there appears to be hopeful news in the united kingdom. the u.k. health agency says data suggests omicron patients are 50% to 70% less likely to require hospitalization than those with delta. the fda today authorized a second covid pill for emergency use. this one from merck. in patients who are at high risk for covid-19 complications, there was a 30% reduction in the risk of hospitalizations and deaths. reporter: that s less effective than pfizer s pill, but an additional tool as delta devastates hospitals. we have seen so many deaths. reporter: doctors and nurses simply can t keep pace with the crushing wave of new patients flooding through their doors right now. we re treating patients in the lobby, in the hallway. we have patients waiting hours and days for beds upstairs. reporter: having already eclipsed delta s surge, some believe omicron could
massachusetts is in this situation we are the most vaccinated state in the country. and yet, here we are in a surge of covid that s just as bad as where we were last year at this point. reporter: as delta devastates lives, the more-contagious mutation of omicron on its way to becoming more dominant in the u.s. has now been found in at least 33 states the cdc says genomic surveillance shows the variant detected at a rate of 3% nationally. but at 13% in parts of the northeast. what we re seeing in some of these other countries is doubling times of about every two days or so so really rapid increase in the amount of omicron that s out there. reporter: a year ago today, the first shots went into arms in what many hoped would be the beginning of the end of the pandemic i need to be very clear. vaccines alone will not get any country out of this crisis it s not vaccines