US experts: Expect a post-holiday virus surge
Current and former U.S. health officials took to the airwaves Sunday to warn Americans of a potential jumpinCOVID-19 cases after the holidays.
“A surge upon a surge” may be on the way after the Christmas and New Year’s period, Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease doctor, warned on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “we have a grim month ahead of us” after a recent increase in cases, with hospitalizations rising on a lag of a few weeks.
The comments came as the numberof confirmedcases in the U.S. passed 19 million and deaths at almost 333,000. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases warned that the U.S. is at a “very critical point”incombatingthepandemic after many Americans ignored guidance to avoid travel.
Flying has picked up recently while remaining well below yearagolevels. Figures fromtheTransportation Security Administration show more than 1 million people movedthroughU.S. airport checkpoints onfiveofthepast nine days heading into andthroughtheholidays.
Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said the risks entailed by traveling depend mostly on what people do once they get to their destinations.
“Whatwereally worry about is the mingling of different bubbles once you get to your destination,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Health officials are also onalert for a more infectious COVID-19 strain that’s emerged in the U.K., although there’s noclear evidence it results in more severe cases of the disease.