It’s been more than a year since the pandemic has drastically changed our day-to-day and things are finally starting to look up – the number of new cases have gone down considerably from the record highs reported early this year; plus more and more people are getting vaccinated. However, health experts are urging everyone to continue to practice health and safety measures a little longer, expressing that this can be the game changer in the U.S.’ fight against COVID-19.
Just over a week ago, the daily average of new COVID-19 cases was at 60,000 – the lowest so far in 2021, but still considerably high. However, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reports that that number has already seen a 10% increase in just seven days, averaging at 65,700 new cases a day over the last week. The total number of COVID-19 deaths also hit 550,000 on Monday (March 29) – the highest in the world.
“I’m going to pause here. I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Dr. Walensky said during Monday’s virtual White House briefing. “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope.”
Dr. Walensky also reflected on her time treating COVID-19 patients before she became the director of the CDC. “I know what it’s like as a physician to stand in that patient room — gowned, gloved, masked, shielded — and to be the last person to touch someone else’s loved one because their loved one couldn’t be there.”
And she expressed her concerns of the possibility of another wave of infections hitting the population – just when the country could be at the tipping point of this pandemic.
“We’re reaching towards getting so many more people vaccinated,” she later told MSNBC. “I just can’t face another surge when there’s so much optimism right at our fingertips.”
According to health experts, the new COVID-19 variants play a big factor in the recent rise in new cases in several countries across the globe. In the U.S., the B.1.1.7 variant already accounts for 26% of COVID-19 cases. While the current vaccines are deemed still effective against these new variants, Dr. Walensky warns that if the spread cannot be contained, it could lead to more dire consequences.
“That is concerning,” Dr. Walensky said. “So far, it appears that the B.1.1.7 is neutralized by our current vaccines, but … if you have enough virus circulating, those variants can mutate even more and lead to sort of more troublesome variants in the future, which is why we just really want to stop the circulation of virus.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert in infectious disease also urges everyone to stay patient a little bit longer.
“We really need to hold on to the public health measures as we get more and more people from two- to three-plus million people vaccinated every day,” Dr. Fauci said Monday (March 29). “It will be a race between the vaccine and what’s going on with the dynamics of the outbreak.”
“And we can win this by just hanging in there a bit longer,” he adds.
Take care and stay safe, everyone!
