Dr. Anthony Fauci is again advising people to wear face masks as COVID cases rise.
The number of infections is increasing due to a new summer peak, even though the number of hospital admissions and deaths from the virus are still at historically low levels.
On Monday, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease said: “The message is if you’re in a high-risk category, you should take this seriously.”
The 83-year-old told people with comorbidities and the elderly to “wear a mask” in crowded places.
He also indicated that he had contracted Covid about two weeks ago. It was his third Covid infection and he has been vaccinated and boostered six times in total.
Above you can see the weekly Covid deaths (blue bars) and the percentage of positive Covid tests (orange line).
Above you can see the percentage of positive Covid tests in the past week by region in the US.
According to the CDC, the weekly rate of positive Covid tests was nearly 18 percent in the week ending Aug. 3, compared to 16 percent the week before and 10 percent the month before that.
Positive testing is the percentage of Covid swabs taken that come back positive.
World Health Organization officials warn that if the virus continues to spread, it could lead to new mutations and severe infections that evade vaccine protection and therapeutic measures.
Deaths have generally been rising since May, but began to decline in the week ending July 20. They are currently hovering around 500 per week, compared with more than 25,000 in the fall of 2020.
The elderly, people with weakened immune systems and people with comorbidities are at greater risk of becoming seriously infected with Covid, being hospitalised and dying from the virus.
Doctor Fauci told Dr. Jeremy Faust, editor in chief of MedPage Today: ‘You don’t have to sit still and isolate yourself from society, but regardless of the current recommendations, if you’re in a crowded, confined space and you’re an 85-year-old with chronic lung disease or a 55-year-old with morbid obesity and diabetes and hypertension, you should wear a mask.
“And you need to make sure you avoid crowded places where you don’t know the status of other people. You need to get vaccinated regularly and get a booster vaccination.”
Dr. Fauci’s guidelines for wearing face masks have long been criticized, with people claiming they did nothing to prevent the spread of Covid.
The educational and social effects of face masks on children are well documented, with one NIH study called the impact of wearing masks on students’ literacy and learning ability “very negative.”
Another NIH study Social distancing was also found to cause “depression, generalized anxiety, acute stress, and intrusive thoughts.”
And in testimony before Republicans in June, Dr. Fauci admitted he could not recall ever reading anything showing that mask-wearing in children would prevent COVID.
When asked whether mask-wearing for children is an effective way to prevent Covid transmission, he replied: “I still think that is not certain.”
Despite mixed expectations, experts are still concerned about the rapid spread.
Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health and former White House Covid response coordinator, told NBC: “If you’re just talking about infections, this is probably going to be the biggest summer surge we’ve ever had. It’s still not as big as the winter surges, but it’s getting close.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci advised that older adults and people with comorbidities wear face masks to protect themselves from Covid
Dr. Jha expects this increase to peak in the coming weeks and decline in September as new vaccines targeting the KP.2 strain of Covid become available.
In addition, World Health Organization officials said at a briefing last week that 84 countries have seen an increase in the percentage of positive Covid tests in recent weeks.
WHO officials said: ‘Covid-19 infections are increasing globally… and are unlikely to decline anytime soon. The UN health agency also warns that more severe variants of the coronavirus could soon be on the horizon.’
Wastewater monitoring shows that the spread of the virus is two to twenty times higher than currently reported.
WHO officials added that new waves of infection could bring mutations and more dangerous variants of the virus, “which can evade detection systems and not respond to medical intervention.”
The health agency is urging countries to step up their vaccination efforts and promote annual Covid vaccines for high-risk individuals.
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, infectious disease epidemiologist and head of the COVID-19 response at WHO, said: ‘It is important that you as an individual take steps to reduce your risk of infection and severe disease. This includes having had a vaccination against COVID-19 in the past 12 months, especially if you are in a high-risk group.
‘I am concerned about such a low coverage rate and such a large circulation. If there were a variant that was more serious, then there is a big chance that the risk groups would develop a serious disease.’
