US Covid-19 Deaths: December is the deadliest month since the outbreak began – and predictions for January are ‘nightmarish’

The country ‘s leading infectious disease expert described the potential increase in issues as “an increase in risk,” telling CNN’ s Dana Bash, “If you look at the slope, the number of cases is we found out how we got into late fall and soon for early winter, it ‘s very difficult. ”

Another rise in cases and hospitalization will inevitably mean more deaths – in addition to an already appalling death toll.

“When you deal with a baseline of 200,000 new cases per day and around 2,000 deaths per day, with over 120,000 hospitals, we are really at a very important stage,” Fauci said.

“As we get into the next few weeks,” he said, “it may get worse.”

“The projections are just depressing,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine. “People can still save the lives of their loved ones by using that social distance and alien faces. And remember, vaccines are just around the corner.”

Vaccine distribution will be slow in some areas, an expert says

Nearly 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been given in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 9.5 million doses have been dispensed.

When asked about the slow release of vaccines, Fauci told CNN Sunday that large, widespread vaccine programs with new vaccines are starting to slow down before they gain momentum.

“I am very confident as we get more and more movement, as we move from December to January and then from February to March, I believe we will accept the forecast,” he said. .

Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon University of Health & Science, explained that circulating a vaccine “is just a very complicated thing.”

“At every step, there is complexity and there is potential for delay, whether it is individual state design, distribution, training, vaccine supply, storage … there are (are) just so many factors at stake. this level, “Choo said.

“We need to be prepared for it to be slow in many places and not change our behavior or necessarily the path of the pandemic in this country in the short term,” Choo said.

Choo’s words are a replica of several other experts who have warned the American public not to let the guard down as vaccines begin and follow public health measures including wearing masks, socializing, avoiding crowds and gatherings, and washing their hands regularly.

Vaccinations may not become widely available until the summer and begin to have a significant impact on the course of the pandemic, officials have said. Dr. Fauci estimates that about 70% to 85% of the population needs to be vaccinated against Covid-19 for the country to gain herd immunity.

Expert: Testing requirements will not help control the variable release of Covid-19

Passengers must have a negative PCR or antigen test within 72 hours of taking a flight from the UK to the US, along with documentation of their laboratory results. Airlines must test the test before the flight.

But one expert says the new certification requirements for U.S. inbound travelers have not been implemented swiftly to be effective against a reported variance.

“It makes sense for anywhere that suffers a regional spike in cases where we implement new measures,” said emergency medicine physician Dr. Richina Bicette told CNN. “But if they try to ensure that the virus is not introduced into the United States, those measures will have no effect on that.”

“The requirements of the CDC will not happen until Monday,” Bicette said. “Up to that point, there have been thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people who came into the US from the UK. So there is a high probability that the new variant is already in the UK. United States and we don’t know. ”