Watch: Rochelle Walensky says the U.S. is still seeing ‘way too many’ deaths from COVID-19
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she remains worried by the case trends the country is seeing.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Thursday she remains worried by the COVID-19 trends the United States is seeing. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former infectious disease chief at Mass. General Hospital told the Today show that it’s hard to “put a number” on what would constitute the country turning the corner on the pandemic. But the “steady flow” of 50,000 or 60,000 new COVID-19 cases daily remains concerning. “What we do know is that we’re vaccinating people, 2.5 million people per day, and we’re really starting to see the positive effects of that vaccination,” Walenksy said. “We know that people who are over the age of 65, their mortality rates have come down dramatically from 16 in 100,000 in January to 1 in 100,000 now. So we know, and we’re getting that early evidence that this vaccine is working.” What has to be ensured, she said, is that the population at high risk for severe disease from the coronavirus is reached with the vaccine to drive down the mortality rate. “Because we’re still seeing about a 1,000 deaths a day — way too many,” she said. Watch her full appearance below:
“We’re still seeing 1,000 deaths a day, way too many.”
Watch @craigmelvin’s full interview @CDCDirector Rochelle Walensky on new back-to-school efforts, the COVID-19 vaccine timeline, and the overcrowding and safety conditions at U.S. Southern border facilities. pic.twitter.com/J3qrneJbWK
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) March 25, 2021
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