Biden to address US on Omicron as New York reports record cases

NEW YORK • United States President Joe Biden will address the country tomorrow to respond to the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, which has sent infections soaring and raised new fears over the country's health and its economy in the months to come.

Mr Biden "will announce new steps the administration is taking to help communities in need of assistance", White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki wrote on Twitter last Saturday, "while also issuing a stark warning of what the winter will look like for Americans that choose to remain unvaccinated".

"We are prepared for the rising case levels," she wrote, and Mr Biden "will detail how we will respond to this challenge".

"He will remind Americans that they can protect themselves from severe illness from Covid-19 by getting vaccinated and getting their booster shot when they are eligible," she added.

The remarks will come as officials face new questions about how they will respond to the challenges of a pandemic that has persisted well beyond their expectations.

Vice-President Kamala Harris drew criticism over the weekend for saying in a media interview that the administration was blindsided by the new variant and the one that preceded it, Delta, which drove spikes in infections and deaths.

"We didn't see Delta coming," Ms Harris said. "I think most scientists - upon whose advice and direction we have relied - didn't see Delta coming. We didn't see Omicron coming. And that's the nature of what this awful virus has been."

Mr Biden sounded an alarm over Omicron earlier this month while also counselling hope in the face of it, expressing optimism that the fast-spreading variant would not set back the progress the country has made to regain a sense of normalcy in recent months.

His response to Omicron has leaned heavily on imploring Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.

He said last Thursday: "We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death - if you're unvaccinated - for themselves, their families and the hospitals they'll soon overwhelm."

He added: "But there's good news - if you're vaccinated and you had your booster shot, you're protected from severe illness and death, period."

New York state reported yet another increase in coronavirus cases last Saturday as a convergence between Omicron and a winter surge of the Delta variant continues to drive a spike in infections.

The 21,908 new cases reported last Saturday were a slight increase over the 21,027 cases reported the day before. Both were daily records for the state.

Still, the number announced last Saturday - which reflected test results from Friday - may not be the highest of the pandemic because a number of virus cases went unreported early last year when testing was not widely available.

Infections, however, have been rising for weeks in New York, prompting some people to cancel holiday plans and rush to get tested.

State officials said the test positivity rate was 7.53 per cent, up from about 2.6 per cent on Sept 22. Officials said that 3,909 people were hospitalised last Friday, a net increase of 70 patients.

As the pandemic surges towards its third year, shape-shifting into the new Omicron variant and spiking dangerously in the north-east, around the Great Lakes, and in other parts of the US, officials are repeatedly urging Americans to get vaccinated and boosted. But the going has been slow.

Of American adults who are fully vaccinated and eligible for a booster shot, only about 30 per cent have received one, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Among all Americans, only about one in six has received a booster.

Some states may be undercounting, but the lag is alarming because Omicron infections appear to evade regular one-or two-dose vaccinations.

Vaccines still provide robust protection against severe illness, but when it comes to preventing the virus from getting a foothold in the first place, scientists increasingly believe that three shots are the new two shots.

Just more than half of Americans aged 65 and older - the most vulnerable to a severe outcome from the virus - have received a booster.

Public health experts are concerned that socio-economic disparities in vaccination rates will be exacerbated as booster shots roll out.

NYTIMES