FDA official says that ‘most people are going to get COVID’

• FDA Commissioner Woodcock stressed the need to ensure that the police, hospital and transportation services don’t break down

• More than 1.4 million new coronavirus cases were reported in the U.S. on Monday

Acting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr Janet Woodcock told the Senate health committee that the country needed to ensure that the police, hospital and transportation services don’t break down as the unprecedented wave of omicron infections across the country forces people to call out sick.

“It’s hard to process what’s happening right now, which is most people are going to get Covid,” Woodcock told the lawmakers on Tuesday. 

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“What we need to do is make sure the hospitals can still function, transportation, other essential services are not disrupted while this happens,” she added.

Rising numbers

More than 1.4 million new coronavirus cases were reported in the U.S. on Monday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The number doesn’t include those who test positive on rapid tests, which don’t get automatically reported to health departments as PCR test results do.

Nearly 145,000 people are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to numbers from the Department of Health and Human Services. The previous record set in January 2021 was 142,000.

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The surge in numbers has left emergency services staff struggling to ensure enough police, nurses, EMTs and firefighters as more and more workers call out with Covid. 

Disrupted networks

Public transit systems in New York and Chicago have suspended or disrupted some services, while airlines are cutting back flights, and public officials have been forced to quarantine at home as the highly contagious omicron variant pierces through vaccine protection and sends large swaths of mostly unvaccinated people to the hospital.

White House chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci told the Senate health committee on Tuesday it’s unclear when the omicron wave will peak due to variation in vaccination coverage across the U.S. Fauci said omicron infections may rise in some parts of the country while they peak and fall in others.

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Picture Credits: CNBC