“We could be entering a period where we have an increased number of cases but a substantially decreased severity of illness, so that we see fewer hospitalizations and many fewer deaths,” said Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “But as absolutely uncomfortable and unsatisfactory as this is, we just don’t know what this virus is going to throw at us in the next 90 days.”
That poses a messaging challenge for the White House, he said: “What we need to do is not whipsaw from, ‘We’re over,’ to ‘Oh my God, how bad it could be.’ ”
In the six weeks since the last formal White House briefing, conducted on April 5 by Dr. Jha’s predecessor, Jeffrey D. Zients, mask mandates have been lifted on airplanes and other forms of public transit, and Mr. Biden has been consumed by other crises, including the war in Ukraine and, now, the racist shooting in Buffalo.
Several experts said in interviews that they were eager for the return of the briefings, which have typically included Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Mr. Biden’s top medical adviser, and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both will join Dr. Jha on Wednesday.
White House officials offered no explanation for the six-week break, other than to say that Dr. Jha was reconstituting the Covid response team after a string of departures when Mr. Zients left.