Incoming director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, warned on Sunday that the US was likely to have a “dark week” ahead, with the death toll from the coronavirus possibly reaching half a million by mid-February.
On CBS ‘”Face the Nation” on Sunday, Walensky, head of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that despite nearly 4,000 deaths a day, the country still does not see the true consequences of vacation trips and gatherings.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. counted nearly 24 million cases of coronavirus and more than 397,800 deaths as of Monday.
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Walensky also noted that, in addition to the overwhelming number of COVID-19 patients, there are thousands of additional cases where coronavirus survivors are dealing with post-disease symptoms, or so-called ‘elongated ones’.
National Guard members are assisting with the processing of COVID-19 deaths and placing them in temporary custody at the LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner Office in Los Angeles on January 12, 2021.
(LA County Division of Medical Examiner-Body Shoulder via AP, file)
Elected President Joe Biden said his government aims to vaccinate 100 million people in its first 100 days in office, which Dr. Anthony Fauci later said that it is absolutely a doable thing. However, some have questioned whether production will be high enough to meet the demand for supply.
In New York, for example, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state allocation was cut from 300,000 to 250,000 last week, and that was at a time when the region was expanding the distribution.
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And the Wisconsin government, Tony Evers, said the Trump administration’s promise to send the rest of the federal stock fell short when they realized there was no such offer.
‘The vice president, a couple, told me [of] and the secretary of health services that they’re opening the gates, we’ll send you the rest of the stock you sent up, ” he said, according to the Associated Press. I think maybe they have the truth because it’s zero. ‘
Walensky said the government in Biden would address ‘all the bottlenecks’ in vaccine production.
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According to the CDC, the country distributed 31.1 million doses of vaccine, but only 12.2 million were administered. The Trump administration recently advised states to expand the spread to people over 65 and older, except for the elderly and health workers, but not every region has acted quickly.