Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strongly encouraged residents of yellow or orange communities to consider wearing masks in public places indoors and taking other measures to protect themselves, indicating a greater number of new infections and hospital admissions. .
“As cases continue to rise in some parts of the country, we encourage everyone to use the menu of tools we have today to prevent further infections and serious illnesses, including wearing a mask, getting tested, and accessing treatment early. Infection and Vaccination or Promotion “ She said.
Wednesday warnings from Walensky and two other officials – White House Corona virus coordinator Ashish Jah and President Biden’s chief medical adviser Anthony S. FOUCE – The United States crossed the deadly milestone of 1 million Covid-19 deaths on the same day. Even the worst forecasts for the onset of epidemics in 2020 are not expected.
While officials insist the current situation is worse than the winter Omigron-variant uprising, they warned that the country would not be ready to respond effectively in the coming months if Congress does not quickly provide billions of dollars in aid to the corona virus to buy new ones. Antiviral therapies, vaccines and tests.
The seven-day average of new infections has risen to about 94,000 a day, an increase of 26 percent over the previous week and a three-fold increase last month, Valensky said. Hospital admissions have also started to rise, an increase of about 19 per cent over the previous week, to about 3,000 a day, he said.
Executives and experts anticipate a summer surge in the south, with heat forcing people into the home, as has happened in the previous two summers. Some experts have warned that the rise this summer will be worse than last year because the number of cases is higher than it was in May 2021.
They also warn of possible fall and winter waves that could result in about 1 million daily corona virus infections caused by Omigron subtypes that have shown significant ability to escape immunity. Officials said the wave would be dangerous if management could not afford more vaccines, antivirals, tests and high-quality masks.
“Our population has a high level of immunity,” Ja said. “But at the moment we are seeing a lot of epidemics all over the country. With high immunity.
Adding to that challenge: the immunity developed by vaccines and previous Omigran infections diminishes within two months, meaning that people may become infected again after a short period of time.
Modern and Pfizer – along with its German partner Bioendech – are developing new booster shots that integrate versions of the corona virus and protect against variants of the Omigron family. But it is not clear whether those vaccines will be more effective than existing vaccines. Still, officials said the administration would fight to buy adequate amounts of new vaccines without money from Congress.
“I hope we can find the money to vaccinate some Americans [those at] High risk, ”Ja said. “But these are not decisions we have to make. I think we will see a lot of unnecessary loss of life if that happens.
Management asked for $ 22.5 billion in corona virus assistance several months ago, but a deal fell through due to differences over how to pay for it. In early April, the Senate broke the $ 10 billion deal between the two parties. But regression On the decision of the Biden administration to relax the epidemic controls on the border where the compromise was forbidden. Its prospects are not clear.
The increase in cases comes as mask orders and the removal of most mitigation measures, including restrictions on capacity in places such as bars and restaurants. CDC guidelines advise implementing mask requirements when hospitalized, and many districts now meet that limit.
Don Keating contributed to this report.
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