In the USA, the Omikron variant ensures high corona numbers and more and more hospital admissions. Particularly affected: New York. There is not only a lack of booster vaccinations there.
In view of the rapidly expanding Omicron variant, the New York health authorities are sounding the alarm. Not only are the number of infections skyrocketing, the serious disease progression is also increasing again. Particularly dramatic: More and more children are hospitalized with a viral disease.
In New York, “a four-fold increase in Covid-19 hospital admissions for children under the age of 18 has been noted since the beginning of the month,” the authorities announced on Friday. About half of the patients are younger than five years. Unlike all other age groups in the USA, under five-year-olds are not yet allowed to be vaccinated.
Coronavirus: Hospital admissions on the rise
In the past few weeks, the corona numbers have exploded across the country: According to the Johns Hopkins University, there has been an average of almost 190,000 new infections per day in the United States in the past seven days.
New York alone reported 49,708 new corona cases on December 24th and another 36,454 on December 25th – more than any other US state, as the “” reports. “This is not a surprise,” said Governor Kathy Hochul, according to “CNN”. Omikron is “a very, very contagious variant.” The new virus variant is also driving up the number of infections in Washington DC, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and Florida.
In addition, the serious disease progression is increasing again. On Christmas Eve, more than 69,000 US citizens were hospitalized with Covid, as reported by “CNN”, citing. The data shows that coronavirus hospital admissions in twelve states have increased by at least ten percent compared to the previous week.
Problems with booster vaccinations and tests
In addition, the booster campaign, which had got off to a good start, has stalled. that there is a lack of vaccine for booster vaccinations, especially in nursing homes. New York – like other parts of the country – was too slow with the boosters. This means an increased risk, especially for people living in nursing homes, of dying from corona.
In the United States, just over 60 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. As of December 23, it had 64.3 million Americans, just over 20 percent of the population. In order to convince vaccine opponents and vaccination skeptics to vaccinate, the US government is increasingly using pressure.
At the same time, the authorities are confronted with a run on the test infrastructure, which is hardly developed compared to Germany. The U.S. government’s top pandemic adviser Anthony Fauci admitted a “testing problem” on Sunday and promised to make more tests available to citizens over the next month. It is not available for all tests, Fauci said. The problem should be resolved “soon”.
Thousands of flights are canceled because of Omikron
Not only the hospitals in the USA are struggling with the new wave of Omikron. With its high infectivity, the virus variant has also caused the cancellation of thousands of flights over the Christmas days, reports “CNN”. The weather was partly to blame, but the airlines “Delta” and “United” had admitted that they had to struggle with personnel problems due to the Omikron variant.
The development in the USA could show what Germany is facing in view of the Omikron variant. Although the vaccination rate here is higher than in the United States, many experts believe that it is not enough to stop the Omikron wave in Germany. At least 58.9 million people in Germany have been vaccinated twice or have received a single vaccination from Johnson & Johnson, according to Monday. That is 70.8 percent of the total population. At least 30.0 million people (36.0 percent) also received a “booster”.
Sources:, , AFP, , .
Source From: Stern
