Back in March, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky got emotional expressing her concerns of “impending doom” in the covid-19 pandemic.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much potential of where we are in so much reason for hope, but right now I am scared,” she said at the time.

When Walensky said that, the 7-day average of covid-19 deaths was 700, per CDC data. Now, in the middle of a surge caused by the delta variant, the 7-day average is at 1,595. Daily deaths reached over 2000 in just the past few days. The number of covid cases did drop significantly in the months since, but they it has rocketed up again in recent months.

As of this posting, 75.2 percent of all Americans 12 and up have gotten at least one dose of the covid-19 vaccine, and 64.7 percent have been fully vaccinated. Millions and millions of people are still unvaccinated, and there have been alarming reports of hospitals in several states filling up with unvaccinated covid patients.

CBS News’ Margaret Brennan spoke with Walensky Sunday about the pandemic, confusion around booster shots, and those comments she made six months ago.

Brennan noted that the CDC director “took a lot of flak” at the time, but “we were on the cusp of the delta surge.”

Walensky said, “You look at states around this country and you see places that are using crisis standards of care… That means that we are talking about who is going to get a ventilator, who is going to get an ICU bed. Those are not easy discussions to have, and that is not a place we want our health care system to ever be.”

Brennan asked if those crisis levels are what she meant when she worried about “impending doom.”

“In some states, yes. They are running out of beds,” Walensky responded.

And when you see that, you worry that people may not be able to come in and get the proper care if they have a motor vehicle accident or if they’re having a heart attack. And that is why we are working so hard in areas that have high levels of disease where they can’t. Their health care systems are in dire straits. Working to get assistance to them, working to get those communities vaccinated. Because, as I noted, people who are not vaccinated are 10 times more likely to be in the hospital. Our hospitals are filled with unvaccinated people.

You can watch above (the relevant part starts around the 8:30 mark), via CBS.

The post CDC Director Reflects on Her Worry of ‘Impending Doom’ 6 Months Ago: ‘Our Hospitals Are Filled With Unvaccinated People’ first appeared on Mediaite.

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