The puzzle of America's record Covid hospital rate

[Jilly_in_VA]

Even as the Omicron variant sweeps around the world, public health officials have noted that, in most cases, the number of Covid patients in hospitals remains significantly lower than during previous pandemic surges.

That's not the case in the US, however, where the number of patients with the coronavirus currently in hospital has reached record numbers.

According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, 145,982 people were in hospital with the virus on 11 January, surpassing a previous record set in January 2021.

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden was expected to announce plans to deploy military medical personnel to help in six of the states hardest hit by the influx of patients.

Similarly, hospitals in large parts of neighbouring Canada have also seen surges, with Quebec reporting a pandemic high last weekend.

So what is going on, and why might North America's experience be different to South Africa and Europe so far?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59960949

[leftstreet]

1. This is probably a really dumb question

but are all these cases Omicron? I mean, did Delta just leave or something? And what about the original Covid variant?

I thought some areas were still experiencing Delta increases as Omicron hit.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. If you read the article

(and yes, it's long) you would know that it's a mixture. My guess is that the Great Unvaxxed are still catching Delta, but they may also be getting severe cases of Omicron. Whatever, they fcuking DESERVE it....but the medical staff doesn't!

[Raven123]

2. Fair question and I suspect it is multi factorial

Wouldn’t be surprised if one contributor is the hubris of some of those who feel any public health measure is an affront to their freedom. I wonder if we have more of that mentality here.