US Coronavirus: Covid-19 numbers are improving, but infections can grow exponentially with Super Bowl encounters

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: “Although the instinct is to celebrate together, we cannot be presumptuous.”

“We must continue to do the things we know to be effective in taming the virus: wear a mask, adhere to social distance and avoid meetings,” he said. “We can win this thing, but we must remain smart.”

This is especially true after a new study found that the highly contagious B.1.1.7 strain, first detected in the UK, is now spreading rapidly in the United States.

More contagious strain detected in the UK is spreading rapidly in the US, says study

Although the B.1.1.7 strain still constitutes a relatively small portion of the cases known in the U.S., it doubles every 10 days, the researchers said.

US laboratories are still sequencing only a small portion of the coronavirus samples, the researchers said, so it is unclear which variants are circulating in the country.

At least 699 cases of the coronavirus variants first identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the U.S. as of Sunday, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vast majority of them, 690, were variant B.1.1.7, which has so far been identified in 33 states.

Last month, the CDC projected that variant B.1.1.7 could become the dominant strain in the United States in March. He estimates that the virus is about 50% more transmissible.

Without “decisive and immediate public health action,” the researchers warned, more communicable variants “are likely to have devastating consequences for COVID-19’s mortality and morbidity in the United States in a few months.”

Why some Covid-19 numbers are improving

After a bad start to winter – marked by new record cases, hospitalizations and deaths – new cases and numbers of hospitalizations are improving.

Chicago Public Schools reach 'interim agreement' with teachers' union, says mayor

The US has just celebrated its eighth consecutive day with less than 100,000 people hospitalized for Covid-19, according to the COVID Tracking Project.

And the seven-day average of new cases dropped from 220,000 on January 6 to 120,000 on Saturday.

This good news is probably the result of the gradual reduction in vacation-related infections, as well as the performance of Americans in terms of safety precautions, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“This is what I think is happening: a combination of the natural peak, as well as people doubling in public health measures,” Fauci told MSNBC on Friday.

But Covid-19’s daily deaths are still high. For weeks, the US reported a daily average of more than 3,000 deaths from Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The average daily death toll exceeds the number of lives lost in the 9/11 attacks.

Some say security measures, not vaccines, are mandatory for school places

The CDC is expected to release guidelines this week on how to safely open schools during the pandemic.

On Sunday, Fauci and Dr. Scott Gottlieb said that while it is important to vaccinate teachers, it is not a prerequisite for opening schools.

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Mitigation measures, however, are mandatory.

Getting K-8 schools to open in 100 days is a priority for President Joe Biden’s administration, Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday, but “they will need help” so schools can have “the ability with masks, with the ability to get better ventilation, all the things you want to do. “

“It would be great to vaccinate all teachers as soon as possible,” said Fauci.

Gottlieb, a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” program that when it comes to opening schools, “I think the prerequisite is to implement mitigation measures in schools.”

He noted that research has shown that when people wear masks, they stay away and take precautions, “there is very little transmission within the classroom. Schools are not a vector for transmission ”.

Gottlieb said, although it is good to vaccinate teachers quickly, “I don’t think it’s necessarily a prerequisite. I think schools have demonstrated that they can open safely if they take precautions in the classroom.”

Fauci: There is probably not enough time for some 1-dose studies

The two vaccines currently administered in the United States – from Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna – require two doses, with an interval of three or four weeks.

FDA says people need both doses of Covid-19 vaccines

But the supply is still limited. And health experts have debated whether the United States should give the first doses to as many people as possible now, at the risk of delaying second doses for some people.

Fauci said there may not be enough time to study how much protection is provided by a dose or how long that protection can last.

“By now, we will be in the arena of having enough vaccines for everyone,” Fauci told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday.

“From a theoretical point of view, it would be good to know if you receive just one dose, how long the durability lasts and what (is) the level of effect,” said Fauci. “So it would be great to have the study, but I don’t think we could do it in time.”

Johnson & Johnson asks FDA for authorization for its Covid-19 vaccine

Fauci said he believed “you can get as many people … your first dose as you can, within reason, adhere to the second dose schedule”.

Meanwhile, a third vaccine – which requires only one dose – may be made available to the public in the coming weeks.

Johnson & Johnson officially applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an emergency authorization for its Covid-19 single dose vaccine on Thursday. A decision can be made by the end of this month.

The AstraZeneca vaccine will be discussed

Early data suggests that two doses of another vaccine, this one from Oxford / AstraZeneca, provide “minimal protection” against mild and moderate Covid-19 variant B.1.351 first identified in South Africa, Oxford University said on Sunday. .

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Viral neutralization against variant B.1.351 has been “substantially reduced” when compared to the previous coronavirus strain, according to a press release on Sunday at the University of Oxford.

The study, which was not released, included about 2,000 volunteers with an average age of 31 years. About half received the vaccine and the other half a placebo.

The effectiveness of the vaccine against severe Covid-19, hospitalization and death has not been evaluated.

After the Financial Times reported on the study on Saturday, AstraZeneca said it believed the vaccine could protect against serious illnesses. The company said it started adapting the vaccine against the variant “so that it is ready for delivery in the fall, if necessary”.

The World Health Organization independent panel on vaccines will meet on Monday to discuss the AstraZeneca vaccine and studies evaluating its effectiveness against the B.1.351 strain, WHO technical leader for Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove told the program ” Face the Nation “from CBS on Sunday. .

An AstraZeneca spokesman told CNN on Saturday that a small study found that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine offers limited protection against minor illnesses in cases caused by variant B.1.351. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.

There are “some preliminary studies suggesting reduced effectiveness,” Van Kerkhove told CBS. “But, again, these studies have not been fully published yet.”

Where the US is on vaccines

Just over 31.5 million people received at least their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, according to data published on Sunday by the CDC. More than 9 million people have been fully vaccinated with two doses.

Americans are asking themselves: Will I get the vaccine or the virus first?

In some parts of the country, authorities are working to improve access to the vaccine for underserved and vulnerable communities.

In the Houston area, local officials say that hospitals open to people without insurance receive a lower percentage of doses than private hospitals.

“You can have the best health care in the world, but if people can’t get access, it’s like you have nothing,” said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

“If you want to deal with the disparity, you need to send the doses to the locations that are reaching those regions.”

In the Northeast, some people will not be vaccinated on Sunday because of another challenge: the weather.

A major winter storm that hit the region last week interrupted vaccination efforts in several states. On Saturday, Cuomo said that some vaccination sites in New York would suspend operations on Sunday.

“New Yorkers scheduled to have tests or vaccinations in these locations will receive notification of these suspensions by text message and telephone,” said the governor’s office. Appointments will be rescheduled for the end of the week.

‘The perfect environment’ for viral spread

While many parts of the country have loosened Covid-19’s rules amid declining numbers, others are firm in their mandates.

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In New Orleans, several bars were closed after failing to comply with Covid-19 restrictions, officials said on Saturday.

Los Angeles County, which suffered a violent Covid-19 boom, recently announced that restaurants can reopen for outdoor dining – with restrictions. But director of public health Barbara Ferrer said the county is still “a long way from eating indoors.”

“The virus is really easily transmitted when you don’t have your face covered,” she said. “So when you’re inside to eat or drink and have to cover your face, this is the perfect environment for the virus to be transmitted.”

CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht, Naomi Thomas, Elizabeth Joseph, Andy Rose, Kay Jones, Hollie Silverman, Lauren Mascarenhas, Melissa Alonso and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.

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