- The head of the CDC warned of a peak in COVID-19 during spring break.
- The United States had more air passengers on Friday than any other day last year.
- “All in the context of still 50,000 cases a day,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky.
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The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she was “begging for the health of the country” after more than 1.3 million Americans flew on Friday, mostly during the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is all in the context of still 50,000 cases a day,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, at a news conference on Monday.
Some Americans enjoyed their spring break “without a mask,” she said.
His comments came after the Transportation Security Administration registered more than 1.3 million Americans undergoing airport security screening on Friday.
The average number of new daily coronavirus cases reported in the United States dropped to less than 50,000 last week, for the first time since October. The current figure is more than 53,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Walensky said the United States is just starting to “turn a corner”, with the data moving in “the right direction”. She said the way forward depends on what people do to protect themselves and others, including following public health care and receiving a vaccine when offered.
“I am begging for the sake of our nation’s health. These should be warning signs for all of us,” said Walensky.
“Cases escalated last spring. They escalated again in the summer. They will escalate now if we stop taking precautions.”
The United States recorded more than 29 million cases of coronavirus in total and more than 535,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.