Omicron fears haunt halls of power
Variant sweeping across US as world leaders weigh threat
BOSTON — Many governments in the U.S. and Europe are confronting dilemmas over how hard to come down in the face of omicron, which scientists say spreads more easily than other coronavirus strains, including delta, which itself led to surges in many parts of the world. Early evidence suggests omicron may also produce less serious illness though experts caution it is too soon to say and that it could better evade vaccine protection.
Even if it is milder, the new variant could still overwhelm health systems because of the sheer number of infections. But many political leaders are reluctant to impose the stiff measures they resorted to earlier in the pandemic — often because they promised their people that vaccines would offer a way out of such restrictions or because it may be politically untenable to impose them again.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday said officials have decided against imposing further restrictions, at least for now.
“We will have to reserve the possibility of taking further action to protect the public,” Johnson said. “The arguments either way are very finely balanced.”
The conservative government re-imposed face masks in shops and ordered people to show proof of vaccination at nightclubs and other crowded venues earlier this month. It is also weighing curfews and stricter social distancing requirements.
Johnson’s warning threw into stark relief the unpalatable choice government leaders face: wreck holiday plans for millions for a second consecutive year, or face a potential tidal wave of cases and disruption.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden is set to address the nation Tuesday, less than a year after he said the country would essentially be back to normal by Christmas.
His top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, made the rounds on television over the weekend, promising that the president will issue “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans.
Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the country, accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in one week.
In much of the country, omicron’s prevalence is even higher. It is responsible for an estimated 90% of new infections in the New York area, the Southeast, the industrial Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.
In New York City, where the mayor has said the new variant is already in “full force,” a spike is scuttling Broadway shows and spurring long lines at testing centers.
The city is also weighing what to do with its New Year’s Eve bash in Times Square.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said a decision will be made this week about whether the event will come back “full strength” — with attendees providing proof of vaccination — as he promised in November. Last year’s bash was limited to some essential workers.
France is desperately trying to avoid a new lockdown that would hurt the economy and cloud President Emmanuel Macron’s expected reelection campaign.
In Britain, the government hopes vaccine boosters will offer more protection against omicron, as the data suggests, and has set a goal of offering everyone 18 and up an extra shot by the end of December. More than 900,000 booster shots were delivered on Sunday, as soccer stadiums, shopping centers and cathedrals were turned into temporary inoculation clinics.