Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Work and Pensions (HELP) hearing at the Capitol in Washington DC on June 30, 2020 in Washington, DC .
Kevin Dietsch | AFP via Getty Images
The White House Chief Medical Adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned that Covid-19 cases in the United States could stabilize again at a very high level, even as the country rapidly administers three vaccines.
The decline in cases seen since early January now appears to be “falling a little more slowly,” Fauci told the Center for Strategic and International Studies during an interview on Tuesday afternoon. “Which means that we can stabilize again at an unacceptably high level.”
The country is registering at least 58,100 new cases of Covid-19 and at least 1,560 virus-related deaths each day, based on an average of seven days calculated by CNBC using data from Johns Hopkins University. The US peaked at about 250,000 cases a day in early January, after the winter break. The cases increased before falling and stabilizing two more times in the past year.
Some health experts fear the United States could see a “fourth wave” of infections, as new highly contagious variants continue to spread and some states lift restrictions designed to contain the virus. High-ranking American officials, including Fauci, say that reversing restrictions too soon could reverse the downward trend in infections and delay the country’s recovery from the pandemic.
“There is a light at the end of this tunnel, but we must be prepared for the fact that the road ahead may not be smooth,” said CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, earlier this month.
On Tuesday, Fauci asked Americans to wear masks, distance themselves socially and be vaccinated, saying the virus cannot mutate unless it infects its hosts and replicates.
He also said the United States is now assessing the impact of “home” variants, including one believed to have originated in New York. The strain, which the researchers are calling B.1.526, is spreading rapidly in New York City and carries a mutation that could weaken vaccine effectiveness, according to The New York Times.
Last week, Fauci said the Biden government was taking the emergence of the New York strain “very seriously”. He said American officials need to “keep an eye” on the strain, including the possibility that it might escape protection from antibody and vaccine treatments.