On Tuesday, the day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that Omicron is now the primary variant in the United States, the first death from the new variant was reported in the United States. 

According to the Harris County Public Health Department (HCPH), the deceased is a man in the fifty- to sixty-year-old age range, who “was unvaccinated and had been infected with COVID-19 previously.” The man who died also had “underlying health conditions.” It’s not clear if he was actually the first U.S. death from infection caused by the variant, but he is merely the first confirmed.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the patient’s family, and we extend our deepest sympathies,” Barbie Robinson, HCPH Executive Director, said in the announcement. “This is a reminder of the severity of COVID-19 and its variants. We urge all residents who qualify to get vaccinated and get their booster shot if they have not already.”

Former President Donald Trump, in a public appearance over the weekend, shared that he had received a booster.

On the same day, President Biden announced the White House’s strategy to deal with the Omicron variant.

“I want to start by acknowledging how tired, worried and frustrated I know you are,” Biden said at the start of the briefing, before noting that many Americans will be celebrating Christmas for the first time without relatives who have been lost to the pandemic.

“We have the power of science and vaccines that prevent illness and save lives,” the president said, before acknowledging that Omicron is, as of earlier this week, the dominant variant in the U.S. He then noted that those who are unvaccinated are at much greater risk of getting sick and dying from the new variant. And Biden said that while the variant will spread very quickly among the vaccinated, they are “protected from severe illness and death.”

Biden urged those who remain unvaccinated to get vaccinated, due to “patriotic duty.”

Earlier in the day, the president had announced a series of actions his administration is planning to take to battle the new variant. Not only included in the plan, notably, are additional lockdowns or school closures.

The headline measure is the availability of testing, which is especially important in this phase of the pandemic. The government will set up free testing sites, with the first set to open in New York. The Administration will also purchase 500,000 rapid tests to be distributed free to Americans, with those available beginning in January. The president will also continue to invoke the Defense Production Act, for the production of additional tests.

The administration will also continue its strategy of encouraging vaccination, including through the use of new pop-up vaccination clinics, and making it easier to set up surge pharmacy teams. And hundreds of new vaccination sites for kids will open starting in January.

The measures also include more support for hospitals, which will entail the deployment of about 1,000 military doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel to hospitals in the first two months of 2022. Also, emergency response teams will be sent to six states, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

The president also will direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to “activate additional staffing and capacity for the National Response Coordination Center (NRCC).” The administration will also work to increase bed capacity in hospitals around the country. Ambulances and other emergency medical teams will be directed to hot spots.

The administration, the fact sheet said, is also prepared to deploy protective equipment, ventilators, and other equipment from the national stockpile, should states need them. That stockpile had been notably depleted at the original onset of the pandemic in 2020.

“While cases among vaccinated individuals will likely increase due to the more transmissible Omicron, evidence to date is that their cases will most likely be mild,” the Administration said in its fact sheet. “In contrast, unvaccinated individuals are at high risk of getting COVID-19, getting severely ill, and even dying.”

CNN reported Tuesday on the effect Omicron is having on business in the United States. This included a popular New York restaurant that was “getting close to 100%” before the Omicron wave caused a “nose dive” in recent weeks. Like the initial one in the spring of 2020, the new wave has hit New York City first.

And the wave especially hurts heading into the crucial holiday season. The head of the National Restaurant Association told the network that the holidays are “our Black Friday.” That group also said that 90,000 restaurants, comprising 14 percent of the eateries in the country, have shut down since the start of the pandemic.

In Philadelphia, per CNN, a bagel shop closed this week after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 and the rest of the staff was exposed.

"I closed for the three days of the week where I make the most money," the owner of the bagel shop told CNN. "I had to generate payroll without income for all the employees.”

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters