Texas’s most populous county issued a public safety warning on Wednesday warning residents against celebrating New Years with anyone other than those in their immediate household.
KHOU-11, a local CBS affiliate, reports Harris County’s warning, which includes Houston, told residents to “protect yourself, family and health workers.”
Dr. Ali Mokdad, a researcher who helped create the COVID-19 model used by the White House, told the television station that an increase in the number of cases and mobility has been observed, but mask wearing is stagnating.
“The concern for New Year’s Eve is completely different,” Mokdad told the station. “It’s a different kind of party. People party with friends, family and sometimes people they don’t know. It can be a super spreader event on top of what you see in Texas.”
More than 60 percent of Texas IC beds are currently occupied by COVId-19 patients, KHOU reports, and cases aren’t expected to peak until sometime in January.
According to Mokdad’s model, if trends continue, Texas could see as many as 35,000 deaths in early February.
“Many hospitals are struggling with a shortage of IC beds. If you put such pressure on hospitals, we may have to refer patients to other hospitals far from where they live, ”said Mokdad.
KHOU notes that the introduction of the vaccine has been much slower than expected. Trump officials defended the pace of vaccine distribution on Wednesday, claiming that up to 20 million doses will be made available for all 64 U.S. territories.
More than 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered so far, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“Wearing a mask that wears 95 percent will do much better between now and April 1, especially compared to the rapid introduction of the vaccines, simply because we don’t have enough vaccines,” added Mokdad, saying the pandemic is likely to get much worse from January.