/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f9f1a9c5247cd86547d7913/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=5356&cropY1=273&cropY2=3286&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Former FDA Commissioner Says Thanksgiving Will Be ‘Inflection Point’ As Coronavirus Spreads")
Topline
Former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb offered a dour view of the coming weeks on CBS’s Face The Nation Sunday, saying he believes Thanksgiving is going to be an “inflection point” of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak that could lead to winter surges, adding he thinks December will be the country’s “toughest month.”
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, then-commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration , testifies during a House … [+]
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Key Facts
“When you look at what’s happening in states right now, you’re seeing accelerating spread. We’re right at the beginning of what looks like exponential growth in a lot of states,” Gottlieb told Face The Nation’s Margaret Brennan.
His statement is backed up by data—on Friday, the country as a whole reported a record-breaking six-figure total of new coronavirus infections in a single day as 48 of 50 states report upward trends in new cases, according to a New York Times tracker.
Thanksgiving gatherings could be a catalyst for an even steeper curve of infections, Gottlieb said, and lead to December being the worst month of the pandemic Americans have seen yet.
“I think December is probably going to be our toughest month,” he told Face The Nation.
Other health officials seem to agree with Gottlieb’s assessment—Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s most senior infectious disease official, told the Washington Post Friday that the country “could not be positioned more poorly” going into the coming seasons and that America is “in for a whole lot of hurt.”
Quote
“I think as we get into the next two or three weeks, it’s going to be unmistakable what’s happening around the country. And we’re going to have to start taking tough steps,” Gottlieb said, although he added nationwide lockdowns as seen in Europe probably won’t happen stateside because of a lack of political support for such tough crackdowns.
Tangent
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has made controlling the coronavirus pandemic a major part of his campaign platform, but Gottlieb argued the last part of Trump’s current term will be one of the most critical periods in terms of curbing infections. “By the time a president is inaugurated in January, whoever that is, we’ll probably be through the most acute phase of this [and will] be coming down the epidemic curve,” Gottlieb said on Face The Nation. “So this is really going to play out under the president’s leadership. What [Trump] does over the next two months is going to be very important.”
Key Background
The U.S. still leads the rest of the world in both confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths, with a Johns Hopkins University tally counting more than 9.1 million and almost 931,000, respectively.
Further Reading
Fauci: U.S. Could Not ‘Be Positioned More Poorly’ For Winter And Coronavirus (Forbes)
U.S. Shatters Record With More Than 100,000 New Covid Cases In One Day (Forbes)
Trump Said U.S. Was ‘Rounding The Final Turn’ On Aug. 31 – And On 39 Of The 57 Days Since (Forbes)
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