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A member of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus task force on Friday urged Americans to avoid travel during Thanksgiving, saying it would only worsen the pandemic in the United States.
“Right now we have a fire burning and for me traveling and spending time with people on vacation is a bit like pouring gasoline on a fire,” said Dr Celine Gounder, Biden Covid-19 advisory board member, in an interview. on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”. “It’s just not a good idea in the midst of a pandemic, especially at this point.”
Gounder’s comment came after the United States hit a new record for new daily cases, reporting more than 150,000 new cases of Covid on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The seven-day average of new daily infections now stands at 131,445, up 32% from a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of Hopkins data.
Public health officials and infectious disease experts are worried about the coming months of the pandemic. The approach of the holidays sets the country up for a deadly winter and spring, as hospitalizations and deaths delay newly diagnosed infections by weeks, said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto, in a recent interview.
“The upcoming Thanksgiving, Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years holidays create the potential for countless super-wide events across the country,” he said. “This has the potential to introduce and reintroduce the virus into new areas and further exacerbate community transmission.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of the risks of celebrating Thanksgiving this year, saying small household gatherings, especially with people you don’t live with, are contributing significantly to the increase in cases of Covid-19. The agency said celebrating virtually or with members of your own household posed the lowest risk of spread.
In New York City, where cases are on the rise again, Mayor Bill de Blasio has urged all residents not to travel out of state for the holidays due to the risk of bringing back the disease.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist, said last month that his children would not be coming home for Thanksgiving this year due to fear of possibly spreading the coronavirus.
“My Thanksgiving is going to be very different this year,” he said in an interview with CBS News on Oct. 14. “I would love to have it with my kids, but my kids are in three separate states across the country and in order for them to get here they would all have to go to the airport, get on the plane and travel with the kids. public transport. “
Gounder also said Friday it will be some time before a vaccine is widely distributed, asking Americans to continue to wear masks, wash their hands and stay away from others.
“These measures really remain at the center of the response here,” she said.
– CNBC’s Will Feuer contributed to this report.
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