Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced the first three cases of the Omicron variant in his state, adding that none of the three individuals was hospitalised. And in Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia man in his 30s tested positive for Omicron, city health officials said.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said the state’s first Omicron case had been found in a fully vaccinated woman who had recently travelled to Georgia.
A surge in infections could further strain US hospitals already grappling with high caseloads and fatigued staff, Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, told MSNBC.
“I’m very worried about our healthcare system over the next few weeks and few months. I don’t know how much more it can handle,” he said, urging reinforcements from the National Guard and other contingency plans to bolster doctors and nurses.
Former FDA Commissioner Dr Scott Gottlieb said states with higher vaccination rates would likely be better protected against Omicron, saying unvaccinated people who survived Delta could find their immunity is not protective against the new variant.
“The risk for the future is that states that are relying on a lot of Delta infections to provide immunity to their populations … they could be more susceptible to this new variant,” Gottlieb, now a member of vaccine maker Pfizer’s board, told CNBC.
Omicron has been detected in about 40 countries, including the United States, where it has also been found in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, and New York.
The CDC said it was investigating possible cases of the Omicron variant in other US states.
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