Alert in the US for the next "viral storm" of covid-19 0:46
(CNN) -
President Joe Biden's top health officials attended a briefing Thursday afternoon at the White House with a warning and a request.
Sitting at the head of his long conference table surrounded by the best members of his covid-19 response team, Biden listened attentively as officials set the limits of an impending coronavirus wave that could rapidly accelerate, flood hospitals and send to the country to another bleak winter.
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However, Biden's team also arrived at the evergreen-adorned Roosevelt Room with potentially more positive news: Many of those cases will remain mild or even asymptomatic in vaccinated people, particularly those who received the booster shot.
It was a message officials urged Biden to deliver to the public in the clearest terms possible, according to people familiar with the session.
By establishing the marked difference in outcomes between infections in vaccinated and unvaccinated people, you could illustrate the severity of the moment.
So Biden and his team - which included Dr. Anthony Fauci, two leading vaccine experts from the National Institutes of Health, the White House covid-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients, and his deputy Natalie Quillia -, they went to work handwriting the dire warning that he would deliver later when the cameras entered the room.
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Biden opened his appearance by stating that he wanted to deliver a "direct message" to the American people.
"For the unvaccinated, we are facing a winter of serious illness and death for the unvaccinated; for them, their families and the hospitals, they will soon overflow. But there is good news: if you are vaccinated and you have your booster shot, you are protected. of serious illness and death, "said the president.
Biden had determined in advance that his message would be confused if he answered any questions later, so he sat unusually quiet as reporters peppered him on the way out.
The rise of the omicron variant has pushed the nation, and the White House, back into an uncertain pandemic reality, posing political and public health challenges for a leader whose success depends almost entirely on his ability to contain the virus. .
Covid-19 ravages the United States: the increase in cases and hospitalizations cause disorders in society
Cases and hospitalizations are already increasing in some parts of the country, leading to a 31% increase in cases and a 20% increase in hospitalizations from two weeks ago.
Yet Biden and his team have all but ruled out further closures, and behind the scenes, administration officials have been debating how to divert public attention from the total number of cases, which seems likely to rise, even if many are mild, toward the number of serious infections that strain health systems and cause interruptions in normal life.
Focusing on severity, rather than case numbers
Some of Biden's advisers are encouraging the administration to begin publicly discussing how to live alongside a virus that shows no signs of going away, a potentially drastic change in messages for a White House that once touted being free from the virus.
Vaccines prevented more than 1 million deaths from covid-19 and more than 10 million hospitalizations in the US, study estimates
Diverting the public's attention away from the total number of infections and only towards severe cases - as some Biden advisers have encouraged - could prove challenging after nearly two years of intense focus on the ups and downs of the pandemic.
It's part of a growing conundrum facing Biden as the covid-19 pandemic refuses to abate.
"We're getting to the point where ... it's all about severity," Xavier Becerra, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a meeting with reporters this week.
"It's not about cases. It's about gravity."
Becerra said the problem came up recently during a meeting at the White House with Biden's covid-19 response team.
Other officials also said the question of how to refocus the public from total cases to the severity of the disease has been a constant topic of discussion within the administration.
"There is a degree of difficulty that arises now in trying to decide what it means to be severe and what needs to be done to stay outside of that severity threshold," Becerra said.
"But I think that's where we're headed, it's to try to be able to tell that to the public."
What we know about the severity of omicron, according to an infectologist 0:42
Administration officials acknowledge that the omicron surge is likely to affect the country, a psychological setback for a population that has become very good at understanding the pandemic.
In some places where vaccination rates are lagging, the consequences will be debilitating, administration officials fear.
But in areas where most people have received their first shots and boosters, the effects could be minimal.
"There is a delta surge now that even if we didn't have an omicron, it would be a real challenge for unvaccinated people ... Those are the makings of a perfect storm," said a senior administration official.
"That's why the message has to be: 'Get vaccinated, and if you're vaccinated, get a booster.'"
That's the imperative Biden conveyed in comments he made with his team in the Roosevelt Room on Thursday.
For the president, how to proceed with a new increase is a question not only of public health but also of policy.
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Biden and his team have long claimed that ending the pandemic and returning the economy to normal is the cure for their political woes.
An increase in cases during the summer due to the delta variant, coupled with renewed mask use restrictions and requirements coincided with a weakening of their approval ratings.
Things are different this time, Biden's aides insist, noting that more Americans are now vaccinated and citing critical lessons drawn from the experience of fighting the delta.
"We have the tools to combat this virus, including omicron, and we are in a very different and stronger place than we were a year ago and there is no need to shut down," Zients said this week.
Still, the rise of omicron has caused the White House to begin to contemplate all of its options before a potential spike in cases.
Officials said their priorities include making sure hospitals have the resources to deal with a potential influx of patients, particularly in areas where vaccination rates remain low.
The administration has deployed public health emergency teams to states experiencing an increase in cases and hospitalizations.
And officials plan to put a renewed emphasis on the importance of wearing masks in public places.
"They have to be prepared for any scenario, even if it turns out that the disease is less serious," an official said.
Becerra said during the meeting with journalists that the administration may have to ask Congress for more funds to combat the pandemic, citing the unknowns of the new variant.
"Are we going to have more than $ 10 billion in needs and costs in covid-19, especially in regards to testing?" Said Becerra.
"There is a very good chance that we will, depending on where Omicron takes us."
"Tell that quarterback he has to get vaccinated!"
Biden's stern warning this week came two days after officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released several models showing the trajectory of the virus. during a call with state and local health officials.
The model, along with data from Europe, indicated that the number of COVID-19 cases caused by the omicron variant has the potential to double every other day.
It's not yet clear if omicron is a milder variant, but its rapid spread is sure to overwhelm hospitals, experts say.
"When you think about this virus having the potential to double every other day, in a couple of weeks we will face a lot of cases of omicron," said Lori Tremmel Freeman, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, who participated in Tuesday's call.
"That model implies that sometime in January, we will be in a different stage of omicron recognition, perhaps even as a predominant virus. However, we are still learning about gravity, transmissibility," Freeman said.
"Data is emerging from all over the world."
There is evidence from South Africa, where the variant was first identified, that the cases could be less severe.
And early research suggests that vaccines plus a booster shot continue to protect against severe disease, even as the overall number of cases increases.
"When you look at the first data, it appears that there is a decrease in the severity expressed by the hospitalization," Fauci told CNN this week.
"The real question is, is this an inherent decrease in the virulence of the virus or is it because there are so many people in the population who have already been infected?"
Still, the specific information on the severity of the disease caused by omicron remains a mystery.
And less severe cases will still require widespread vaccination, which remains elusive in the United States, despite Biden's efforts.
White House officials recently announced new steps to promote vaccination and booster shots, including family clinics that make it convenient for all eligible age groups to receive doses.
However, other aspects of the president's plan to expand vaccines have stalled.
The courts have stopped two major vaccine mandate requirements, one related to federal contractors and another aimed at companies with 100 or more employees.
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They have not only faced legal scrutiny.
The terms have also been politically difficult for some Democrats, including two senators who voted with Republicans last week to repeal the rule on private companies.
Some Democratic governors have also expressed unease over the term, including Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, who is otherwise a close White House ally.
Biden himself has left few opportunities to encourage Americans to get vaccinated.
Traveling this week in Kentucky - one of the most conservative places he's visited thus far as president, and one where only 53.5% of residents are fully vaccinated - he came across a woman named Angela wearing a Green Bay Packers hat. .
"God loves you!" Biden exclaimed, before issuing a mild rebuke to Aaron Rogers, the Green Bay player who refused to get a shot: "Tell the quarterback he should get vaccinated."
Troubled policies against a pandemic
Biden's aides attribute a weakening in their approval ratings that began over the summer with the lingering pandemic, which gained traction as the delta variant swept across the country.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS released this week found that the president's overall approval rating remained the same as a previous poll: 49% approve and 51% disapprove.
Those ratings are similar to recent polls from AP-NORC and Reuters / Ipsos.
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The only proven issue where Biden's rating outperforms his overall reviews is his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which 54% approve.
But that's much lower than in April, when 66% said they approved of his handling of covid-19.
A renewed wave of covid-19 also threatens to overwhelm a presidential agenda that suffered another setback this week, when Democrats signaled they would reject Biden's broad spending plan for next year after failing to reach an agreement with Senator Joe. Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat is now the president's main negotiating counterpart on the plan.
At the White House, the pandemic has slowed another Christmas season, despite efforts to keep the holidays normal.
The first lady's office decided to drastically reduce the usual list of Christmas parties, opting instead for smaller events with open doors.
Guests attending the 30-minute tours must be tested for COVID-19 within 48 hours of their visit if they cannot attest to being fully vaccinated.
Typically, the president and first lady can host several dozen events during the holiday season, sometimes making more than one appearances per day.
In some, they can stand for hours taking photos and shaking hands.
This year, Biden chose to thank his fans at a Christmas reception at a nearby hotel.
Speaking at a cocktail party Tuesday night, he didn't avert his disappointment at another less joyous Christmas from the raging pandemic.
"I was hopeful that by now each of you, who helped us get to where we are, would have had full access to the White House," he said.
"We had all kinds of plans ... We were hoping that people would have decided to get all their shots."
Despite the impending increase, he hoped that things would soon return to normal: "Next year, and this year, before it ends, in the White House. In the White House," he said.
So you can get Santa Claus to appear in your Zoom 0:46