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“We are at a dangerous tipping point right now,” former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb told Margaret Brennan Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We are entering what will be the steep slope of the curve, of the epidemic curve.”
Social gatherings and family events that are moved indoors to avoid colder weather are largely to blame for the high rates of spread, authorities said over the weekend.
At least 35 states report increased cases
The Florida Department of Health reported 2,385 additional coronavirus cases and 12 new resident deaths Sunday.
Florida has recorded a total of 778,636 Covid-19 cases statewide and 16,429 deaths in Florida, DOH data shows.
At least 35 states reported more new cases of Covid-19 in the past week than the week before, according to data from Johns Hopkins.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy reported 1,994 additional coronavirus cases Saturday, the highest single-day total since May.
“We are still in the middle of a pandemic and we need everyone to take this seriously. Wear a mask. Social distance,” Murphy tweeted.
New Jersey had eight new deaths related to the virus, bringing the state’s total death toll to 14,492.
“This virus has not gone away simply because we are tired,” Murphy said.
Pennsylvania reported 2,043 new cases Saturday.
“Daily increases are now comparable to what we saw in April 2020,” the state health department said in a statement. Another 29 deaths related to the virus were reported Saturday.
Michigan, with 3,338 new cases on Saturday, marked its highest single-day total during the pandemic, according to state Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman Lynn Sutfin. The state also reported 35 new deaths.
Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan’s executive medical director and deputy director of health, said the data showed “alarming increases” in new infections.
“If rates continue like this, we run the risk of overwhelming our hospitals and many more Michiganns dying,” Khaldun said in a statement.
The Texas Division of Emergency Management is establishing an alternate care site in El Paso to expand the hospital’s capacity, according to the office of Governor Greg Abbott. The facility will open Monday and will provide additional beds, equipment and staff.
Abbott said the additional medical staff will be able to help with the augmentation capacity to “reduce stress on hospitals.”
Expert: Vaccine may not arrive this year
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that experts will know in early December if a possible coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective, but widespread vaccination will likely not be possible until late next year.
“We will know if a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, beginning of December,” said the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “The number of doses that will be available in December will certainly not be enough to vaccinate everyone; it will have to wait several months until 2021. ”
Gottlieb also noted that even if a vaccine is available this year and goes to the first group of patients, likely the elderly and healthcare workers, they will not have protective immunity until sometime in 2021.
“This vaccine will not affect the contours of what we are going to go through, which will unfold in the next two or three months,” he said.
National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins said on Friday that while he is “cautiously optimistic” that the United States will have a licensed vaccine by the end of the year, he said “it may not happen and it may take longer “.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Naomi Thomas, Jay Croft, Alta Spells, Alec Snyder, Ganesh Setty, and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.
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