Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Omicron delivers another uncertain holiday season to pandemic-weary Americans

Published 12/16/2021, 01:19 PM
Updated 12/17/2021, 01:21 AM
© Reuters. Delaney Washburn, 18, uses a backhoe excavator for digging graves next to a funeral site at the Kirtland Fruitland Cemetery in Kirtland, New Mexico, U.S., December 15, 2021.  REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

© Reuters. Delaney Washburn, 18, uses a backhoe excavator for digging graves next to a funeral site at the Kirtland Fruitland Cemetery in Kirtland, New Mexico, U.S., December 15, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

By Joseph Ax and Julia Harte

(Reuters) - Americans face an uncertain and anxiety-filled holiday season for the second consecutive year, as the highly contagious Omicron variant threatens to intensify an already alarming surge of COVID-19 cases.

Public health officials have voiced deepening concerns about the rising number of infections, warning that hospitals - still fighting the effects of the Delta variant - could find themselves stretched beyond their limits if the two variants combine to create a fresh wave.

While states have not sought to impose broad shutdowns, the disease's advances have prompted a new round of restrictions, as offices have postponed return-to-office dates, universities have moved exams online and some states and cities have reimposed mask mandates.

In New York City, several Broadway shows, including "Hamilton," "Tina" and "Mrs. Doubtfire: The Musical" canceled performances, citing breakthrough COVID infections among their cast or crew. In Puerto Rico, the finale of the Miss World beauty pageant was called off on Thursday after several contestants tested positive.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said on Thursday that the Omicron variant would soon dominate infections.

"We've seen that in South Africa, we're seeing it in the UK, and I'm absolutely certain that's what we're going to be seeing here relatively soon," said Fauci, who met with President Joe Biden on Thursday afternoon to discuss the government's response.

In South Africa, the United Kingdom and Denmark, the number of new Omicron infections has been doubling every two days.

Preliminary data suggests Omicron may be more contagious than Delta but less likely to cause severe illness, though much remains unknown. Research also indicates that the two-dose vaccine regimens have vastly reduced protection against Omicron but that a third booster dose restores much of the vaccine's efficacy.

Experts have warned that Omicron could still have deadly consequences due to its transmissibility.

"When you have a disease that is highly infectious – even if it causes milder disease – you can still have many, many deaths, Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert, said during a panel discussion at New York University on Thursday.

Maine set a record for the number of hospitalized COVID patients on Wednesday, a day after Michigan hit a new high. New Jersey recorded its highest number of cases on Thursday since mid-January, at the peak of last winter's surge.

Over the past month, new cases have risen nearly 40% to a seven-day average of 121,000 new infections per day, according to a Reuters tally.

Deaths have risen 18% since mid-November to an average of 1,300 lives lost a day. COVID hospitalizations have risen about 45% over the last month.

In New York City, the percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 doubled in three days, according to Dr. Jay Varma, a senior public health adviser to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

"We've never seen this before in #NYC," he wrote on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), adding that the only explanation is Omicron's ability to evade both natural and vaccine-induced immunity.

De Blasio announced the city would ramp up capacity at testing sites, which have seen long lines in recent days, and distribute 500,000 rapid at-home test kits through community organizations.

"This variant moves fast," he said. "We need to move faster."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state would allow residents to request test kits be mailed to their homes, joining several other U.S. states.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday it is past time for people to get booster shots and urged them to do so as quickly as possible.

“We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death” for the unvaccinated, Biden said.

HOLIDAY TRAVEL CONCERNS

The surge has prompted worried Americans to reconsider holiday travel plans. Experts have said vaccinated individuals can travel safely as long as they wear masks and avoid unnecessary risks such as large crowds and indoor gatherings.

After months of planning a trip to Florida to see his parents for Christmas and his mother's birthday, Kalaya'an Mendoza of Queens, New York, told Reuters he was forced to cancel when he learned that several people at an event he attended on Monday had tested positive.

"I'm a little bit wrecked," Mendoza, 43, said on Thursday. "It feels like 2020 all over again. I had to weigh my very intense Filipino need to be with family with their care and safety."

© Reuters. A youth with a mask skates at Bryant Park during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., December 16, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

Mendoza, who has not seen his parents since December 2019, said he was angry at how little progress the U.S. government had made on fighting the pandemic while spending billions of dollars this year on other items, such as the military.

"I remember watching my neighbors get carted away in body bags at the start of this pandemic, and two years in, we shouldn't be here," he said.

Latest comments

imagine getting fully vax and boosted to find out you're spreading new variations
for the vaccinated, it's just a cold basically. not sure the same for unvaccinated
variants caused by shots- they said the new variant has been in mostly fully boosted people
Quad witching day is this friday = Market manipulation time
The only uncertainty that has been created, is in those who allow to be.
Try that again, in English.
very uncertain waves are hitting us exactly during key business months... if there's another wave gonna hit the world... I believe we will find more deaths due to stress from economical slowdown and financial turbulence for both, who are running business and the ones who are employed with them
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.