Dr. Anthony Fuji, the top INFECTIOUS disease expert in the United States, said on Sunday that the coronavirus outbreak is better controlled in the United States, but the epidemic is not over, and the challenge now is to keep improving.
“We are in a different moment in this epidemic,” Fuji was quoted as telling an Associated Press reporter. After a winter spike, he said, “now we have a slowdown, and that by no means the outbreak is over.”
His comments came a day after he said on PBS News that the United States is “out of the pandemic phase,” and told the Washington Post that the country is finally “out of the full-blown pandemic phase.”
Fuji’s comments reflect the next phase of how U.S. health authorities will approach the outbreak — how to keep cases and hospitalizations under control and learn to live with the novel Coronavirus that is still mutating and unpredictable.
Fuji said the United States appears to have moved beyond what he called the “explosive phase” of the outbreak. Back then, cases of the mutated strain surged, at worst, to hundreds of thousands of new infections a day, thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalizations.
However, there have been similar slowdowns in the past, with many parts of the United States continuing to see new cases, although the number of infections was low.
To keep improving the situation, Fuji outlined some of the next steps: getting more people fully vaccinated; Developing better vaccines; Develop the best vaccination booster strategy against the various mutated strains; To ensure that people can get treatment immediately when they need it.
“We can’t let up,” Fuji said. After all, there are many variations of the virus around the world, and we could still have another mutated strain that could lead to another surge of infections.”
Dr. Anthony Fuji, the top INFECTIOUS disease expert in the United States, said on Sunday that the coronavirus outbreak is better controlled in the United States, but the epidemic is not over, and the challenge now is to keep improving.
“We are in a different moment in this epidemic,” Fuji was quoted as telling an Associated Press reporter. After a winter spike, he said, “now we have a slowdown, and that by no means means the outbreak is over.”
His comments came a day after he said on PBS News that the United States is “out of the pandemic phase,” and told the Washington Post that the country is finally “out of the full-blown pandemic phase.”
Fuji’s comments reflect the next phase of how U.S. health authorities will approach the outbreak — how to keep cases and hospitalizations under control and learn to live with the novel Coronavirus that is still mutating and unpredictable.
Fuji said the United States appears to have moved beyond what he called the “explosive phase” of the outbreak. Back then, cases of the mutated strain surged, at worst, to hundreds of thousands of new infections a day, thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalizations.
However, there have been similar slowdowns in the past, with many parts of the United States continuing to see new cases, although the number of infections was low.
To keep improving the situation, Fuji outlined some of the next steps: getting more people fully vaccinated; Developing better vaccines; Develop the best vaccination booster strategy against the various mutated strains; To ensure that people can get treatment immediately when they need it.
“We can’t let up,” Fuji said. After all, there are many variations of the virus around the world, and we could still have another mutated strain that could lead to another surge of infections.”