The United States is the midst of its largest Covid surge yet, as the Omicron variant continues to ravage much of the nation. The country recorded nearly 500,000 cases in a single day on Wednesday, the most by any country in the world at any point during the pandemic, and experts predict it will only get worse in the coming weeks.
On Wednesday, 489,267 positive Covid cases were reported. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of new cases in America are of the Omicron variant, which was first discovered last month by South African health officials. The U.S. is now averaging 300,387 new Covid cases per day, a pandemic record and the first time the 300,000 mark has been reached in America.
Dr Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and member of President Biden’s transition team’s Covid task force, warns that things are only going to get worse as well. He told CBS Morning on Thursday that what is happening now is unlike anything Americans have experienced at previous points in the pandemic.
‘We are going to see a viral blizzard over the next five to eight weeks,’ he said.
‘We’re already beginning to see these very large numbers you’re talking about, they’re going to increase substantially. The real question we have is how many of those will then actually [suffer] severe illnesses requiring hospitalization, and even deaths and that’s the challenge we’re at right now. We don’t quite understand that.’
He warns that even fully vaccinated people should avoid large, crowded, environments in the near future because of how infectious the new virus strain is.
Research shows that the emerging virus strain has the ability to circumvent protection provided by the existing crop of Covid vaccines. The variant has over 50 mutations, including more than 30 on its spike protein. It is the most mutated virus strain yet, and its many mutations allow it to evade protection provided by the Covid vaccines.
The initial two-shot regimens of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna jabs have limited ability to prevent infection by Omicron, but they still can reduce symptoms, experts hope. Both companies have released data showing their booster shots can re-establish some protections against the variant. The one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is believe to be ineffective at preventing Omicron infection.
Most recent CDC data shows that 73 percent of Americans have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 62 percent are fully vaccinated. The agency also reports that 68 million Americans have received a Covid booster shot.
Omicron is not the only worry Americans have, though. The Delta variant, which caused a massive surge in cases over summer, is lingering as well and still causing case surges in unvaccinated pockets of the U.S. The CDC still projects that the variant accounts for between 25 percent to 60 percent of new cases in America. While the vaccines are effective against the strain, not all eligible Americans have received the jab.
Dr Michael Osterholm (pictured), director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and member of President Biden’s transition team’s Covid task force, warns that a ‘viral blizzard’ in the future will worsen America’s Covid situation
A study from the Africa Health Research Institute, the group who initially confirmed the Covid vaccines were not as effective against Omicron, also found this week that antibodies developed after infection from the new strain are effective against the Delta variant. This leads them to believe that Omicron will eventually push out Delta – and other strains – and take total control. Since the variant is comparatively mild as well, it will likely also become endemic – staying with the world in perpetuity the way the common cold does.
Whether Omicron or Delta, the impact of the virus is being felt nationwide. New daily cases in the U.S. have grown by nearly 150 percent over the past two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The nation also recorded 2,184 deaths on Wednesday, and averages 1,546 deaths per day – an 18 percent increase over the past two weeks. The CDC reports that 75,477 Americans are currently hospitalized due to complications with Covid, an 11 percent increase over the past two weeks. Omicron has also been confirmed in 15,057 cases nationwide as well.
The CDC also reports that every single county in the United States, across all 50 states, is an area of ‘high’ Covid transmission, a first for the pandemic.
Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious disease expert, has warned in the past that what happens in the UK in regards to Covid will likely happen in the U.S. weeks later. Across the pond, a record 183,037 people are hospitalized with the virus, as London has emerged as a global virus hotspot. While some fear lockdown could return, Prime Minister Boris Johnson quelled concerns Thursday by telling Britons to enjoy the New Years holiday.
Other European nations like France, Germany, Norway and Denmark have instituted lockdowns to deal with recent Omicron surges, though, as the variant strikes much of the world.
Meanwhile it South Africa, where the variant was first discovered and the site of the first recorded Omicron outbreak, cases and hospitalizations are starting to decline – signaling the variant could already be running out of steam.
As the Omicron variant continues to spread, Osterholm has other dire warnings as well. The former Biden advisor to MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Thursday that spread of the variant could cause ‘everyday life’ to stop operating as normal.
‘Right now we have a very imperfect situation that’s going to require some very imperfect responses,’ he said.
‘Over the next three to four weeks, we are going to see the number of cases in this country rise so dramatically that we’ll have a hard time keeping everyday life operating.’
‘Already we are seeing it in our healthcare settings where we can lose 10 to 20 percent of healthcare workers who are not available to work.
‘We are seeing that right now in critical infrastructure areas where people can’t come to work.’
Late last week, and early this week, thousands of American flights had to be canceled as airliners struggled with staffing issues because of how many employees were out with Omicron. In response, the CDC cut the required quarantine time for a positive Covid case to five days, from ten, in a move Director Rochelle Walensky said was to ‘keep the critical functions of society open and operating.’
‘You would like to have more time to allow people to clear the virus and not potentially be transmitting it,’ Osterholm said of the situation.
‘At the same time, we got to have people who are there every day who are doing the work. How can you provide the safest environment? I support what they are doing. I think it’s not perfect. It won’t be perfect and what we have come before us in the next few weeks is hardly going to allow for a perfect response.’
While the entirety of the U.S. is getting hammered by this winter surge in some form, some states in the south are especially being struck by the variant.
Florida has suffered a 1,006 percent increase in new cases over the past two weeks, the most of any state during that time period. The Sunshine state does not consistently report cases, though, meaning the most recent publicly available figures may not be accurate.
Other southern states like Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi are also among the leaders in recent case growth, with daily cases jumping more than four-fold in each according to official data.