United States to witness drop in COVID-19 fatalities during winter season, claims Dr Fauci

The United States top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci believes that the number of COVID-19 deaths will decrease during the winter season. However, he also advised people not to lower their guards and urged them to continue using masks when attending outdoor events, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not, claiming some communities have a high COVID-19 prevalence. Fauci stated that similar to hospitalisations, the number of deaths in the country would also begin to decline. "But how quickly and how thoroughly they go down will be determined by a variety of factors, including the colder weather, people doing things indoors, and how well they follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines," he said in an interview as quoted by The Hill. 

Fauci, the chief medical advisor to the US President, further stated that the US has seen a decline in cases and hospitalisations over the last few weeks. He said that although fatalities are still up, it is expected to flatten during winters. Last month, he stated that the Delta variant, which elevated the share of new cases in the United States to over 98%, up from 13.5% in June, remained a major concern. The US is the worst affected country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases as well as fatalities. According to recent data from Johns Hopkins University, the US has recorded over 44.3 million cases and 712,000 deaths since the pandemic began in 2019. 

US Presiden Biden stresses the need for vaccination 

When the cumulative COVID-19 death toll in the United States crossed 700,000 at the beginning of this month, US President Joe Biden stated that more people in the country need to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Meanwhile, last week, Fauci commended a new drug for treating COVID-19 after trials revealed it cut hospitalisations and fatalities by half. Speaking at a White House press conference on Friday, October 1, he said that Molnupiravir's data are impressive. The drug has been developed by Big Pharma firm Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics reported news agency Sputnik. However, he refrained from revealing when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would approve the drug for the prescription. However, he assured that the FDA would evaluate the trial results as quickly as possible before approving the drug.

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