Biden's Advisor: No Christmas Parties Due To COVID-19

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris (Photo: Twitter @JoeBiden)

JAKARTA - A prominent coronavirus adviser to President-elect Joe Biden delivered a stern holiday message to Americans on Thursday, December 10: "no Christmas party".

As reported by Antara, Friday, December 11, he also warned Americans to face COVID-19 over the coming weeks, despite a vaccine procurement policy in the near future.

"At least the next three to six weeks ... will be our COVID week," said Dr. Michael Osterholm, member of Biden's coronavirus advisory board, told CNN.

"It won't end after that, but it's the period right now where we can have a spike in COVID-19 cases."

Osterholm stressed that it would be several more months before the entire country had sufficient vaccine availability.

An outside advisory panel for the US Food and Drug Administration voted to recommend authorizing the emergency use of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc and its German counterpart, BioNTech SE.

The US Food and Drug Administration is expected to give approval within days to pave the way for a mass inoculation campaign unmatched in US history due to launch as early as next week. The advisory panel will review a second vaccine from Moderna Inc next week.

However, Osterholm said, a large number of vaccines will not be available to the public before March or April. Health care workers and residents of nursing homes will likely be vaccinated for the first stage.

Osterholm's warning comes as COVID-19 cases have soared higher, weighing on health care systems in small cities across the country and causing intensive care units in hundreds of hospitals to approach capacity.

He urged Americans to limit social interactions for their closest family members, and most importantly, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"No Christmas party is safe in this country now," he said.

Number of daily deaths

On Wednesday, December 9, the daily number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States surpassed 3,000 for the first time, rising to 3,253 deaths. That exceeds the death toll from the September 11, 2001 attacks and pushes the number of Americans killed by the virus since the start of the pandemic to more than 290,000.

A total of 106,219 people were hospitalized with the disease as of Wednesday evening, up 18 percent over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters tally of state data.

Pandemic hot zones are abundant in rural areas and cities.

In the agricultural region of California's San Joaquin Valley, less than 2 percent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds remain empty, the California Department of Public Health reported on Thursday. ICU capacity available in all of the most populous US states has dropped to just 7.7 percent.

Nursing home residents and staff have been particularly hard hit by COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory virus most vulnerable to the elderly and individuals with chronic health conditions.

"This is a pandemic that no one has ever experienced in our life," Stephen Hanse, president of the New York State Association of Health Facilities and the New York State Center for Living Assistance, told Reuters on Thursday.

In addition to its staggering humanitarian costs, the pandemic has devastated the US economy, forcing millions of people out of jobs as state and local governments impose massive restrictions on social and economic activities to curb the virus.

Many Americans, however, have resisted public health directives to wear masks in public and avoid large crowds.

On Thursday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a medical doctor, imposed a curfew from 24.00 to 5 a.m. among other measures that will start on Monday and last until at least January 31.

"The number of cases has been increasing over the weeks. Covid-19 cases are now higher than ever before, Northam told a news conference.

Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio said he was extending his state's 10 p.m. curfew to 5 a.m. to January 2, and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, who tested positive for COVID-19 this week, announced new mitigation measures that will take effect on Saturday.