WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Daily coronavirus deaths and cases in the US have dropped significantly in the past two weeks, but are still at alarmingly high levels, and efforts to eliminate COVID-19 are becoming an increasingly urgent race between vaccines and the mutant virus.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said the improvement in numbers across the country appears to reflect a “natural increase and then pay” after a holiday rise, rather than the arrival of the vaccine in mid-December.
The US averages just under 3,100 deaths a day, down from more than 3,350 less than two weeks ago. The new cases are averaging about 170,000 a day after reaching a high of nearly 250,000 on January 11th. The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 fell to about 110,000 from a high of 132,000 on January 7.
States that have been hot spots in recent weeks, such as California and Arizona, showed similar improvements over the same period.
On Monday, California lifted regional home residence orders in favor of county-by-county restrictions and closed at 10 p.m. The change will allow restaurants and churches to resume outdoor operations and hair and nail salons to reopen in many places, although local officials may maintain stricter rules.
Elsewhere, Minnesota’s school districts have begun to bring elementary students back for personal learning. The Chicago school system, the nation’s third-largest district, had hoped to bring teachers back Monday to prepare for students to return next month, but the teachers’ union refused. Illinois has announced that more counties will be able to offer limited meals indoors.
“I don’t think the dynamics of what we see now with the plateau are still significantly influenced – it will be soon – but still by the vaccine. I just think it’s the natural course of the plateau,” Fauci told Today. “
Ali Mokdad, a professor of health sciences at the University of Washington, said the estimated increase in vacations was lower than people traveling less than expected, and an increase in mask wear in response to peak infections has since contributed. when reducing the number.
Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said too few people have been vaccinated so far to have a significant impact on viral trends. She said she could not predict how long it would take until the effects of the vaccines were reflected in the figures.
Rivers said she is worried that more contagious variants of the virus could lead to a fatal recurrence later this year.
“I think we’ve been on the right track to having a good spring and summer – or at least a better one – and I’m worried that the options could throw us a curve,” she said.
Nationwide, about 18 million people, or less than 6 percent of the U.S. population, received at least one dose of the vaccine, including about 3 million who received the second shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over half of the 41 million doses distributed to states by the federal government were injected into weapons, according to the CDC number.
The virus has killed more than 419,000 Americans and infected more than 25 million, a widely cited model from the University of Washington that predicts a death toll of about 569,000 by May 1.
And health experts have warned that the more contagious and probably deadliest variant, which crosses the UK, will probably become the dominant source of infection in the US by March. To date, it has been reported in more than 20 states. Another mutant version is circulating in South Africa.
The more the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to move. The fear is that it will eventually make vaccines ineffective.
To guard against the new variants, President Joe Biden added South Africa on Monday to the list of more than two dozen countries whose residents are subject to coronavirus restrictions upon entering the United States.
Most non-Americans who have been to Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and other European nations will be denied access to the United States under Biden’s rules after President Donald Trump moved to relax.
Fauci said scientists are already preparing to adjust COVID-19 vaccines to combat mutant versions.
He said there was “a very slight and modest decline” in the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against these variants, but “there is enough pillow with the vaccines we have to continue to be considered effective” against both.
Moderna, the manufacturer of one of the two vaccines used in the US, announced on Monday that it is starting to test a possible booster dose for the South African version. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said the move came out of “a lot of caution” after preliminary lab tests suggested his blow produced a weaker immune response to the variant.
The launch of the vaccine in the US has been marked by disorder and confusion, with states complaining in recent days about the lack and inadequate deliveries that have forced them to cancel mass vaccination events and tens of thousands of meetings.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the lack prevented the city from opening more large-scale vaccination sites.
“Here you have New York ready to vaccinate with half a million New Yorkers a week, but we don’t have the vaccine to go with it,” de Blasio said. “Many other places in the country are ready to do much more.”
Associated Press writers in the United States contributed to this report.
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