Speaking to state governors on Monday, Joe Biden said the dramatic surge in US Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant “should be a source of concern but it should not be a source of panic”.
“If you’re fully vaccinated and got your booster shot,” Biden said, “you’re highly protected. If you’re unvaccinated, you’re at a high risk of getting severely ill from Covid-19, being hospitalised and in some cases dying.”
The president outlined plans to help states tackle the rising caseload. But he did so as uncertainty and disruption continued to spread, particularly in the aviation industry, and as his chief medical adviser said Americans should avoid large New Year’s Eve events.
“When we are talking about a New Year’s Eve party … I would recommend strongly stay away from that this year. There will be other years to do that, but not this year,” Anthony Fauci told CNN.
Fauci added that he hoped the surge in cases would subside in January. But he said infections could still overwhelm hospitals, especially in highly unvaccinated areas.
“We really still need to be extremely careful,” he told MSNBC.
New York, home to a traditionally huge celebration in Times Square, has said this year’s event will be scaled back. Authorities said 15,000 people would be allowed into official viewing areas, down from 58,000.
Biden last week announced reinforcements to bolster hospitals and testing, but some experts say that effort is too little, too late. On Monday, the president and his Covid advisers met with the group representing state governors.
Biden said: “There is no federal solution. This gets solved at state level. It gets down to where the rubber meets the road – where the patient needs help, or preventing the need for help.”
His message, he said, was simple: “If you need something, say something. We’re going to have your back any way we can.”
He also outlined three federal measures to help states: more capacity “to get shots in arms”; more testing, from eight authorised home tests and from federally run pop-up locations; and more federal support for hospitals.
“We have so many [people] vaccinated and boosted [that] we’re not seeing hospitalisation rise as sharp as it did in March of 2020 or even this past fall,” Biden said.
“America has made progress, and things are better,” he said.
But Biden also said he anticipated rising hospitalisations. The federal government has stockpiled millions of gowns, gloves, masks and ventilators.
Additionally, Biden said: “We’re mobilizing an additional 1,000 military doctors and nurses and medics to help staff hospitals.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Biden said, would deploy hundreds of ambulances and emergency crews, and had deployed emergency response teams in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont, New Hampshire and New Mexico.
“We’re ready to provide more hospital beds as well,” Biden said. “Bottom line is, I want assure the American people we are prepared and we know what it takes.”
Americans seeking to travel over the Christmas weekend saw chaos as the Omicron surge snarled air travel. Fight crews contracted the virus, causing thousands of cancellations.
More than 800 flights were canceled within, into, or out of the US on Monday, the flight-tracking website FlightAware.com showed. That was on top of more than 3,000 cancellations during the Christmas holiday weekend.
Shares of American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines were down in early trading. Most airline stocks have rallied on hopes of a travel boom as travelers start visiting friends and family after pandemic-related restrictions.
But poor weather has added to travelers’ woes. Southwest said it had canceled about 50 of 3,600 flights on Monday due to weather problems. Winter weather led to nearly 250 flight cancellations to or from Seattle on Sunday, said Alaska Airlines, which expected more than 100 cancellations on Monday. It said Covid was no longer a factor.
United said it canceled 115 flights on Monday, out of more than 4,000, due to crews out with Covid. Delta and American did not immediately comment.
Fauci said a vaccine mandate should be “seriously” considered for domestic flights.
“You’ve got to ask yourself why you’re making that requirement,” Fauci told MSNBC.
“If you’re making a requirement for vaccination for people to get on planes who are coming into the country, that’s understandable. You don’t want to bring more cases into the country.
“But if you’re talking about requiring vaccination to get on a plane domestically, that is just another one of the requirements that I think is reasonable to consider.”
Fauci declined to indicate whether he had discussed a mandate with Biden, but did reiterate that mandates can push more people to get vaccinated.
“When you make vaccination a requirement, that’s another incentive to get more people vaccinated,” he said. “If you want to do that with domestic flights, I think that’s something that seriously should be considered.”
Other travel stocks also came under pressure on Monday. At least three cruise ships were forced to return to port over the weekend after Covid cases were detected.
Infections are up across the US, with 205,509 new infections reported on average each day, a Reuters tally shows. More than 816,000 people have died.
In New York, Monday saw a sweeping mandate take effect, requiring nearly all private-sector businesses to ban unvaccinated employees from the workplace.
Workers at about 184,000 New York businesses were required to show proof they had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Businesses that do not comply could face fines starting at $1,000. The outgoing mayor, Bill de Blasio, has said imposing penalties will be a last resort.
Employers have to verify and keep a record of each worker’s proof of vaccination. Workers who have only received one shot have to get a second within 45 days. Companies must display a sign affirming they are complying with the rule “in a conspicuous location”.