A former US Marine is treated by paramedics in a negative pressure room on the Covid-19 ward at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Healthcare system and center Medical Center in West Roxbury, Massachusetts on January 11, 2022.
Joseph Prezioso | AFP | beautiful pictures
Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock issued an ominous warning to US lawmakers this week: The nation needs to secure police, hospital and transportation services transport was not disrupted as the unprecedented wave of omicron contamination across the country forced people to call out sick.
“It’s hard to process what’s really happening right now, which is most people are going to get Covid,” Woodcock testified before the Senate health committee on Tuesday. “What we need to do is make sure hospitals can still operate, transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens.”
Just like last winter as public officials tried to contain the spread of Covid, public services and businesses across the US are cutting and limiting working hours, some even temporarily. close the door. This year, however, a lot of workers fell ill with the virus, disrupting services that public officials are trying to keep public.
From New York to Los Angeles, emergency services are struggling to get enough police, nurses, EMTs and firefighters as more workers call in with Covid. Public transit systems in New York and Chicago are suspending or already disrupting some services, airlines are cutting flights and public officials have been forced to quarantine at home as the omicron variant It is very easy to get infected through vaccine defenses and send large numbers of mostly unvaccinated people to the hospital.
According to an analysis of CNBC data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the United States reported a pandemic record of nearly 1.5 million new Covid infections on Monday with an average of about 750,000 new infections per day for the past five days. last week. This compares with the seven-day average of about 252,000 new cases per day a year ago.
Hospitalization rates are also higher than last winter’s peak – before the vaccine was widely distributed – and continue to rise. More than 152,000 people in the US have been hospitalized with Covid as of Wednesday, up 18 percent from the previous week, according to Department of Health and Human Services data.
Gillian Schmitz, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said in an interview: “Many places around the country are getting to the point where even their backup staff are getting sick. The stress on frontline workers is worse now than at any other point in the pandemic, she said. “Pretty much everyone across the country is now feeling the surge of cases that are affecting payrolls.”
Hospitals were already facing a shortage of nurses before the US first discovered the omicron variant in early December. The American Nurses Association in September called on the Biden administration to declare the condition. The nurse shortage was a national crisis, as the delta variant was on the rise in many parts of the country at the time.
ANA President Ernest Grant said at the time: “The nation’s healthcare delivery system is overwhelmed, and nurses are tired and frustrated as this persistent pandemic rages without end,” ANA President Ernest Grant said at the time. “Nurses alone cannot solve this long-standing problem and we don’t have to shoulder our burden,” says Grant.
The omicron variant now threatens to exacerbate long-standing staff shortages in hospitals by forcing nurses to call out sick. Although most nurses are fully immunized, omicrons were able to avoid some of the protections provided by vaccinations, causing more breakthrough infections around the country.
CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told reporters at the White House Covid-19 press conference on Wednesday: . To help alleviate potential staffing shortages, last month the agency cut quarantine periods for some healthcare workers receiving Covid – a controversial move being criticized by nursing groups. across the country protested.
The Biden administration has deployed hundreds of military doctors and nurses to assist overwhelmed hospitals and directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide emergency hospital beds and deploy ambulances and EMS teams to patient transport.
Police, fire and transit agencies are also struggling with staffing as omicrons force people to call out sick. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti said more than 800 police and firefighters were in home isolation due to a positive Covid-19 test as of last Thursday.
“This is an extremely difficult moment. The omicron variant has flared up like wildfire,” Garcetti told a news conference.
In New York City, 18% of EMS workers and 13% of firefighters were free of Covid as of Tuesday, down from 30% for EMS and 18% for firefighters a few days earlier, according to FDNY. . The New York City Police Department told CNBC on Tuesday that 12.5% of the force was cleared of the disease last Friday.
New York’s subway, the nation’s largest subway, also has Service suspended on some lines due to staff shortage caused by omicron. The Chicago Department of Transportation, the nation’s second-largest operator of public transit, has also tell the public There may be service interruptions when workers complain of illness due to Covid.
The virus is also infecting senior city and state officials. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday that she tested positive for Covid and will work from home while she is isolated with cold-like symptoms. Lightfoot said she is fully vaccinated and healthy. West Virginia Governor Jim Justice announced early Wednesday that he also tested positive, despite being fully vaccinated and in good health.
Airlines began canceling flights just before Christmas because employees were infected with omicrons that left them at a loss. United, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, SkyWest…
The United CEO on Monday told employees that 3,000 workers, about 4% of the workforce in the US, are very active against Covid.
“Just an example, in a day alone in Newark [New Jersey], almost a third of our workforce is sick,” Scott Kirby said in an employee note.
Anthony Fauci told the Senate health committee on Tuesday that it was unclear when the omicron wave would peak due to a shift in vaccination coverage across the United States. know omicron infections may increase in some parts of the country as they peak and decline. in others.
“It’s a very insidious virus,” Fauci told lawmakers at the hearing. “It has fooled everyone – from the first time it reached the plains to now omicron – it is very unpredictable and we are trying as hard as we can.”
– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs and Nate Rattner contributed to this report
