as «really, a staggering number and undoubtedly growing.»
Hospitals are already affected — and many more are being sought
New York is not the only state struggling with an increase in lawsuits or worries about what is to come.
Maryland is preparing for what Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said Sunday was «the worst uprising we’ve ever seen in our hospitals during the entire crisis.» The last two weeks.
California health officials said Friday they saw hospital admissions numbers going up, emphasizing the need for vaccines and booster vaccines.
In New Jersey, Dr. Sheriff Elnahall, president and CEO of the University Hospital, said, «We see long queues outside our testing clinic, and the test is more in demand than we have seen in several months, because everyone is sick.» Newark.
The number of hospital admissions has doubled in the past two weeks, and 46% of those admitted to the hospital earlier this week were vaccinated but did not have a booster shot, he said.
Dr. Rob Davidson, an emergency room physician in Michigan, said, «I see a very important delta uprising right now.» While he sees a slight decrease in the test positive rate, Kovit-19 patients have been hospitalized for a long time.
Dr. Mark Corelik, president of Minnesota Hospital for Children, said the facility is already struggling to cope with the numbers.
«When you’ve already been on an upsurge with 90%, 95% efficiency, that extra … preventable covit patients coming in is something that pushes the system to the edge,» Corelik said Friday.
Oregon officials predict a worsening situation in early 2022: Dr Peter Craven, a data scientist at the University of Oregon Health and Science, said an increase in hospital admissions could be expected in mid-January.
«Along with its high prevalence, we expect Omigran to produce a large increase in the number of Oregonians who will become seriously ill and require hospitalization.»
Scientists are still measuring the intensity of Omigran
As hospitals continue to feel the burden of Govt-19 infections, scientists continue to race to gather information on how severe the Omigran variant is.
The CDC looked at 43 cases of Omicron and most of them had mild symptoms, it said last week. Most were vaccinated, and one-third of the total group was increased.
«We’ve seen cases of Omigran among vaccinators and motivators, and we believe these cases are mild or asymptomatic because of vaccine protection. We know we have the tools to protect ourselves against Covit-19. Vaccines. We have boosters,» said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walsen. Said Friday.
Data from two weeks of South African cases indicate that the severity of omigran is low. But UK epidemiologists said last week that there was no evidence that Omigron was causing mild illness there — although the Imperial College London team said there was not much data to go on yet.
The director of the National Institutes of Health said that people should protect themselves with vaccines and boosters as soon as possible, considering that Omicron can cause mild illness. Francis Collins said.
But «it’s clear that Omigron is the most contagious variant,» Collins said Friday.
“The problem, of course, is that if it is so contagious — we can see hundreds of thousands of cases every day, even a million cases a day from Omigran — even if it’s a little low, you have to have a lot of people in the hospital you go to and our hospitals already stretch along the delta, especially in the north of the country In the area, «Collins said.
CNN’s Christina McSoris, Artemis Moshtakian and Laura Stadley contributed to the report.
