"Our focus should be on preparation, not on panic," Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said Sunday in discussing the latest rising wave of Covid-19 cases in Europe.
The emergence of a new subvariant has led to a steep rise of cases in Britain, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and other European nations in recent weeks. While the United States has not yet seen a noticeable increase, experts warn that a spike in cases is pretty much inevitable.
Speaking to host Trace Gallagher on "Fox News Sunday," Murthy said the nation can't ignore the possibility of a new spike but that it is in a better position now than it was in the previous two years, when Covid-19 "defined our lives."
The surgeon general said: "We should be prepared that Covid hasn't gone away. There may be rises and falls in the months ahead, but here's the key: Our goal is to keep people out of the hospital, it's to save their lives. We have more tools to do that than ever before."
He added: "If we get people these tools — vaccines, boosters, treatments — then we can actually get through waves that may come and go."
Covid-19 struck official Washington twice in the last week, with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff testing positive, followed by a positive test for Michael Martin, the prime minister of Ireland who was on a visit to Washington, D.C., and who sat next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a banquet.
Gallagher asked Murthy if those two cases suggested that Washington may be moving on too quickly.
"I don't think we can afford to move on," Murthy said, "but I do think that we can move forward with more confidence, that we can live our lives and not let Covid define our lives, because we do have in fact better tools that have proven to save our lives and keep us out of the hospital and that's really the goal."
