U.S. well being officers mentioned Sunday that whereas the omicron variant of the coronavirus is quickly spreading all through the nation, early indications counsel it might be much less harmful than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations.
President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, informed CNN’s “State of the Union” that scientists want extra data earlier than drawing conclusions about omicron’s severity.
Studies from South Africa, the place it emerged and is turning into the dominant pressure, counsel that hospitalization charges haven’t elevated alarmingly.
“To date, it doesn’t appear like there’s an amazing diploma of severity to it,” Fauci mentioned. “However we’ve got actually received to watch out earlier than we make any determinations that it’s much less extreme or it actually does not trigger any extreme sickness, corresponding to delta.”
Fauci mentioned the Biden administration is contemplating lifting journey restrictions towards noncitizens getting into the USA from a number of African international locations. They have been imposed because the omicron variant exploded within the area, however U.N. Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres has blasted such measures as “journey apartheid.”
“Hopefully we’ll have the ability to elevate that ban in a fairly affordable time period,” Fauci mentioned. “All of us really feel very badly in regards to the hardship that has been placed on not solely on South Africa however the different African international locations.”
Omicron had been detected in a couple of third of U.S. states by Sunday, together with within the Northeast, the South, the Nice Plains and the West Coast. Wisconsin, Missouri and Louisiana have been among the many newest states to substantiate instances.
However delta stays the dominant variant, making up greater than 99% of instances and driving a surge of hospitalizations within the north. Nationwide Guard groups have been despatched to assist overwhelmed hospitals in western New York, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued an emergency order requiring any hospitals dealing with restricted affected person capability to scale back scheduled procedures that aren’t pressing.
U.S. officers continued urging folks to get vaccinated and to obtain booster pictures, in addition to take precautions comparable to sporting masks when amongst strangers indoors, saying something that helps defend towards delta will even assist defend towards different variants.
Even when omicron proves much less harmful than delta, it stays problematic, World Well being Group epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove informed CBS’ “Face The Nation.”
“Even when we’ve got a lot of instances which might be gentle, a few of these people will want hospitalizations,” she mentioned. “They might want to go into ICU and a few folks will die. … We do not wish to see that occur on prime of an already tough scenario with delta circulating globally.”
Two years into the outbreak, COVID-19 has killed over 780,000 Individuals, and deaths are operating at about 860 per day.
Greater than 6,600 new hospital admissions are being reported each day, in keeping with monitoring information from the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
COVID-19 instances and deaths within the U.S. have dropped by about half for the reason that delta peak in August and September, however at greater than 86,000 new infections per day, the numbers are nonetheless excessive, particularly heading into the vacations, when folks journey and collect with household.