CDC chief warns of 'even more difficult' wave of
coronavirus next winter
Robert Redfield’s remarks to Washington Post come as
hydroxychloroquine trial finds no benefit against virus
Robert Redfield, the CDC director, warned that a wave
of coronavirus in the winter would coincide with the flu season.
Joanna
Walters in New York and agencies
@Joannawalters13
Published
onWed 22 Apr 2020 01.24 BST
A leading
US public health official warned on Tuesday that a new wave of coronavirus
hitting the US next winter could be “even more difficult” for America to deal
with than the current outbreak.
And in a
double blow for the prospect of ending the coronavirus pandemic, a US trial of
the controversial treatment Donald Trump has referred to as “like a miracle”
has produced poor results.
Robert
Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
federal agency, warned that a wave of coronavirus next winter would coincide
with the normal influenza season.
“There’s a
possibility that the assault of the virus on our nation next winter will
actually be even more difficult than the one we just went through,” he said, in
an interview with the Washington Post.
“We’re
going to have the flu epidemic and the coronavirus epidemic at the same time,”
he said.
Having two
simultaneous respiratory outbreaks would put unimaginable strain on the
healthcare system, he told the Post.
He was also
asked about increasing protests in a number of US states against stay-at-home
orders from governors, with demonstrations coordinated on social media and
evidence of backing by rightwing figures and powerful Trump allies. And about
calls for states to be “liberated” from restrictions, which Donald Trump has
himself echoed, Redfield said in the interview: “It’s not helpful.”
Also on
Tuesday, a malaria drug frequently touted by Trump for treating Covid-19 showed
no benefit in a large analysis of its use in US veterans hospitals. There were
more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine than those given standard
care, researchers reported.
The
nationwide study was not a rigorous experiment. But with 368 patients, it is
the largest study yet of hydroxychloroquine, with or without the antibiotic
azithromycin, for Covid-19. Coronavirus has killed more than 44,000 people in
the US so far.
The study
was posted on a website for researchers and has not been reviewed by other
scientists. Grants from the National Institutes of Health and the University of
Virginia paid for the work.
Researchers
analyzed medical records of 368 male veterans hospitalized with confirmed
coronavirus infection at Veterans Health Administration medical centers who
died or were discharged by April 11.
About 28%
who were given hydroxychloroquine plus usual care died, versus 11% of those
getting routine care alone. About 22% of those getting the drug plus
azithromycin died too, but the difference between that group and usual care was
not considered large enough to rule out other factors that could have affected
survival.
Hydroxychloroquine
made no difference in the need for a breathing machine, either.
Trump has
repeatedly hyped the drug and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
provided hydroxychloroquine with an “emergency use authorization” to use on
coronavirus patients in some circumstances. But the FDA has not conducted
clinical trials to ascertain fully whether the drug is an effective treatment
for Covid-19.
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