Richard Besser, who served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, said he is concerned that people will discount Covid numbers when governors decide to reopen their states.
“In Texas, where they removed the warrant from the mask, less than 10% of people have been vaccinated and the levels are higher than last summer’s levels when they put the warrants first,” Besser said. “I’m worried we’re falling asleep a bit with these numbers and we don’t remember that every day in America more than 2,000 people still die for Covid.”
The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced Tuesday that they are lifting mask mandates and allowing companies to reopen at full capacity.
“Now it’s time to open Texas 100%,” Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said.
Democrat Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday that he will be allowed to reopen several companies in his state at full capacity starting March 19th.
Besser told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that states should keep track of the CDC and heed the concerns of director Rochelle Walensky, who said she is still “deeply concerned” about the virus.
“Recent falls seem to be stopping, stopping at more than 70,000 cases a day,” Walensky said during a White House press conference on Monday. “With these new statistics, I’m really concerned about reports that more states are backtracking on the exact public health measures we’ve recommended to protect people from Covid-19.”
The former Besser agency is expected to issue new guidelines on fully vaccinated people on Friday. He advised host Shepard Smith that people should manage their expectations.
“I don’t think they will give the kind of wholesale green light that a lot of people expect. It will take a more downward trend and more vaccinated people will be needed than we currently have in the country,” Besser said.