White House Adviser Says US at Inflection Point Regarding Coronavirus Pandemic

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States is at an inflection point with the coronavirus pandemic as the number of cases increase but hospitalizations are at the lowest level, White House COVID-19 Response Coordiantor Ashish Jha said on Tuesday.

"I believe we are at an inflection point," Jha said during a press briefing. "On one hand, we know the BA.2, the sub-variant of Omicron [variant], has become dominant. Cases are rising across the country, but hospitalizations are at the lowest level of the pandemic."

Jha said COVID-19-related deaths are continuing to fall as well, the rate is currently down to about 300 deaths a day.

However, Jha said it is critical for Congress to approve funding to purchase supplies of new therapeutics and vaccines coming out to prevent severe disease from other novel coronavirus variants that may emerge in the future.

A new generation of vaccines and treatments will be available in the fall or winter that will be more effective or durable against new variants of the novel coronavirus but they may not be available to Americans if there is no new funding and other countries end up buying the new doses, Jha said.

Jha also said the United States needs funding to support US efforts to get people vaccinated around the world.