Scientists Say Omicron Will Rise Despite Biden’s New Plan


President Biden on Tuesday outlined new plans to combat the highly contagious variant of Omicron, while public health experts warned that the measures would not be enough to prevent a dire increase in infections and hospitalizations over the next few weeks.

The management’s strategy includes doubling down on vaccination campaigns and supporting hospitals facing a massive influx of patients. Federal officials will direct resources, including army doctors, to support health systems and distribute rapid tests to Americans.

But Mr. Biden has publicly rejected the kind of lockdowns and other drastic measures that were implemented when the pandemic first emerged in early 2020. In interviews Tuesday, some scientists argued that the rapid spread of the variant required stronger mitigation measures.

Some expressed disappointment and alarm at what they described as a timid public health response and complained of an obvious lack of will among politicians and the public at large for more aggressive action.

The crisis is brewing as Americans prepare to head to their holiday gatherings, college students return home for the holidays, and young and old get together for New Year’s parties or travel that could spread the virus further.

Federal health officials on Monday asked healthcare providers to advise their patients to perform rapid Covid tests at home before their holiday meetings, and asked their guests to do the same. But while the tests are available over the counter, prices start at $14 for a two-pack, and many stores are out of stock.

And in stark contrast to advice given last year, Mr. Biden encouraged people to gather and celebrate the holidays as long as they’re vaccinated and taking standard precautions.

At the same time, he warned that the variant is spreading at an unprecedented rate and said there will be Omicron infections among those vaccinated, apparently resigning to the fact that even those receiving boosters can become infected with the highly contagious variant.

“I still don’t quite understand how fast this is moving,” said genomic epidemiologist Joseph Fauver of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “I think it’s going to be awful. I don’t know how else to put it.”

It is not yet clear whether the variant causes milder disease than earlier variants. But there is a concern among some scientists that the concept has circulated widely and is letting the public, fed up with the pandemic, lower their guard.

“It’s an incredibly contagious pathogen, and we don’t know yet its severity and impact on mortality,” said Galit Alter, an immunologist and virologist at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT, and Harvard.

“We must re-establish the importance and rigor of the first wave,” he added. “We’re back in ‘flattening the curve’ mode.”

Saskia Popescu, an Arizona-based infection prevention epidemiologist, said Mr Biden’s steps should be accompanied by greater community-level vigilance.

He said that gatherings in closed areas should be limited in areas where transmission is high, and masks should be worn even at large events held outside. Restaurants should have adequate outdoor seating and ventilation, and check customers’ vaccination status for indoor dining.

“Now is the time to strengthen security measures, and I think people are hesitant because everyone is on fire, but the truth is we need them more than ever,” he said.

Omicron is spreading so fast that the United States cannot afford to wait to observe how things work in other countries, as it has in previous waves, said Dr. Jacob Lemieux.

Americans also said they “can’t bet on the farm” on the less severe disease-producing variant. Vaccines and booster vaccines promoted by Mr. Biden should help reduce the incidence of serious illness, but vaccines are most effective two weeks after administration; By the way, those who have not gone to their shoot are quite sensitive.

The rapid spread of the variant could strain already overburdened hospitals and put vulnerable Americans, including older adults and immunocompromised individuals, at risk.

Emergency physician and academic dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. “We need to double down on protecting them,” Megan Ranney said. “Reducing community spillover in general helps them.”

How is this done? Recommendations range from mandating vaccinations and negative Covid tests on domestic flights to renewing the preventive behaviors recommended since the start of the pandemic, such as frequent hand washing, wearing masks in closed public spaces, avoiding crowds and keeping windows open for ventilation.

“We’ve had this many times,” said Alessandro Vespignani, director of the Network Science Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. “At this point, we know there is a portfolio of interventions that can be layered on.”

Alongside the rapid tests, experts recommend distributing free, high-quality masks and creating a robust public education campaign to let people know how and when to use these tests.

Hundreds of public health experts, aerosol scientists, healthcare providers and advocates signed a letter Monday urging the federal government to encourage the wearing of masks indoors regardless of vaccination status, saying the measure can be implemented quickly and is highly effective.

Experts said the Biden administration plans to provide 500 million free rapid tests to Americans – a good start. However, the tests are only expected to become available in January after many experts fear the Omicron surge will continue for good and the number will be insufficient as the tests are intended to be used frequently.

People will also have to use a website to request free tests. Currently, retail outlets in cities like New York have run out of quick tests, so many Americans can’t easily get a diagnosis before a meeting or flight.

“People have to work hard right now to do the necessary things to prevent infection and transmission,” said epidemiologist Bertha Hidalgo of the University of Alabama, Birmingham School of Public Health.

Ideally, the tests would be made more widely available in places people already routinely visit, such as schools and workplaces, he said.

Despite Mr. Biden’s advice on Tuesday, some experts said Americans should reconsider having family celebrations with grandparents or other potentially vulnerable people or planning New Year’s Eve festivities with friends.

“If you’re holding a holiday meeting right now, chances are that one in 10 people in that room will be infected and don’t know it yet,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy. University of Minnesota.

If you really want to protect yourself during a surge, you need to limit your contact with people in public and in your own home.

Associate member of the Ragon Institute, Dr. Salim Abdool Karim said the Biden administration’s decision not to close entertainment venues, shops or restaurants and to keep schools open with new testing procedures marks the strict choice facing many governments as Omicron rolls out. and director of the AIDS Research Program Center in South Africa.

“We can let people decide for themselves and businesses make their own decisions about risk, or take structured action and say, ‘This shouldn’t happen,'” he said. Given the rapid spread of the virus, choices need to be made quickly: Dr. “Time is not on your side,” Abdool Karim warned.

In the United States, many hospitals are already struggling under the Delta surge due to a staff outflow. Hospitals and nurses began to directly plead with the public to take the outbreak seriously.

While we welcome Mr Biden’s suggestions, Rick Pollack, president of the American Hospitals Association, said on Tuesday that health workers were “pushed to his wife”. He reiterated his call for all Americans to be vaccinated and supplemented as soon as possible.

In Rhode Island, there is little evidence that current measures are sufficient to contain the recent surge. Dr. Ranney said that in some hospitals, the waiting time in the emergency room is more than 12 hours, and doctors treat patients in parking lots.

“There is no nurse,” she said. “There are no beds. There’s no way to give serum to people in the waiting room. There is nothing you can do.”

He added that the administration’s plan to mobilize the National Guard to support overwhelmed hospitals and increase hospital bed numbers is desperately needed.

Standards of care may need to be reassessed, experts said. Staff shortages may require infected healthcare workers to continue working, if possible, despite the risk to patients.

Outraged health workers are begging the public to take every possible step to protect themselves and prevent the health system from collapsing.

“For God’s sake get the vaccine and the vaccine,” said critical care nurse Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “The nurses are at breaking point.”

“A year and a half ago, I likened what we entered into a war, and we were soldiers going to war,” Ms. Turner said. “And I’m telling you, we’re losing the war.”



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