The former FDA commissioner has said he believes the downward trend in coronavirus infections will continue into the summer.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb said that despite the emergence of new variants of the virus that still pose a risk of infection, he believes rates will continue to drop.
The daily average number of deaths and hospitalizations has fallen to its lowest level since before the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.
There have been 1,286 daily deaths in the past 24 hours, with the lowest rate since October 23, at the start of this winter’s wave of contamination.
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said the US is likely to “continue to see infection rates fall in the spring and summer.”
The number of daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all now falling
On Sunday, the number of people currently in hospital with the virus was 56,159, which equates to 40 consecutive days of declining hospital admissions.
This has taken a tragic toll on the United States, but we should be optimistic in my opinion. I think we will continue to see infection rates drop in the spring and summer. At the moment they fall quite dramatically. I think these trends are likely to continue, ”Gottlieb, who sits on the Pfizer board, told CBS News.
‘With rising vaccination coverage and the fact that we have injected about a third of the country, that’s sufficiently protected immunity. If you look at the counties of New York and New Jersey with a prevalence of over 45%, meaning that over 45% of the population was infected when they entered winter, they really didn’t have much of a winter rise.
“Once you reach about 40% of the population with some sort of protected immunity, you don’t have a herd immunity because it will keep passing, but it will go much slower,” Gottlieb explained.
RN Robert Villa (right) gives a Moderna Covid-19 vaccine to Armando Montes at the newly opened Los Angeles city vaccination site at Pierce College
There have now been 40 consecutive days of falling hospital admissions
Gottlieb said he believes Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturing companies will be able to “ prepare much better for fall ” and develop boosters for the new variants of the virus that are circulating.
‘I think we have the spring and summer to work this out. I don’t think we’ll ever achieve total immunity to the herd. Hopefully we will vaccinate the older population to keep them from dying from this, but this will continue to spread. ‘
Gottlieb also said he believed this fall might be the right time for school kids to get the vaccination too.
‘I think it is possible that this vaccine will end up in high school in the fall. We’ve seen the spread more in the secondary schools than in the primary schools. There is less risk for primary school children. I don’t believe this vaccine will be moved to age 12 and under in the fall.
“It may be a matter of reformulating the vaccines at a lower dose for the younger children as they develop a more robust immune response to the vaccine,” Gottlieb theorized.
Drivers and passengers will wait in line on Wednesday for their Covid-19 vaccinations to be administered by members of the National Guard at a joint state and federal COVID-19 vaccination site on the campus of California State University of Los Angeles in Los Angeles .
More than 28 million COVID-19 cases have rocked the US since the virus arrived in the country almost exactly a year ago.
The effect of the virus was so severe that average life expectancy in the United States has dropped by a year, the largest drop since World War II.
So far, less than 15 percent of the US population has received at least one dose of vaccine, with nearly 43 million receiving at least one injection and nearly 18 million a second injection, US statistics show.
Some countries are relaxing restrictions, such as indoor dining, and moving to reopening schools, while millions await their photo, sparking debate about the safety of teachers, students and others.
The total number of people who have died from the virus in the US is rapidly approaching 500,000
Financial pressures also continue to weigh, even as economists are optimistic about the year ahead.
Congress is weighing in on Biden’s $ 1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, with the House of Representatives expected to vote on this week and the Senate seeking to approve it by March 14.
The White House said on Sunday that it is planning a memorial event in which Biden would make comments.
A White House spokesman said the president, along with First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, would hold a moment of silence Monday and that there would be a candlelit ceremony at sunset.