The White House medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, warned this Friday of the possibility that the rates of infection by COVID-19 will increase soon in the United States after a considerable decrease in cases after the appearance of Omicron that hit the country.
“I would not be surprised if in the coming weeks we see something like a flattening of our decline or maybe even an increase,” Fauci told ABC News. “Whether or not that will lead to the other wave, a mini wave or maybe a moderate wave, it is not very clear, because there are many other things that are happening at the moment.
The statements of the medical advisor occur when the country has experienced a decrease in cases in the last two months, reaching an average of cases that amounts to just over 23,000 nationwide and the easing of COVID restrictions-19 after two years of mask and social distancing policies.
This warning is based on the UK, where there has been a slight increase in cases, but he highlighted that the use of intensive care beds has not increased, which, in his opinion, means that a serious outbreak of the disease is not being experienced.
Currently, the BA.2 variant is experienced an uptick in Est United States, which led Fauci to predict during the interview that this variant will surpass Omicron in the future.
The new variant is even more transmissible than Omicron, but for now it represents about 23% of all cases in the United States, according to the latest data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Two years after the start of the pandemic policies, states across the country have lifted their mask mandates as directed by the CDC, which has said that in most areas of the country they did not need the use of masks indoors.
However, the resurgence of cases could mean a future petition to Americans to wear masks again, something that Fauci recognized would be an uphill battle.
“From what I know about human nature, which I think is quite a lot, people are fed up of COVID-19“, Fauci acknowledged.
Regarding vaccination, Fauci urged Americans who have not received their first booster to they do, and they will have the opportunity to get vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna.
With information from ABC News