WASHINGTON (CBS / AP) – The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Massachusetts and other states should not ease restrictions on the coronavirus just yet.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters Friday that the CDC is looking at data showing that COVID-19 cases have increased in the past three days, but more time is needed to see if that’s a bleep or the start of a trend.
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Walensky, the former Massachusetts General Hospital chief of infectious diseases, said the spread of virus mutations in the US is one of the CDC’s top concerns. In addition to a more transmissible strain first discovered in Britain, scientists here are tracking variants in New York and California that also seem to spread more easily.
“We may be done with the virus, but the virus is clearly not with us yet,” said Walensky, emphasizing that now is not the time to relax protective measures such as wearing masks and avoiding gatherings.
Governor Charlie Baker announced on Thursday that Massachusetts will ease restrictions starting Monday. Walensky was asked about that Friday.
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“Given the trends we’ve seen over the past few days, I would say we can’t be in a place where we’re lifting restrictions right now,” she said. “The CDC would really encourage people and states not to expand and lift restrictions.”
Cases and hospital admissions have fallen dramatically in Massachusetts and much of the country since the peak in January that followed the winter holiday. The number of deaths has also decreased. But Walensky says those profits could be at risk because the background level of business is still too high.
“We need to look carefully at what happens to those numbers over the next week or so before you start making the understandable need to relax certain disabilities,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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