By MJ Lee, CNN White House correspondent
For Americans across the country preparing to gather and socialize with family and friends during the holiday season, the White House has a clear warning: Covid-19 is rarely over and you better protect yourself.
In an interview with CNN in which the White House launched a new public crusade on Thursday aimed at preparing Americans for what is expected to continue in covid-19 cases this winter, White House covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha under pressure that the stakes are even higher as the U. S. continues to be more so. UU. se faces a trio of threats.
“This is not a remote disease,” Jha said, referring to the current wave of covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza. that this accumulation that we are seeing in Covid is in the context of one of the worst flu seasons in a decade and RSV pretty bad. “
Evidence suggests, however, that RSV has “peaked,” Jha said, and the number of cases began to decline “fairly quickly. “Still, it will be some time before the effect of the virus wears off, he said.
The Biden administration’s renewed efforts to inspire others to wear all the mandatory equipment needed to keep Covid-19 at bay — getting vaccinated and reinforced, testing and treating, and masking yourself if mandated — are all components to achieving what Jha says is the White House’s ultimate goal: saving you from serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths.
As part of its new push, the administration is restarting the Covid-19 loose home testing program, allowing each and every U. S. family to be able to do so. U. S. officials request up to 4 loose tests this winter to COVIDTests. gov. With an increased focus on those most at risk, adding the offer of a winter handbook for nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, and allowing nursing home staff to administer vaccines.
Jha declined to wait for how many Covid-19 cases there will be this winter, but said data from recent weeks clearly shows numbers have increased, likely in part due to indoor gatherings on the Thanksgiving holiday and the start of winter break. season.
“If someone gets vaccinated tomorrow, they’ll have some coverage until Christmas. But it’s not that Christmas Day is the last day other people socialize during the winter,” Jha said. “Therefore, it is imperative to get vaccinated as soon as possible as imaginable to be protected for as long as imaginable. “
Lately there are express and more conservative rules from the CDC about what an individual does if they test positive for Covid-19, adding to isolate themselves from others, than if one contracts the flu or RSV. Jha said it has to do with the fact that the spread of RSV and flu largely occurs when a user is symptomatic, while Covid-19 can be transmitted much more even when a user is asymptomatic.
He encourages Americans to stick to this rule, whether you have covid-19 or anything else: “If you feel sick, you want to stay home. “
In other words, you don’t cough up a festive dinner with a circle of relatives, even if you don’t think you have Covid-19: “You don’t know what virus you have and there’s no price in passing it on to other people,” Jha said.
El-CNN-Wire™