essentially seen every few months at this point. reporter: for now, the u.s. has seen just a handful of cases of ba.4 and ba.5 in 16 states. tonight, 30 states and territories are seeing hospital admissions climb. and health officials are trying to keep americans out of the hospital by making the antiviral drug paxlovid more accessible. charles bunting says he started feeling better within hours of taking it. i was like wasn t i dying three hours ago? i m telling you, it was insanely like that. reporter: paxlovid can cut the risk of hospitalization by nearly 90%. doctors say treatments, along with vaccines, have changed our fight against covid. if we can get all of those things to the right people when they need them, we could be in a situation where people are no loger ending up in the hospital and no longer dying of covid-19. > reporter: and new york city officials say they are keeping a close eye on the numbers and they are not going to wait to act until hospitalizations b