The number of new cases jumped by 11 percent over the past week to a seven-day average of about 60,000 cases, according to an interagency memo dated March 29 and obtained by POLITICO. Nationally, the number of new Covid-19 hospital admissions and currently hospitalized patients both increased by 4 percent, said the memo, which is based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
By comparison, a memo dated March 11 reported that the country’s seven-day average test positivity was at its lowest value since the beginning of the pandemic — 4.2 percent. And the seven-day daily average of confirmed Covid-19 hospital admissions had decreased by 13 percent from the week prior.
By March 24, the 7-day average number of new cases increased by 3 percent and hospital admissions dropped again by 4 percent.
Signs that the country has begun to lose ground against the virus prompted emotional remarks from CDC director Rochelle Walensky at a White House briefing on Monday morning. Walensky said she felt “a sense of impending doom” and told Americans, “Right now, I’m scared.” The visibly shaken CDC director added: “I’m asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can.”
Walensky and other top federal health officials said it is too early in the vaccination push to relax social distancing and safety guidelines.
“We have flattened out at a plateau. And in the press conference we were saying that we got to be careful because when you hit a plateau, it’s often a forerunner of starting edge up. Now, we are at over 60,000 cases a day. That’s a red flag,” Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, told POLITICO.
“A lot of states and cities are pulling back on mask mandates. And what we’re really trying to say is just hang on a bit longer,” he added. “The more you hang on, and don’t just throw caution to the wind, the better chance there is of preventing a surge of cases.”
Their warnings came as Biden announced his administration would more than double the number of pharmacies administering coronavirus vaccines, to 40,000 nationwide.
The expansion could mean that 90 percent of Americans will have access to coronavirus vaccines in a matter of three weeks. Ninety percent of American adults will also be able to get their vaccines within five miles of where they live, the president said.
The promise could go a long way in removing hurdles for hard-to-reach and skeptical people to get vaccinated.
“It’s a big country, and as fast as we are going, we still have a long way to go to finish this vaccination effort,” the president said in a speech. “But being at 90-90 just three weeks from today should give hope to the country.”
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