Chief White House epidemiologist Anthony Fauci on Tuesday acknowledged that the pandemic is spiraling out of control in the United States, which records record numbers of hospital admissions.
“We are in a revival, as we call it, Jim, that is getting out of hand in many ways,” Fauci said in an interview with CNN.
“If you look at the evolution from late winter – early spring 2020, we had a peak in late winter – early spring,” he continued, “another recovery in early summer, and right now we’re at a peak. , the deterioration of which, the bending of which is very sharp “.
He added that the US is in a ‘very difficult’ situation because it has never had a low benchmark, in terms of contamination, ‘where the expansion of the community can be controlled through identification, isolation and follow-up. -up of contacts “.
For that reason, he expressed concern that the number of cases will increase in January, which could be worse than in December, when the country has seen an unprecedented daily increase in the number of cases.
“I think we have to assume it’s getting worse, you know, we’re between 100,000 and 200,000 infections a day. There was a period in the worst part of December when it was above 200,000, and I hope we that will not reach anymore because it makes us falter: you have fallen, you have hospitalizations and, as a result, deaths, ”he said.
Against this backdrop, Fauci, who has been chosen as his chief medical adviser by US President-elect Joe Biden, recommended continuing to practice “the simple things” that are being done.
“In this season, apart from traveling, it’s too late now because we’re in the middle of the Christmas holidays, New Years, people are going on a trip or have already traveled. We’re trying to make people travel less, and to help those who already have it. what you have to do is not congregate in large groups of people, just the immediate family, ”he said.
And he warned that when you have a large group of people dining indoors and with little ventilation, “that’s when you get in trouble.”
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US is the country in the world most affected by the pandemic, with more than 19.3 million cases of covid-19 discovered and more than 335,000 deaths.
According to the Covid Tracking Project, the US registered the record of hospital admissions on Monday since the start of the pandemic, with 121,235 patients admitted for the disease, 22,592 of whom are in intensive care.