New York City seeks federal help as U.S. braces for record cases with omicron wave

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “unfortunately” he believes the nation will see record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. He added during an appearance on ABC that the omicron variant is “really something to be reckoned with.”

December 20, 2021

Federal and state officials are warning of an oncoming wave of coronavirus infections fueled by the omicron variant that could bring the highest level of cases yet during the pandemic in the United States — and New York, as it did in the pandemic’s early months, is feeling the effects first, the Washington Post reports.

Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “unfortunately” he believes the nation will see record numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. He added during an appearance on ABC that the omicron variant is “really something to be reckoned with.”

For the third day in a row, New York reported a record daily level of new coronavirus cases. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), who said in a news conference Sunday that “we are seeing a very substantial rise in the number of cases in a way we haven’t seen previously,” called on President Biden to invoke the Defense Production Act, a wartime law, to provide supplies of testing kits and treatments to New York City and the rest of the country.

More than 70 percent of people in New York state have been fully vaccinated as of Sunday, about 10 percent above the national rate. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said that more than 94 percent of New York adults have had at least one dose.