CDC Chief: CCP Virus Cases Across US Are ‘Plateauing’

Ambulances are parked outside of Wyckoff Hospital in the Borough of Brooklyn on April 4, 2020 in New York. - New York state's coronavirus toll rose at a devastating pace to 3,565 deaths Saturday, the governor said, up from 2,935 the previous day, the largest 24-hour jump recorded there. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images

The top U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) official said the United States has the capability to handle a spike in CCP virus patients, noting that the country has reached a plateau in cases.

“We have learned a great deal about COVID-19 and, across the nation cases we are plateauing,” Dr. Robert Redfield wrote on Twitter on Wednesday. “There are still outbreaks, but we have a better capacity to handle them with early case identification, contact tracing, and isolation.”

Redfield’s comments came after several governors confirmed their states have seen a rise in CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus cases in recent days, coming as more states open their economies after months of lockdowns. The CCP virus, a novel coronavirus that emerged in mainland China last year, causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

So far, 2.1 million Americans have contracted the virus, and more than 115,000 have died, according to researchers with Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University.

Redfield, a virologist, told a House panel on June 4 that he is “very concerned” that the government’s messaging on the CCP virus isn’t “resonating” strongly with Americans. He noted that people who attended Black Lives Matter protests as well as demonstrators who partook in civil unrest were seen not wearing masks.

On Friday, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS News that he is frustrated that Americans aren’t following recommended health guidelines.

“Clearly, we have not succeeded in getting the public as a whole uniformly to respond in a way that is a sound scientific, public health and medical situation,” Fauci, the head of of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during the interview. “And it’s unfortunate. And it’s frustrating.”

On Thursday, the daily number of cases reported across the United States increased to 27,000 new cases, or the “most in more than 40 days,” according to the COVID Tracking Project. It came after a progressive decline in cases after several weeks.

At the same time, the United States reported 695 overall deaths, the Tracking Project said, noting that “the trend here is good.”