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While the United States braces for the unknowns of omicron, which has now been detected in Minnesota, St. Cloud Hospital in the central part of the state is still deep in a battle with the delta variant of the coronavirus. Beds have been full for seven weeks with a flood of mostly unvaccinated patients, a hospital official said. The hospital routinely turns down other overwhelmed facilities trying to transfer covid-19 patients — sometimes saying no 15 or 20 times a day. (Nirappil and Shammus, 12/2)

While all eyes are on the new and little-understood omicron variant that is popping up around the country, the delta form of the coronavirus isn’t finished wreaking havoc in the U.S., swamping hospitals with record numbers of patients in the Midwest and New England. “Omicron is a spark that’s on the horizon. Delta variant is the fire that’s here today,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, where an unprecedented 334 people were in the hospital with COVID-19 as of midweek. (Hollingsworth, 12/3)

Omicron is stealing most of the attention, but it’s the delta variant of Covid-19 that’s pressuring the U.S. health-care system. The seven-day average of hospital admissions with confirmed Covid-19 has climbed 18% in the past two weeks to 6,691, the highest since Oct. 13, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data. The numbers are ticking higher in 39 states and the nation’s capital. (Levin, 12/2)

New York state reported 11,300 new Covid-19 cases, the most since January, as dozens of hospitals neared capacity. Total patients hospitalized for the virus have climbed by more than 1,000 in a month, reaching 3,093 on Wednesday. As of Thursday, 56 hospitals in the state had a bed capacity of 10% or less, including Albany Medical Center Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Buffalo, Long Island Jewish Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, according to the state health department. (Clukey, 12/2)

Several key coronavirus indicators are climbing in Maryland, as evidenced by the health department reporting more than 1,828 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, which experts say could signal the beginning of a holiday season surge. Thursday’s tally, a mark not recorded since April 9, represents three consecutive days of more than 1,000 new cases in the week since Thanksgiving and during Hanukkah, holidays that call for family or religious gatherings as well as travel. (Mann, 12/2)

New COVID-19 cases continue to mount at an alarming rate, the state reported Thursday, with more patients streaming into already-strained hospitals just as the new Omicron strain of the virus appears to be taking a deeper hold in the United States. Massachusetts reported the state had its largest single-day case count on Wednesday since last winter’s surge, with 5,170 new cases and 989 patients with COVID-19 in the hospital. And with several more confirmed cases of Omicron reported in other states, President Biden on Thursday proposed a plan to head off further spread of the virus as the cold weather and holiday season drive more people to socialize in confined indoor spaces. (McCluskey, Finucane, and Freyer, 12/2)

A new crush of coronavirus cases is running through San Diego County jails, infecting inmates and staff alike and prompting a systemwide lockdown to try to control the spread of the virus. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said a total of 125 inmates have tested positive for the coronavirus in the last week. Officials are awaiting results for an additional 188 people. (McDonald and Davis, 12/2)