Winter will spur spread: Murthy

Washington, November 16

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It is easier for Covid to spread indoors than outdoors as people stay inside their homes during winter which is a perfect set-up for the contagion, according to Dr Vivek Murthy, the top Indian-American adviser to President-elect Joe Biden on Covid-19.

The 43-year-old former US surgeon general, who co-chairs the Covid-19 advisory board of Biden, told Fox News that people are tired from the pandemic fatigue. “What’s happening now in particular is that with winter, as people move indoors, this is actually the perfect set-up for the virus because we know it’s easier to spread indoors than outdoors,” Murthy said. There is one last component, which is really important, is the pandemic fatigue, he said.

“We’ve been at this pandemic now for many months and I get that.

A part of that fatigue means that people are letting others into their bubble, they’re getting together for in-person dinner parties, game nights and public health departments are now tracing more and more cases back to these kinds of gatherings,” Murthy said. All this put together has resulted in the recent explosion in cases in the US, he said. The US is the worst affected country with over 11 million cases and 2,46,000 deaths.

— PTI