| As the omicron variant surges across the country, numerous school districts have shifted to remote learning for the first week of the year, while hospitals continue to be pushed to their limits.
According to a CNN analysis of Johns Hopkins University data, the U.S. broke its average daily COVID-19 case record Sunday with 404,743. Hospitalizations are also on the rise, with 78% of the country's ICU beds filled as of late last week, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The hospital is full, the ICU is full, and of course at the same time we’ve lost 20, 25% of the overall staff in the hospital due to them getting sick and having to stay home and isolate,” said. Dr. Anand Swaminathan, an emergency physician in New Jersey.
Swaminathan said more people are also coming to hospitals seeking COVID-19 tests after they're unsuccessful at crowded testing sites.
"Emergency rooms, hospitals, we're not outfitted to do the type of testing that people need," he said.
Hospitals aren't the only place where positive tests are causing staffing setbacks.
“You are certainly going to see stresses on the system,” Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN Sunday, referring to the “critical jobs to keep society functioning normally.”
The mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, declared a state of emergency last week as numerous firefighters called out sick, allowing the city's fire chief to implement mandatory overtime to cover open shifts.
Numerous restaurants reported closures over the holidays — on their biggest nights of the year — due to several positive tests amongst staff members.
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