Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Dec 30, 2021 11:20:51 GMT -5
Uyica so far is stilll having the celebration outside Bank of Utica...
Omicron surge is 'unlike anything we've ever seen,' expert say
CNN)An unprecedented spike in Covid-19 cases fueled by the fast-moving Omicron variant is crushing hospitals across the United States, with doctors describing packed emergency rooms as health experts implore New Year's Eve revelers to keep parties small and outdoors to help avert an even worse surge.
"It's unlike anything we've ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of Covid," Dr. James Phillips, who works in Washington, DC, said Wednesday, when the nation hit a new pandemic high of 300,886 average new daily cases over the prior week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
"What we're experiencing right now is an absolute overwhelming of the emergency departments" in Washington, Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN's Jim Acosta.
It's a scene playing out across the country as record case counts are reported from New Jersey and New York to Chicago, where hospital bed capacity also is a concern. In Arizona and New Mexico, federal medical personnel have deployed to provide Covid-19 surge support. And in Georgia, six major health systems with recent 100% to 200% jumps in Covid-19 hospitalizations -- with most patients unvaccinated -- joined to publicly urge people to seek coronavirus testing elsewhere so their emergency rooms can focus on those with critical needs.
n Louisiana, Covid-19 hospitalizations have tripled in the past two weeks as a new record for cases was set, according to the state. Symptomatic patients have been showing up at Baton Rouge's Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center to get tested, said the chief medical officer, Dr. Catherine O'Neal.
"We're seeing an increase in admissions that is startling," she told CNN on Wednesday.
Many patients O'Neal sees are unvaccinated, she said. They often have more severe illness with pneumonia and need to be intubated or need high-flow oxygen. Others who haven't had a booster or are only partially vaccinated are suffering with a kind of flu-like illness and are "fragile," she said.
"They're older, they have heart failure, they have COPD, and they can't handle Covid, even when they're vaccinated," O'Neal said. "Luckily, most of those people are turning around after a couple days and going home, which is a good thing."
Hospitalizations are also peaking in Maryland, where 2,046 people were fighting Covid-19 in a hospital as of Tuesday. The state reported 10,873 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, the highest number yet of new cases in a 24-hour period, according to state data.
Nationwide, nearly 78% of ICU beds are in use, with 22% of those occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to data from the US Health and Human Services Department. And pediatric hospital admissions for Covid-19 are only 2.2% lower than their peak in early September, continuing a rapid increase since mid-December.
Unvaccinated people "are 17 times more likely" to be hospitalized with Covid-19, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday. Nearly 62% of the total US population is fully vaccinated, and 33% of those have gotten a booster shot, data from the CDC shows.
"What I can tell you is that compared to people who are boosted, if you are unvaccinated, you are 10 times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality," she said at a White House Covid-19 briefing.
Indeed, the number of lives the virus is claiming jumped this week by about 18%, for an average of 1,546 deaths each day, according to the data. And more than 44,000 people could die of Covid-19 in the next four weeks, according to an ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday.
www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
Omicron surge is 'unlike anything we've ever seen,' expert say
CNN)An unprecedented spike in Covid-19 cases fueled by the fast-moving Omicron variant is crushing hospitals across the United States, with doctors describing packed emergency rooms as health experts implore New Year's Eve revelers to keep parties small and outdoors to help avert an even worse surge.
"It's unlike anything we've ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of Covid," Dr. James Phillips, who works in Washington, DC, said Wednesday, when the nation hit a new pandemic high of 300,886 average new daily cases over the prior week, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
"What we're experiencing right now is an absolute overwhelming of the emergency departments" in Washington, Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN's Jim Acosta.
It's a scene playing out across the country as record case counts are reported from New Jersey and New York to Chicago, where hospital bed capacity also is a concern. In Arizona and New Mexico, federal medical personnel have deployed to provide Covid-19 surge support. And in Georgia, six major health systems with recent 100% to 200% jumps in Covid-19 hospitalizations -- with most patients unvaccinated -- joined to publicly urge people to seek coronavirus testing elsewhere so their emergency rooms can focus on those with critical needs.
n Louisiana, Covid-19 hospitalizations have tripled in the past two weeks as a new record for cases was set, according to the state. Symptomatic patients have been showing up at Baton Rouge's Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center to get tested, said the chief medical officer, Dr. Catherine O'Neal.
"We're seeing an increase in admissions that is startling," she told CNN on Wednesday.
Many patients O'Neal sees are unvaccinated, she said. They often have more severe illness with pneumonia and need to be intubated or need high-flow oxygen. Others who haven't had a booster or are only partially vaccinated are suffering with a kind of flu-like illness and are "fragile," she said.
"They're older, they have heart failure, they have COPD, and they can't handle Covid, even when they're vaccinated," O'Neal said. "Luckily, most of those people are turning around after a couple days and going home, which is a good thing."
Hospitalizations are also peaking in Maryland, where 2,046 people were fighting Covid-19 in a hospital as of Tuesday. The state reported 10,873 new Covid-19 cases Wednesday, the highest number yet of new cases in a 24-hour period, according to state data.
Nationwide, nearly 78% of ICU beds are in use, with 22% of those occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to data from the US Health and Human Services Department. And pediatric hospital admissions for Covid-19 are only 2.2% lower than their peak in early September, continuing a rapid increase since mid-December.
Unvaccinated people "are 17 times more likely" to be hospitalized with Covid-19, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday. Nearly 62% of the total US population is fully vaccinated, and 33% of those have gotten a booster shot, data from the CDC shows.
"What I can tell you is that compared to people who are boosted, if you are unvaccinated, you are 10 times more likely to be a case and 20 times more likely to be a fatality," she said at a White House Covid-19 briefing.
Indeed, the number of lives the virus is claiming jumped this week by about 18%, for an average of 1,546 deaths each day, according to the data. And more than 44,000 people could die of Covid-19 in the next four weeks, according to an ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Wednesday.
www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/health/us-coronavirus-thursday/index.html
