Read the video transcript here
Paramedics in the US state of Oklahoma pick up an 82-year-old woman.
She is showing typical Covid-19 symptoms after possibly having contact with an infected family member.
Patient:
"I don't want to go to the hospital!"
Paramedic:
"No one wants to go to the hospital."
Paramedic:
"But we have to help you."
The situation in US hospitals is dramatic: admissions due to Covid-19 have increased by a third compared to last week. The number of Covid deaths rose by about 40 percent. There are currently almost 150,000 Covid patients in the clinics in the USA, about twice as many as two weeks ago. Omikron is not primarily to blame for this. The disease control agency CDC attributes the increase in many states primarily to the delta wave. The effects of the much steeper omicron wave are not expected to become apparent until the coming weeks.
It is true that Omikron seems to cause severe illnesses much less frequently. But the mass of infections alone is worrying: On average over the past seven days, the CDC has reported around 750,000 new infections per day. This unprecedented speed of spread is likely to continue to weigh heavily on clinics in many parts of the United States.
Neysa Ernst, Chief Nurse, Johns Hopkins Hospital
“We have patients of all ages – from eight months to 88 years. It's a broad spectrum. Interestingly, in Maryland, 84 percent of hospitalized patients are unvaccinated. I have people here saying, 'I'm so proud that you're a nurse, you help' and so on and so forth. But people need to listen to the science: get vaccinated, get boosted! Get your kids vaccinated, get your kids boosted! Because the health system cannot sustain so many unvaccinated people in the long term.«
There are large regional differences, but on average only 62 percent of US citizens are double vaccinated.
So far, only 23 percent have received the booster that is particularly important for Omikron.
The head of a clinic near Baltimore explains the effects of this.
The intensive care beds in his house are already occupied.
John Chessare, The Greater Baltimore Medical Center
“Unfortunately, on average, the unvaccinated get sick much more severely, filling our hospitals and emergency rooms.
And they infect others.
This country is founded on the pursuit of new knowledge.
It is based on science and universities researching and testing.
I fear if we ever turn away from this, it would be a black day for our country.
We still have to get much better at separating science from politics.«
Meanwhile, the lines at the test centers and test issuing offices are getting longer and longer.
The government provides rapid tests free of charge.
How well that helps to contain the current wave is questionable.
Virologists, on the other hand, are certain: the more infections, the higher the risk that further variants will arise.
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