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President Biden said Thursday that Americans unvaccinated against the coronavirus are facing a winter of "severe illness and death." "It’s here now and it’s spreading and it’s going to increase," the president said about the omicron variant while meeting with his coronavirus response team. "For unvaccinated we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death if you’re unvaccinated for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they will soon overwhelm." "But, there’s good news," Biden added. "If you’re vaccinated and have your booster shot you’re protected from severe illness and death." (Mark Miller, 12/16)

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s top medical advisor, said Thursday that omicron will become the dominant Covid-19 variant in the United States within a few weeks, urging people to get vaccines and booster shots to fight it off. “It is the most transmissible virus of Covid that we had to deal with those far. It will soon become dominant here. That’s one thing we know,” Fauci told a virtual U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation audience. (Macias, 12/16)

A small study of seven COVID-19 cases in South Africa shows the Omicron variant can break through booster vaccine shots, one of the scientists involved said on Thursday. A group of seven German visitors to Cape Town, aged between 25 and 39, were infected at some point in late November or early December with confirmed cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant. ... None had reported past infection with COVID-19. The infections occurred between one and two months after receipt of the booster shot. (Cocks, 12/16)

With Covid-19 hospitalizations rising as the holiday season gets into full swing, experts are urging people to take precautionary measures against a new variant that may quickly sweep the nation. While the Delta variant is still a worrying presence, there could be millions of more Americans infected within weeks due to the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. (Caldwell, 12/17)

With the number of omicron cases appearing to double every two days, confirmed U.S. coronavirus infections have increased more than 50 percent in roughly two weeks, from 81,900 on Nov. 30 to 124,110 on Dec. 16, according to The Washington Post’s rolling seven-day average. After a briefing on the omicron variant from his coronavirus response team Thursday, President Biden warned that for unvaccinated Americans, “we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death.” He added: “Omicron is here. It’s going to start to spread much more rapidly at the beginning of the year, and the only real protection is to get your shots.” (Pager and Diamond, 12/16)

Alarmed by a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases and the increasing prevalence of the omicron variant, New York City officials will distribute one million masks and 500,000 home tests, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday. The mass distributions are part of a broader plan to counter the virus’ spread that also includes making testing more easily available through more sites and extended hours. The state’s governor also said an online site would be set up where residents could ask for at-home tests to be sent to them, in targeted ways. (12/16)

Houston is seeing early signs of another wave of COVID-19 infections, fueled in part by a fast-spreading omicron variant, as public health officials warn of a nationwide spike in cases as early as next month. The daily average of positive cases in the Texas Medical Center more than tripled last week, from 232 to 721, and Houston Methodist on Tuesday recorded nearly five times the number of positive cases in its system compared to the previous week. Harris County Public Health on Tuesday reported 483 new cases, the highest single-day total in more than two months. (Gill, 12/16)

The number of Omicron cases in Los Angeles County rose to at least 30, officials said Thursday has they continued to urge vaccinations and booster shots to slow the spread. Officials confirmed 12 new cases Thursday, saying the spread will likely intensify in the coming weeks. Of the 30 total Omicron cases in L.A. County, 24 people were fully vaccinated and four had also received booster doses. None have been known to be hospitalized, and none have died. (Lin II, 12/16)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Oh, Oh, Omicron 

This week, the U.S. passed the milestone of 800,000 dead from covid-19, as hospitals are starting to fill following the Thanksgiving holiday and the ominous omicron variant starts to spread rapidly. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court signals it’s likely to roll back abortion rights in the next year, and Congress runs out of time to pass President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill in 2021. (12/16)

Symptoms associated with the Covid-19 omicron variant could be similar to those that normally accompany a cold, but experts are warning people that they should not underestimate the risks posed by the more transmissible strain. One British study has now suggested that omicron infections could be associated with symptoms that make it easy to mistake it for an everyday illness like a cold. The Zoe Covid Study, which analyzes thousands of Covid symptoms uploaded to an app by the British public, looked this week at symptoms associated with Covid cases in London that were recorded over two separate weeks in October and December, that is, before (as far as we know) and after omicron was spreading in the capital. (Ellyatt, 12/16)