Officials said most new infections occur in younger adults and are probably due to the rapid spread.
For the fourth week in a row, the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rose in the United States, White House officials said Monday, while the number of deaths fell.
Rochelle Walensky, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there are now an average of 64,000 new cases of coronavirus each day, up seven percent from the previous week. She said deaths averaged 800 a day.
Walensky said the increased number of cases is predominantly among younger adults, as states, businesses and schools have been gradually reopened. And it is believed to be caused, at least in part, by extremely infectious variants.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said most new infections occur in younger adults and are caused by the spread of variants that are highly communicable. [File: Susan Walsh/Pool via Reuters]
“As trends and data have shown, cases are on the rise nationwide and we see this occurring predominantly in younger adults,” Walensky said during a COVID-19 press conference.
“We know that these increases are partly due to more transmissible variants that we are closely monitoring,” she said.
Officials said that despite the increase in the number of cases and hospitalizations, the nation has made steady gains in its efforts to vaccinate Americans. According to the CDC, more than 165 million doses have been administered so far.
COVID-19 White House Adviser Andy Slavitt said the United States currently administers an average of 3.1 million doses per day. And that almost one in three adults received at least one stroke. He said that 55% of the elderly, those aged 65 and over, are fully vaccinated and 75% have received at least one dose.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” Slavitt said during the news conference. “But we’re not there yet,” he warned.
“The war against COVID-19 is far from over, far from won,” Slavitt said. “The worst thing we can do now is confuse progress with victory.”
The United States has so far administered more than 165 million doses of vaccine [Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]
Many states have made steady progress in their vaccination efforts and a few in recent weeks have expanded their eligibility requirements for everyone over the age of 16. Other states still vaccinate frontline workers and those with underlying health problems.
The United States has so far issued emergency permits for three vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson. The US may also authorize the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, further increasing the nation’s supply. The US is expected to have a surplus of vaccines by the second half of 2021.
US President Joe Biden, who took office in January, has set a goal for all states to offer vaccinations to anyone by May. He also set July 4 as US Independence Day, a time when Americans should be able to return to an appearance of normalcy.
More than 555,000 Americans have died from coronavirus – more than any other country in the world – according to a Johns Hopkins University report.