Pouchi Warns of a "Christmas Nightmare"... "COVID Surge May Overlap... Restrictions Needed"

Severe Patient Surge Expected Three Weeks After Thanksgiving... Overlapping with Christmas
"Federal and State Governments Must Make Decisions During Year-End Holidays... Extremely Precarious"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and a U.S. infectious disease expert, emphasized the need for the U.S. government to make a decisive lockdown decision, warning that the spread of COVID-19 will overlap around the Christmas and year-end holidays, putting the situation in a very precarious state. It is forecasted that after the Thanksgiving holiday, when severe cases surge rapidly, the Christmas holiday will begin three weeks later, and with the large-scale movement of people during the year-end and New Year holidays, the situation will escalate uncontrollably.

On the 29th (local time), Director Fauci appeared on ABC and NBC broadcasts and warned, "In the next 2 to 3 weeks, COVID-19 cases will surge, and this will coincide with the Christmas holiday, resulting in even more cases," adding, "We may witness an overlapping massive outbreak of COVID-19." Fauci stated, "It takes about two weeks for symptoms to appear in COVID-19 infected individuals, and virus transmission by asymptomatic carriers is also a serious problem," emphasizing, "Everyone returning from the Thanksgiving holiday must adhere to social distancing and mask-wearing."

According to COVID-19 statistics from Johns Hopkins University on the same day, the cumulative confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. reached 13,363,182, with cumulative deaths at 266,813. CNN reported that over 4 million people were infected this month alone, and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 exceeded 91,000, breaking the previous record once again. Fauci stressed, "We have entered a very dangerous situation this year-end holiday season," and urged, "The federal government, state governments, and every American household must make a decision to implement all known types of restrictions."

Dr. Deborah Birx, who leads the White House COVID-19 Task Force, also stated in an interview with CBS on the same day, "We already made a big mistake during Thanksgiving," emphasizing, "Do not get close to elderly relatives without masks, and even if young people gather, anyone showing symptoms must get tested."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.