The United States faces “imminent disgrace” as daily COVID-19 cases begin to rise once again, threatening to send more people to the hospital even as vaccines ramp up across the country, said Monday. Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“When I started at the CDC about two months ago, I made a promise to them: I would tell them the truth even if it wasn’t the news we wanted to hear. Now is one of those times where I have to share the truth and have the hope and the confidence that they will listen to me, “said Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a press conference.

“I’m going to pause here, I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending misfortune,” Walensky said. “Right now, I’m scared,” he added.

The United States is recording a weekly average of 63,239 new COVID-19 cases per day, a 16% increase compared to a week ago, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Daily cases are now growing by at least 5% in 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Coronavirus hospitalizations are also on the rise. The United States reported a seven-day average of 4,816 hospital admissions for COVID-19 as of Friday, a 4.2% increase compared to the previous week, according to CDC data.

Walensky urged Americans to “wait a little longer” and get vaccinated against the virus once it is their turn. When cases spike as they have over the past week, Walensky said they often “spike and rise enormously” shortly thereafter.

“I speak today not necessarily as your CDC director and not just as your CDC director, but as a wife, mother, daughter, to ask you to please wait a little longer,” he said.

.

Categorized in: