The number of Covid cases is on the rise again in the United States of America, and this time, it’s the Omicron variant that is forming the majority of the cases. Just as Americans were recovering from the effects of the deadly delta wave, the Omicron wave threatened to spoil another few months of freedom which was well earned.
The U S Prepared To Do Everything To Tackle Omicron Wave Efficiently
The tremendous rise in death rates during the peak of the delta wave surprised everyone, and health authorities are trying to ensure that during the rise of the Omicron wave, the death rate goes nowhere near those staggering figures.
For this, the health experts, as well as the Biden administration are ready to do whatever they can. Vaccination is deemed to be the best form of protection against coronavirus. While vaccines don’t entirely eliminate the risk of suffering from the virus in the future, it certainly reduces the fatality rate of the mass consensus by large margins. Therefore, the administration, as well as the health experts, have been pushing the citizens to get vaccinated at the earliest and are also promoting the booster shot program as it is supposed to provide the best form of protection there is against the Omicron variant.
Not much is known about the Omicron variant to date, apart from the fact that it is highly contagious. This has been proved by the surge in the Omicron variant-related covid cases in the last few weeks in the country. In such a scenario, the need for getting vaccinated rises even more, and thus the Biden administration is leaving no stone unturned to prepare the citizens for the Omicron wave. The White House is purchasing around 500 million at-home Covid tests which Americans can easily avail of through a website, starting from January. The Biden administration is also ready to deploy 1,000 medical personnel from the military to provide support to the hospitals in case they are running understaffed or are overwhelmed by the number of patients due to the rise in cases in January and February when it is expected that the Omicron wave will be at its peak.
The Omicron variant currently represents around 73% of the Covid-19 cases in the U.S. The percentage rose from around 11% last week and 1% last to last week, which indicates that it has lived up to its reputation of being highly contagious.
President Biden warned last week that the unvaccinated were going to face a winter of severe illness and death and thus pleaded to show no restraint towards getting vaccinated. The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for companies also got the green signal following a court order, thus leveraging employees to get vaccinated in order to keep their jobs and pose no threat to fellow employees.
The White House has already enacted the Defence Production Act to manufacture in-home test kits to provide people with the test kits at their home, thereby reducing the rush at hospitals and also reducing the chances of the virus transmitting from one person to another.
The Omicron variant’s rapid sweep across the U.S has already threatened the plans of many Americans who were wishing to travel during the holiday season to be with their families. Just when things were looking better for the Americans, the Omicron wave looks to spoil the party, but things are still in control, and it is expected that those who have been vaccinated with both doses and also have been administered the booster shot are relatively safe in terms of showing symptoms after being affected by the variant unlike those who haven’t been vaccinated. This is the biggest reason that governments of different nations are pushing their citizens to get vaccinated.