Newsweek: Ohio doctor begs people 'no parties' for New Year's as state breaks COVID case record
UC infectious disease expert says people should skip New Year's Eve parties because of the surge
The state of Ohio continues to see cases of COVID-19 rise to record levels of almost 14,000 new cases per day. The number of patients hospitalized in Ohio has increased in recent weeks to over 5,000 after being under that number from the end of 2020 to the middle of December 2021.
In a story published by Newsweek, Carl Fichtenbaum, MD, of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UC College of Medicine expressed concern about people getting together for parties at the end of the year.
"Yeah, no parties. I would say no parties," Fichtenbaum said. "If you care at all about people who work in hospitals and health care, and you don't want us to quit our jobs and throw up our hands and go home, I would say no parties."
Fichtenbaum said the omicron variant doubles its presence in the population every two or three days, “far more contagious than any other variant we’ve experienced so far.” Even a small rise in hospitalizations adds more stress to overloaded hospitals.
Next Lives Here
The University of Cincinnati is classified as a Research 1 institution by the Carnegie Commission and is ranked in the National Science Foundation's Top-35 public research universities. UC's medical, graduate and undergraduate students and faculty investigate problems and innovate solutions with real-world impact. Next Lives Here.
Related Stories
Local 12: Head injury survivor, doctor share importance of...
April 23, 2024
Local 12 spoke with patient Shane Shapiro and the University of Cincinnati's Laura Ngwenya about the importance of wearing a helmet following Shapiro's traumatic brain injury and recovery.
WVXU: Why is part of Green Township called Dent?
April 23, 2024
UC College of Arts and Sciences professor tells WVXU that Ohio's glacial past might explain how Dent got its name.
UC hires Dr. Gregory Postel as senior vice president of health...
April 23, 2024
UC Board of Trustees vote to hire Dr. Gregory Postel as senior vice president of health affairs and dean of UC College of Medicine.