Dr. Anthony Fauci said the new year is bringing bad news as the highly transmissible omicron variant powers a “vertical spike” in COVID-19 cases.

But even as omicron drives the worst caseloads of the entire pandemic, Fauci believes the wave could peak quickly.

“Cases are not going up gradually, they are going straight up,” Fauci told WPIX TV on Monday. “What we are hoping is you reach a peak and the cases come down rather quickly.”