The number of positive COVID cases in the U.S. has
reached new heights thanks to the spread of the
Omicron variant, which has caused a staggering increase in cases over the past two weeks.
And while the number of hospitalizations have also
ticked up as a result, one hospital CEO explained how there is still some good news on the horizon.
"We’re staying very, very calm," Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling
said on Yahoo Finance Live (video above). "And there is some very, very
good news that I think is worth noticing. One is that, while our numbers
have increased - [on Jan. 5], I have 1,570 cases, a big increase over
about two weeks ago - it seems to be flattening a little bit over the
last couple of days. The good news is that people aren’t as sick as they
were before."
According to the
World Health Organization (WHO),
the Omicron variant appears to cause milder symptoms than the Delta,
but it’s significantly more transmissible. Because of that, the number
of people infected with the virus has increased dramatically.
According to the latest data
from the New York Times, the U.S. is averaging more than 300,000 new
cases a day, and hospitalizations have increased by 58% over the past 14
days. Children saw a 64% increase in positive cases for the week ending
Dec. 30, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
But notably, overall hospitalizations are growing at a slower rate than cases.
Dowling,
whose hospital system is the largest health care provider in New York,
expressed that "the percentage of people in the ICU is basically staying
very low and flat. And the numbers of people being intubated are very,
very low. This is completely an improved circumstance from what it was a
year and a half ago."
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES