The United States reported more than 195,000 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, setting the seven-day average of daily new cases at just over 215,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. It has only changed slightly from the number of new infections on December 10, when the seven-day average of daily new cases reached 212,000, suggesting that new cases may have leveled off with a high daily average.
However, as hospital stays and deaths from Covid-19 generally follow a week or two after new cases, the number of Americans hospitalized and killed by the virus has continued to increase.
On Tuesday, the United States reported 117,777 people in hospitals with Covid-19, the most since the pandemic began, according to the Covid Tracking Project. In addition, 3,400 people were reported dead from the virus on Tuesday, the second highest number of deaths in Covid-19 in a single day.
The nationwide data also disguises how different states handle the virus. States such as California, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Rhode Island see large increases in new cases, while cases in large parts of the Midwest have declined since their peaks recently.
Whether the number of new daily cases begins to decrease nationally from here depends, as always, on human behavior – and how America’s power system affects this behavior. Public health officials, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, has warned people to hold large, indoor, masked gatherings at Christmas and New Year.
“I want people to be more careful. I want them to limit the journey as far as possible. And when you gather, try to do it with a limited number of people,” says Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN on Tuesday.
“If we can do it now and get through this season, enjoy it as much as you can, but it will not be like a regular Christmas period is. When we get through it, the light at the end of the tunnel is the vaccine. . “
Concerns about British variant
Researchers advising the British government have estimated that this variant can be up to 70% more effective in spreading than other variants.
Peter Horby, chairman of NERVTAG (New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group), said on Monday that experts “now have great confidence that this variant has a transmission advantage” compared to other variants.
The British variant does not appear to cause more serious diseases, and it appears that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines will still be effective.
Has this tribe made its way to the United States yet? Researchers studying it believe that it probably arrived in the United States in mid-November and that many people in the United States could already be infected.
“If I had to guess, I would say it’s probably in the hundreds of people now,” said Michael Worobey, director of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. “It is very possible that it has come several times in several places.”
Researchers have been searching for genetic sequences of coronavirus in the United States to see if anyone matches the British variant. So far, they have not found any, but they say it is likely that the US surveillance system does not catch them.
“It may be in the United States, and we may not have discovered it yet,” Assistant Admiral Brett Giroir, Assistant Secretary of Health, said Monday.
Dr Fauci says the Biden administration will be different
Dr. Fauci predicted that the incoming Biden administration would not send “mixed signals” regarding communication on the coronavirus pandemic.
“There will probably be a unity in the message instead of mixed signals,” Fauci told the podcast FiveThirtyEight, which aired on Tuesday. “I think there will be more central guidance as opposed to leaving the states completely on their own and letting them do things they want to do.”
Fauci, who will be Elected President Biden’s chief adviser said he believes the biggest obstacle to Biden will be “division” in American society.
“It is unfortunate that we have plowed through a historic pandemic, like nothing we have ever seen in 102 years, and it has been done in connection with a great division in society,” Fauci said. “I do not think it will necessarily change directly with the change of administration.”
Fauci was asked, based on how President Donald Trump has handled the pandemic, how the president could have saved more lives.
“Obviously there have been some bumps in the road,” Fauci said. “But in general, especially when you look at the science and the success of vaccines, it’s huge. I mean, it’s something that’s really unparalleled.”
He also said that when it comes to fighting a pandemic, a nation can always improve their response.
“Obviously, you can always look back on your public health response and say, ‘Could you have done better? “And the answer is: Of course. ‘I think all countries that look back on their response will say they could have done better.’
CNN’s Shelby Lin Erdman and Elizabeth Cohen contributed to this report.