A Covid-19 test is handed through the vehicle window at a mobile testing site in Long Beach, California. Photo / AP
A Covid-19 test is handed through the vehicle window at a mobile testing site in Long Beach, California. Photo / AP
As the United States plunges into winter and the holiday season, it faces the most difficult public health crisis in its history, the nation's top health expert has warned, having recorded its single worst daily death toll since the pandemic began.
Director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Robert Redfield, predicted the nation's total deaths could jump from 273,000 to 450,000 by February — reporting at least 2760 in the past 24 hours and some 200,000 new Covid-19 infections.
"The reality is, December and January and February are going to be rough times," Redfield said.
"I actually believe they're going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation.
"We're in that range potentially now, starting to see 1500 to 2000 to 2500 deaths a day from this virus. The mortality concerns are real, and I do think, unfortunately, because we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans that have died from this virus."
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield speaks during a news conference with the coronavirus task force at the White House. Photo / AP
The daily death toll hasn't hit a peak this high since April 15, when 2752 fatalities were recorded.
The total death toll now stands at more than 273,000, while infections are roughly 78,000 away from topping 14 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University — the highest in any country around the world.
Hospitalisations from the virus also topped 100,000 on Wednesday for the first time — more than double the number at the beginning of November — a clear indicator of what's to come, experts told the New York Times.
"If you tell me the hospitalisations are up this week, I'll tell you that several weeks down the road, the deaths will be up," emergency medicine physician at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr Jeremy Faust, told the Times.
Dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, Dr Ashish Jha, said the US was yet to encounter the fallout of the Thanksgiving holiday – when pleas from health officials and state governments to remain at home and avoid travel fell on deaf ears.
Hundreds of motorists line up at the Whale's Tooth parking lot in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to be tested for Covid-19. Photo / AP
"This is a much worse situation," Jha told the publication.
"Summer is not going to bail us out. Things are not shut down."
It's not the first time that Redfield has sounded the alarm over a devastating surge of infections during America's colder months, first predicting in April that the subsequent virus waves could be worse than the first.
The only way the US can pull itself out of this hole, he said at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation event, is for Americans to step up and take greater precautions in the months ahead.
"It's not a fait accompli. We're not defenceless," he said.
"The truth is that mitigation works. But it's not going to work if half of us do what we need to do. Probably not even if three-quarters do."
What is needed to get all residents on board, he said in his address, is "clear, unified, reinforced messaging".
Commuters wear face masks while walking through the World Trade Center's transportation hub in New York. Photo / AP
"The fact that we were still arguing in the summer about whether masks work was a problem. The time for debating whether or not masks work or not is over [even though] we clearly have scientific evidence," Redfield said.
The warning comes amid more pleas for people to avoid travel for Christmas, with the CDC's Dr Henry Walke, who oversees day-to-day management of pandemic response for the agency, saying that the "best thing for Americans to do during the holiday season is to stay at home and not travel".
Chief of the travellers branch at the CDC, Dr Cindy Friedman, reiterated the message, adding that even a small percentage of infected travellers could "translate into hundreds of thousands of additional infections".
"Travel is a door-to-door experience that can spread the virus during the journey and into communities where travellers visit or live," she said, asking Americans to "think about the safest option for them and their families".
"We know it's a hard decision, and people need time to prepare and have discussions with family and friends and to make these decisions.
"Our recommendations are trying to give them the tools they need to make these tough choices."
