Health expertswarn of post-holiday surge Surgecontinued onA2
U.S. at ‘very critical point’ in combating virus, Fauci says.
Current and former U.S. health offifficials took to the airwaves Sunday towarnAmericans of apotential jump in COVID-19 cases after the holidays.
“A surge upon a surge” may be on the way after the Christmas and NewYear’s period, Anthony Fauci, the government’s topinfectious-disease doctor, warned on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Former U.S. Food and Drug Administration chiefScottGottlieb said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that“wehave a grimmonthahead
of us” after a recent increase in cases, with hospitalizations rising on a lag of a few weeks.
Thecommentscameasthe number of confifirmed cases in the U.S. topped 19million on Sunday and deaths are more than 332,000. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the U.S. is at a “very critical point” in combating the pandemic after manyAmericans ignored guidance to avoid travel.
Flying has picked up recently while remaining well below year-ago levels. Figures from the Transportation Security Administration show more than 1 million peoplemoved through U.S. airport checkpoints on five of the past nine days heading into and through the holidays.
Adm. BrettGiroir, amember of theWhiteHouse coronavirus task force, said the risks entailed by traveling depend mostly on what
people do once they get to their destinations, as actually being in an airplane is typically safe.
“What we really worry about is the mingling of different bubbles once you get to your destination,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
Vaccinations in the U.S. beganDec. 14 for health care
workers and residents of nursinghomes. So far almost 2 million doses have been administered in the country, according to a state-by-state tallycompiledbyBloomberg.
Those numbers are accelerating as a second vaccine by Moderna Inc. is distributed.