Omicron likely to peak in mid-February, Fauci says
Yesterday, 1,900 Americans died from COVID-19, says HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, in announcing $103 million for healthcare workforce.
Photo: Greg Nash/Pool/Getty Images
Omicron will likely peak in most states by mid-February, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the president.
"As we get into February, into the middle of February, first few weeks of February, it is very likely that most of the states in the country will have turned around with their peak and are starting to come down with regard to cases, and then, obviously, hospitalizations," Fauci said, speaking at a Blue Star Families event yesterday, according to video posted by ABC News.
The time line is not going to be uniform across the country, he said. New York State and New Jersey have already seen their peaks, as have other larger northern cities, such as Chicago.
The decline of cases in the south is expected to be slower.
WHY THIS MATTERS
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have soared in recent weeks due to the Omicron variant.
Yesterday, 1,900 Americans died from COVID-19, said Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, while announcing today that American Rescue Plan funds of $103 million are being spent to help strengthen the nation's healthcare workforce.
Most of the hospitalizations and deaths are among the unvaccinated, he said.
For those who get infected from the coronavirus and then get a vaccine, the level of infection protection is extremely high, Fauci said.
THE LARGER TREND
The World Health Organization classified Omicron as a Variant of Concern on November 26, 2021. The United States gave it the same classification on November 30, after cases were found in this country.
Omicron has been found to cause less severe illness, but is more contagious than the former Delta variant. Getting past its peak will give Americans and healthcare workers a much-needed break from COVID-19 since infections were found in this country close to two years ago.
Some scientists predict that because of the lesser severity of Omicron, future variants could be even milder, but others point to uncertainty due to the global nature of the pandemic.
Currently, there are dozens of countries where less than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, according to the Los Angeles Times, citing information from Johns Hopkins University statistics. There are huge unvaccinated swaths in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere that are basically variant factories, said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the Center for Global Health Research at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, according to the report.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: susan.morse@himssmedia.com
