WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Americans were warned again on Tuesday not to travel for Christmas, as the latest rise in COVID-19 has left hospitals struggling to find beds for the sick, and political leaders have imposed restrictions to try to reduce new infections. , which makes for a gloomy holiday season. .
A new, even more contagious variant of the rapidly spreading coronavirus in the UK has caused greater fear among Americans already tired of the nine-month pandemic and sparked talks among top US officials to ban travel to the UK.
The new coronavirus variant has emerged as the United States faces a nationwide increase in infections that added more than a million new cases in just six days, according to a Reuters report, totaling more than 18 million since the beginning of the pandemic. .
In California, the epicenter of the latest intensive care unit (ICU) beds has been rare, and hospitals say they lack doctors and nurses to care for patients.
“The entire capacity of the UCI in California has decreased. We all fight, ”said Dr. Imran Mohammed of Sutter Roseville Medical Center, north of Sacramento. “We really don’t want to see more of that. We will be challenged to see other patients with intensive care and eventually we will not take place. “
Many US states and cities have imposed blockades and business closures to try to cope with a wave of illness caused by last month’s Thanksgiving rallies.
Political leaders have urged Americans to stay home for the holidays to prevent an increase in growth that threatens to overwhelm health care systems, a demand that many have defied.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday that the modified coronavirus has not yet been detected in the United States.
U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar told Fox News that Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, which received emergency use permits in the United States this month, should act against the new variant.
Moderna Inc. and BioNTech SE, which worked with Pfizer Inc. to develop the vaccine, are working to test their shots against new mutations in the virus, but have expressed confidence in them.
“From a scientific point of view, it is very likely that the immune response of this vaccine can also cope with this variant of the virus,” Ugur Sahin, executive director of BioNTech, told reporters.
MORE THAN 600,000 VACCINATES
More than 600,000 Americans have received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine since Monday, according to the CDC.
The first wave of shootings has so far gone to health workers and nursing home residents, as well as some top government officials.
Americans in “non-essential” jobs have been told they will probably wait months in turn.
Azar and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the main US official for infectious diseases, received the Modern shot on live television on Tuesday. President-elect Joe Biden was inoculated with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in front of the cameras on Monday.
The White House coronavirus working group has no plans to restrict travel to the UK, people told the matter on Tuesday.
But Michael Osterholm, one of Biden’s pandemic advisers, said all options should be considered, suggesting the US government could impose a 14-day quarantine for visitors to the UK.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee has ordered a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the UK, South Africa or other “countries with a new potentially more contagious COVID-19 variant”.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo said he had asked airlines to add their state to a list of 120 countries that require COVID-19 screening for air travel.
“The United States should say the same thing that New York said. You say people have to test before they come from the UK, ”Cuomo said in a call Tuesday with reporters.
Reporting by Susan Heavey and Lisa Lambert in Washington, Peter Szekely and Gabriella Borter in New York, Anurag Maan in Bengaluru, Nathan Layne in Roseville, California and Jill Serjeant and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Written by Gabriella Borter and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Matthew Lewis and Bill Berkrot