“And the reason I’m concerned and my colleagues with public health are also concerned is that we’ll be able to see the post-Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and, as described, post-season episodes.” If you look at the screen. If we look at the number of cases we have experienced since late fall and early winter, it is indeed very disturbing, “said Fawcett, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Union. “
“We’re really at a very crucial stage. … So I share President-elect Biden’s concern that as we move into the next few weeks, it could get really bad.”
The comments from the country’s top infectious disease expert came as the U.S. has been on the rise since the coronavirus epidemic began. Its most lively month – so far in December, more than 63,000 Americans have died from the virus. More than 1 million people were spotted at airports on Saturday, despite warnings from health officials not to travel for the Christmas holidays and the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise across the country.
“I promise you one thing about my leadership during this crisis: I will tell you directly. I will tell you the truth. And here is a simple truth: our dark days in the war against the Covid are ahead.” Not behind us, “Biden said. , Who has been vaccinated against coronavirus, said in a comment at the time.
“So we need to prepare ourselves, steel our spines. It’s as frustrating as it sounds, it will take patience, determination and determination to defeat this virus. There will be no time to waste taking the steps we need to take.” Crisis around, ”he said.
On Sunday, Fawcett again recommended that Trump, who has not yet been vaccinated, be vaccinated.
“The decision on whether to vaccinate him is up to him and the White House physician I know is a very competent physician.” “My recommendation, and as I have said before, is that I will vaccinate him. He is still the President of the United States. He is a complex person.”
However, there are no safety or efficacy data for the vaccine in people who were treated for Covid-19 with monoclonal antibodies or convulsant plasma; Trump’s treatment for Covid-19 includes a monoclonal antibody cocktail made by Regeneron. The CDC guideline states that “as a precautionary measure, the vaccine should be suspended for at least 90 days until additional information is available to avoid interfering with antibody treatment with immune responses by vaccination.”
Adjusted herd immunity estimates
“We have to understand that we have to be humble and take care of what we don’t know,” he said. “This is a pure estimate and the calculations I’ve done are 70 to 75%, it’s a range. This range will be somewhere between 70 and 85%.”
The doctor added that because he first said 70% to 75% and then brought the figure down to 85% – an adjustment he considered a “no big jump” – “it was really based on calculations and pure extrapolation from measles.”
“So, I made a calculation that Kovid-19, SARS-Co-2, is not as transmissible as measles. Measles is the most contagious infection you can imagine.” “So I’d imagine you wanted something a little less than 90%, that’s how I got to 85.”
Everyone, Fau Si said, should be honest and polite, really no one knows for sure, but I think 70 to 85% is a reasonable estimate for the mob immunity to Covid-19, and in fact, most of my epidemic colleagues agree with me. Is. “
CNN’s Naomi Thomas and Jamie Gambrech contributed to this report.
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