Experts warn of Omicron 'blizzard' in US in weeks ahead

US health experts on Thursday urged Americans to prepare for severe disruptions in coming weeks as the country has reached a record high in COVID-19 cases.

The rising wave of COVID-19 cases led by the Omicron variant is crushing hospitals. For the second day in a row, the US saw a record number of new cases based on the seven-day average, with over 290,000 new infections reported each day, a Reuters tally showed.

A number of 18 states as well as Puerto Rico have set pandemic records for new cases, according to the tally. Maryland, Ohio and Washington, D.C., also reported record hospitalizations as overall US COVID-19 hospitalizations rose 27%.

New Jersey, New York and Chicago are reporting record case counts. Hospital bed capacity is a worry in those areas. Also, federal medical personnel have been deployed in Arizona and New Mexico to provide Covid-19 surge support.

In Georgia, six major health systems with recent 100% to 200% spikes in Covid-19 hospitalizations, joined to publicly call on people to seek coronavirus testing elsewhere so their emergency rooms can be used for those with critical needs.

"It's unlike anything we've ever seen, even at the peak of the prior surges of Covid," Dr. James Phillips, who works in Washington, DC, said.

"What we're experiencing right now is an absolute overwhelming of the emergency departments" in Washington, Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, told CNN's Jim Acosta.

Across the country, almost 78% of ICU beds are in use, with 22% of those occupied by Covid-19 patients, according to data from the US Health and Human Services Department.

MG