After months of practicing COVID-19 restrictions, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that the United States might be heading in the wrong direction.
What We Know:
- In a press conference on Monday, the head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, warned of an “impending doom” following mutating strains of the disease, a roll-back of restrictions in several states, and a travel surge across the country.
- The director pleaded with the public to continue taking precautions despite accelerating vaccination rates. If we’re not careful, Walensky predicts coronavirus surges similar to those that occurred last summer in Europe. “I’m speaking today not necessarily as your CDC director, and not only as your CDC director but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, to ask you to just please hold on a little while longer,” Walensky said.
“I so badly want to be done. I know you all so badly want to be done. We’re just almost there, but not quite yet. And so I’m asking you to just hold on a little longer to get vaccinated when you can, so that all of those people that we all love will still be here when this pandemic ends,” she continued.
- According to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. records a weekly average of 63,239 new coronavirus cases per day, which is a 16% increase compared to a week ago. Daily cases are now increasing by at least 5% in 30 states, including the District of Columbia.
- CDC data also shows a climbing rate of coronavirus hospitalizations, reporting a seven-day average of 4,816 Covid-19 hospital admissions as of Friday, a 4.2% increase compared to last week.
President Joe Biden acknowledged Walensky’s concerns and issued a plea to state governors to re-introduce mask mandates stating, “If we let our guard down now, we can see the virus getting worse, not better. Fight to the finish,” he added. “Don’t let up now.”
