The variant of the omicron coronavirus hits hard in the United States, the country with the most accumulated cases of covid-19 in the world and where there are more than 900,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths a day.
According to the most recent data from Johns Hopkins University, 900,832 new covid-19 infections and 2,615 deaths were registered in the country on Friday, after last Monday the million infected daily.
Specifically, that day 1,082,549 new cases were reported, although the figure may be distorted due to the delay in the delivery of data due to the weekend and the end of the year party.
The US health authorities have insisted on the importance of vaccination and have urged citizens to receive a booster dose of available serums.
62% of the country’s population has received the complete vaccination schedule, while 33% already have the booster dose.
For its part, the omicron variant already accounts for 95% of covid-19 cases in the United States.
“In recent weeks and during the holidays we have seen a rapid and significant increase in covid-19 cases. This increase is due to the influx of cases caused by the delta variant, and more importantly, by the rebound in cases of omicron, “ Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told a news conference this week.
In parallel, the government led by Democrat Joe Biden has left the decision to take a test after passing the five-day quarantine in the hands of those infected who are asymptomatic.
“If someone takes an additional measure and takes a test at the end of the five days of isolation (…), if it tests positive, the person will have to stay home for another five days, “ Walenksy said.
“And if the test is negative,” he continued, “people should understand that they must continue to wear a mask for an additional five days to complete the ten days of isolation. “
Despite the drastic rise in infections, the future of Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandates, which would jointly affect some 100 million people, are at the center of a legal battle to be decided by the Supreme Court.
In two hearings held on Friday of almost four hours in total, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court was skeptical of Biden’s rule for the majority of employees of private companies in the country to be vaccinated and expressed a little more affinity with another measure directed at some health workers.
The first of these mandates, which would force employees of all companies with 100 or more workers to be vaccinated or to present negative results of covid-19 tests weekly, will probably begin to be implemented in February unless the Supreme Court stops it.
Several business groups and 27 conservative-led states have sued the Biden administration to overturn the measure.
Most of the Supreme Court justices expressed doubts about the Executive’s legal authority to impose this type of mandate and questioned why that task is not left to Congress or to each state.
In a second hearing, the Supreme Court heard arguments about another mandate from Biden to vaccinate employees at more than 50,000 U.S. health facilities, those that receive federal subsidies from the Medicare or Medicaid programs, and where they work. 17 million people.
