Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is warning of another possible increase in COVID-19 infections in the United States, as the number of new cases has stabilized at a rate that health officials say still be very high.
US cases continue to fluctuate around 60,000 to 70,000 a day, after a sharp decline in cases in the past few weeks after the record holiday peak. Daily deaths from coronavirus are hovering around the 2,000 mark.
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Public health officials are concerned that stagnation in the decline plus the spread of new variants and the easing of restrictions by states could cause another increase.
Fauci pointed out that, after the first outbreak in the spring, cases increased and stabilized at around 20,000 before a second wave hit in July, peaking at around the 70,000 mark. The cases then reached a plateau of around 40,000 before the United States began recording hundreds of thousands of new cases a day during the winter.
“The point is that we are starting to stagnate. This level is around 60,000 to 70,000 cases per day. When you have so much viral activity on a plateau, it almost invariably means that you are at risk for another peak, ” Fauci said during a COVID-19 briefing at the White House on Friday.
“Many countries in Europe have seen just that. They had a decrease in cases over a period of six weeks. They’ve stagnated. And now, last week, they saw a 9% increase in cases, which we desperately want to avoid, ”he said.
Fauci’s warning comes at a time when several states have begun to reverse restrictions to curb the spread of the virus, despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) not to do so. Both Texas and Mississippi announced this week that they are eliminating masking mandates and allowing companies to reopen at 100 percent capacity.
CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Friday that the number of cases and deaths in the United States is still very high and urged Americans to double prevention measures.
“I know that the idea of relaxing wearing the mask and returning to daily activities is attractive, but we are not there yet. And we’ve seen this movie before: When preventive measures, such as masking mandates, are reversed, cases increase, ”Walenksy said friday.
The warnings come at a time when the United States has promising news about vaccines. The Biden government announced this week that it will have enough vaccine to vaccinate all American adults against the coronavirus by May, ahead of the government’s previous estimate of guaranteeing doses by July.
The Johnson & Johnson single injection vaccine also received emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
According to the CDC, more than 82 million doses have been administered across the country so far.
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