While that is good news and there are now some anti-viral pill medications entering the marketplace, having been approved last week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there could still be trouble ahead.
The pure physical number of omicron cases could drive hospitalizations way up, even surpassing the levels we saw last winter. More hospitalizations will likely lead to more deaths.
Speaking of deaths, we know that about 75 percent of those who have died were older. Still, 800,000 deaths and counting is not a number we should be proud of as a nation. We are leading the world in deaths based on the percentage of the general population. That makes us “exceptional” in a not-so-good way.
The current death count is at 814,000 with more deaths being added every day. We will be at 900,000 in about 60 days. I am confident that the history books will record over 1 million deaths in the U.S. before the pandemic ends.
