(Washington) Health officials said Monday that daily COVID-19 infections in the United States are on the rise due to the Omicron variable and on track to reach a record high in January.
Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top adviser on fighting the pandemic, explained on public radio NPR, commenting on the data it collected. The New York Times.
The country recorded 214,499 new cases on Sunday, 83% more than the 14-day average, and close to the daily record of 251,232 positive cases reached in January 2021.
The daily average number of deaths also increased slightly over 14 days (+3%) with 1,328 deaths.
On December 24, the United States exceeded 197,000 daily cases and recorded 1,345 deaths in the world’s most bereaved country (more than 800,000 deaths).
The newspaper adds that several states such as Delaware, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, as well as the US territory of Puerto Rico, experienced an unprecedented increase in a seven-day period.
In New York, health officials have also seen an increase in the number of children hospitalized in connection with COVID-19.
d . addeds Fauci. “Hopefully it will peak and go down like we’ve seen in other countries like South Africa.”
In this country, where the Omicron variant was first discovered, pollution is less after it explodes. This, he said, is “probably due to saturation, that is, the variant has hit all the at-risk targets” such as unvaccinated people, which are still many in the United States.
Anthony Fauci added that the Omicron variant, which is more contagious than Delta, appears to be less risky for people who have received at least two doses of the vaccine.
“We hope this lower severity will prevent an increase in hospitalizations, but we are very concerned about unvaccinated people at risk,” he said.
The scientist also said he is not in favor of a new vaccination campaign for 4e A dose, the belief that the boosters are too close together does not allow the immune system to strengthen against the coronavirus.
“For now, get a booster dose, don’t worry about a fourth dose and probably don’t have to worry about it,” he said.
