The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said on Sunday that he expected the number of coronaviruses in the US to rise as the Omicron variant spreads.
Fauci said during an appearance on ABC News' "This Week" that it's one thing that we all agree on. It is the most contagious of the previous ones. There is no argument about that.
One of the top priorities of the Biden administration is to keep people out of hospitals, according to Fauci.
He said that the one that would be immediate is to make sure that hospitals don't get overruns because of the rapid spread of this extraordinary variant.
The last weekly average was about 150,000, and it likely will go much higher given the sheer volume of cases that you see now.
People wait in line as city workers give out take- home COVID-19 tests.
Spencer Platt is a photographer.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases diagnosed in the US is more than 176,000. The seven-day average was over 121,000 on December 15.
On November 22, the seven-day average of new cases was over 93,000.
The new variant of the novel coronaviruses appears to be more transmissible than the previous ones, but public-health experts say data shows it produces a less severe disease. Experts said the variant should be taken seriously.
When you have a high volume of infections, it might affect the severity of the infections so that you have more people with less serious infections.
