After weeks of decline from a summer surge, the new daily cases average has risen the past five days
This comes after weeks of decline from a summer surge. It’s well below the summer peak average of 67,300 on July 22.
“We really need to see flu vaccination uptake increased across the Northern Hemisphere … especially this year,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for coronavirus, said Friday. “Because we have a tool against flu … that will help, and it will particularly help vulnerable populations.”
A new study published by the CDC also suggests that measures taken against Covid-19, like social distancing and teleworking, could lead to a mild flu season.
“The key point here is still this: No. 1, if we don’t want to see a double whammy (of Covid-19 and flu), get your flu shot,” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, epidemiologist and former Detroit health commissioner, said Friday.
“No. 2, make sure you wear a mask. No. 3, keep practicing safe social distancing.”
The country has averaged 838 Covid-19 deaths a day over the past week — a rate below where it was weeks ago. Daily deaths hovered above 1,000 for 25 straight days from late July into mid-August.
Report: White House nixed plan to distribute 650 million face masks through USPS
The documents obtained by the transparency group American Oversight show the Postal Service was doing this in partnership with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the Department of Health and Human Services, and “a consortium of textile manufacturers.”
USPS was planning to ship the masks in April and to prioritize areas “which HHS has identified as experiencing high transmission rates of Covid-19,” according to a draft USPS release.
A separate draft media response statement said the packages would include “five reusable face cloths, which can be used up to 15 times each.”
Teachers at risk across US
The country has continued to navigate its response to the crisis amid a back-to-school season like no other. While dozens of districts across the country opted to begin the year virtually, other students returned to class — and with them came more Covid-19 cases.
The CDC says underlying health conditions like obesity, diabetes and heart disease and older age put people into the highest risk groups.
“Among all adults with CDC risk factors for severe Covid-19, between 33.9 million and 44.2 million had direct or within-household connections to schools,” the researchers with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality wrote.
The results, the researchers wrote, highlight the “public health challenge that arises when the risk of school-related exposure is coupled with the potential for within-household transmission.”
Within-household transmissions have also been a concern among experts when it comes to college students, many of whom could return home for upcoming breaks or already are living with their parents.
“You send them back to their community, you will in essence be reseeding with individuals who are capable of transmitting infection, many communities throughout the country,” Fauci said earlier this month.
CNN’s Holly Yan, Paul P. Murphy, Devan Cole, Naomi Thomas,Lauren Mascarenhas, Shelby Lin Erdman, Ben Tinker and Andrea Kane contributed to this report.
