Stephanie Sy:
Weekend protests and clashes in Europe over new restrictions present the competing pressures politicians face.
It is a problem President Biden will publicly tackle in a speech to Individuals tomorrow, outlining his administration’s response to the newest COVID disaster.
There are such a lot of questions individuals have about Omicron and what we’re studying.
So, becoming a member of me now could be Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious illness specialist and an epidemiologist at New York College’s Grossman Faculty of Drugs. Dr. Gounder additionally cares for sufferers at Bellevue Hospital Heart.
Dr. Gounder, as all the time, thanks for becoming a member of the “NewsHour.”
And allow us to begin there with what you are seeing on the entrance strains. With circumstances skyrocketing there in New York Metropolis, what are you seeing so far as burdens on hospitals and the well being care system?
Dr. Celine Gounder, Infectious Illness and Public Well being Specialist: We’re seeing circumstances of COVID spiking in New York Metropolis. We’re seeing lengthy strains across the block, round blocks, of individuals lining as much as get PCR assessments. Emergency rooms are full.
However I feel the opposite actually vital message right here is that, when it comes to our hospitalization charges, we have now not seen these spike. And to offer you just a little little bit of context, on the peak of the pandemic again within the spring of 2020 at Bellevue Hospital, the place I work, we had over 600 sufferers with COVID on the peak at anybody time.
At present at Bellevue Hospital, we have now 30 sufferers with COVID within the hospital. In order that’s a dramatic distinction. And that is often because so many New Yorkers have gotten vaccinated. It is one of the vaccinated locations within the nation. Over 70 p.c of individuals in New York Metropolis have gotten totally vaccinated.
And so, whereas we’re seeing a whole lot of circumstances, these circumstances will not be translating into hospitalizations and deaths, as they’re in different elements of the nation.