"They too would like a break for the holidays to see their own family within their household bubbles", Gounder said. The day before Thanksgiving was the busiest day for air travel since March 16. "You need to assume that you're infected and not go near your grandparents and aunts and others without a mask".
Other experts - including Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease and another member of the White House coronavirus response task force - have warned the nation could see another uptick in cases due to holiday travel.
She also appeared to suggest that families who split up for Thanksgiving should wear masks in their home. He said the heavy holiday travel could make the current surge in COVID-19 cases even worse as we head into the winter months.
"And if you're over 65 or you have comorbidities and you gathered at Thanksgiving, if you develop any symptoms, you need to be tested immediately because we know that our therapeutics work best, both our antivirals and our monoclonal antibodies, work best very early in disease", said Birx.
Dr Birx said anyone with family members who traveled for the holiday has "to assume that you were exposed and you became infected and you really need to get tested in the next week". The day before Thanksgiving was the busiest air-travel day since March 16, and it was also the day when the United States recorded its highest single-day coronavirus death toll since early May. Deborah Birx, MD, coordinator of the task force, said the number of COVID-19 cases is up to 10 times higher than the surge after the Memorial Day weekend in some locations.
The daily case number is now more than seven times higher that, at about 180,000, she said.
Amid record-breaking coronavirus numbers, the USA top infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci has warned that the United States could experience a "surge upon a surge" during and after the Christmas holiday season.
Birx says she's anxious about how last week's holiday gatherings may increase the case count even more, especially in states with fewer COVID-19 restrictions.
"Unfortunately, that means that many people who celebrated with family, with friends, over Thanksgiving will find themselves in the hospital, in ICUs over Christmas and New Years", she said. And so starting with mask mandates and masking requirements absolutely key, followed by if you have high case numbers and you're seeing increased hospitalizations, the first thing you should do is close spaces where people can not wear a mask.
She pointed to Arizona as a place that got control of the virus from closing bars and restaurants, and she recommended that the state consider closing them again amid the current rise in cases. Fauci also said he planned to push the new administration for a rigorous testing program.
