On Friday, Biden’s new CDC Director, Rochelle Walensky, issued a ‘sobering warning’ over new COVID-19 variants – in particular the B.1.1.7 strain first found int he UK, and which now accounts for an estimated 10% of current US cases. Additionally, variants in California and New York also appear to spread more easily, according to Bloomberg.
“Things are tenuous — now is not the time to relax restrictions,” said Walensky, adding “The latest data suggest that these declines may be stalling, potentially leveling off at still a very high number. We at the CDC consider this a very concerning shift in the trajectory.”
Walensky’s warning was simultaneously parroted by Anthony Fauci – head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – saying that people shouldn’t become complacent, and that we may be wearing masks into 2022.
“We really have to be careful and take a look at that curve,” he said, adding “If we plateau at 70,000, we are at that very precarious position that we were right before the fall surge, where anything that could perturb that could give us another surge.”
“We may be done with the virus but clearly the virus is not done with us.”
The renewed ‘concern’ comes as both COVID cases and deaths are falling precipitously.
According to BofA, “The seven-day average of new cases in the US is down up 5% from the prior week to 68,000,” which they attribute in part to the impact of last week’s winter storms driving down testing – but noting that “the true trend in infections is still likely modestly lower.”- READ MORE
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