Health officials plead with people to stay home for the holidays
Warnings come as coronavirus vaccine rolls out across the country - NBC's Sarah Dallof reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KYMA, KECY/NBC News) - Just days before Christmas, with COVID-19 cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals, health officials are issuing a desperate plea for people to stay home and stay well.
It comes as millions of doses of a second vaccine are distributed across the country. But, experts caution they won't bend the curve until spring, at the earliest.
Tuesday, experts at the National Institute of Health received the vaccine they had a hand in developing.
"I want to encourage everyone who has opportunity get vaccinated so we can have a veil of protection over this country that would end this pandemic." said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director fo the NIAID.
Six million does of the Moderna vaccine now rolling out and joining Pfizer's on the front lines.
"I think it's all safe. i think it's the correct thing to get it as soon as possible." said one doctor as he got his vaccine.
Health experts believe it will protect against a new, more infectious variant of COVID spreading in the U.K.
Several airlines now requiring negative PCR tests from passengers there who are headed to New York.
"I like the idea of testing everybody before they get on a plane and come to the U.S., but I don't think ultimately we'll be able to keep this strain out of the U.S." said Dr. Ashish Jha, the Dean of Brown University School of Public Health.
In spite of pleas to avoid holiday travel, AAA predicts nearly 85-million plan to do so. Over the past four days, TSA checkpoints screening on average more than a million passengers per day.
"We had to weigh the options and wanted to get away from the cold."
As hospitals teeter on the brink.
"People should be afraid. I'm afraid." said Dr. Brad Spellberg, the LA County-USC Medical Center Chief Medical Officer.
California may soon run out of beds in its makeshift surge units.
In Utah, ICU's are at more than 99% capacity, and multiple Texas counties ordered to pause elective surgeries.
The message: a post-Christmas surge could cause systems to collapse.
