Joe Biden admitted on Monday that some hospitals in the United States could be "overwhelmed" by Covid outbreaks in the coming days due to the Omicron mutation, however the country is generally well prepared to deal with the latest "outbreak" and Americans need not panic.
In a video conference with several state governors and top health advisers, Biden stressed that the rapid spread of the Omicron variant will not have the same impact as the initial outbreak of Covid-19 in 2020 or the pressure caused by Delta this year.
"Omicron is a source of concern, but it should not cause panic," the U.S. president said."
"Because there have been so many vaccinations and booster doses, we are not seeing hospitalizations increase as much as in the recent past. Americans, America has made progress. Things are better," Biden continued.
However, he continued, "along with the increasing cases, we still have tens of millions of unvaccinated people and we see hospitalizations increasing." There are "hospitals in some places that are going to suffer, both in equipment and staffing."
Biden acknowledged that despite increases in testing, it's still not enough. "Seeing how difficult it was for some people to get a test this weekend shows that we have more work to do," he said."
In addition to expanding the locations where free tests are available, the government is pushing for more at-home testing, Biden said. In fact, as part of that effort, the government will purchase and make 500 million home tests available for distribution to Americans starting in January.
"It's not enough. It's clearly not enough. If we had known, we would have moved harder, faster," he said. "We need to do more."
Source: RES
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