Richard Besser, who served as acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under former President Barack Obama, said he is concerned that people are discounting the Covid numbers now that governors decide to reopen their states.
“In Texas, where they removed the mask mandate, less than 10% of people have been vaccinated and the levels are higher than the levels that were last summer when they set the mandates at all,” Besser said. “I’m afraid these numbers are making us a little numb, and we don’t remember that in America still more than 2,000 people die from Covid every day.”
Texas and Mississippi governors announced on Tuesday that they were lifting mask mandates and allowing companies to reopen at full capacity.
“Now is the time to open Texas 100%,” said Texas Republican Government Greg Abbott.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, a Democrat, announced on Thursday that some of his state-owned companies will be allowed to reopen at full capacity starting March 19.
Besser told CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith” that states should follow the lead of the CDC and heed the concerns of Director Rochelle Walensky, who said she is still “deeply concerned” about the virus.
“Our recent declines seem to be slowing – by more than 70,000 cases a day,” Walensky said at a White House news conference Monday. “With these new statistics, I am really concerned about reports that more states are rolling back the exact public health measures we have recommended to protect people from Covid-19.”
Besser’s old agency is expected to publish new guidelines on Friday regarding people who are fully vaccinated. He advised host Shepard Smith that people should manage their expectations.
“I don’t think they’ll give the kind of large-scale green light that a lot of people are hoping for. It will go through a further downward trend, and more people will need to be vaccinated than we currently have in the country,” Besser said.