As the country prepares to see an increase in Omicron-related cases, President Joe Biden warned of the dangers it poses for the unvaccinated.
Biden stated Wednesday afternoon that “it’s here”, it’s spreading, and will continue to grow.”
Biden spoke out about the dangers of Americans not receiving covid vaccinations, as the new, highly transmissible variant is spreading rapidly.
Biden stated, “For those who are not vaccinated, it is a time of extreme illness and death.”
He was also adamant that Americans should get booster shots.
Get your booster shot. He stated that this is crucial.
President Joe Biden spoke out about Omicron, stating that it was “here, it’s growing and it will increase,” as he advised Americans to take their booster shots.
“The point is, Omicron has arrived and it will soon spread more quickly. [in the]The best protection for the beginning of the new year is getting your shots.
He stated that if you have one chance and aren’t yet getting one, it will help.
President Obama said that if your body has everything, including boosters, it’s in good health. Get moving. He said, “Move now.”
Biden donned a black facemask throughout his speech in the Roosevelt Room of the White House.
Biden spoke as he met with Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team
Biden took off his mask during an East Room ceremony attended by Medal of Honor winners. He then wore it again when standing next to other Medal of Honor recipients.
However, his comments on covid were not all negative. “”Due the steps that we have taken Omicron has not spread as quickly as he would otherwise.
“But, there is good news. You’re covered against serious illness and death by vaccinations. Number two, booster shots are effective.
“Three boosters can be used at no cost, are safe and easy to use. About 16 Million people have had their boosters. Go get your boost today. Go get boosted. Have you had at least two first shots? Don’t forget to take your first shots. It is time. It is past time.
“And we are going to preserve our economic recovery. This will ensure that schools and businesses are kept open. This is what I’d like for everyone.
Joining Biden was coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of his coronavirus team, as well as Dr. Julie Ledgerwood and Dr. John Mascola of the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center. Biden served in the Senate with Bumpers the ex-Governor of Arkansas.
Biden began his remarks by waiving off questions in advance – after his deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre got peppered with questions at a White House briefing about the state of his Build Back Better plan.
Biden stated, “I am not going to answer questions today because I have an immediate message for the American people,”
According to a Thursday report, the Biden administration has warned COVID-19 testing labs and manufacturers to prepare for an astronomical spike in COVID-19 demand in the coming two months. This is due to a rise in Omicron variant cases as well as virus cases, which could further disrupt the holiday season.
On Thursday, Omicron confirmed cases rose 32 percent daily. Although it seems to be less severe than the Delta dominant variant, scientists warn that it can still cause serious complications for those who aren’t vaccinated or haven’t received their booster shots.
The problem is already growing in Britain, with pubs closing early to celebrate the holiday season. Officials fear that there will be up to 460,000 COVID daily cases by Christmas Eve. Britain’s daily case rate hit an alarming record high with more than 88,000 people diagnosed in the last 24 hours.
According to five sources, President Joe Biden told his health personnel to make sure the company is ready to handle demand for up to 5,000,000 tests per day.
DailyMail.com asked the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), if they denied it, but stated that they were’modeling for a variety of scenarios’.
Officials and health experts agree that another wave of Omicron-related strains is possible. A former White House COVID advisor warned it would be the predominant strain in January.
It is quite jarring to double every 3 days. Andy Slavitt, ex-Senior Advisor for the COVID-19 Response Coordinator, stated that 100,000 Christmas cases would become 400,000 by New Year’s Eve.
‘Holiday travel & family gatherings will be like gathering kindling together in a path during a blazing fire.’
Just after midnight, an ex-Biden official tweeted a COVID update’. He wrote: “COVID Update – Omicron will reach its peak in the US during the third wave of January, according to the consensus of 10 scientists that we interviewed,”
The Testing and Diagnostic Working Group of HHS is reporting that there could be 3 to 5,000,000 coronavirus testing per day by January or February.
At the moment, that number hovers around 1.6million per day. DailyMail.com was told by an HHS official that they are modeling scenarios for future public health requirements as we discover more about Omicron.
“Testing for demand is complex and involves many variables. However, we focus on preparation and making sure that plenty of testing are available as well as vaccines and boosters to protect Americans.
A recent Hong Kong study found that Omicron is spread 70 times faster then Delta. However, global health experts also claim it’s milder.
Researchers at Hong Kong University found that the new variant reproduces in the lungs 10 times faster than the predecessors. This could explain why there have been fewer cases.
However, the Delta strain is the predominant COVID strain in the US and accounts for about 97 percent.
Omicron is rapidly gaining ground. The newly discovered Omicron variant has jumped sevenfold, from being 0.4% of cases to 2.9%.
Up from the 241 reported cases yesterday, 319 have been confirmed. Flu, which was largely eradicated last year is also making a comeback.
However, Dr. Anthony Fauci stated that it is not possible to detect the mutation using all available testing.
‘We’re getting preliminary information that not all of the diagnostic tests will be accurate with Omicron. Some of them, including many of the more common ones, seem to be able to detect and pick up Omicron quite easily,’ he stated at the virtual US Chamber of Commerce Foundation event.
‘We’re hearing, and we’re in the process of doing large screening to determine which of these antigen point of care, rapid tests, still maintain their accuracy of diagnosis. There are clearly some who do. We’re trying to find out those that don’t reflect an accurate result. If we find them, please make certain that they aren’t used for Omicron diagnosis.
Former White House COVID adviser and former Acting Administrator of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Andy Slavitt warned that gathering for the holidays would be like putting ‘kindling’ on a fire
The virus is still very dangerous for those who haven’t received their booster yet but are fully vaccinated. This was also evident in early data.
Moderna, Pfizer and others have revealed recent data showing that booster shots are effective in fighting the variant.
Only 16 percent have been vaccinated against Omicron, as the vaccines were only available in limited quantities until November. This means that over 80 percent are still at Omicron risk.
At the White House’s COVID briefing Dr. Jacob Lemieux from Harvard Medical School warned that both varieties will play a role in the coming wave.
“Our delta surge continues and is actually accelerating,” Lemieux stated. On Tuesday, Lemieux stated that an additional omicron surge was being added.
“That is alarming because hospitals are already full.” The staff are tired.
Slavitt shared the concern on Thursday. ‘Our main fear is that our hospitals will not be able to handle the huge number of patients in such a short time,’ he said. Several states are telling me they are cancelling elective procedures and we haven’t even begun to see Omicron cases.’
He called on state and local leaders to act quickly to mitigate the strain on healthcare systems while acknowledging ‘large parts of the public are fatigued, unvaccinated & disbelieving.’
‘Colleges, sports leagues and schools are already seeing outbreaks & are temporarily suspending. The offices that are able to keep people home include the following: Governors will need to be more proactive as hospitals become full. Many won’t act until it’s too late,’ Slavitt said.
‘Policy reactions are hard when people’s different circumstances suggest they want a targeted response when in a pandemic, only a broad response will protect the onslaught to hospitals.’
Andy Slavitt, a former Senior Advisor to the COVID Task Force Coordinator and Vice President of the United States, posted an alarming warning Thursday morning about Omicron case numbers and asked state leaders and those in the local area to take action.
As millions prepare for vacation travel, the combination of Omicron and Delta waves is particularly alarming.
While elected officials may be slow to take action, private organizations, such as universities, are being proactive and updating the definition of “fully vaccinated”.
Georgetown University, Smith College, Notre Dame, New York University, and New York University all have booster requirements.
The New York Times reports that New York City’s Metropolitan Opera requires all staff and audiences to be vaccinated.
Additionally, the National Football League has mandated that coaches and players must be trained by December 27,
The U.S. has yet another spike in COVIDs cases this holiday season, regardless of whether Omicron is involved. There are 121,188 cases being reported every day in America, a 40% rise over the previous two weeks.
As well as a rise in deaths, it is increasing by 34% to 1,302 per semaine. Over the past fourteen days, Americans have been hospitalized for the flu by 21% to 68,079.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts that this will continue to worsen. On Wednesday, the agency published forecasts that showed weekly COVID incidences will rise by 55 percent and reach 1.3 Million per week (or 185,714 daily) by Christmas.
Also, it predicted that deaths would rise by 73 per cent to 15600 per day in January (or 2,228 death per day).
This is why Omicron spreads so quickly. Delta’s ultra-infectious variant reproduces 70 times quicker in the airways than Delta’s…but it has trouble reaching the lungs.
Emily Craig Reports
The Omicron variant multiplies 70 times faster than Delta in the airways, according to a study.
Researchers at Hong Kong University also discovered that the new version replicates in the lungs 10 times faster than the predecessors.
It is the conclusion This may help explain the rapid spread of the mutant virus. It also supports the hypothesis that it is less severe than previous variants. Doctors are still trying to determine the cause. South AfricaFor weeks, I have been making claims.
The researchers exposed lung tissue in a laboratory to the original Covid strain that was identified in Wuhan last year, along with the two variants, to compare how the viruses behave after infection.
Omicron replicated faster in the bronchus — tubes connecting the windpipe and lungs — suggesting people with the strain may be more infectious.
People are more susceptible to inhaling viruses if there is a higher viral load near their throats.
Delta replication was much more rapid in the lungs where it can cause severe illnesses.
Doctors believe this is the biological reason why people who have been infected by the strain are only experiencing cold-like symptoms.
Below are graphs showing the levels of Omicron in the bronchial and lung cells of human beings after they were exposed to the Omicron strain (blue), Delta and Omicron viruses (green). There was 70 times more Omicron recorded in the bronchus — the main pipe connecting the airways and lungs — compared to previous strains, but 10 times less virus in the lungs when compared to the original version and Delta. The University of Hong Kong experts said that this indicates the virus could be transmissible, although it may not cause severe illness.
This image shows the Omicron variant in human bronchus tissue infected with Omicron (shown red).
Image of human bronchial tissues following Covid infection. Red arrows indicate that virus particles are visible.
However, Dr Michael Chan Chiwai (a Hong Kong University public health specialist and chief investigator) warned that speed of replication was only one method of assessing the severity of Covid infections and that individuals could still be infected.
Omicron’s threat is’very significant’, and could cause more severe illnesses and death at the population level than other strains.
These findings are in addition to studies, data and reports of doctors proving that the virus is highly contagious but has less severe side effects.
An actual world South African study found that Omicron was 29% less severe than earlier waves and there were 33% fewer hospitalisations.
Yesterday, the UK had 78,610 confirmed Covid cases.
It is possible that the actual infected number could be much higher. The UK Health Security Agency estimates that there were 200,000 Covid cases as of Monday.
The UKHSA reported only 15 cases of variant-related hospitalizations, and one death.
Last night’s briefing at Downing Street saw the Prime Minister urge Britons not to plan for Christmas and to socialize only when absolutely necessary to curb the spread of the disease.
Experts warned that even though the virus may be milder than usual, records will still emerge in the next few weeks. This could result in more hospitalisations this winter.
Researchers in Hong Kong used lung tissue taken from patients undergoing operations for treating lung diseases.
The results of the study, which were not published or peer-reviewed in its entirety, showed that Omicron replicated 70 times faster than Delta virus in the bronchus and Wuhan.
However, the virus replicated in the lungs less effectively – 10x slower than the original. Omicron could be the reason Omicron causes less severe disease.
Dr Chan explained that disease severity is determined not only by viral replication, but by host immunity to infection.
“It should also be noted that a highly infectious virus can infect more people than the virus, which may lead to more serious disease or death, even though it may not cause as much damage.
“The Omicron variant’s potential threat to human health is high, especially when it’s combined with recent research showing Omicron variant’s ability to partially escape past infections and vaccine immunity, therefore, we believe that there’s a very serious risk.
Dr Muge Cervik is an infectious disease expert from the University of St Andrews. He tweeted: ‘For anyone asking whether it’s good or not, simple answer, I don’t really know.
Omicron can infect lung cells more efficiently than other viruses, but a greater viral load could worsen the immune response.
“The only thing I can be certain of is Omicron spreading quickly throughout the population. This will make it difficult to contain and leave us with very little time for the next several weeks. Get your boosters and vaccines.
South Africa has seen a record 26,976 cases of infection in 24 hours. That’s more than the 264,85 infections that were discovered early July, when Delta ran rampant.
This also represented a 36% rise over Wednesday and weekly increases in all provinces, with the exception of the epicentre Gauteng. (red line), where it is possible that the epidemic may have reached its peak.
Yesterday, Dr Meaghan Kall (an epidemiologist at UKHSA) tweeted that she was optimistic about Omicron becoming milder.
She said up to eight in 10 people in hospital wards and care homes were testing positive for the strain — an infection rate not seen since the vaccines were rolled out a year ago.
According to Dr Kall, however, the majority of these are “asymptomatic mild infections”.
She said, “I’m 100 percent certain that vaccines and infection can increase the rate of severe diseases.”
This comes just as millions of Britons abandon festive plans in order to see their family Christmas Day.
British chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the Prime Minister of England, Dr. Chris Whitty, caused a flurry of restaurant and pub cancellations. They urged people to only socialize if they were absolutely necessary, and that it should not be in large numbers or with strangers.
In an effort to not have to be isolated on December 25, if someone tests positive for Covid, people started to self-isolate voluntarily.
Professor Whitty said that a rise in Omicron hospitalisations is ‘nailed on’ after cases hit a record high yesterday, telling a televised No 10 press briefing: ‘I think that what most people are doing is – and I would think this seems very sensible – is prioritising the social interactions that really matter to them and, to project those ones, de-prioritising ones that matter much less to them.’
Also, he dismissed a South African study that suggested the variant might be milder. He said Omicron “is going to cause problems”.
Following weeks of denials about Christmas plans, Johnson said that the country should cut down on partying during Christmas season and think carefully before heading out.