US infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci warned on Wednesday (5) against complacency with the Ômicron variant of the new coronavirus, saying the large number of cases could overwhelm hospitals, despite signs of lesser severity.
The impressive pace of Ômicron’s spread has complicated life across the country by affecting restarting school after the holiday, interrupting air travel, closing entertainment venues and disrupting plans to return to offices.
The average number of new covid-19 cases over seven days in the United States reached 540,000, a new peak for the eighth consecutive day on Tuesday. Hospitalizations of covid-19 patients have increased by 45% in the past seven days to more than 111,000, a number not seen since January 2021.
“(Ômicron) It can still stress our hospital system because a certain proportion of a large volume of cases, no matter what happens, will be serious,” Fauci told reporters in an interview at the White House.
In Ohio, the state with the second highest per capita rate of covid-19 hospitalizations in the country, staff at a small community hospital said they were struggling to cope with the influx of patients.
Some patients have been in the 12-bed intensive care unit (ICU) at Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls for up to six weeks, with the majority appearing to be suffering from the Delta variant, hospital staff said.
Patients up to 30 years old use ventilators, and three patients have died in one day on multiple occasions in recent months, said Susan Straus, director of critical care at the hospital.
