Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Friday that the US could soon be hit with a rise in COVID-19 cases – although the country has administered more vaccine shots than any other country.
The recent plateau in cases of record high post-holiday rates is actually a sign that Americans need to disguise themselves for another possible surge in infections, Fauci said as he reviewed the trends of coronavirus data during a press briefing of the White House call.
“We have recently experienced the worst boom,” Fauci said. ‘The problem is that we’re starting to get a plateau. That plateau is about 60,000 to 70,000 cases per day. Having so much viral activity on a plateau almost always means that you run the risk of having another increase.
“Many countries in Europe have just seen it – over the past week the number of cases has increased by 9 per cent, something we would very much like to avoid,” he added.
By contrast, when coronavirus cases flattened out after the first wave of infections last spring, the national daily caseload was about a third of what it is today, he said.
‘Many of us will remember very, very vividly – at the end of winter and the beginning of spring – we had a boom that was dominated by the metropolitan area of New York. After the boom, it was a baseline of about 20,000 cases a day. It’s relatively a very high baseline, ” he said.
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He warned that amid optimism about federal plans to have all Americans vaccinated by May, it was important to fight the virus with masks, do away with social distractions and wash hands.
Meanwhile, White House officials reported that nearly 55 percent of Americans age 65 and older received at least one vaccine shot in the United States.
According to Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House, for the COVID-19 response team, 82 million people – more than any other country – have been vaccinated in the US.