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WASHINGTON: The United States should prepare for a “spike after spike” in coronavirus cases as millions of travelers return home after the Thanksgiving holiday, top US scientist Anthony warned on Sunday (November 29). Fauci.
The United States is the most affected country in the world, with 266,831 deaths from COVID-19, and the administration of President Donald Trump has issued mixed messages about the use of masks, travel and the danger posed by the virus.
“There will almost certainly be a rebound because of what happened with the trip,” Fauci told CNN’s State of the Union.
Travel around the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday made this the busiest week at U.S. airports since the pandemic began.
READ: Many Americans fly for the Thanksgiving holiday despite requests from CDC
“We may see one increase after another” in two to three weeks, Fauci added. “We don’t want to scare people, but that’s the reality.”
The trend is ominous, Fauci and other government scientists said, and the Christmas holidays are sure to bring more travel and family reunions.
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, noticed a spike in COVID-19 after a holiday weekend in May.
“We are now entering this post-Thanksgiving surge with three, four and 10 times more illnesses across the country,” he told CBS ‘Face the Nation.
“We are deeply concerned.”
Passengers check in at Los Angeles International Airport before Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, California on November 25, 2020 (Photo: AFP / Patrick T Fallon)
America’s Surgeon General Jerome Adams was equally outspoken.
“I want to be honest with the American people,” he told Fox News Sunday.
“It’s going to get worse in the next few weeks.”
In the 24 hours to 1.30 a.m. GMT (9.30 a.m. Singapore time) on Monday, the country added 140,651 coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 13,373,673, according to Johns Hopkins University. There have been 822 additional deaths.
DESPERATE WAITING FOR THE VACCINE
Meanwhile, the US media reported that the first shipments of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, one of the first to claim high effectiveness, along with a Moderna product, had arrived in the United States from a Pfizer laboratory in Belgium.
Pfizer was using charter flights to preposition the vaccine for rapid distribution once it receives emergency clearance from the US, which is expected on December 10, the Wall Street Journal and other outlets reported.
READ: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Deliveries Could Begin ‘Before Christmas’
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, said to be 95% safe and effective, have introduced a ray of hope after months of grim news.
“This is the way we got out of the pandemic. The light is at the end of the tunnel,” Admiral Brett Giroir, the US official who oversees coronavirus testing, told CNN.
But, like Fauci and the other scientists, he expressed serious concerns about the months to come.
Admiral Brett Giroir, who heads the US coronavirus testing program, has called the new vaccines “the light at the end of the tunnel.” (Photo: AFP / MANDEL NGAN)
“About 20 percent of all the people in the hospital have COVID, so this is a really dangerous time,” Giroir said.
Until large numbers of Americans have been vaccinated, Giroir said that half of the eligible population could be in March, much will depend on people taking precautions, including wearing masks and distancing themselves, he and Fauci said.
Giroir said it could take until the second or third quarter of next year for most Americans to get vaccinated, but that the substantial benefits will accrue much sooner.
By vaccinating those most at risk first, he said, “we can get absolutely 80 percent of the benefit from the vaccine by immunizing only a small percentage of the population.”
Adams, the US surgeon general, also expressed cautious optimism, saying: “We are just weeks away from starting vaccinating the vulnerable, and we can significantly protect people who are at risk of contracting this virus.”
“So wait a little longer.”
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