photo courtesy of Pixabay user LiamEnea
(SEATTLE) President Biden’s comments about the pandemic being “over” have prompted all kinds of reaction from the medical and scientific community. And a trusted local source for all things pandemic-related says he’s very concerned.
I caught up with Doctor Ali Mokdad of the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation while he was on a trip to New York today. I asked him about his prediction of another wave of COVID-19 infections this fall, and he confirmed it.
He knew the underlying reason for my call, and he dove right in.
“Quite honestly I was shocked,” Mokdad told Northwest Newsradio. “I was like ‘What? How could he say that?'”
In unscripted comments, the President declared the pandemic over. The White House has since expressed worry about those comments. Mokdad is more than worried.
“To tell people before the winter that it’s over, what they hear basically is ‘I don’t need to go and get my booster, I don’t need to wear a mask, I don’t need to be careful, it’s over,'” he says. “And that’s why I’m concerned.”
COVID case counts have been historically low here in the Northwest over the past several weeks. But new, small jumps in cases are coming in as the kids return to class. And people are still dying from the virus.
“It’s not over. This virus is still around, how can we say it’s over? Irrespective of where you are, what state you live in, COVID-19 is either the second, third, or fourth leading cause of death.”
Mokdad says he isn’t looking to pick a fight with the other Washington.
“I hope the President and everybody around him will come back and let the American public know that it’s not over, we need to be expecting it,” Mokdad says. “From a scientific standpoint, I would say it’s not over. Please go get your booster, please wear a mask when you’re indoors and cannot keep a safe distance from everybody else. Covid-19 this Fall, so protect yourselves, your loved ones, and people around you.”
