Dec. 21, 2021
U.S. Could Soon See 1M COVID Cases a Day, Departing NIH Director Says
Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Washington Informer
(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The U.S. could see one million coronavirus cases per day amid the recent omicron-fueled surge if Americans aren’t proactive about preventative measures, warned retiring National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins.
Collins, during an appearance Sunday on National Public Radio’s “Weekend Edition,” cautioned against getting lax amid COVID fatigue.
“I know people are tired of this,” Collins said, Axios reported. “I’m tired of it too, believe me. But the virus is not tired of us.”
The omicron variant, which has now been detected in 89 countries, has fueled worldwide spikes in cases. In some areas with community spread, cases have doubled every 1.5 to 3 days, according to the World Health Organization.
“We do not know what this virus is capable of doing,” Collins said, Axios reported. “And even if it has a somewhat lower risk of severity, we could be having a million cases a day if we’re not really attentive to all of those mitigation strategies.”