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Families and friends having a difficult time adjusting to socially distant Thanksgiving gatherings—or Thanksgiving alone time to be extra safe—won’t be happy to hear that Christmas or New Year’s Even more than likely won’t be any better.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, if the latest COVID-19 surge persists, it could be even worse on December, January, and February.
“If the surge takes a turn of continuing to go up and you have the sustained greater than 100,000 infections a day and 1,300 deaths per day and the count keeps going up and up … I don’t see it being any different during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays than during Thanksgiving,” Fauci said in an interview with USA TODAY.
Despite CDC warnings, nearly 3 million air travelers passed through security checkpoints on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, with Sunday being the single-busiest day at airport checkpoints since March.
More than 1 million COVID-19 cases were reported in the United States over the last 7 days. And gatherings with family and friends who do not live with you can increase the chances of getting or spreading COVID-19 or the flu. This will, in turn, further devastate already stretch medical resources, including hospitals with limited ICU rooms.
The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluations projects more than 450,000 daily cases by Dec. 25 if trends continue.
“We should prevent getting COVID-19 especially at this time when we’re about to get a vaccine rolling out,” Ali Mokdad, professor of health metrics sciences at the Institute and chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington, said. “We need to be extra careful these upcoming extra couple of weeks in order to avoid pain and suffering.”
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ESSENCE is committed to bringing our audience the latest facts about COVID-19 (coronavirus). Our content team is closely monitoring the developing details surrounding the virus via official sources and health care experts, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Please continue to refresh ESSENCE’s informational hub for updates on COVID-19, as well as for tips on taking care of yourselves, your families and your communities.