CDC director: Covid-19 has 'brought this nation to its knees' former CDC chief says - msnNOW
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Few people wear masks as they walk on the beach pier during the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Oceanside, California, on, June 22.
People maintain social distance as they ride a roller coaster at Worlds of Fun amusement park on June 22 in Kansas City, Missouri as the park opened with limited hours and reduced capacity in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus as businesses continue to return to normal operations.
A traveler checks in with an agent at the counter for Alaska Airlines in the main terminal of Denver International Airport on June 22 in Colorado during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nail technician Minh Pham, left, wears gloves, a mask, and works behind a plastic shield out of concern for the coronavirus as he performs a manicure on Jolie O'Neil, front right, on June 22, at a nail salon, in Mansfield. Nail salons are one of the businesses open to the public as Massachusetts begins phase two of its planned reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.
Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber adjusts his masks before speaking during a news conference along with other South Florida Mayors, on June 22 in Miami. More than 100,000 people in Florida have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, state health officials reported as public health officials reissued advisories urging social distancing and mask wearing.
Visitors walk along North Avenue Beach on June 22 in Chicago, Illinois as Chicago opened the popular lakefront path and parks along the lake to visitors. The beaches remain closed as the city continues to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
New York City begins Phase Two reopening on June 22, as people can eat outdoors at restaurants and barbershops and salons can also open at 50 percent capacity.
Members of the congregation take part in a communion with social distancing during a mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, on June 22, in Washington, DC.
Emergency room doctors and medical professionals from Zuckerberg San Francisco General and UCSF Emergency Department paint a mural outside of Zuni restaurant to honor medical workers during coronavirus pandemic on June 22, in San Francisco, California.
A woman has her temperature taken before she enters the Apple store on Fifth Avenue as New York City enters phase two of reopening on June 22.
Visitors arrive to the Museum of the Bible which opened on Monday as part of Washington D.C.s phase two reopening from the COVID-19 shutdown on June 22.
A woman fills out the necessary consent form during the reopening of Anthony Vincent Salon after the shutdown of nonessential businesses on June 22, in East Windsor, New Jersey.
Shoppers browse racks of clothes at a newly re-opened retail store along Broadway in lower Manhattan on the first day of the phase two re-opening of businesses in New York City, on June 22.
Storm clouds gather over a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing site, which was closed due to inclement weather, in Houston, Texas, on June 22.
Two women eat lunch indoor at Portside Restaurant, on June 22, in Salisbury, Massachusetts.
Waiters set up tables in front of a restaurant on a street on the first day of the phase two re-opening of businesses in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on June 22.
Sonny Norris and his son, Tru, 3, attend an outdoor Sunday service at Salem Baptist Church in the Shaw neighborhood on Fathers Day, on June 21 in Washington, D.C.
Jessica Siegel and Mike O'Malley dance in the street while listening to an outdoor concert, part of Make Music-New York, in Brooklyn's Ditmas Park neighborhood on June 21 in New York. The concert was one of seven simultaneously performed jazz, rock, and classical concerts offered from the driveways, porches, and balconies of homes in the neighborhood.
People enjoy the weather in Central Park, the day before the city starts phase two of reopening after the lockdown in the Manhattan borough of New York City, on June 21.
Tourists enjoy a boat tour around Annapolis Harbor and the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on June 21.
People wearing face masks jog at the James Braddock North Hudson County Park after the coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions were eased in New Jersey, on June 21.
People spend time at the James Braddock North Hudson County Park after restrictions were eased, in New Jersey, on June 21.
Pedestrians take photos of the Atlas statue seen wearing a protective face mask to encourage the use of masks, at Rockefeller Center, on June 21, in New York City.
An artist paints on the boarded-up windows of the Whitney Museum of American Art in the Meatpacking District, on June 21, in New York City.
The Arizona Department of Transportation posts new signage along highways urging the public to wear face coverings due to the recent surge in coronavirus cases, on June 21.
A man wearing a protective mask rides a bicycle in Central Park, the day before the city starts phase two of reopening, in Manhattan, New York, on June 21.
Storefronts remain closed in an empty Times Square, in New York, on June 21.
President Donald Trump points at the crowd as he enters his first re-election campaign rally in several months in the midst of the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20.
A few people watch a race at Belmont Park before the 152nd running of the Belmont Stakes horse race in Elmont, New York on June 20. Tiz the Law is the star of a 10-horse field for the Belmont Stakes, perhaps the biggest event in U.S. sports since the coronavirus pandemic shut down competition in mid-March.
Dr. Genene Duran gets swabbed for a coronavirus disease test at a testing site set up at an event to mark Juneteenth, amid nationwide protests against racial inequality in Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado, on June 20.
Simon Carter, right, of Further Then Fitness watches his students during his hour long boxing fitness class outside in the park due to the Coronavirus Pandemic in North Hollywood, California on June 20.
The Hagerstown Braves celebrate with fist-bumps after defeating the Hanover Raiders in game one of a doubleheader in the South Penn Baseball League at Diller Field on June 20 in Hanover, Pennsylvania. In their 55th season, the South Penn Baseball League resumed after being delayed due the Covid-19 pandemic and following Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf issuing guidelines for recreational sports.
Consumers apply face masks as they stand in line for 'Sephora' at the Arrowhead Towne Center on June 20, in Glendale, Arizona.
Attendees sanitize themselves prior to entering a political rally for President Donald Trump on June 20, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A sign indicates safety protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, at the downtown bus station in Tucson, Arizona, on June 20.
Cheryl Pearce, a volunteer working the first tee, wears a mask as a precaution against the coronavirus, at the start the third round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, on June 20, in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
A sign indicates social distancing protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, at a farmer's market in Oro Valley, Arizona, on June 20.
An empty Covid19 testing center is pictured in Milford, Walmart parking lot on June 19.
Caddies walk past signage promoting social distancing as a COVID-19 precaution during the RBC Heritage on June 19, at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Francis Bacon's "Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus" is exhibited as Sotheby's NY previews highlights of the Evening Sale at Sotheby's during the coronavirus pandemic on June 19, in New York City.
Medical staff from myCovidMD provide free COVID-19 virus antibody testing in observance of Juneteenth at the Faith Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California on June 19.
New Jersey Gov, Phil Murphy discusses the current numbers of coronavirus-related deaths in NJ during a daily news briefing at the War Memorial building in Trenton, on June 19.
An artist who goes by the name Cavier paints over a boarded-up Puma store in Manhattan as the city prepares to enter stage 2 of reopening, on June 18, in New York City.
Diners and servers at Amigo's Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar at the North Shore Mall in Peabody, on June 18 in Boston.
A surgical mask adorns a statue of Elvis Presley in the lobby of the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino after the property opened for the first time since being closed in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic on June 18, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A Nordstrom is lit up in pride colors on June 18, in New York City.
A woman receives a COVID-19 test while visiting a coronavirus testing location at Brigham Health - Brookside Community Health Center in Boston, on June 18.
Mount San Antonio College graduating student Luis Miguel Villalobos Navarrete (L) arrives to receive his diploma from his car window at the school's first drive-thru commencement ceremony, on June 18, in Walnut, California.
People play a video craps machine at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino after the property opened for the first time since being closed in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic on June 18, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Covid-19 has "brought this nation to its knees," Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday.
The country is probably going to spend about $7 trillion "because of one little virus," Redfield said during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.
"We've all done the best that we can do to tackle this virus."
Redfield's comments were made as half of US states are seeing spikes in new coronavirus cases -- and it's not just due to increased testing, health officials say.
As of Tuesday, 25 states have recorded higher rates of new cases compared to last week: Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
And no state has effectively transitioned from stay-at-home orders "to a public health model of testing, tracking, isolating and quarantining," said Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the US CDC.
"We have to figure out how to make that transition in a successful way, or every state that reopens -- even those that have done a really good job at tamping this down -- are going to see pretty dramatic rises," Besser told CNN Tuesday.
"And we're going to end up back to where we were."
Redfield said the virus has highlighted decades of underinvesting in the "core capabilities of public health data." Now is the time to fix the broken system, he added.
"This needs to be a partnership. It's not all the burden of the federal government to invest in public health at the local level," Redfield said. In reality, "if your funding of CDC was to go away tomorrow, public health infrastructure across this nation would just crash."
"We're right now the backbone of it."
Nationwide, more than 2.3 million people have been infected with coronavirus, and almost 121,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
"The next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we're seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona and in other states -- they're not the only ones having difficulty," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
During Fauci's testimony Tuesday in front of the House committee hearing, the nation's top infectious disease expert made a plea to all Americans:
"Plan A: Don't go in a crowd. Plan B: If you do, make sure you wear a mask."
Why the timing of these surges makes sense
Health experts say the spikes in new cases now coincide with states starting to reopen several weeks ago -- with many people refusing or abandoning safety measures such as wearing masks and social distancing.
And while health officials are reporting jumps in cases among younger people, Redfield said Tuesday more than half the nursing homes in the country -- over 7,000 -- have a Covid-19 patient in them.
"Two weeks ago, we had 17 states with increasing cases," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota.
Now, that number has jumped to at least 25 states. "And we're likely to move more states into that category of increasing cases very shortly," Osterholm said Tuesday. "So, we are seeing what in a sense is the reaction in the virus to opening up and having much more contact with each other."
After a new exposure to this virus, it can take up to two weeks for symptoms appear. After that, people might not get tested immediately. Then, it can take even longer for severe cases to require hospitalization.
While health officials expected new cases as states reopened, many did not expect new cases and hospitalizations to rise so dramatically in some places.
Arizona set a new record this week for the number of people hospitalized on a given day with Covid-19 -- about 2,000, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project. The state's seven-day moving average of hospitalizations is also going up.
"People are being admitted to hospital beds and being admitted to ICU (intensive care unit) beds faster than they're being discharged," said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.
With about 84% of the state's ICU beds already full, Humble said he's worried hospitals will go into "crisis standards of care," which basically means "lower care for everybody, not just people with Covid-19."
California recorded more than 35% of its total infections from the entire pandemic in just the past two weeks. The state on Monday recorded 5,019 confirmed coronavirus cases, yet another daily high, according to data provided by California Department of Public Health. Hospitalizations are also at their highest level for Covid-19 patients.
It's not just increased testing
Some politicians have attributed spikes in new cases to increased testing. But in many places, the number of new Covid-19 cases are disproportionately higher than the number of new tests being performed, researchers say.
"In many states, the testing is increasing, but the percentage of those people who are positive is actually going much higher," Osterholm said.
"This is not an artifact of just more testing at all."
Even with the increased testing, the country is still "way behind the virus," a former US Health and Human Services secretary says.
"We are still reacting. We're not ahead of it," Kathleen Sebelius said.
"The only way to get ahead of the virus is to tamp way down the cases in any area, and then test like crazy when a case appears, contact trace, and make sure you quarantine. We can't do that yet because we are still finding all kinds of people who have the virus."
'Moving very fast in the wrong direction'
What's happening in Arizona and other states could erase much of the progress made during weeks of stay-at-home orders.
"The number of new cases had been stabilizing in early May, and actually the positivity rate (in testing) had been improving," Humble said.
"We came out of our stay-at-home order in the middle of May, and what we saw happening was that around May 26, that increase in cases that corresponded with the end of the stay-at-home order."
Florida, a popular destination for beachgoers, is also grappling with a surge in new cases and hospitalizations. The Sunshine State now has "all the markings of the next large epicenter of coronavirus transmission," researchers say.
After Houston reported its highest daily count of new Covid-19 cases, Turner called on residents to take safety measures more seriously.
"This is a health care crisis," he said. "Quite frankly, your failure, for example, to wear masks ... or to engage in social distancing directly impacts on somebody else."
Where states are seeing steady or improving numbers
In 12 states, the numbers of new daily cases have generally held steady in recent days: Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
And in 13 states, the numbers of new cases are generally declining: Alabama, Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont.
"New York went from one of the highest infection rates in the country to one of the lowest because we made decisions based on science, not politics," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
"We're seeing in other states what happens when you just reopen with no regard for metrics or data -- it's bad for public health and for the economy, and states that reopened in a rush are now seeing a boomerang."
Cuomo is consider forcing visitors from high-transmission states to quarantine upon arrival to New York state, he said.
Woman refused COVID-19 vaccine over side effects, dies of virus - Insider
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