New wave of COVID disrupts US life as 36 states reported cases of Omicron
New COVID cases in the United States have risen nearly 50% to a seven-day average of 122,000 new infections per day, with hospitalizations rising 40% across the country.
At least 36 states have reported confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, representing about 3% of COVID-19 cases in the country, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing on Wednesday.
At a COVID testing site in the Chicago suburb of Geneva, Illinois, the number of people seeking tests has nearly doubled in the past two weeks.
"Ever since Thanksgiving more people have been coming in," said Mona Kawaiah, who collects the test kits. The site has gone from 30 tests per day before Thanksgiving to now 52 tests per day. "Some of them have the flu symptoms and want to make sure it's not COVID," she said.
As concern over the Omicron variant has disrupted American life anew, universities also canceled events and the National Football League reported a record number of cases.
US diplomatic efforts also hit hard by the new spate of infections with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cutting short a trip to Southeast Asia after learning of a COVID-19 case in the press corps accompanying him.
The United States leads the world in the daily average number of new infections, accounting for one in every 5 infections reported worldwide.
There have been 50 million infections and more than 800,000 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the US since the pandemic began.
Top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans to get booster shots, saying an additional dose of currently available COVID-19 vaccines work against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and there appears to be no need for variant-specific boosters.
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