The United States’ top adviser for the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, warned on Sunday (19) that a bleak winter is approaching for the northern hemisphere, as the new omicron variant of covid-19 spreads around the world, creating restrictions and concerns about the capacity of hospitals.
“One thing that is very clear (…) is its extraordinary ability to spread,” Fauci told NBC News. “It just (…) spreads and wreaks havoc around the world.”
Since its first appearance in South Africa in November, omicron has been identified in dozens of countries, forcing several to resume travel restrictions and other measures.
While it doesn’t appear to be more severe than the delta variant – which is still the dominant strain – the omicron, full of mutations, appears to have worrying resistance to vaccines and greater transmissibility, according to preliminary data.
Fauci also cautioned against being overly optimistic about the severity of omicrons, noting that the situation in South Africa, where the rate of hospitalizations appears to be lower than in delta, may be due to underlying immunities from previous and widespread infections.
“When you have so, so many infections, even if it looks less severe,” it could put “our hospitals under a lot of pressure in the coming weeks,” particularly in areas of the country with low levels of infection, he added.
Fauci urged Americans who have not yet been vaccinated to do so and those vaccinated to seek the booster dose. About 70% of the country’s population has received at least one dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meaning that 50 million eligible people remain unimmunized.
“With omicron, (…) we are going to live some difficult weeks or months, as we enter winter”, pointed out Fauci.
The United States is the country most affected by the pandemic, with more than 800,000 covid-19 deaths identified as of last Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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