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WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 22: U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy speaks before introducing Vice President Kamala Harris to speak about Covid-19 vaccine equity in the South Court Auditorium at the White House complex November 22, 2021 in Washington, DC. The White House announced Monday a $1.5 billion initiative aimed at shoring up healthcare access in rural and underserved areas.
The surgeon general for the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, made statements on Sunday warning that the Omicron variant's spread in the country has not yet peaked, arguing that the next few weeks will be especially "tough" for Americans.
The medical professional had an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" where he noted the "good news" of the numerical plateaus and drops in known cases in the Northeast, especially in New York City and New Jersey. However, he said that the challenge was that the United States was moving unequally.
Omicron Variant
Murthy added that the people of the United States should not expect a national peak in the coming days. The Omicron coronavirus variant has caused a massive surge of cases in the U.S., raising the average daily cases to more than 800,000 as of Saturday.
The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Dr. Ashish Jha, also expressed her concerns that the next few weeks will cause overwhelming strain to hospitals and medical staff. She said that, currently, there were roughly 150,000 people in the hospital who were infected with the coronavirus, the New York Times reported.
Murthy said that the brutal Winter surge brought by the Omicron variant is the reason why authorities were prioritizing delivering resources to hospitals that are struggling. The surgeon general emphasized the need to double down on precautions that are currently in place.
The medical professional also endorsed the coronavirus vaccines by saying that they were working very well in keeping people out of hospitals and from severe illnesses. Murthy noted this is the reason why officials wanted everyone to get vaccinated against the deadly disease as soon as they could and even get booster shots.
In another interview with ABC's "This Week," Murthy said that it was "very disappointing" that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to block the Biden administration's vaccine-or-test requirement for large private businesses. Murthy said that the decision was a setback for public health because the requirements basically helped protect the community at large and make workplaces safer for workers and customers, the New York Post reported.
Situation in the United States
The situation shows varying levels of severity of the Omicron variant's spread in different areas in the United States. In New York State, for example, authorities only recorded roughly 48,000 cases on Friday, which is a 47% drop from the previous week's case count, said Gov. Kathy Hochul on Saturday.
In a statement, Hochul said that the region was turning the corner on the winter surge but argued that they were not yet in the clear. On the other hand, Minnesota also observed declining intensive-care hospitalizations for COVID-19. Washington, D.C., and other city officials in the eastern half of the country have reported lower cases.
However, New York's drop in known cases does not mirror the situation seen across the United States. Both Oklahoma and Georgia reported more than a 100% rise in weekly COVID-19 cases based on an analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, which also showed Colorado with a 90% increase, USA Today reported.
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