North Texas coronavirus cases increasing

There were more than 2,200 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Dallas County last week and UT Southwestern says it has detected the Omicron variant locally.

Why it matters: Coronavirus cases have been increasing in North Texas since Thanksgiving, and Omicron made up 2.9% of cases nationwide in the past week, according to CDC data.

Driving the news: White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said yesterday that there will be "no need" to shut down the U.S. economy.

• Increasing the vaccination rate is the way to slow the spread of the coronavirus variants, public health officials say.

By the numbers: Coronavirus hospitalizations have increased 6% in the past two weeks in Dallas County, according to UT Southwestern.

• In Tarrant County, hospitalizations have increased 13%.

What they’re saying: Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said during an event with U.S. Rep. Colin Allred that he’s concerned that cases will continue to rise during the holidays.

• "I know people are sick of hearing from me about this, but we just want to do everything we can to keep the community safe," Jenkins said.

The bottom line: People have largely returned to their pre-pandemic routines, but the coronavirus pandemic is far from over.