Omicron will take over this winter, and Fauci says Americans need to prepare for “a tough period of weeks to months.”

Susannah Cullinane and Dakin Andone, CNN

The United States may have a harsh winter Omicron variant of COVID-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is spreading rapidly and is already straining the medical system that has been hit by the delta variant.

“It will take over,” said Forch, a top U.S. infectious disease expert, on Sunday in CNN’s State of the Union address on a variant of Omicron, vaccinated by Americans to get a booster shot. I urged you to do it. “And be careful with everything else you do: wear a mask when traveling in your indoor setting where you get together.”

“We can’t leave that Jake, we can’t,” he said. “At Omicron, which we are dealing with, weeks and months will be harder as winter gets deeper.”

According to the World Health Organization, Omicron cases are doubling every 1.5 to 3 days with a documented spread. And in the United States, it’s expected to become the “dominant stock” in the coming weeks, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

As the pandemic enters its third year, the United States is now facing a resurrected coronavirus. As of Saturday, the United States had an average of 126,967 new cases per day. According to data from Johns Hopkins University..

“This variant of Omicron is highly contagious. CNN medical analyst Jonathan Reiner warned unvaccinated Americans of a’tsunami’on Saturday, as infectious as measles. Said that this is the most contagious virus we have seen.

Scientists say it’s too early to determine if Omicron causes the milder Covid-19 disease. But nevertheless, it will put pressure on the healthcare system, Reiner said.

“Why do you go into that kind of battle that isn’t fully armed?” He said. “Our vaccine protects you, especially if you have a triple vaccine. Unleashed people need to start the process now. Go ahead and go to the pharmacy and get the vaccine. please.”

Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said he believes that almost everyone is exposed to the virus, but those who have been vaccinated three times are not necessarily Covid-19. Not always infected with.

“But we just throw our hands into the air and don’t think we need to say,’Look, we’re all going to get it, so let’s burn it all over the country.’ Hmm. That would overwhelm our hospital, “he said.

Even if Omicron causes less severe infections than Delta, the number of infections Omicron can produce can overwhelm US hospitals, Reiner said.

According to the report, more than 69,000 people are hospitalized in Covid-19 nationwide, and more than 20% of all ICU beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients. US Department of Health and Human Services..

“We need to protect our healthcare system, and that’s why all Americans need to cover up and confront now because our healthcare infrastructure is at stake now. . “

New York surpasses the record of new cases every day

According to CDC data, About 61.4% of the total population of the United States is fully vaccinated, of which about 29.1% are boosted.

On Saturday, New York broke the record for the highest number of Covid-19 cases per day since the start of the second consecutive pandemic. Governor Kathy Hokul’s office We reported 21,908 positive Covid-19 cases, up from 21,027 on Friday.

Covid-19 hospitalization throughout the state Remains relatively low According to available data, the peak Covid-19-related hospitalization on April 13, 2020 was 3,909.

“This is not like the beginning of a pandemic,” Hochul said in a statement on Saturday. “The tools are free to use, so we are preparing for the surge in winter.”

In New York City, Covid-19 cases more than doubled from the beginning of the week on December 13th to Saturday. However, according to data released by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office, Covid-19 hospitalizations remained about the same throughout the week, with a slight surge in hospitalizations reported on Saturday.

Dr. Craig Spencer, Director of Global Health and Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, said:

The surge has already hit the city’s entertainment industry.

This weekend “Saturday night live” Due to the increase in Covid-19 cases, there were no viewers in the studio and most were broadcasting pre-recorded segments.

The movement continued Cancellation of some Broadway performances And Radio City Rockettes ” “Christmas Spectacular” Show The rest of the year.

The hospital is feeling the impact

New York is not the only state working on Covid-19 data.

California health officials said Friday that hospitalizations were on the rise, emphasizing the need for vaccinations and additional vaccines.

In New Jersey, “People are sick, so there are long lines outside the test clinic and there is a demand for testing for months,” said University Hospital President and CEO. Dr. Sherief Ernahar said. Newark.

Hospitalizations have doubled in the last two weeks, and 46% of patients admitted earlier this week were vaccinated but not boosted, he said.

“We’re currently experiencing a fairly significant delta surge,” said Dr. Rob Davidson, a doctor in the emergency room in Michigan. And although he sees a slight drop in test positive rates, Covid-19 patients have been hospitalized for extended periods of time.

Dr. Mark Gorelick, who heads the Minnesota Children’s Hospital, said the facility is already struggling to deal with numbers.

“When faced with a surge that has already reached 90% and 95% capacity, the arrival of these extra … preventable Covid patients is putting the system at stake, and that’s me. That’s what we’re seeing here in Minnesota, “Gorerick said on Friday.

In Oregon, authorities predict it will be tough in early 2022.

Dr. Peter Graven, Data Scientist at Oregon Health & Science University, said:

“Combinated by its high contagiousness, Omicron expects to significantly increase the number of Oregons who are likely to become seriously ill and need a hospital.”

Scientists working on measuring the severity of Omicron

As hospitals continue to feel the burden of Covid-19 infection, scientists are competing to gather more information on the severity of Omicron variants.

The CDC examined 43 cases of Omicron last week and said that most of them had mild symptoms. Most were vaccinated and about one-third of all groups were boosted.

“There are cases of Omicron in people who are both vaccinated and boosted. We believe these cases are mild or asymptomatic for vaccine protection. What we have is that we have tools to protect ourselves from Covid-19. We have vaccines. We have boosters, “CDC director Dr. Rochelle Warrensky said on Friday.

Data from a two-week case in South Africa seemed to indicate that Omicron was less severe. But British epidemiologists said last week that they found no evidence that Omicron was causing a mild illness. However, the Imperial College London team said there wasn’t much data yet.

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said it was too early to think that Omicron would cause mild illness and that people need to be protected with vaccines and boosters.

But Collins said on Friday, “It’s clear that Omicron is a highly contagious mutant that doubles every two to four days.”

“Of course, the question is whether this is highly infectious. From Omicron, we can see hundreds of thousands of cases every day, and in some cases millions of cases per day. Hospital and I. Many people in our hospital have already really spread to the Delta, especially in the northern part of the country, “Collins said.

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CNN’s Christina Maxouris, Artemis Moshtaghian, and Laura Studley contributed to this report.