ATLANTA (CNN) – First, the good news: The United States reported a record 4.6 million doses of vaccines given in one day, according to data released Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Amazing Saturday! + 4.63 million doses administered in total yesterday, a new record ” posted on Twitter Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, COVID-19 data director at the White House. “More than 500K higher than the old record last Saturday. Incredible number of doses given.”
The problem is that more than 75% of the US population is not fully vaccinated, according to CDC data on Saturday.
Now the bad news: for the third week in a row, new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations are on the rise, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walenky.
“Cases and visits to the emergency room are up,” Walensky said Friday. “We are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated.”
Variant B.1.1.7 is not only more contagious than the original coronavirus strain – it is now the dominant US strain.
Experts say that variant B.1.1.7 could cause more severe diseases and could also be more deadly.
In the past week, the United States has reported an average of more than 68,000 new cases of COVID-19 each day, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
It has risen by more than 20% since the March 10 seven-day average.
Nationwide, several Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 went to the emergency department for COVID-19 complications, Walensky said.
She said the trends are “amplified” in one part of the country: the Upper Midwest.
“The CDC is working closely with public health officials in this region to understand what causes these cases and how we can intervene,” Walensky said.
“A race of life and death”
Florida has the highest number of reported B.1.1.7 cases, according to the CDC, followed by Michigan, which reports thousands of new COVID-19 cases daily.
Michigan health officials say they are in the middle of another COVID-19 wave.
“This variant B.1.1.7 … is more contagious and I think there is only fatigue because of this pandemic, so a lot of people don’t wear masks, they don’t have social distance, so I practically took it one step back in Michigan said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital’s Vaccine Education Center.
“It’s really frustrating because we’re almost there,” he said. “We have to stay there for the next two months and we won’t do that.”
Some Michigan hospitals are delaying and rescheduling non-emergency procedures, “on a case-by-case basis,” said a spokesman for the Michigan Health & Hospital Association.
“Hospitals want everyone to receive the care they need and reschedule procedures only as a last resort,” said John Karasinski. We want to emphasize that hospitals are safe for everyone who needs care and anyone with an urgent medical need should seek care immediately.
In both Michigan and Minnesota, “there is concern about broadcasting in youth sports – both club sports and affiliated sports in schools,” Walensky said Friday.
Minnesota health officials have warned that the state sees a “Sharp increase” in COVID-19 cases, saying that it is “more important than ever” to continue wearing a mask and physical distance.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions in his state is rising.
“We’re going in the wrong direction now,” DeWine said Thursday. “More than half of our counties, 53 years old, have registered increases.”
“We can reverse this if more people continue to get vaccinated,” he said. “This is a race. We are in a race. And it is a race of life and death.”
New York is weakening the rules of physical distance for some students
In contrast, New York has seen a drop in hospitalizations and the lowest average 7-day positivity rate since early December, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Hospitalizations are the lowest since Dec. 2, at 4,083, while New York State’s positivity rate has dropped just below 3%. New York’s 7-day positivity rate also fell to its lowest level since Dec. 1, reaching 3.58 percent, the governor’s office said.
These numbers, combined with recent CDC recommendations, have prompted the New York Department of Health to update its 6-foot to 3-foot physical distance rules for elementary, middle and high schools with low and moderate risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Schools with substantial risk of transmission may also maintain a distance of 3 feet, but should also implement cohorting when possible. Cohortation is when groups of students are held together and with the same staff throughout the day to reduce the spread of COVID-19, according to the CDC.
High-risk transmission and middle schools must be kept at a distance of 6 feet when cohorting is not possible, the state said.
However, high-risk elementary schools can still meet the 3-foot requirement.
“Evidence indicates that there is a lower susceptibility and incidence of COVID-19 among younger children than in adolescents; therefore, personal training is a lower risk of on-the-spot transmission in elementary schools compared to middle schools and high schools, “the health department said.
There are still some times when 6 feet need to be maintained, the state said, including between students and teachers, between students when eating and when students are in common areas outside classrooms, such as gymnasiums, cafes and halls, according to the new rules.
These new guidelines on social distancing come after the CDC made similar recommendations in March.
CNN contacted the New York Department of Education and the New York City Department of Education for comments.
More evidence that vaccines are safe and effective
While more young, unvaccinated adults are hospitalized with COVID-19, the number of elderly people being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 continues to decline.
Health experts say this is due to the fact that older people are more likely to be vaccinated than younger adults.
More than 78% of people aged 65 and over received at least one dose of vaccine, and 60% were completely vaccinated, according to CDC data.
And there is growing evidence of how safe vaccines are for adults of all ages.
Less than 1 in 28,000 people who received a COVID-19 vaccine – or less than 0.004% – reported serious side effects, according to data from the vaccine adverse event reporting system at the Department of Health and Human Services, or VAERS.
Vaccine providers “are encouraged to report to VAERS any clinically significant health issues after vaccination, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause,” the VAERS website said.
The good news is even when severe reactions occur, “they usually happen in the first 30 minutes,” said vaccinologist Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine.
“That’s why vaccination sites keep people there for 15 to 30 minutes after that,” he said.
The CDC recommends that people with a history of severe allergic reactions stay 30 minutes after vaccination. Others may leave in 15 minutes.
All vaccine sites should be armed with epinephrine to quickly fight any case of anaphylaxis, the CDC said.
The surgeon general said there are simple steps to end this pandemic:
“One: get vaccinated as soon as you can,” said Dr. Vivek Murthy. “And two: help the people you care about get vaccinated too.”
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