Young adults taking vacations and participating in sports have once again become the scapegoat for a surge of people testing positive for COVID-19.
In a White House briefing on April 5, Rochelle Walensky, M.D., the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) attributed the seven percent rise in daily cases and three percent increase in the seven-day hospitalization average to outbreaks related to school sports and extracurricular activities. Young adults were blamed for surges after Spring Break in 2020.
“According to CDC guidance, these activities should be limited, but if they are not, the risks of clusters … can be prevented with cadence testing strategies,” Walensky said.
Walensky caused a stir of attention when she made a tearful plea on March 29 during a public briefing, stating “right now, I’m scared.” During the April White House briefing, Walensky made a similar appeal.
“I understand that people are tired and that they are ready for this pandemic to be over, as am I,” Walensky said in the briefing. “Please continue to do the things that we know prevent the spread of the virus.”
Walensky said the best way to “turn the corner” is for people to wear a “well-fitting” mask, physically distance, and get vaccinated. Those measures have been in place for nearly a year and cases continue to ebb and flow. As of April 6, more than 167 million doses of vaccine have been administered, fully vaccinating 18.8 percent of the total U.S. population, according to NPR.
Marilyn Singleton, M.D., J.D., who describes herself as “American. Black. Doctor: Uncensored,” wrote in a blog post that COVID-19 has become a “shameful legacy.”
“Shameless non-clinician bureaucrats have stolen our lives, stolen the smiles from children’s faces, and bullied a segment of the population into paralyzing fear,” Singleton writes. “Those hiding behind masks (including our precious children) no longer see people as people, but as 170-pound nests of germs and certain death.”
-Staff reports