COVID update: Fauci warns progress in fight against coronavirus appears to have stagnated

WASHINGTON – At the White House COVID response team briefing on Friday, senior U.S. health officials warned that recent progress in reducing the number of cases appears to have stagnated and restrictions should not be be relaxed until the US benchmark is much lower.

The numbers have fallen sharply since early January, but the seven-day average of cases still hovers around 70,000.

This rivals last year’s summer peak and threatens to push the United States in the wrong direction.

“Certainly 70,000 people are not there. Not even close,” said Dr Anthony Fauci, the country’s leading infectious disease specialist. “You have to drastically reduce the positivity of the tests at the same time you increase the volume of the vaccine.”

Fauci said he wanted to see where the numbers go in the next week before advising people to loosen the restrictions.

Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, agrees.

“The latest data suggests that these declines could stagnate, potentially level off, and (at) still a very high number,” she said. “At CDC, we see this as a very concerning course change.”

“We may be done with the virus, but the virus is not with us. We cannot feel comfortable or give in to a false sense of security that the worst of the pandemic is behind us “she said.

Fauci says next week will be critical.

“We don’t want to be people who always look at the dark side of things, but you want to be realistic,” he said. “So we need to take a close look at what happens over the next week with these numbers, before we start to express the understandable need to relax some restrictions. So watch it closely and be prepared to respond to it. is actually happening. ”