Dr. Anthony Fauci is in Washington, DC, for a meeting with President Joe Biden and other members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team.
The White House's chief medical advisor said Friday that there was a surge of infections caused by the omicron variant in the U.S.
Fauci said during a White House briefing that they are looking over their shoulder at an oncoming omicron surge. Unvaccinated individuals are at a high risk of serious involvement.
The seven-day average of new hospital admissions for Covid increased 4% from the previous week.
Omicron will become the dominant variant in the US in a few weeks, according to Fauci. The projection was echoed by Walensky.
Unvaccinated individuals were urged to get their shots and for people who already are fully vaccined to get boosted as soon as they are eligible after completing their two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna.
Fauci said that the fully vaccine is doing better than the optimum protection.
Fauci told CNBC that regulators are open to reconsidering the definition of full vaccination against Covid as cases rise.
The delta variant comprised about 98% of all Covid cases analyzed by the CDC last week ending Saturday.
In certain areas of the country, Omicron makes up a higher percentage of cases. In the New York and New Jersey region, more than 10% of cases last week were omicron.
