The metro's top doctors say the next month of the pandemic may be the toughest yet.Omicron is spreading fast in the metro. Douglas County Health reports more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases in just 24 hours.Six more adults died trying to fight off the virus, only two of them were vaccinated.This latest surge means a return to remote work for some and for a lot of us, it's a disappointing sense of deja vu. A new year brings another COVID-19 surge and renewed concern about getting out of this pandemic. "An increase in fear of the unknown, concern on when is this going to end? Wondering if the vaccine is enough or if wearing masks are enough?" said manager of Methodist Hospital Community Counseling Program, Ellen McElderry. Ellen McElderry manages Methodist Hospital's Community Counseling Program.They're located in all Omaha Public middle and high schools, along with locations in the community like Kountze Lutheran Church.She says just recently, they've seen an increase in hopelessness. "We see the numbers of COVID going up, we're realizing that we're not seeing that light at the end of the tunnel, just really think things were getting a little bit better, then the numbers come out, then we have a variant," McElderry said.UNMC D. Mark Rupp says the next few weeks are not going to be easy. But he still has hope this surge will pass."Hopefully steep up and steep down. So in the delta surge, we saw really an increase and then a high plateau. I'm hopeful that although we're going to see an awful lot of omicron illness in the community, that we hopefully will also see a very steep decline," Rupp said.Rupp says it is possible we'll see more variants in the future.He says you need to focus on the things you can control, like getting vaccinated, wearing a mask, and social distancing.McElderry says we will get through this but she says self-care and self-reflection will be important. And she adds there's something we should all hold onto."We need to remember that you know, what's worked in the past can you know, resurface you know, we're gonna have some solutions to this pandemic, and we will overcome it like we have other health crisis as in the past," McElderry said.McElderry says people need to give each other a little grace right now. There are resources available if you or someone you know needs help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is free and you can call anytime. That's 1-800-273-8255.You can find a link to the Methodist Community Counseling Program, here.