Dr Anthony Fauci (pictured), the nation’s top infectious disease expert, warned that the US Covid situation would worsen in the coming weeks and that around 500,000 people could be infected every day in the coming weeks. next week
The US is in the midst of another winter Covid surge, as the Omicron COVID-19 variant continues to tear through the nation. Daily cases have spiked in recent weeks, up 68% in the past two weeks, and America’s top infectious disease expert warned that things will only get worse in the near future.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s Good Morning America (GMA) that the surge may be just beginning and Americans should expect the situation to worsen. in the coming weeks.
‘It will get worse before it gets better. That’s for sure,’ he said.
‘We don’t expect things to change in a few days to a week. It will probably take longer than that. But that is unpredictable. ‘
Cases in the US have exploded in the past two weeks, as the newly discovered strain of bacteria began to exist in the country. The US now averages 198,326 cases per day, up 68% over the past two weeks. However, deaths and hospitalizations did not occur. The US hasn’t recorded a higher 7-day average since January 19, the back of the nation’s most destructive Covid surge to date.
The country has an average of 71,302 hospital admissions per day, an increase of just 8 percent in two weeks. The death toll rose 3% over that period to 1,328 people a day. This could be a signal of the Omicron variant – which accounts for 73% of US cases according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – which is milder than other strains. However, the number of deaths and hospitalizations is less than the number of cases and a similar increase could soon be seen in those indicators as well.
Fauci says predicting the future is not possible at the moment. Variations have caused different case patterns in different countries.
“Every country’s demographics are different,” he said.
‘South Africa went up and then back again. The UK is still going up. Hopefully they’ll turn around as we often fall behind them temporarily. And then in other words, what happens there usually happens here, a couple of two, three weeks later. ‘
He told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Monday morning that the country could hit 500,000 new cases a day at some point during the current surge. The US hit a record 250,000 new cases a day in early 2020 – before a vaccine became widely available – meaning this increase could be more than double the previous record.
The Omicron variant, first detected by South African health officials in late November, is the most mutated Covid strain to date. It has more than 50 mutations, including 37 on the mutant protein targeted by the Covid vaccine.
Research conducted by vaccine manufacturers and independent medical professionals has repeatedly found that the initial vaccine regimens – two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the vaccine Johnson & Johnson – ineffective in preventing infection from variant.
However, additional booster doses of Pfizer and Moderna jabs may re-establish protection. According to CDC data, 72 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated against Covid, and 64.5 million have been vaccinated.
The US has confirmed 8,333 cases of the variant as of Monday morning, although the actual case number is much higher. Only two other countries have confirmed more cases.
The UK is the world leader in confirmed Omicron cases – and as Fauci believes, is a look into the future for the US. The country has recorded 114,625 cases, more than triple any other country and almost two out of three confirmed cases.
London, the nation’s capital, has become a global Omicron hotspot. The number of Covid-related hospitalizations has increased by 92% and some are concerned that there may be more closures in the new year. Some officials even fear the National Hospital System (NHS) could be completely overwhelmed if the trend continues.
Countries across Europe are being affected by this variation, as countries like France, Germany, Denmark and Norway are in the midst of Omicron driving their own surge of Covid.
However, in South Africa, which suffered the world’s first outbreak of the variant, cases are on a declining trend. In the past ten days, the number of cases has dropped 35%, from 23,000 per day to 15,000, an indication that this variant may have sold out.
While the Omicron variant is popping up across the US, Fauci believes there are a few positives that can be gleaned from the recent increase.
“It looks like the severity of the illness is significantly less than what they experienced with Delta,” Fauci told CNN on Monday.
‘We are seeing traces of that now in the United States. The UK is also seeing it. So I would expect that we have a net effect of reducing severity. ‘
This may be why the death and hospitalization rates in the US have fallen so much compared to the rate of new cases.
America’s Covid czar warned that even with lower rates of hospitalization for the virus, the sheer number of cases could still overwhelm the hospital system if the situation worsens.
‘But the sheer number of cases that we’re seeing now – yesterday we had 214,000 cases. Even if the severity goes down, we could still have an uptick in hospitals, especially for unvaccinated patients, which we’re really worried about,’ he said. .
It is also possible that thousands of Covid cases are currently undetected and that many people are spreading the virus without even knowing they have the disease, as massive testing shortages are occurring in much of the US.
PCR and rapid at-home tests are sold out at many major US retailers. The testing sites also experienced hours-long queues, especially in the days leading up to Christmas when millions of people checked their Covid status before going on holiday.
‘You know, testing is always a problem … there have been problems. Fauci told CNN.
‘We’ve had a bunch of high demand – high demand as concerns about Omicron are a legitimate concern, but high demand is triggered by the holiday season, people getting ready to travel get ready to go and mingle with family members and friends. It was a very, very powerful test run. ‘
The Biden administration announced a plan to help quell this need, distributing 500,000 home Covid tests to Americans by January.
Source: | This article originally belonged to Dailymail.co.uk
