CDC director says winter might be ‘most difficult time’ in US public health history

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offered a bleak warning for the coming months.

“The reality is December and January and February are going to be rough times. I actually believe they’re going to be the most difficult time in the public health history of this nation,” Redfield said Wednesday during an event with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, according to the Hill.

The CDC director highlighted the burden on the domestic healthcare system that surging levels of the coronavirus pose. He postulated that hundreds of thousands more could die in the United States over the winter season, adding that people must be united in their efforts to mitigate the effects of the virus.

“I do think, unfortunately, before we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans dead from this virus,” Redfield said.

“The truth is, mitigation works. The challenge with this virus is, it’s not going to work if half of us do what we need to do. It’s not even going to work, probably if three-quarters of us do what we need to do. This virus really is going to require all of us to really be vigilant,” he added.

Robert Redfield
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield speaks during a news conference with the coronavirus task force at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020.


The director said there is no debate that masks are an effective tool in preventing further spread of the contagion, highlighting a CDC study out of Kansas that proved the efficacy of face-covering mandates.

“When you really want to get everybody on board, you’ve got to have clear, unified reinforced messaging. And I think the fact that we were still arguing in the summer about whether or not masks work was a problem,” Redfield said.

The remarks come a day after the U.S. notched its second-highest daily death toll since the coronavirus pandemic first began, with 2,597 new deaths on Tuesday. That adds to the total of more than 270,000 U.S. deaths tallied this year.

New deaths from COVID-19 have been on the rise as fears continue to grow of a double-whammy of influenza and coronavirus cases as flu season begins to take hold.

New cases were rising quickly but have somewhat stalled in recent days. In total, more than 13.7 million people have tested positive for the virus in the U.S. Over the past two weeks, new cases of COVID-19 increased by 2%, although new deaths increased by 31% and hospitalizations by 32%, according to data from the New York Times.

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