As the coronavirus continues to grow in many parts of the United States, officials and experts on Sunday offered a clearly different view of what is to come and when the situation could improve.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar noted that many people are fed up with epidemic precautions, and tried to paint an optimistic picture of how long they will need.
“Hang in there with us,” he said on the NBC program on Sunday, “meet the press.” “We are very close. We are weeks away from monoclonal antibodies for you for safe and effective vaccines. We need a bridge for that day. “
“Please,” Mr. Azar said, “give us a little more time for your personal, responsible behavior,” referring to hand washing, wearing masks and maintaining social distance.
But any idea that life in America would return to normal in a week, or a few months, was very optimistic, other officials and experts said. Even after new drugs and vaccines can be approved, the public health strategy that accompanies public fatigue will need some time to come. And the adherence to those strategies is already clear.
The figures are misrepresented: more than 70,450 new coronavirus cases were reported in the United States on Friday, the highest since July 24 and more than 900 new deaths, according to the New York Times database. With the worst news in the Great Lakes region, case counts are rising in 41 of the 50 states.
Dr. Michael, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “People don’t know who or what to expect when the vaccine will be available,” said Michael Osterholm. Os. Osterholm said it was just as important to communicate clearly and confidently with the public, as Dr. Os.
As the infection progresses and adherence weakens, “the next six to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the whole epidemic,” he told “Meet the Press.”
Former Commissioner of Food and Drug Administration Dr. A similar warning was uttered by Scott Gottlieb. He told the CBS program “Nation Face” that the country was heading for “the most difficult phase of the epidemic”. “I think the next three months are going to be very challenging.”
Now among the states where the spread of the virus is most worrisome, Illinois counted the most daily cases of its epidemic on Friday, and the highest since June.
Government J.B., praised for tampering with the virus in the spring. Pritzker expressed frustration on Sunday that people seem to be abandoning safety guidelines.
“People don’t follow relaxation,” he told CNN’s “State the Union.”
Governor Pritzker, a Democrat, accused President Trump of “modeling bad behavior” by not wearing a mask in public and holding rallies without security vigilance. “Presidents have made it almost impossible to open more now than existing states,” he said.
He also argued that rest restaurants rent and bars that do not follow safety guidelines were fostering a false sense of security. “When people stop there and they see that, well, no one is wearing a mask, maybe that’s okay,” he said. “That’s not right.”
However, the governor declined to say whether the state would impose stricter sanctions across the state to combat the surge in cases.
Other officers appeared to be taking part in their struggle, urging the people to back down from the order and voluntarily comply. The strategy, which means minimizing the blow in public, has not been found to be particularly effective in slowing down the virus.
Republican, North Dakota Govt. Doug Bergham has been making an emotional plea to residents to wear masks for weeks, but has refused to make the practice mandatory. The Associated Press reports that some of his supporters also want him to take more aggressive action against the virus.
Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lugan Grisham said last week that despite the outbreak, “New Mexico was facing its most serious crisis ever,” and was about to return to shutdown very soon.
Many in the United States hope for a quick delivery of a vaccine or antibody therapy to make epidemic precautions unnecessary. But experts say these hopes cannot be fulfilled as quickly as suggested by Mr Azar.
At least four companies are producing monoclonal antibody treatments like the experimental cocktail Mr. Trump received, and clinical trials are underway to see if they can prevent infection in people exposed to the virus. Two companies, Regeneron and Ally Lilly, have applied to the FDA for emergency access approval.
But the application is only for hospitalized patients, and the supply is limited. A trial of Ellie Lilly’s version was postponed last week due to safety concerns.
Various vaccines are also being tested, but so far no one is ready for emergency use. The Times tracking has been suspended to investigate at least three potential problems in the 11-stage 3 vaccine test.
And even when the vaccine is approved, a nationwide rollout is unlikely to be easy or quick. The Bipartisan National Governors Association released a long list of questions about how the vaccine would be distributed for administration.
D My. Myron Cohen, an epidemiologist and virologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said he expects one or more monoclonal antibodies to be used, but “there will be limitations in supply and their application.” And he said scientists still don’t know much about how effective the coronavirus vaccine would be in humans.
“There’s no magic bullet,” said Dr. Cohen.
