Hello,
Welcome to Insider Healthcare. I'm healthcare editor Leah Rosenbaum, and today in healthcare news:
- COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in the US;
- Dr. Fauci says early data on the Omicron variant is encouraging;
- A recent event in Denmark highlights Omicron's spread.
If you're new to this newsletter, sign up here. Comments, tips? Email me at [email protected] or tweet @leah_rosenbaum. Let's get to it…
![member of the medical team holds up a used swab from a PCR test at Gatwick Airport on November 27, 2020 in London, England.](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/616e9b6441af0d00193f3563-scaled.jpg?ver=1638885729)
A medical team member holds up a used swab.Leon Neal/Getty Images
COVID-19 cases are back on the rise in the US, with more than 100,000 new cases per day
![member of the medical team holds up a used swab from a PCR test at Gatwick Airport on November 27, 2020 in London, England.](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/616e9b6441af0d00193f3563-scaled.jpg?ver=1638885729)
- New COVID-19 cases have reached their highest levels since October, according to the CDC.
- The 7-day average rolling as of December 3 was reported at 106,132 new cases.
- The spike in cases comes as the US continues to grapple with the Delta variant and is bracing for the newest Omicron variant's spread.
![Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 20, 2021.](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/615a2d76b414c10018638872-scaled.jpg?ver=1638885740)
Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 20, 2021.J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo
Fauci says early data on the Omicron variant is 'encouraging,' but we don't yet truly know how deadly it is
![Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on July 20, 2021.](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/615a2d76b414c10018638872-scaled.jpg?ver=1638885740)
- Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that South Africa's initial data on Omicron was "a bit encouraging."
- But he added that it was too early to determine whether the new variant was less deadly than Delta.
- Boosters were "critical" for the US to handle both variants, Fauci said.
![south africa omicron testing](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/61a49ec7ee979500188411ba-2.jpg?ver=1638885743)
A healthcare worker conducts a COVID-19 test on a traveller at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa.Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images
64 of 150 guests tested positive for Omicron after a high school lunch in Denmark, the latest in a string of spreading events
![south africa omicron testing](https://cdn.businessinsider.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/61a49ec7ee979500188411ba-2.jpg?ver=1638885743)
- 64 of 150 people tested positive for Omicron after a Christmas lunch, authorities told Insider.
- More than 1,000 more were potentially exposed after the November 27 event, Danish officials said.
- It is not yet clear how transmissible Omicron is or whether it causes more severe symptoms.
More stories we're reading:
- Ten COVID-19 cases were detected on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship as it headed to port in New Orleans (Insider)
- Here's what we know about treating COVID-19, two years into the pandemic (The Wall Street Journal)
- 3D-printed suicide pods are now legal in Switzerland (Insider)
- Inside the CDC's new pandemic prediction division (New York Times)
-Leah