International Desk:
Dhaka, Aug-02,
Dr. Anthony Fauci
warned Sunday that more “pain and suffering” is on the horizon as COVID-19
cases climb again and officials plead with unvaccinated Americans to get their
shots.
Fauci, the nation’s top
infectious disease expert, also said he doesn’t foresee additional lockdowns in
the U.S. because he believes enough people are vaccinated to avoid a recurrence
of last winter. However, he said not enough are inoculated to “crush the
outbreak” at this point.
Fauci’s warning comes
days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed course to
recommend that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in parts
of the U.S. where the delta variant is fueling infection surges. With the
switch, federal health officials have cited studies showing vaccinated people
can spread the virus to others.
Most new infections in
the U.S. continue to be among unvaccinated people. So-called breakthrough
infections can occur in vaccinated people, and though the vast majority of
those cause mild or no symptoms, the research shows they can carry about the
same amount of the coronavirus as those who did not get the shots.
“So we’re looking, not,
I believe, to lockdown, but we’re looking to some pain and suffering in the
future because we’re seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep
saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated and this
would not be happening,” Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week.”
According to data
through July 30 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day rolling average
for daily new cases in the U.S. rose from 30,887 on July 16 to 77,827 on July
30. The seven-day rolling average for the country’s daily new deaths rose over
the same period from 253 on July 16 to 358 on July 30, though death reports
generally lag weeks after infections and even longer after hospitalizations.
Currently, 58% of
Americans 12 years and older are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC’s data
tracker.
However, people are
“getting the message” and more are rolling up their sleeves amid the threat of
the delta variant, according to the director of the National Institutes of
Health. Dr. Francis Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that
vaccinations are up 56% in the U.S. in the last two weeks.
Louisiana, which has
the most new cases per capita among states in the past 14 days, has seen
vaccinations up threefold over that period, Collins said.
“That’s what
desperately needs to happen if we are going to get this delta variant put back
in its place, because right now it’s having a pretty big party in the middle of
the country,” Collins said.
Collins also said that
even with the prevalence of the delta variant, the shots are working “extremely
well” and reduce a person’s risk of serious illness and hospitalization
“25-fold.” The guidance for vaccinated people to start wearing masks indoors
again in certain places with worsening outbreaks, he said, is mostly meant to
protect unvaccinated and immunocompromised people.
The CDC has also
recommended indoor mask-wearing for all teachers, staff, students and visitors
at schools nationwide, regardless of vaccination status.
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