US coronavirus: January was the deadliest month for Covid-19 with nearly 80,000 lives lost in the US so far

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Last Tuesday, there were more than 79,000 fatalities from the coronavirus, more than a thousand higher than the previous December record, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The grim milestone supports the growing demand from government officials for more vaccines so Americans can get vaccinated faster.

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden’s Covid coordinator, Jeff Zients, told governors that allocations would increase by about 16% from next week, according to a source aware of the call.

Biden has pushed for 100 million shots in the first 100 days of his presidency, but with a long road ahead for vaccinations, he also called for 100-day mask wear.

“The brutal truth is that it will be months before we can vaccinate the majority of Americans. Months. In the coming months, masks, not vaccines, are the best defense against Covid-19,” Biden said while announcing the federal government. would purchase and distribute more vaccine doses from Moderna and Pfizer.

With those extra doses, Biden said there would be enough to fully vaccinate 300 million Americans – nearly the entire U.S. population – by the end of the summer or early fall.

Supply of vaccines does not meet the demand

States struggling with the stress of nearly a year in which they responded to the pandemic are eager to deliver vaccines quickly and try to return to normal life.

“We’ve got to beat it because the Mississippians are ready. We’re done burying loved ones lost to this virus. We’re done with stressed out hospitals. We’re done with the terrifying talk of lockdowns and shutdowns. We’re done with it.” for the community, ”said Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who announced that the state was celebrating approximately 200,000 vaccines delivered.

The director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said he was “very encouraged” by the new presidential administration’s approach to vaccinations, but that the state is still grappling with the lack of vaccines.

California is lifting regional stay-at-home orders as congestion in the ICU eases

“We know that at the moment the number of people who want to be vaccinated is far greater than the range of vaccines available,” said Dr. Nirav Shah.

Colorado Governor Jared Polis said his talks with the Biden administration have made him hopeful about the future of vaccine distribution, but “we can’t count on additional supplies just yet.”

Even if the government delivers on its promised 16% increase in allocations, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace that it won’t be enough.

“We’re functionally disabled, we’re starting to get reassigned in the next few days,” said Cuomo.

Variants arouse demand and fear

Adding to public fears is the spread of variants of the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear announced that two cases of the variant first identified in the UK have been confirmed in the state.

The variant has been shown to spread particularly quickly, according to CDC models. And a British report released Friday says there is “a realistic possibility” that the new variant has a higher mortality rate than other variants.
Coronavirus variant first seen in Brazil and first found in the US

The threat of variants has made state reopening a greater concern in California, a recent epicenter of the US pandemic, said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in Los Angeles County.

“This wouldn’t be the time to think just because we are reopening that it looks bright,” she said, noting that asymptomatic spread is a problem. “We have to be careful in the coming weeks. In many other areas where we are reopening our sectors, we have seen an increase in our cases that we cannot really afford.”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, for his part, sought to calm the fears surrounding the variants with the assurance that the foundations have already been laid to combat them.

“We shouldn’t be afraid, but I think we should be prepared,” Bourla said on Tuesday at Bloomberg’s The Year Ahead event. “Once we discover something that is not as effective, we will very, very quickly produce a booster dose that will be a slight variation from the current one.”

School reopening security

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, there was a glimpse of good news for parents hoping to bring their children back to school.

A report from the CDC said that with the right mitigation strategies, it is possible to open K-12 schools for personal learning with minimal Covid-19 transfer.

Those mitigation strategies include wearing masks, social distancing, and limiting time in shared outdoor spaces, according to the study from the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine said he is aiming for everyone working in a school to receive their first dose of vaccine in the month of February, in the hope that all students will be able to return to school by March 1.

Biden Chief of Staff: President Wants to Open Schools, But US Must 'Make the Investments' Necessary to Return Safely

Currently, people over the age of 75 and people with certain medical conditions can receive vaccines. On Feb. 1, those 70 and older and employees of K-12 schools will be eligible for the vaccine, he said at a news conference Tuesday.

Reopening schools has been a priority for many officials as students across the country have been learning remotely for months. But local leaders have taken different approaches to the return.

Of the country’s 20 largest school districts, nine are currently online, eight offer a choice of either fully in-person or all online, two have a hybrid plan, and one in Hawaii varies plans based on infection rates across islands.

Amanda Watts, Virginia Langmaid, Mj Lee, Sara Murray, Jamiel Lynch, Anna Sturla, Keith Allen, Mirna Alsharif, Taylor Romine, Elizabeth Cohen, Rebekah Riess, Stella Chan, Amanda Sealy, Jennifer Henderson and Lauren Mascarenhas contributed to this report.

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