Senior members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team are concerned that state governments are relaxing pandemic restrictions too early, as vaccine rollouts race against rapidly spreading coronavirus variants.
At a press briefing this week, the White House response team had the following warnings:
- “The continued relaxation of prevention measures while cases are still high and while concerning variants are spreading rapidly throughout the United States is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation,” said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CNN reported.
- “Believe me, I get it, we all want to return to our everyday activities and spend time with our family, friends and loved ones, but we must find the fortitude to hang in there for just a little bit longer,” Walensky added, according to a transcript of the White House meeting.
- “You’ve heard the president say, and you’ve heard both Dr. (Anthony) Fauci and Dr. Walensky say, that we believe it’s a mistake to get rid of mask mandates,” said Andy Slavitt, a senior White House coronavirus response adviser, to reporters at the briefing.
More than a dozen states began rolling back restrictions this month, according to CNN, with the most recent state-level policy shifts coming from Indiana and Virginia.
On Tuesday, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb announced that the Hoosier State’s mask mandate would be downgraded to an advisory, ABC-affiliate WCPO 9 News reported.
And in Virginia, starting April 1, the state will begin relaxing restrictions on social gatherings, entertainment venues and sporting events, according to Richmonds WTVR CBS 6 News.
“To be very clear, we are not simply throwing the doors open,” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Tuesday, WRTV reported. He also encouraged people to get vaccinated, saying it was “the only way we put this pandemic behind us.”