The Omicron variant is driving a massive surge in COVID-19 cases in a number of states, with Hawaii now leading the nation in the rate of increase. 
New York, Georgia and Texas are all seeing major surges in new COVID cases, which are up more than 100 percent in the past two weeks in those states, according to new data on Wednesday. 
Hawaii now leads the nation with daily new cases up 557 percent in the past two weeks followed by Florida at 371 percent. 
Tuesday marked the highest number of new coronavirus infections in a single day in Ohio, with 12,502 additional cases reported. 
The only higher reports covered two days, following holidays when there was no reporting: 14,293 on January 2 after New Year's Day and 17,065 the day after Thanksgiving in 2020, according to the . 
Facing a disturbing surge, six healthcare facilities in Cleveland took out a full-page ad in the Plain Dealer focused on a single word: 'Help.' 
'We now have more COVID-19 patients in our hospitals than ever before,' the ad in Sunday's issue says. 'And the overwhelming majority are unvaccinated. This is preventable.'
The ad ends with a desperate plea to the community: 'We need you to care as much as we do.'



































































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Doctors in Ohio are warning that the state faces a 'coming crisis' as cases rise ahead of holiday travel and gatherings. 
'This is a coming crisis for central Ohio in a way we probably haven't seen before, and that's shocking to say given what we've seen since March of 2020,' Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at Wexner Medical Center in central Ohio, told the .
 'This is going to be serious over the next two to four weeks, and we need to be prepared for it.' 
Omicron now accounts for 73 percent of all new cases nationwide, and the fast-spreading variant account for more than 90 percent of new cases in New York and [url=/news/new-jersey/index.html]New Jersey, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, and the Northwest. 
The nation is currently averaging 148,384 new cases daily over the past week, a 23 percent increase from two weeks ago. 
Confirmed Omicron cases increased by 19 percent day-over-day, up to 1,781 as of Wednesday morning from 1,485 on Tuesday, but that number represents only the tiny fraction of infections that are DNA sequenced. 
The presence of Omicron has now been confirmed in every state except for Oklahoma. 





Nationwide, Omicron has jumped from causing 13% of new Covid cases to 73% of new Covid cases in about a week. It was first identified less than a month ago
























































The New York City area has been a clear Omicron hotspot in recent weeks. 
With COVID-19 cases spiking in New York City, city officials said Wednesday they're opening more testing sites, restricting visiting at city-run hospitals and jails, and again telling police officers to mask up.
At the same time, Mayor Bill de Blasio said no decision had been made on banning people from the annual New Year_s Eve celebration in Times Square - even as Fox said it was canceling its live broadcast because of concerns about the omicron variant.
'The preference is to keep it on, it_s an important event for the city,' de Blasio told MSNBC, adding that revelers would have to show vaccination proof and that officials were weighing other precautions.
There were more than 13,700 positive tests in the city Monday, a sharp increase from a week earlier, when the city averaged fewer than 3,600 new cases. Still, because of widespread vaccination, hospitalizations and deaths from the virus are far fewer than at the pandemic's height.
Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of the city's hospital system, said the 11 city-run hospitals had a total of 54 COVID patients in intensive care as of Wednesday - up from 20 a few weeks ago, but a mere fraction of the 970 ICU patients at the peak in March 2020.























































De Blasio said the city was opening seven additional testing sites Wednesday, increasing its total to 119, and will set up five distribution sites on Thursday to hand out at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, which have been hard to come by at pharmacies.
Omicron's capacity to spread more rapidly than any other variant has allowed it to take over in a matter of weeks, new CDC data show.
As of December 18, the Omicron variant is causing 73 percent of new Covid cases nationwide.
That's about a six-fold increase from the prior week, when it caused 13 percent of new cases.
The CDC also updated its estimates for previous weeks, showing that Omicron was causing 0.1 percent of new Covid cases in the week ending November 27.
In other words, Omicron was already in the U.S. and spreading widely on Thanksgiving.
Omicron's spread in NYC was likely aided by Anime NYC, an anime convention held in Manhattan during the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Several Omicron cases have been connected to the convention, including among attendees who traveled from other states.
While NYC's surge has dominated headlines, the new CDC data also show that other regions are experiencing similarly high Omicron levels.























































 
Omicron is causing 95 percent of new Covid cases in the national health agency's Southeast region, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Last week, health officials in Orlando, Florida found that the surrounding county's - even though the variant had yet to be identified in many clinical cases.
Hospital systems in Florida are anticipating a surge in cases, [url=].
In several Midwestern states, Omicron is causing 92 percent of new cases: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Michigan hospitals are already overwhelmed, as the state has seen record case and hospitalization numbers in recent weeks - higher than at any other point in the pandemic.
Similarly in the Gulf Coast, Omicron is causing 92 percent of new cases. This region includes Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.























































On Monday, Texas officials reported that . The patient, a man in his 50s, was unvaccinated.
The case is the first Omicron death to be reported in the U.S.
Texas and surrounding states are [url=], though hospitalization numbers are currently lower than in other regions.
The Northwest - Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska - has the highest share of cases caused by Omicron of any region, at 96 percent.
Idaho's Panhandle region emerged from crisis standards of care on Monday after more than 100 days in this precarious position, .
'While this is good news for Idaho, we're still watching the omicron variant very closely because this is a precarious time,' said Dave Jeppesen, director of Idaho's public health department.
'Omicron seems to spread more easily between people,' he said, 'and we all need to keep taking precautions against COVID-19 by getting vaccinated or getting a booster dose, wearing masks in crowded areas, [url=https://Com-X.life/]Ванпачман интернетте о_ы_ыз physically distancing from others, washing our hands frequently, and staying home if we're sick to avoid overwhelming our health care systems again.' 


[url=]Ohio reports a single-day record of 12,502 new COVID-19 cases; Tuesday, Dec. 21, coronavirus update - cleveland.com