More than half of people in the United States aged 65 and older are at least partially vaccinated against Covid-19, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden’s response team Covid-19 said Friday.
This creates more pressure for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide guidance on what people can do safely after being fully vaccinated.
At a media briefing on Friday, the director of the CDC, dr. Rochelle Walensky, acknowledged the urgency and promised that the lead would come soon.
“These are complex issues and science is evolving rapidly,” she said. “CDC is working to ensure that the communication we make about this guidance is clear. We make sure we have the time to get it right.”
As the rate of vaccinations in the US accelerates – more than 2 million doses were administered on Thursday – the number of new cases of Covid-19 has begun to stagnate after weeks of steady decline, Walensky warned.
“The latest data shows that cases still fluctuate between 60,000 and 70,000 cases a day,” she said. The decrease in the number of deaths reported each day also decreased to about 1,900.
Full coverage of coronavirus outbreak
The numbers are “still too high,” Walensky said, “and have now been sitting on the levels for more than a week at levels we saw during the late summer boom.”
The latest information is of concern to public health officials – especially as some states, including Texas and Mississippi, have announced they will begin easing the rules on wearing face masks.
The declining decline in cases indicates that the country is ‘in danger of another rise’ of Covid-19, Drs. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during the briefing.
Meanwhile, the release of CDC guidelines on how fully vaccinated individuals can communicate with other fully vaccinated people – which is expected to be released this week – has been delayed.
The CDC said it was working to simplify the guidance and make it clear to the public. There are speculations that the guidelines may suggest that people who have been fully vaccinated can come indoors with other people who have been fully vaccinated without masks.
“I know the idea of relaxing mask and returning to everyday activities is attractive. But we are not there yet,” Walensky said.
“I think CDC takes their time to make sure they are careful and that they do not exceed science,” says Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a former acting director of the CDC.
Meanwhile, Americans are desperate for permission to reconnect with their loved ones.
“I hope there is guidance out there that is changing so that fully vaccinated grandparents can embrace their grandchildren,” Besser added.
Also in a new CDC report on Friday, it was found that indoor dining in restaurants is accompanied by an increase in both Covid-19 cases as well as Covid-19 deaths.
The study looked at the impact of eating and drinking on the premises.
The ‘increase in daily rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths accelerated within 40 to 80 days after restaurants were allowed to eat,’ Walensky said.
She added the findings serve as a warning for the premature lifting of mask mandates. In addition to Texas and Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota are also working on ending rules that require face coverage.
Download the NBC News app for full coverage of coronavirus outbreakk
According to the CDC, more than 54 million people in the U.S. have had at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccination. The number is expected to increase significantly in the coming months, as Biden said on Thursday that the country should have enough vaccine doses for each adult by the end of May.
The government also announced on Friday that two stadiums will act as federal vaccination sites for Covid-19. These are the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta and the Wolstein Center in Cleveland.
Both sites are expected to administer at least 6,000 vaccinations per day.
Follow NBC HEALTH Twitter & Facebook.
