CDC director warns U.S. is at risk of losing 'hard-earned ground' gained in the pandemic


The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning states against rolling back COVID-19 restrictions as she expresses concern about a possible fourth surge of cases.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky during a COVID-19 briefing on Monday said she's "deeply concerned about a potential shift in the trajectory of the pandemic," noting that data suggests recent declines in daily coronavirus cases have "leveled off at a very high number" and "appear to be stalling" at about 70,000 a day.
With this in mind, Walensky said she's "really worried" about states rolling back COVID-19 restrictions, especially given the spread of coronavirus variants, and she warned that "now is not the time" to do so.
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"We cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day, 2,000 daily deaths," she said. "Please hear me clearly: at this level of cases, with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained. These variants are a very real threat to our people and our progress."
Walensky added that "we have the ability to stop a potential fourth surge of cases" by continuing to follow public health guidelines. Her comments come after President Biden during an event last week warned Americans that even as COVID-19 vaccines continue to roll out throughout the country, new cases could potentially start to rise again.
"While COVID-19 vaccinations are up, COVID cases and hospitalizations are coming down," Biden said. "But I need to be honest with you: cases and hospitalizations could go back up with new variants as they emerge. So I want to make something really very clear: this is not a time to relax." Brendan Morrow
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Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.
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