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 The staggering pace of Omicron's spread has snarled life across the
country, upending the restart of school after the holiday break,
halting air travel, shuttering entertainment venues and throwing a
monkey wrench into back-to-office plans.
The rolling seven-day average number of new COVID-19 cases in the
United States hit 540,000, a new high for an eighth consecutive day
on Tuesday. Hospitalizations of COVID patients have risen 45% in the
past seven days and stand at over 111,000, a figure not seen since
January 2021.
"(Omicron) could still stress our hospital system because a certain
proportion of a large volume of cases, no matter what, are going to
be severe," Fauci told reporters at a White House briefing.
In Ohio, the state with the second-highest per capita rate of
COVID-19 hospitalizations in the country after Delaware, staff at a
small community hospital said they are struggling to cope with the
influx of patients.
Some patients have been in the 12-bed intensive care unit (ICU) at
Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls for as many as six weeks,
with most appearing to be suffering from the Delta variant, hospital
staff said.
Patients as young as 30 are on ventilators, and three patients have
died in a day on multiple occasions in the past couple of months,
said Susan Straus, the hospital's critical care director.
Doctor William Paster said roughly 80% of COVID patients at the
hospital were unvaccinated and ward nurse Jodi Parsons said nearly
all patients who required ICU care were unvaccinated. Among the
vaccinated, most survive the virus, even those with underlying
health issues, Paster said.
"We've never seen numbers like we’re seeing now, and it’s totally
overwhelming," said Justine Neuwirth, a respiratory therapist at the
hospital.
Other states also are feeling the strain of rising hospitalizations.
Maryland is under a 30-day state of emergency as hospitalizations
reached a new pandemic high on Tuesday.
Delaware, Illinois, Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C., have
reported record numbers of hospitalized COVID patients in recent
days.
So far, deaths nationally have held steady at about 1,300 on average
each day, according to a Reuters count.
SCHOOL WOES
Omicron's rapid spread has forced many companies and school
officials to reconsider plans for returning to work and classes.
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 While most public school districts nationwide
opted to reopen this week after the holidays,
cities including Milwaukee, Atlanta and Detroit
either implemented online instruction or delayed
back-to-school due to staff shortages and
Omicron concerns.
In Chicago, the nation's third-largest school
district, officials canceled classes on
Wednesday amid a dispute with the teachers'
union.
The move came after the union voted late on
Tuesday to return to remote learning and pushed
for more rigorous safety protocols, including
testing and mandatory vaccinations for students.
Chicago officials, including Mayor Lori
Lightfoot, have been pressing to keep classrooms
open, citing low hospitalization rates among the
city's children and the adverse impact remote
learning can have on minority and poor students
in particular.
The Chicago Teachers Union has urged its members
to stay out of the classroom and work remotely
through Jan. 18, or return sooner if the city
reached minimum health-safety thresholds set
last year as a condition for in-person learning.
Halle Quezada, a third-grade teacher in Chicago
who has two children, ages 4 and 6, in the
system, said she is frustrated the district has
not taken more steps to address risks posed by
the virus.
Her immunocompromised husband spent more than a
week in the hospital last fall after contracting
a breakthrough COVID-19 case, and she is
desperate not to repeat the experience.
"Right now I don’t trust the system to protect
my children," said Quezada, 34, who pulled her
kids from school this week even as she went into
her own classroom to teach.
(Reporting by Maria Caspani in New York, Joseph
Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, Lisa Shumaker in
Chicago and Shannon Stapleton in Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio; additional reporting by Susan Heavey in
Washington and Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico;
Writing by Maria Caspani; Editing by Colleen
Jenkins, Bill Berkrot and Jonathan Oatis)
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