The CDC’s Redfield says “the hardest months” in health history are looming

The next few months of the Covid-19 pandemic will be among “the most difficult in this nation’s public health history,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Wednesday.

Redfield, speaking at an event hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce, said about 90% of the country’s hospitals are in “hot spots and red zones.” He added that 90% of long-term care facilities are located in high-prevalence areas.

“So we’re at a very critical time right now to be able to maintain the resilience of our healthcare system,” Redfield said. “The reality is that December and January and February will be difficult times. I believe they will be the most difficult in the history of public health in this nation, largely due to the stress that will be put on our health-care system.”

Redfield added that deaths caused by Covid-19 are already on the rise. He said the country is now in the reporting range of 1,500 to 2,500 deaths from Covid-19 every day.

“Mortality concerns are real,” he said. “And I think unfortunately, before we see February, we could be close to 450,000 Americans [that] they died from this virus. “

However, Redfield noted that the country has the tools it needs to reduce the severity of the outbreak. He supported the strategic closure of certain parts of the company, such as in-house bars and restaurants. He said he was “disappointed” when New York City briefly shut down all of its public schools last month, adding that schools don’t seem to be driving the spread of the virus.

He also pointed to college and university campuses, where he said epidemics were largely averted on many campuses through the strategic deployment of surveillance testing combined with infection prevention measures such as wearing masks.

“I thought the most difficult group we were going to have to help contain this was basically college students,” he said. “But what happened during the summer and fall is that many colleges and universities are really committed to developing comprehensive mitigation measures.”

One factor that makes this virus so dangerous, Redfield said, is that it is largely spread through people who have no symptoms or is spread before patients develop symptoms. This makes it difficult to control what he called “the silent epidemic” without extensively testing the entire population, including people without symptoms but who may have been exposed to the virus. The CDC is working on guidance for institutions and workplaces that will help them strategically implement testing, he said.

Another bright spot, Redfield said, is that promising vaccines are on the way, but mitigation measures will still be needed until next year. He predicted that the country will not be able to return to holding large rallies until the fall of 2021.

There are many lessons to be learned from the pandemic, Redfield said, adding that “I was not prepared to understand how little investment had been made in fundamental public health capabilities.”

He said there has been inadequate investment in public health laboratories across the country that process many diagnostic tests and in digitizing medical records, which have hindered the federal government’s response to the pandemic.

“There is a huge lack of investment, which I hope this pandemic will change,” he said. Redfield estimated that the health crisis cost the United States at least $ 8 trillion.

“Probably one of our biggest victims of this year’s pandemic has been the impact on the business community, and only on general health care, the impact on our children’s education.”