Texas ’most populous county issued a public safety alert Wednesday to warn residents of the New Year’s Eve celebration with anyone other than their home.
KHOU-11, a local affiliate of CBS, reports the Harris County notice, which contains Houston, told residents to “protect themselves, their families and health care workers.”
Dr. Ali Mokdad, a researcher who helped create the COVID-19 model used by the White House, told the television network that an increase in cases and mobility has been observed, but that it has been maintained. stuck the mask suit.
“The concern for New Year’s Eve is totally different,” Mokdad told the station. “It’s another kind of celebration. People celebrate with friends, family, and sometimes people they don’t know. It could be a super outreach event in addition to what you see in Texas.”
Currently, more than 60 percent of ICU beds in Texas are occupied by patients with COVId-19, according to KHOU reports, and cases are not expected to peak until January.
According to the Mokdad model, if trends continue on their way, Texas could experience up to 35,000 deaths in early February.
“Many hospitals are facing a shortage of ICU beds. If you put pressure on hospitals, maybe we should start referring patients to other hospitals far from where they live, ”Mokdad said.
KHOU notes that the launch of the vaccine has been much slower than expected. Trump officials on Wednesday defended the pace of vaccine distribution, saying up to 20 million doses will be made available for the 64 U.S. territories.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 2 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been administered to date.
“Putting on a 95% mask will do much better by April 1, especially when compared to the rapid release of vaccines simply because we don’t have enough vaccines,” Mokdad added, adding that the pandemic will likely get much worse from January.