Fauci Warns ‘Things Will Get Worse’ as U.S. Hits a New Record for COVID-19 Deaths

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, predicted on Thursday that the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. would continue to get worse in the weeks to come.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said in a report that the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. has already overcome its previous record in the daily death toll, and Fauci believes these numbers would worsen as the nation moves into the next couple of weeks this month.

On that same day of Fauci's statement, officials reported a daily record of more than 4,000 deaths. Overall, the total number of deaths in the COVID-19 pandemic already reached 365,400.

It was the first time the country recorded more than 4,000 COVID-19 related deaths in one day. Talking to NPR on Thursday, Fauci said the growing numbers would likely be a reflection of the traveling that people did over the holiday season.

In addition to this, social gatherings during this time may also add cases to the overall count. Fauci asked for patience in the vaccination program for COVID-19, said a report from the New York Times.

Fauci Says Growing COVID-19 Pandemic Numbers Could Be Stopped

Fauci stressed that if people strictly adhere to public health measures such as social distancing and wearing masks, it is possible to "blunt that acceleration."

He warned that this worrisome time is "not the time to pull back on this." The number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the U.S. stood at more than 21 million or about 6.5 percent of the country's entire population, recorded Johns Hopkins University.

There was also a known spike in deaths after the busy holidays and a delay in reporting. Officials believe it is still too early to find out how much the holidays and lag in reporting contributed to the surge, but experts believe it was a significant amount.

In January alone, about 20,000 people have died from COVID-19, making it one of the deadliest months in the pandemic, said a report from CNBC.

States Suffer from COVID-19 Pandemic as Vaccination Efforts Lag

Since the vaccination efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic started, the government has been lagging behind in its initial promises.

The government's promise of 20 million vaccine doses by the end of 2020 has not been met, and only about 5.9 million people have been given their first doses so far.

Vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna both require two doses. States like Wyoming and Arizona recorded high per capita death rates due to the virus, a New York Times database showed. Florida also recorded its highest single-day total at 19,800 cases.

Fauci advised all Americans anticipating the vaccine to be patient despite snags and delays that have caused frustration among many people.

This shortage led some officials across the globe to propose a delay in giving the second dose or giving only half of the dosage set by the drug makers. However, some experts were not shocked to find out that the vaccination effort would stall.

On Wednesday, Dr. Francis S. Collins of the National Institutes of Health said he was "not totally surprised" that distribution had a "rocky start."

He told The Washington Post that the effort put in place by the government's Operation Warp Speed was "a lot of logistics."

"So maybe we shouldn't be too shocked that it didn't go like clockwork," he noted. He also shared Fauci's sentiments about the coming weeks being "really critical."