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According to Dr. Scott Gottlieb, most Americans should feel safe assembling over the Fourth of July weekend, given high Covid vaccination rates and low viral infection levels in many parts of the country. However, the former FDA commissioner stated that there are some areas where individuals should exercise greater caution. “The incidence is quite low across the country. “You have to judge based on where you are,” Gottlieb said on “Squawk Box,” noting that new daily cases in his home state of Connecticut are low, “so it’s a relatively safe place to be getting together right now.”” “I think people should exercise more caution in some places of the country where you see incidence rising — Missouri, sections of Nevada, Arkansas, Oklahoma,” Gottlieb, who also serves on the board of Covid vaccine producer Pfizer, said. Gottlieb’s remarks come as US health officials keep a careful eye on the Covid delta variety, which is thought to be far more transmissible than dominant strains at this point in the pandemic. According to a CNBC review of Johns Hopkins University statistics, coronavirus cases in the United States are far lower than they were in January, when the country reported over 300,000 new infections in a single day. However, they have been going upward in recent days. Over the last week, the United States has averaged around 12,700 new Covid cases per day, according to the research. When compared to a week ago, this is an increase of 9%. After a White House briefing on Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told NBC News, “We don’t want to panic folks, but we study these figures really, really carefully.” Deaths are still on the decline. According to CNBC’s data, the seven-day average of new Coivd deaths is 249, down 19% from a week ago. “There are certain isolated areas of the country where infection levels are rising. The rest of the land appears to be in excellent condition “Gottlieb remarked. “What you’re witnessing, I believe, is a separation between areas with high vaccination rates and areas with low vaccination rates. You’re also seeing a disconnect between cases and the severe death and disease that this virus was causing, to be honest.” “Hospitalizations and deaths aren’t growing” as they did earlier in the global health crisis in countries with high vaccination rates but rising instances due to the delta variety, such as the United Kingdom and Israel, Gottlieb said. “For a long, we assumed it was just the trailing effect, where you don’t see hospitalizations ramp up until three, four weeks after cases start to climb, same with mortality,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA during the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019. “But at this time, we have enough of a pattern to say that you’re basically going to see a decoupling right now, and you’re not going to see the virus’s extreme consequences in places like the United States where vaccination rates are high.” As a result, Gottlieb believes it is critical to guarantee that more Americans obtain the coronavirus vaccination, which reduces both the virus’s transmission and the danger of becoming seriously ill or dying from it. According to the CDC, about 156 million Americans are completely immunized. At least one dosage has been given to over 181 million people; Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines require two shots, whereas Johnson & Johnson’s is a single dose. However, there are geographical disparities in vaccine coverage. According to the CDC’s Walensky, around 1,000 counties in the United States have less than 30% of residents vaccinated, the majority of which are in the Southeast and Midwest. In the United States, 47 percent of the population is fully immunized. “Preliminary evidence from the last six months suggests that 99.5 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the United States have happened in persons who have not been vaccinated… the agony and loss we are currently witnessing is nearly entirely avoidable,” Walensky said. Even though he’s fully vaccinated, Gottlieb said he’s still “looking for occasions to exercise prudence” because the pandemic isn’t completely over. “For example, if I go to a restaurant right now and have the opportunity to sit outside, I will choose to do so. Why not be a nervous Bayesian and reduce your statistical likelihood of coming into contact with the virus?” Gottlieb remarked. “However, because the virus is spreading…. in very low numbers in specific regions of the country, I wouldn’t hold off on getting together with friends and family this holiday.”/nRead More

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