As states across the country continue to struggle with the aftermath of a deadly polar vortex, Biden health officials are concerned that the multi-day emergency will also lead to an increase in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the coming years. weeks.
In recent days, senior administration officials have struggled to mount a federal response to the winter emergency, mainly in Texas, but also in Oklahoma, Louisiana and other northwest and southern states. As part of that response, the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordinated the shipment of 60 generators, meals, blankets, water, diesel and other life-saving supplies to Texas. President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations in several states and spoke personally with dozens of local and state officials in Texas to see what else can be done to help those in need.
In addition to assessing and addressing the obvious risks that come without reliable energy, water or access to health care, administration officials are working to understand the magnitude of the COVID-19 problems caused by the storm, including vaccination sites that have closed in more than six states and the delay in sending nearly 6 million doses of vaccines. Officials say his biggest fear is that the increase in transmission among people who gather indoors to warm up will spike in new cases at a time when vaccination is declining in the state due to weather conditions. The state was set to dramatically expand vaccination before the storm hit, creating a mass vaccination site in coordination with the Pentagon and FEMA officials. Personnel assigned to help set up the site delayed their report to Texas because of the snow.
“Observe the patterns of hospitalizations and deaths from illness. They were really going dramatically in the right direction. I just hope we can recover and I think we will, ”said Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden, in an interview on Friday. “This is a setback. We need to continue to do everything we can – doing the same things that we did and we know they work. I know, it’s hard to do that. When you are not at your house, because the pipes have exploded, you and your family are freezing and may have to go to the shelter. It is obvious that this is not the best way to prevent the spread of disease. But I hope that this will be fixed quickly. “
The authorities are also concerned that the situation on the ground, especially the lack of water and energy in hospitals, especially in rural communities, will lead to death for those who already sought care for the virus. A senior Biden official said there is no reliable way to track COVID-19 cases and deaths in real time, but expects the Texas State Department of Health to report COVID-19-related deaths and other fatalities caused by the storm. in the next weeks .
“It can take weeks, sometimes months for these deaths to reach the federal government’s database,” said a senior Biden official. “But we are likely to see a series of deaths from hypothermia and carbon monoxide, as well as deaths related to COVID. The question will be whether these COVID deaths occurred due to power outages or for explainable reasons. “
Concerns about transmission arise at a time when the Biden administration is working overtime to control the spread of COVID-19, in part by increasing vaccination. More than 73 million doses have been sent and about 58 million have been administered. And the Biden government recently struck more deals to ensure that doses continue to flow at a faster rate in the coming months. But the emergence of new, more lethal variants has complicated that effort, although there is some evidence that vaccines will still offer protection against them. Health officials are forced to double calls for Americans to more strictly follow public health guidelines – the same ones that authorities have been recommending for over a year – as a way to reduce transmission.
“The continued spread of more transmissible variants could hamper the progress we made last month … if we let our guard down,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at a news conference on Wednesday . “We are not at the point where we believe that the current level of vaccination is what is reducing the current level of the disease. We believe that much of the emergence of disease has happened related to holidays, related to travel. We are coming down from this. I would articulate very loudly that if you are counting on our current level of vaccination instead of other mitigation efforts to keep us down … we should not rest in that comfort. “
The emergence of the winter storm left senior Biden government officials concerned that they would again face an uphill battle trying to control the spread of the virus just as they were beginning to progress. They are trying to avoid a situation in which states will have to force residents to return. indoors, reducing the capacity of the restaurant and gym.
Fauci said the United States “by no means” has the pandemic under control – that the transmission numbers in the community are too high across the country to begin reversing public health measures.
“If you have such a high level of background infections, as we did a month ago, when we received 300,000 new infections a day, then it becomes almost impossible to do efficient identification, isolation and contact tracking,” said Fauci. “Once the infection baseline is really low, when more and more people are vaccinated, you can gradually start to back off from some of the strict public health measures. And by stepping back, I mean restaurants starting to open, increasing the capacity with which they open … outdoor sports and having spectators watching. We need to do this gradually instead of saying, ‘ok, the numbers are low. Let’s just connect everything again. ‘”
Fauci said that was exactly what happened during the Trump administration last summer – the country was reopened before the broadcast was under control.
“There is a dynamic of outbreaks, that when they accelerate on the way up, they have a drive for self-propagation of more and more cases,” he said. “When you get the momentum going in the opposite direction, the same thing happens, fewer and fewer people are infected.”
Still, even if the United States keeps transmission under control, there is always a chance that new variants will emerge that pose an even greater threat, said Fauci.
“What worries me is that even if we reach a very, very significant level of suppression of the baseline level of the virus in the United States, and the virus is still spreading to the rest of the world, normally the developing world that doesn’t have the capacity or resources to vaccinate, there will always be a persistent threat of new variants coming in and, essentially, avoiding vaccine protection, ”said Fauci. “It is a global pandemic. And the only way to fight it is globally, because otherwise, it will remain a Sword of Damocles hanging over us. “