"When you have such a high volume of new infections, it might override a real diminution in severity," Dr. Fauci told ABC News.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that coronavirus cases will rise after the holiday frenzy as the Omicron variant continues to dominate, People reported.
Dr. Fauci, who just turned 81, told ABC News’ “This Week” Sunday that America has averaged about 150,000 cases of the virus over the last week, and that "it likely will go much higher" in the coming weeks as people have traveled for the holidays and the Omicron variant continues to spread at a rapid pace.
"Well, there's one thing that's for sure that we all agree upon, that it is extraordinarily contagious," Dr. Fauci said. “We want to make sure that, given the sheer volume of number of cases that you see now, every day, it goes up and up — the last weekly average was about 150,000, and it likely will go much higher."
The nation’s leading infectious disease expert said that Americans should not be complacent and continue to act vigilant as we are still in the pandemic.
"The one that would be immediate is to make sure, given the rapid spread of this extraordinary variant, that we don't get an overrun on hospitals, particularly in those regions in which you have a larger proportion of unvaccinated individuals.”
He also advised for folks who have not gotten vaccinated to do so.
"We're particularly worried about those who are in that unvaccinated class, that, you know, tens and tens of millions of Americans who are eligible for vaccination who have not been vaccinated," Dr. Fauci said. "Those are the most vulnerable ones when you have a virus that is extraordinarily effective in getting to people and infecting them the way Omicron is."
The Omicron variant appears to be more transmissible than previous variants of coronavirus. Health experts say data has suggested it produces a more mild infection of coronavirus than other variants of the novel virus but experts warns it should still be taken seriously, Business Insider reported.
