NEW YORK: The number of Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States reached a new high, as the caseload increased, staff levels decreased, and the medical system battled an unprecedented outbreak of the infection.
According to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, the country saw a total of 145,982 persons hospitalised with Covid-19 on Tuesday, surpassing the previous high of 142,273 established on January 14, 2021 and more than twice as many as two weeks earlier.
The Washington Post stated on Tuesday that "the highly transmissible Omicron variety threatens to demolish that threshold."
"When the peak is reached, presumably later this month, disease modellers expect total hospitalizations in the 275,000 to 300,000 range." According to the newspaper, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering changing its mask recommendations to urge that individuals use the extremely protective N95 or KN95 masks worn by healthcare workers.
Experts have frequently asked the Joe Biden administration to propose better-quality masks rather than cloth coverings to protect against an airborne virus, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant has caused record levels of infections and hospitalizations, according to the report.
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