President-elect Joe Biden is warning Americans that the COVID-19 pandemic will likely get worse as the country heads into the winter.
Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked during an interview on CNN on Sunday if he agrees with Biden’s assessment, he said, “You know, I do… The reason I’m concerned, and my colleagues in public health are concerned as well, is that we very well might see a post-seasonal — in the sense of Christmas, New Year’s — surge.”
“And as I’ve described it, a surge upon a surge because if you look at the slope, the incline of cases that we’ve experienced as we’ve gone into the late-fall and soon to be early-winter it is really quite troubling,” he continued.
He went on to say the country is “really at a critical point,” and said that “if you put more pressure on the system” with a surge from holiday travel, the situation could get worse.
“I share the concern of President-elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse,” he said.
Watch the video below:
Dr. Anthony Fauci says he believes the worst is still yet to come in the coronavirus pandemic following the holiday season. “I share the concern of President-elect Biden that as we get into the next few weeks, it might actually get worse.” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/KsKyKgNAG6 pic.twitter.com/xwSdyNyyuG
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) December 27, 2020
Last week, Biden said, “Our darkest days in the battle against COVID are ahead of us, not behind us, so we need to prepare ourselves, to steel our spines as frustrating as it is to hear. It’s going to take patience, persistence, and determination to beat this virus.”
He went on to say, “Experts say things will get worse notwithstanding the vaccine.”
“We’re averaging a death rate of close to 3,000 a day. That means we will lose tens of thousands of more lives in the months to come, and the vaccine won’t be able to stop that.”
The country has seen an average of 188,908, which is a 9% decrease from two weeks earlier. More than 19 million Americans have contracted the virus, and at least 332,606 have died.
Earlier this month, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), predicted that the death count from the virus could reach 450,000 by February 2021.
Since Redfield’s comments, there have been an additional 60,000 coronavirus deaths.