This article by Chase Woodruff first appeared on Colorado Newsline on December 1, 2020
Colorado Governor Jared Polis was joined at a briefing on Colorado’s coronavirus response on Tuesday by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, and both men warned that despite the promise of multiple effective COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon, things may get worse before they get better.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Colorado is higher now than at any point since the outbreak began in March, and hospitalizations and death counts are only expected to increase further in the coming weeks. With 1 in 41 Coloradans estimated to be currently contagious with the disease — up from 1 in 110 just over two weeks ago — Polis likened the state of the pandemic to “mile 22 or 23 of the marathon.”
“The last few miles are the hardest, because you’re about to drop dead and you’re exhausted,” Polis said. “We’re tired of not seeing our friends and loved ones, we’re tired of not having the quality of life we know we want to have.”
“But we’re almost there,” he added. “We are close. So we need to make the right choices.”
Fauci, who has helped coordinate the federal government’s pandemic response as director of the NIAID, a division of the National Institutes of Health, said that he’s especially concerned about the trajectory of the virus heading into the holidays.
“We are likely going to see … a surge upon a surge,” Fauci said, noting that it will take a few weeks before the impact of Thanksgiving gatherings and related travel can be measured in the data.
“As we get two to three weeks beyond the Thanksgiving holiday, it is likely … that you’re going to start seeing the curve that had flattened out go back up again, unless people have done a considerable degree of mitigating,” he added.
And things could soon get even worse, Fauci warned, if Americans don’t change their behavior throughout the holiday season, when everything from crowded shopping malls and “ill-advised office parties” to Christmas and New Year’s celebrations could result in further spikes in the spread of the virus.
“I think we’re going to be looking at 30 or more days of a period of time of precarious risk,” he said. “(It’s) a situation where it is in our hands right now to see if we can mitigate it.”
Polis and Fauci urged Coloradans to take preventative steps like mask-wearing, physical distancing, avoiding crowds and indoor spaces, and frequent hand-washing in order to do their part to curb the latest wave of infections.
Asked about Denver Mayor Michael Hancock’s decision to fly to Mississippi for Thanksgiving, Fauci declined to comment on Hancock’s actions specifically, but acknowledged that “mixed messages” from elected officials can make battling the pandemic more difficult. And he stressed that even people with a low risk of serious health complications have a responsibility to follow public-health guidance.
“You can’t think of yourself as being in a vacuum,” Fauci said. “Because by getting infected, you are propagating the outbreak. You’re part of the problem, instead of being part of the solution … What you really want is that when the virus gets to you, you want to be a dead end for the virus.”
Polis, who himself tested positive for COVID-19 last week, thanked Coloradans for their well wishes and said that he and First Gentleman Marlon Reis, who also tested positive, are continuing to isolate and experiencing “very mild symptoms.”
As many as 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccine — enough to vaccinate 20 million people — could be distributed nationwide before the end of the year, Fauci estimated. Colorado is finalizing a plan that will prioritize vaccine distribution among high-risk groups like health-care workers and those over 65. The plan will be released next week, Polis said.
Fauci said that he expects vaccines to become widely available to the general public by the end of April, with an “overwhelming majority” of Americans who want a vaccine able to get one by July. And he said that the prospect of an end to the pandemic on the horizon is all the more reason for Coloradans to double down on mitigating the risks they face over the next several weeks.
“Once we get there, we can crush this outbreak,” Fauci said. “We can do it. We just need to hang together a bit longer — because not only Colorado, but so many states are at the brink of being overrun with regard to their capability of taking care of people in a proper way, particularly in intensive care.”