Anthony Fauci said the administration was ramping up to cope.
Washington:
Senior U.S. pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci on Sunday admitted a Covid “testing problem” as the Omicron strain overwhelms the nation, and he vowed to make more testing available to Americans next month.
“One of the issues is that it won’t be fully available to everyone until January, and there are still issues now of people having trouble getting tested,” Fauci told the TBEN talk show. “This week”.
“But we are addressing the problem of testing,” he added, saying it should be fixed “very soon”.
Covid cases have skyrocketed in the United States in recent weeks, with the highly infectious variant of Omicron becoming the dominant strain, overwhelming hospitals and Covid testing sites as Americans rushed to get tested for vacation travel.
Authorities have recorded an average of more than 175,000 new cases daily in the recent period, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Omicron forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights in the United States as crews became ill or had to quarantine themselves after being exposed to the virus and airlines rushed to re-let frustrated passengers who were hoping spend Christmas with their family.
Fauci said the administration was ramping up to cope.
“The multi-part component of the President’s response is to ensure that we have adequate backup for hospitals with military personnel, doctors, nurses and other health care providers, ensuring that ‘there is enough PPE (personal protective equipment) and that, if necessary, there are enough ventilators in the national strategic stock, ”he said.
The White House adviser also pointed out that Omicron was “extraordinarily contagious”.
At the same time, Fauci noted that recent studies in South Africa and Britain indicate that Omicron was less likely to result in hospitalization than previous strains of the virus and that the length of hospital stays and the patients’ oxygen requirements were lower.
But Fauci also warned that Omicron’s lower apparent gravity would likely be neutralized by the speed at which it is spreading.
“The issue we don’t want to get complacent about… is that when you have such a high volume of new infections, it could replace a real decrease in severity,” Fauci said.
On Tuesday, the White House announced its new Covid response plan, which includes additional aid to hospitals and increased vaccination and testing, but no new restrictions until the year-end vacation.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by The Bharat Express News staff and is posted Platforms.)
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