Story at a glance
- “We all want to return to our everyday activities and spend time with our family, friends and loved ones. But we must find the fortitude to hang in there for just a little bit longer,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Monday.
- The CDC director said the leveling off of cases following declines last month and the spread of new contagious variants is “very concerning.”
- Over the past few weeks, several states have lifted mask mandates and allowed the reopening of businesses at full capacity.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walenksy is pleading with Americans to continue COVID-19 mitigation measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing to avoid a new surge of the virus.
Walensky on Monday warned that the U.S. is averaging about 53,800 cases per day, a slight increase from the previous seven-day average of cases nationwide. Hospital admissions have remained relatively stable, around 4,500 to 5,000 per day, while deaths, a lagging indicator, have continued to decline with slightly less than 1,000 per day.
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The CDC director said the leveling off of cases following declines last month and the spread of new contagious variants is “very concerning.”
“Taken together, these statistics should serve as a warning sign for the American people,” Walensky said during a COVID-19 news briefing.
“We must act now. And I am worried if we don’t take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge, just as we are seeing in Europe right now and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccination,” she said.
Walensky emphasized that the easing of COVID-19 restrictions in states while cases are still high and while variants are rapidly spreading is a “serious threat” to the progress the U.S. has made in trying to get a hold on the virus.
Over the past few weeks, several states have lifted mask mandates and allowed the reopening of businesses at full capacity.
Walensky urged Americans to continue to wear masks, avoid crowds and wait to travel, even if they’ve been vaccinated.
“We all want to return to our everyday activities and spend time with our family, friends and loved ones. But we must find the fortitude to hang in there for just a little bit longer,” she said.
Nearly 70 percent of Americans 65 and older in the U.S. have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 42 percent are fully vaccinated, according to Walensky. At least 1 in 3 U.S. adults have been given at least one dose, and 44 million are fully vaccinated.
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