Argentina’s federation of private healthcare providers told the AP it estimates about 15% of its health workers currently have the virus.

And health workers in Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina have already been receiving booster shots.

Brazil’s council of state health secretariats estimates that between 10% and 20% of all professionals in the health network — including doctors, nurses, nurse technicians, ambulance drivers and others in direct contact with patients — have taken sick leave since the last week of 2021.

The press office of Rio de Janeiro state’s health secretariat told the AP that about 5,500 professionals have left their jobs since December.

All elective surgeries scheduled in the state health network have been suspended for four weeks.

Such is the risk of medical services grinding to a halt in Argentina’s Buenos Aires province — the country’s most populous — that health workers have been allowed to return to work even if coming into contact with someone infected, provided they are asymptomatic and vaccinated.

The Pan American Health Organization said Wednesday it expects omicron to become the predominant coronavirus variant in the Americas in the coming week.

Ten countries in the region — especially in the Caribbean — didn’t reach the goal set by the World Health Organization to have 40% of citizens fully vaccinated by end-2021.

While a smaller fraction of people develop serious illness from the the highly-transmissible variant, the crush of contagion and resulting strain on hospitals means omicron shouldn’t be underestimated, said Lula, of the Brazilian health secretariat council