White House task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx is expressing concern on behalf of health experts about the surge in the number of COVID-19 cases following Thanksgiving.
CBS’s Margaret Brennan noted Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday “we’re seeing a surge on top of a surge.”
She asked Birx what Americans need to be prepared for.
“If you look at the second wave, going into the Memorial Day weekend, we had less than 25,000 cases a day. We had only 30,000 inpatients in the hospital, and we had way less mortality, way under a thousand. We’re entering this post-Thanksgiving surge with three, four, and 10 times as much disease across the country,” Birx said.
She added, “That’s what worries us the most. We saw what happened post-Memorial Day. Now, we are deeply worried about what could happen post-Thanksgiving.”
Check out the video below:
NEWS: @WhiteHouse #Coronavirus Task Force coordinator Deborah #Birx tells @margbrennan: “We’re entering this post Thanksgiving drive with 3, 4 and 10x as much disease across the country, that's what worries us the most" pic.twitter.com/iS8qJ7prKR
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) November 29, 2020
Birx explained they are “deeply concerned” because the number of daily cases has reached 180,000.
Fauci offered some hope during his appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” as IJR previously reported.
“It is not too late at all for us to do something about this,” Fauci said.
Their comments come just days after President Donald Trump encouraged Americans to come together on Thanksgiving, as IJR previously reported.
“I encourage all Americans to gather, in homes and places of worship, to offer a prayer of thanks to God for our many blessings,” Trump said.
According to the president, COVID-19 vaccine distribution would begin next week and the following week.
He said front-line workers, medical personnel and senior citizens would initially receive the vaccine.
The number of daily cases across the nation has increased by 12 percent over the past two weeks to an average of 162,681.
More than 13,311,000 Americans have been infected with the coronavirus and at least 265,900 have died, as of Sunday afternoon.
