Omicron cases in the US have soared by 32 per cent in the last 24 hours, with White House COVID tsar Dr Anthony Fauci issuing a grim warning of its ‘extraordinary’ ability to spread.
Overnight, confirmed Omicron cases rose by a third
The dominant Covid strain is the Delta variety, which accounts for approximately 97 percent sequenced cases in the U.S. Omicron is rapidly gaining ground. The newly discovered Omicron strain has jumped sevenfold from being 0.4% of cases to 2.9% of the case.
So far there have been 319 reported and confirmed cases, up from 241 yesterday. It is returning to the scene after being largely extinct last year.
Data from early studies also show that even though they are 100% vaccinated and have yet to receive their boosters, people are still highly susceptible.
Moderna and Pfizer have both revealed data that their vaccines can cause significant increases in antibodies.
We know that only 16 percent of Americans have had the extra vaccine, but they weren’t widely available until November. That means more than 80 percent Americans are now at Omicron-related risk.
Loyola University of Maryland infectious disease specialist Dr Chris Thompson. DailyMail.com was informed by Thompson that some people may not have received the booster dose. He suggested on Thursday that they might want to return early habits such as social distancing and frequent hand washing.
“The data that I have seen indicates that your protection is about 33 percent after two doses of any of the mRNA vaccins. [the Pfizer or Moderna shots]Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine is still not well-studied. If you receive your booster, you will be able to get back into the 75 percent range for protecting against disease and for prevention.
The U.S. has yet another surge in Covid cases this holiday season, regardless of whether Omicron is involved. This is a 40% increase in the number of cases recorded every day over the last two weeks. The number of deaths is also on the rise, rising by 34 percent to 1,302 each week.
Over the past fourteen days, Americans have been hospitalized for the flu by an additional 21 percent. This brings the total number to 68.079.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this situation is only going to get worse. On Wednesday, the agency published forecasts that showed weekly Covid case numbers will rise by 55% to 1.3 Million per week (or 185 714 per day) 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).
UK leads the world in Omicron case sequences, with 10,017 confirmed cases reaching Wednesday. This is more than 4000 cases added in one day. London has been named the Capital of the Nation and is home to around 40% of Omicron cases worldwide.
Denmark comes in second with 6,047 sequential cases. On Thursday morning, the country also reported an unprecedented 9,999 cases as the nation dealt with a spike of its own.
South Africa was the country where the mutation was found for the first time last month. Wednesday’s 1,000th Omicron report was made. This makes South Africa the fourth country that has reached this milestone in the past weeks.




Dr Thompson believes that Omicron will probably take over the U.S. dominant strain in the coming months. But, this will all depend on how Americans behave.
“It’s difficult to predict, because so much depends upon our behavior,” he stated.
“Travel, holidays and all other things” [will affect Omicron spread]However, since many people have already received their boosters and some people are more careful, I believe we can postpone. [Omicron overtaking Delta]Take a break.
Omicron and Delta will continue to spread the disease in America, he said. However, they are likely to occur in slightly different parts of the country. In areas of the country that have low vaccination rates, the Delta variant will spread more widely.
The Omicron variant can be adopted in areas that are immune to Delta vaccines.
Some regions of the country already see an increase in cases. Jackson Health System in Miami, Florida reports that the Covid positive rate has reached seven per cent after just one percent of all cases came back in November.
A flu epidemic could be lurking just around the corner. Although influenza is not as serious as Covid’s, the risk of contracting it grows just like Covid.
‘[The flu]He said that Christmas is when the peak of flowers tends to occur.
The concern is that hospitals have become so crowded with Covid patients, that they don’t have enough room to accommodate influenza cases. We usually have between 30-40,000. Influenza kills approximately 30 to 40K people annually. You can prevent many of these deaths by getting to the hospital.
As strict masking and social distance measures were still in effect, last year’s flu epidemic was almost nonexistent.
The flu is likely to come back to life as Americans return to normal living this winter.
These are all happening as the holiday season enters full force. Millions plan to travel next week for large Christmas celebrations. Americans will feel more comfortable taking on health risks this year to celebrate with loved ones, as there were many events cancelled by last year’s pandemic.
Both viruses can spread easily in large gatherings or thousands of people interacted with at stations and airports.
Thompson spoke out about Omicron’s holiday travel.
Dr William Schaffer, an infectious-disease specialist at Vanderbilt University, told DailyMail.com that Americans who plan to attend large gatherings should make sure to get boosted, and even take a Covid test in the days before and after the event to control potential spread of the virus.

However, the U.S. isn’t the only country suffering from rampant Covid spread at this time of year. The situation in several European countries may be a sign that something needs to change.
“Certainly, what?” [Omicron]is showing us in countries other than our own [is that it spreads faster than other variants]And I think soon in our own nation,” Dr Anthony Fauci (the country’s foremost infectious disease expert) said on Good Morning America Thursday morning.
“It’s remarkable ability to efficiently transmit and spread information. The doubling speed of the virus is approximately three days.
Three days takes for the doubling process to occur, which is slightly slower than 2.5 days as reported by South African and British health officials. It is possible that the U.S. will take longer to spread its variant because it is more populous and less densely populated than these countries.
Fauci is still urging Americans to be vaccinated and to have their immunity boosted in order to guard themselves against the Omicron virus.
He stated, “We must do all that we’ve been discussing up until now and more,”
American has discovered the first major Omicron outbreak, at Cornell University in Upstate New York.
School officials reported 930 Covid cases in this week. Nearly every sequenced case showed indicators they could be Omicron. Officials at the school also reported that all Omicron cases found were among fully-vaccinated individuals. The school has data that shows that 97% of students on campus and 97% of staff have been fully vaccinated.
Cornell shut down its campus and is now completing the semester online. Princeton University and New York University are also dealing with cases that have experienced smaller, but nonetheless alarming increases. They made the same steps to stop another Cornell situation.