Dr. Rochelle Walensky is not afraid to step out of line in her role as Director of Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to that, she was Chief of Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Therefore, when she says a fourth U.S. surge could pose a real threat, this is not something we could wish away.
After All We Have Been Through…
That response seemed unavoidable, after she told New York Post she was deeply concerned. That’s because the U.S. case count may have leveled out, but it’s still an alarmingly high infection number.
Could this be because pandemic controls are slipping? There’s evidence some states are rolling back public health measures, Dr. Walensky says. These are the exact same ones we have recommended to protect people from COVID-19, she adds in frustration.
‘Please hear me clearly’ she told the media on March 1, 2021. ‘We cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day,’ she insisted, and ‘with variants spreading we could lose our hard fought-for ground.’
Dr. Fauci Agrees a Fourth U.S. Surge Could Pose a Real Threat
Dr. Fauci is director of U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and chief medical advisor to the President. He agrees new variants including New York type B.1.526 need taking seriously. However, he believes this is not the time to despair because there is hope.
Dr. Fauci and Dr. Walensky both believe vaccination is the solution. Therefore, we need to have one of the vaccines as soon as we can. A fourth U.S. surge could pose a real threat. But the underlying risk to medical capacity should be less after vaccination, so we remain in control.
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Preview Image: SARS-CoV-2 Variant B.1.526
