Coronavirus cases and death counts around parts of the country should start declining this week, CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said in an interview with the American Medical Association.
CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD (Shutterstock)
“You and I are going to see the cases continue to drop,” he said Thursday. “And then hopefully this week and next week, you’re going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop again.”
Redfield said it takes time for mitigation efforts such as widespread use of face masks and shutting down bars to be reflected in hotspots such as Arizona and Texas.
“It is important to understand these interventions are going to have a lag, that lag is going to be 3 to 4 weeks,” he said. “Hopefully this week and next week you’re going to start seeing the death rate really start to drop.”
The United States’ 7-day average for daily COVID-19 deaths has been above 1000 for several weeks. On Thursday, the US reported 1117 deaths, the COVID Tracking Project said.
The average number of new cases has been dropping recently. The COVID Tracking Project said 44,594 new cases were reported Thursday.
In the interview, Redfield said hard-hit Southern states like Texas and Florida are seeing a decline in cases.
“We’re starting to see some of the cases now in the red zone areas are falling, but if you look at those states that are in what we call the yellow zone, between 5% and 10%, they’re not falling, so middle American right now is getting stuck,” he said.
States such as Nebraska and Oklahoma need to bring down cases, he said.
“We don’t need to have a third wave in the heartlands, we need to prevent that,” he said.
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