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Dr Celine Gounder, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory committee, said they expected an increase in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and possibly deaths in the weeks following Thanksgiving. Millions of Americans have traveled for vacations despite warnings from public health officials for people to stay at home.
“We would expect that in about a week or two after Thanksgiving we will first see an increase in cases, then about a week or two later you will start to see an increase in hospitalizations, and then a week or two afterwards. that you “I’m going to start seeing deaths,” Gounder told CBS News’s Omar Villafranca on Saturday.
It can take up to 14 days to develop symptoms after exposure to the coronavirus. Gounder said that “unfortunately this means that many people who celebrated with family, with friends on Thanksgiving will end up in hospitals, intensive care units over Christmas and New Years.”
More than 30 states saw an increase in daily new cases of COVID-19 ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, as the number of confirmed infections in the country surpassed 13 million. The United States reported more than 205,000 new cases and 1,400 deaths as of Friday alone.
Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine, said anyone who travels should self-quarantine before leaving and move away once they arrive at their destination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that people be quarantined for 14 days, but changes are being considered as coronavirus cases in the United States are reaching record highs.
“We may soon be able to shorten this based on more recent data, so we could perhaps recommend 7-8 days with a test at the end of the quarantine,” Gounder said.
She added that people should always wear a mask, distance themselves socially, and congregate outdoors if possible. “If you have indoor celebrations, open your doors and windows wide so that you have maximum ventilation in those indoor spaces,” she recommended.
Supreme Court Wednesday temporarily banned in New York to enforce certain limits of presence in places of worship in areas designated as hard hit by the virus. The decision was specific to New York, but could push other states to reassess similar restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
Gounder said any gathering inside – “whether it’s for a church service, a music concert, or going to the mall” – is a potential site for transmission. “Anyone where you are in crowded spaces around other people, it will greatly increase the risk of transmission,” she said.
As the fallout from the Thanksgiving trip begins to take shape, Gounder said he called for “flatten the curve, “often repeated during the first months of the pandemic, will again be commonplace in an attempt to prevent the health system from become overwhelmed.
“Healthcare workers have been battling this for months, they too would love to take a break from the holidays to see their own family in the bubbles of their home,” Gounder said. “Normally we have backbone teams that work in the hospital to allow that to happen. Unfortunately, I think some people are going to have to work the holidays to cope with the build-up.”
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