The seven-day average of hospitalizations increased by more than 40% the week between Christmas and New Year’s.

First on Monday, January 3, 2022 at 18:26 GMT

COVID-19 cases in Florida have surpassed 948% in just two weeks, as the highly transmissible variant of Omicron triggers a massive wave of infections and hospitalizations across the United States.

Even as Dr. Anthony Fauci, Joe Biden’s most sensible medical adviser, warned the public to look at hospitalizations and not infections to assess the severity of Omicron, the seven-day average of U. S. patients hospitalized with COVID-19 exceeded more than 40% the week between Christmas and New Year’ Eve.

Cases have risen by more than 100% across the country, despite a shortage of testing in many areas, and infections have doubled in the past seven days to an average of 418,000 per day, according to a Reuters tally.

In Florida, local and state officials warned that citizens wait for hours in mile-long lines just to get tested. Some have accused the state’s fitness arm and Gov. Ron DeSantis of being missing.

“It’s each by itself, because the leadership is MIA,” Senator Shevrin Jones tweeted.

Evidence suggests that Omicron is a milder but highly infectious variant. But “it will do terrible harm among the unvaccinated in the United States and around the world,” according to the New York Times.

Only 62% of the U. S. populationit is fully vaccinated, with low numbers in the south and in many mountainous states. Boosters can be obtained for others 16 years of age and older, but only about one-third of fully vaccinated Americans chose to get one: Fauci says the extra dose represents “optimal” coverage compared to Omicron.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday said children ages 12 to 15 also deserve to be eligible for a recall, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not yet given the green light.

Some immunocompromised Americans are returning to receive a fourth or fifth vaccine, though it’s unclear if it’s effective, the New York Times reported.

Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University, told the newspaper that many other people enrolled in a study he is conducting have received unauthorized doses.

“They act out of desperation,” he said. Instead of ‘What a shame for them,’ I would say, ‘What a shame for the formula we’ve created. ‘”

Meanwhile, in Washington D. C. , Congress is experiencing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, and the seven-day positivity rate on a congressional test rose to 13% from just 1% in late November, the Capitol’s deputy physician said Monday. .

The majority of coronavirus infections on Capitol Hill have occurred among those vaccinated, with the Omicron variant accounting for about 61 percent and the Delta variant 38 percent, based on a pattern limited to Dec. 15, Dr. Brian Monahan told lawmakers and in a Jan. 1 report. 3 letters. .

Some systems in the United States have extended vacations or returned to online instruction due to the explosion of cases.

Others continued with the in-person categories amid a likely sense that Americans will have to be informed to coexist with the virus, armed with vaccines that prevent the spread and mitigate the severity of the disease and the evolution of the diversity of remedies being tested. .

COVID-19 has killed more than 820,000 people in the United States. It disrupted lives and livelihoods, disrupted education, left Americans feeling isolated, and sank the economy.

Mass vacations were a predictable recipe for a new wave, similar to last winter’s. But just two years after the pandemic, the U. S. The U. S. was still woefully ill-equipped for such situations and the Omicron variant, which caused the Americans to struggle even to locate the evidence.

During the holiday season, thousands of flights were cancelled due to staff shortages caused through Omicron. Last week, the United States broke its record for reported COVID-19 infections in one day. The big corporations want to reconsider their plans so that workers nevertheless return to the offices.

Still, some experts and analysts still hope that Omicron will finally constitute a move toward normalcy, where Covid-19 becomes a long-term truth but causes less devastation.

“I think we’re most likely passing by to see this wave come and go, and spring and summer will be much better than now,” Ofer Levy, director of the Precision Vaccines program at Boston Children’s Hospital, told CNN.

“There will be fewer cases and again next fall and winter we will see an increase in viral illnesses, coronaviruses, flu and the like, but it will be more like an endemic cycle. “

Also on Monday, it was reported that the Manhattan District Attorney had closed his investigation into nursing home control through former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo over the pandemic.

The New York State Department of Health said Cuomo’s Covid-19 task force edited an official report and passed on more than 9,250 nursing home patients killed by coronavirus.

Elkan Abramowitz, a representative for Cuomo, said an investigation had concluded that nothing had been broken.