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Speaking to host Dana Bash on CNN State of the union On Sunday morning, Dr. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and part of the White House coronavirus task force, warned US residents to prepare for a surge in cases. in the new year.
“It is very possible that we will see a post-season increase, in the sense of Christmas, New Years, or as I have described it, an increase after an increase,” Dr. Fauci said Sunday.
More than 1.1 million people were screened at U.S. airports on Saturday, making it the third-busiest day for air travel in the United States since March. At least 616,000 people were screened on Christmas Day, as thousands more traveled in the days leading up to the holidays.
Health officials, including Dr. Fauci, advised U.S. residents not to travel and attend indoor gatherings with people who are not at home during the vacation period, and the 80-year-old said on Sunday those meetings could fuel an increase in cases in the new year. .
When asked by Ms. Bash if he thought the “worst is yet to come” of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci replied, “Yes, I do.”
He added: “If you look at the slope, the steepness of the cases that we’ve experienced in late fall and early early winter, it’s really quite concerning.”
Coronavirus cases and deaths have risen dramatically in recent months, with the US registering its fifth highest day in related hospitalizations on Saturday, as more than 117,300 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized across the country.
Dr Fauci cautioned that hospitals are already struggling to deal with the number of Covid-19 patients and said that “we are really at a very critical point”, before adding: “As we move forward in the next few weeks, it could worsen”. .
December is already the deadliest month in the United States since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as more than 63,000 Americans died from Covid-19 on December 26.
The United States recorded 225,818 new cases and 1,645 more deaths on Saturday, as the country could record nearly double the 36,964 deaths in November by the end of the month.
However, Dr. Fauci was optimistic about the state of the US vaccination program during his CNN appearance, as he said the country is on track to administer doses to healthy US residents by April. of 2021, despite falling far behind its December target.
The United States was aiming to deliver 20 million doses by the end of December after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved two separate coronavirus vaccines earlier this month, but has so far only given 1.9 million to residents of high priority across the country.
“Whenever a large program is implemented that is a comprehensive vaccine program with a new vaccine like this, it always starts off slow at first and then it starts to gain momentum,” Dr. Fauci told Ms. Bash on Sunday.
He added that he believes the implementation will gain momentum and “we will catch up with the projection that by the time we get to April, in mid or late April, you will have taken the high priority people and already counted them and then anyone can get vaccinated. ”.
According to Johns Hopkins University, there are now more than 19 million people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the US The death toll has reached 332,145.
