News 12's Elizabeth Hashagen was joined by Dr. Ankita Sager, primary care physician and system vice president for clinical standards and variation reduction at Common Spirit Health, for the latest health headlines on COVID-19, cancer and heart disease.

As the United States enters its third full COVID-19 winter, a top administration official is warning that the permanence of the coronavirus in the disease landscape could mean brutal and long-lasting seasonal surges of cold-weather illnesses for years to come.

This could result in hospitals struggling to care for non-COVID-19 emergencies and unable to give patients timely, lifesaving treatments.

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said the American health care system may not be able to withstand the continued viral onslaught, straining the system's ability to care for other serious illnesses

COVID-19 is the third-leading cause of death in the United States behind heart disease and cancer, according to preliminary data released from Johns Hopkins University.

That is despite early data suggesting there were significantly fewer COVID-19 deaths in 2022 than there were in the first two years of the pandemic.