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FILE - Marvin Marcus, 79, a nonmigratory astatine the Hebrew Home astatine Riverdale, receives a COVID-19 booster changeable successful New York, Sept. 27, 2021. Federal wellness officials telephone connected nursing homes to redouble efforts to administer COVID-19 booster shots to residents and unit amid sharply rising cases among unit and lagging rates of booster vaccination. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

WASHINGTON – Federal wellness officials connected Thursday pressed nursing location workers to get their booster shots amid a spike successful COVID-19 cases among staffers and a concerning lag successful booster vaccination for residents and staff.

The omicron variant "is lightning fast, and we cannot spend different COVID-19 surge successful nursing homes," Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said successful a livestreamed entreaty to the industry. “You cognize that. I cognize that. Higher numbers of COVID cases would apt erstwhile again person a devastating interaction connected our loved ones.”

Nursing homes are a investigating crushed for President Joe Biden’s assertion that the U.S. is overmuch amended prepared to grip a surging microorganism than it was past winter. Although residents are a tiny proportionality of the population, they correspond a disproportionate stock of Americans who person died successful the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this twelvemonth the advent of vaccines brought the microorganism nether power successful nursing homes and allowed them to reopen to visitors. But that return to normalcy could beryllium successful jeopardy arsenic the omicron variant pushes COVID-19 cases to caller highs.

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Cases among nursing location staffers jumped to 10,353 the week ending Dec. 27, a emergence of astir 80% from the erstwhile week, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staff deaths accrued to 58, tripling from the erstwhile week. Among residents, who are much heavy vaccinated, cases went up somewhat and the information showed nary summation successful deaths.

With aesculapian experts advising that a booster changeable is captious to support against omicron, Becerra said lone 57% of nursing location residents and 25% of unit and person gotten boosters. That's intelligibly down a booster complaint of astir 66% among radical property 65 oregon older and astir 45% for the big population, according to statistic from the White House.

“We've got to alteration that,” Becerra said.

The medication is urging immoderate 1,400 federally funded assemblage wellness centers crossed the onshore to spouse with section nursing homes successful a renewed vaccination campaign.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.