This is the progress of the omicron variant in the world 4:57
(CNN) - The
United States kicked off 2022 amid a huge surge in COVID-19 cases, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant, which some experts warn will be unlike any other time in the pandemic.
"What we have to understand is that our healthcare system is in a very different place than we were in previous waves," emergency medicine professor Dr. Esther Choo told CNN on Saturday.
"We have an extremely high number of lost healthcare workers, we have lost at least 20% of our healthcare workforce, probably more."
"This strain is so contagious," added Choo, "that I think we all know many, many colleagues who are currently infected or have symptoms and are in quarantine."
The large number of health care personnel who have been released from the virus will also have an impact on Americans' medical appointments and could create dangerous circumstances when people are hospitalized with COVID-19, said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean on Friday. from the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor University.
"That's a different kind of one-two hit: the people who go into hospitals ... and all the healthcare workers who are out of the workforce," he told CNN.
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New Years holidays limited by omicron 0:47
But the last variant doesn't just reduce the number of healthcare personnel.
As the virus spreads through American communities, personnel problems already disrupt parts of daily life.
Plagued with staffing problems, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced last week that several subway lines were suspended.
In Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati declared a state of emergency due to staff shortages at the city's fire department following an increase in covid-19 infections, saying in the statement that if the problem is not resolved , "would substantially undermine" first responders.
And amid a busy Christmas season, thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed because staff and crew say they are sick.
"We are seeing an increase in patients again, unprecedented in this pandemic," warned Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital on Saturday.
"What is coming for the rest of the country could be very serious and they need to be prepared."
The vast majority of patients are not yet vaccinated, says an expert
Healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic say unvaccinated Americans continue to generate COVID-19 hospitalizations in the latest surge, much like the surge in the summer, when the delta variant devastated parts of the country.
Despite a year of calls from public health experts to get vaccinated, and now expanded, only about 62% of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. USA (CDC).
And about 33.4% of those who are fully vaccinated have received their booster doses, the data shows.
"If you're not vaccinated, that's the group that's still at highest risk," Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN on Saturday.
"The adults who enter my institution, the vast majority, remain unvaccinated."
Deaths by covid represent population of these countries 0:57
Dr. Catherine O'Neal, medical director of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said hospital admissions and emergency department visits at her facility have tripled in the past week.
"What we are seeing is that ... our vaccinated patients do not get sick and our vaccinated patients, frail and with multiple comorbidities, need to be admitted, but their admissions are shorter and they can leave the hospital after several days," said O 'Neal.
"Our unvaccinated patients are the sickest patients, they are the patients most likely to be on the ventilator."
The hospital is so limited by increasing numbers, they worry they won't be able to "serve patients the way we want to serve them tomorrow," O'Neal added.
"We are running out of tests, we are running out of space, we are overwhelmed in the emergency room," he added.
Georgia's Three Large School Districts Return to Remote Classes
Children's hospitalizations have also risen, with some hospitals reporting some of the highest numbers they have seen since the start of the pandemic.
About 378 children were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 on any day of the week ending Dec. 28, according to data released last week by the CDC and the US Department of Health and Human Services.
That average is an increase of more than 66% from the previous week, and breaks the country's previous record of an average of 342 children admitted to hospitals daily, which was observed in late August and early September.
The virus is not specifically targeting children this time, Hotez told CNN on Saturday, but because more viruses are now circulating in communities, more children are more likely to be infected as well.
And those pediatric numbers are about to get worse as schools reopen, Hotez added, especially in high-transmission areas.
"It may be the case that in some school districts, where things are so difficult right now in omicron terms for the next two weeks, it might be wise to delay things for a couple more weeks," Hotez said.
"It will be a very challenging time, people will have to be patient."
This is how Latin America prepares to fight omicron 4:53
In Georgia, three large Atlanta-area school districts will start class remotely.
The Atlanta Public Schools (APS) announced that all schools in the district will operate virtually through Jan. 7 for all students and staff, citing increasing numbers.
"Due to the rapid increase in positive cases in the Atlanta metropolitan area, students will begin virtual classes from Tuesday, January 4 to Friday, January 7," said a statement Saturday.
"Our current plan is to resume in-person instruction on Monday, January 10," he added.
"All APS staff are required to report to their workplace on Monday, January 3 for mandatory covid-19 surveillance testing, unless they are ill. Data collected from staff testing will be used for future planning."
The move, APS said, will allow students and staff to be screened and isolated and quarantined as necessary according to CDC and health department guidelines.
Fulton County Schools and DeKalb County Schools also announced Saturday that they will begin online as students return to classes after the break.
CNN's Claudia Domínguez contributed to this report.
