As the highly infectious omicron sweeps through the country, the United States is now facing its most significant coronavirus infection surge to date, putting additional pressure on an overtaxed health care system.
The burden on the health care system is made worse by nationwide staffing shortages and hospital capacity at elevated levels as many other patients seek care for non-virus related reasons.
"Even if you have a less of a percentage of severity, when you have multi-multi-multi-fold more people getting infected, the net amount is you're still going to get a lot of people that are going to be needing hospitalization. And that's the reason why we're concerned about stressing and straining the hospital system," Fauci told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos during an appearance on"This Week," earlier this month.
"Ground conditions matter beyond belief," Faust said, explaining that while one area can see an uptick in COVID-19 infections, hospitals may not become overwhelmed, because they have adequate staffing or a highly vaccinated and younger population, hospitals in other areas with lower vaccination rates and fewer resources could find themselves completely overwhelmed.
However, some experts and hospital officials have cautioned that the proportion of patients seeking care specifically for COVID-19 likely varies widely community by community. In addition, health officials say a COVID-19 diagnosis can cause additional strain on a health system, as virus-positive patients in many hospitals are required to be treated differently.
Federal data shows the emergency department visits with diagnosed COVID-19 cases are currently at their highest point of the pandemic -- a figure that has more than doubled over the last month. "Even the children who are not admitted primarily for COVID have hospital courses that are further complicated because of COVID. Having cancer, heart issues, appendicitis, and COVID is never a good thing," one hospital representative said.Surge after surge, nurses, doctors and respiratory technicians have led the fight against the virus, many forced to leave their families for weeks to months at a time in order to avoid a total collapse of the health care system during the pandemic.