US coronavirus: December is the deadliest month in the United States since the pandemic began, and January projections are “bad-sounding,” says the expert

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The warm death toll comes after several brutal months for the United States, with Covid-19 sweeping communities from coast to coast, paralyzing hospital systems and causing new widespread restrictions. Authorization of two Covid-19 vaccines in early December offered some hope of light at the end of the tunnel, but experts continue to warn that while the end is seen, the pandemic is not over and another rise from Christmas trips and meetings could be on the way.

More than 616,000 people were examined at TSA checks nationwide on Christmas Day alone and hundreds of thousands more traveled the days before the holidays. The numbers are expected to go up again this weekend.

“People who travel will probably not go camping in the desert. They will probably go to see their loved ones and have dinner without wearing masks, crammed inside for extended periods of time,” the emergency medical chain told the Dr. Leana Wen. “There are a lot of people who can have Covid-19 and they don’t know it and then spread it to their loved ones, and then they will go back to their home communities and then infect others without knowing it.”

“What worries me is that these same people are in hospitals, in the ICU in two or three weeks,” he added. “I’m really worried about this wave that we’re going to see and how quickly we’re going to get over that 400,000 deaths.”

Health officials are preparing for an increase in Covid-19 cases in the United States after the holidays
About 332,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. Another 193,000 could lose their lives over the next two months, according to forecasts from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Measurement and Assessment.

“The projections are just nightmares,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine. “People can still save the lives of their loved ones by practicing this social distancing and masks. And remember, vaccines are just around the corner.”

The number of Covid-19 hospitalizations across the U.S. is already at record levels. On Saturday, the country recorded its fifth highest number of hospitalizations, with more than 117,300 patients with Covid-19 nationwide, according to the COVID monitoring project.

Another wave of cases and hospitalizations would inevitably mean more deaths, in addition to an already devastating death toll.

Vaccine exploitation is slow in some places, according to the expert

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the United States, and more than 9.5 million doses have been distributed.

These numbers now include the Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna Covid-19 vaccines. And while there are delays in data reporting, some experts say the distribution of vaccines is not going as fast as officials expected.

Their communities are abandoned by pharmacies. Proponents fear that this will lead to inequitable access to vaccines

“It seems like the distribution of the vaccine is moving a little slower every time we go back,” said Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. “It’s just a very complicated thing. At every step, there is complexity and there is a possibility of delay, whether in individual state planning, allocation, training, vaccine supply, storage … there is (there are) so many factors at this stage. “

“We need to be prepared for the fact that it will be a slow deployment in many places and that it will not change our behaviors or necessarily the trajectory of the pandemic in this country in the short term,” Choo said.

Choo’s words echo other experts who have warned the American public not to lower their guard when vaccinations begin and to continue to follow public health measures, including the use of masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds. and meetings and washing hands regularly.

It is likely that it will not be until the summer that vaccines will be widely available and begin to have a significant impact on the course of the pandemic, officials said. Dr. Anthony Fauci estimates that between 70% and 85% of the population needs to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in order for the country to achieve herd immunity.

Expert: Test requirements will not help control the spread of the Covid-19 variant

The CDC also announced last week new testing requirements for travelers arriving from the UK, which will take effect on Monday.

Passengers must take a negative PCR or antigen test within 72 hours after boarding a UK flight to the United States, along with documentation of their lab results. Airlines will need to confirm the test before the flight.

CDC testing requirements for UK travelers are like
This comes after the appearance of a new variant of Covid-19 first detected in the UK, which according to health officials “has been predicted to be transmissible more quickly”. Since the discovery of the variant, more than 40 countries have restricted travel from the UK and in some cases travel from other countries that have documented cases with the variant.

But one expert says the new testing requirements for travelers to the United States have not been implemented quickly enough to be effective against a reported variant.

“It makes sense for any place to experience a regional increase in cases where we are implementing new measures,” emergency medicine doctor Dr. Richina Bicette told CNN. “But if they try to make sure the virus doesn’t get imported into the United States, those measures will have no effect on that.”

“CDC requirements are not met until Monday,” Bicette added. “So far, there have been thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people, who have traveled to the United States from the United Kingdom. Therefore, there is a high probability that the new variant is already in the United States and simply not. we know. ”

Hollie Silverman, Virginia Langmaid, and CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

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