Richard Besser, who served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, said he was concerned that people were discounting the Covid numbers while governors decided to reopen their states.
“In Texas, where they removed the mask mandate, less than 10% of the people were vaccinated and the levels are higher than the levels that were last summer when they initially applied for the mandates,” Besser said. “I’m worried we’re getting these numbers a little lame, and we can not remember more than 2,000 people in America still dying of Covid.”
The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced on Tuesday that they would lift mask mandates and reopen businesses at full capacity.
“It’s now time to open Texas 100%,” said Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, announced Thursday that a number of his businesses may reopen at full capacity from March 19.
Besser told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that states should follow the lead of the CDC and heed the concerns of director Rochelle Walensky, who said she was still “deeply concerned” about the virus.
“Our recent declines appear to be, and that’s more than 70,000 cases a day,” Walensky said during a White House press briefing. “With these new statistics, I am very concerned about reports that more states are reversing the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people against Covid-19.”
Besser’s old agency is expected to release new guidelines on Friday regarding people who have been fully vaccinated. He advised host Shepard Smith that people should live up to their expectations.
“I do not think they are going to give the kind of wholesale light that a lot of people are hoping for. It is going to take a further downward trend, and it will take more people to be vaccinated than we currently have the country,” Besser said.