US hospitals report critical staff shortage as Omicron cases surge

Washington, Jan 11 (Prensa Latina) Around 24% of US hospitals are currently reporting a critical staffing shortage, while the new Omicron variant surge threatens the nation´s health care system.

January 11, 2022
18:38

Estimates released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reflected that Omicron variant accounted for 98.3% of new infections last week.

According to local media reports, the city of Chicago, Illinois, public schools canceled classes for fourth day in a row.

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has been the most recent case among legislators coming back positive for Covid-19.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who´s gotten vaccinated and received a booster dose, tweeted that she had Covid-19 symptoms and is presently recovering at home.

Over 145,980 people are being hospitalized nationwide, approximately double than two weeks ago. This is a figure higher than the 142,000-peak reached on January 14, 2021.

According to the CDC, the risk of admission to healthcare centers is eight times higher for unvaccinated people than for fully immunized ones. mh/pll/mem/dfm