US health officials brace for another surge in COVID-19 cases after holidays
US health officials are bracing for yet another surge in COVID-19 cases across the country after the Christmas holidays similar to those happened following other national holidays in recent months.
Over 7.1 million people were screened at TSA checkpoints over the last week in spite of warnings by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to postpone travel and stay home.
Only on Wednesday, nearly 1.2 million people were screened at airports marking an air travel record for the pandemic.
Some 616,469 people were screened on Christmas Day and although the number represents only 23% of the total screened on the same day a year ago, the figure is still worrisome for officials since it does not indicate the end of the holiday travel rush, but a lull before travelers start returning home.
"We've just seen these amplification events, and that's what's happened at the end of this year in the US," said Erin Bromage, an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
"We had Thanksgiving, we had Labor Day, we had Halloween, and each one of these events brought lots of people together and just gave the virus more fuel to move through the population," Bromage said. "Christmas is going to do a similar thing."
US health experts and officials have called on Americans stay home during New Year’s holidays, with the CDC urging people to celebrate at home or virtually.
They also urged people to stay outside if they host an in-person celebration among other measures to ensure their protection against the virus.
"Your level of protection is as strong as your weakest link, and if there's a weak link, then the virus is going to spread," Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean of Emory University's School of Medicine told CNN. "We've learned how quickly this virus and how easily this virus spreads, so we have to take all the precautions possible."
The warnings come as the death toll surpassed 330,747 in the US on Saturday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
More than 186,160 new cases were reported and over 1,490 died on the same day, the university data showed.
And with at least 63,575 deaths being reported so far this month, December is now the deadliest month since the pandemic began. April held the previous record of 60,738 deaths.
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