NEW YORK (AP) – As states repeal masking rules and ease restrictions on restaurants and other businesses because of a drop in the number of cases, public health officials say authorities are neglecting the COVID-19 variants potentially more dangerous ones that are spreading quietly across the US
Scientists widely agree that the US simply does not have enough control over the variants to reverse public health measures and is at risk of disrupting yet another phase of the pandemic after letting the virus spread across the country last year and killing nearly 500,000 people .
“Now is not the time to open up fully,” said Karthik Gangavarapu, a researcher at the Scripps Research Institute, whose team works closely with San Diego health officials to observe mutant versions of the coronavirus. “We still need to be vigilant.”
In the past two weeks, daily averages of coronavirus cases and deaths have dropped about half in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. And on Wednesday, more than 40 million people – about 12% of the population – received at least one dose of a vaccine.
But experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and the CDC’s Director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, say the downward trend can be reversed if new variants appear.
The problem, in the opinion of experts, is that the United States was slow to develop a rigorous genetic surveillance system to track the spread of the variants and measure how well they have established themselves here.
“The fact is, we’re kind of in the dark,” said Dr. Diane Griffin, who studies infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins. She said the variants are “probably widespread, even if we don’t know it.”
On Wednesday, the Biden government announced he will spend $ 200 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to triple their levels of genetic sequencing to identify mutations that could make the coronavirus more infectious or more deadly. Separately, Congress is considering a bill that would provide $ 1.75 billion for this type of work.
A more contagious and possibly more deadly variant that was first identified in Britain has been found in at least 42 states. Other variants first detected in South Africa and Brazil have been reported in low numbers in the United States. South Africa’s is of particular concern because of the evidence that it may decrease the effectiveness of vaccines.
“We are chasing a moving target. It’s changing a little too fast for your comfort, ”said Dr. Lucio Miele, a geneticist at LSU Health Sciences in New Orleans. “We need to be proactive. We are not invulnerable. “
Detecting variants and knowing where and to what extent they are spreading can be instrumental in preventing another deadly wave of COVID-19 like the one that overwhelmed hospitals this winter.
In Europe, in late 2020, once surveillance began to signal variants like the one that was causing cases to get out of control and overwhelm hospitals in England, governments across the continent responded by imposing strict travel restrictions and blocks. .
But in the United States, the emergence of variants was viewed with indifference by many state and local officials amid the general decline in confirmed infections.
Florida, for example, has the highest British variant cases, according to the CDC. But state leaders appear to have already left the coronavirus, including Governor Ron DeSantis.
When asked about the increase in new varieties last week, DeSantis told reporters: “The media is concerned about this, obviously. You really love it. “
Florida lifted many restrictions and received 25,000 fans for the Super Bowl in Tampa and 30,000 spectators at the Daytona 500 a week later, in what was the country’s biggest sporting event since the pandemic began.
The restrictions are also being eased in California, which is recovering from an outbreak of COVID-19 that has invaded its hospital system in recent months. California officials hope that a substantial number of counties will be allowed to offer limited-capacity indoor meals and open theaters, museums and gyms. The state is also reporting the country’s second highest case count for the British variant.
Elsewhere, states like North Dakota, Montana and Iowa have lifted masking rules in recent weeks, and many others have eased restrictions on businesses like restaurants, bars and shops.
Public health experts say part of the problem is that the latest statistics can be misleading. The CDC, for example, reported only about 1,300 cases of emerging variants across the country.
“This is a lower count,” said Johns Hopkins epidemiologist Dr. Caitlin Rivers. She and others say that figure reflects the country’s underdeveloped genetic surveillance system.
Local health authorities face the same statistical problem.
Last month, Minnesota was the first state to detect the COVID-19 variant identified in Brazil. In testing about 2% to 3% of the state’s positive COVID-19 samples, the Minnesota Department of Health identified two cases of the Brazilian variant and 40 of the British variant.
“It’s quite a meaningless number,” said Kathy Como-Sabetti, manager of epidemiology in the health department. “It is a small fraction of our total number of cases.”
Como-Sabetti said the state is gearing up for a potential wave of disease if variants proliferate out of control.
Some scientist called for the US to test about 5% of COVID-19 positive samples – which this week would represent about 3,900 strings – to stay on top of the variants. Currently, the USA sequences between 0.3% to 0.5% of virus samples. Great Britain sequences about 8% of positive cases and Denmark about 12%.
“We are terribly behind when it comes to sequencing technology,” said Miele.
In the meantime, Chicago and neighboring suburbs allowed indoor restaurants to resume in January, for the first time since October, and reopened, with a crowd limit, major cultural attractions, including the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium. Boston opened gyms, cinemas and harbor cruises this month.
New York City restaurants were given the green light to open for indoor dining last week, despite concerns from some local officials.
“Are we challenging the global standard for variants that double every 10 days?” tweeted Member of the City Council, Mark D. Levy. “Or are the variants actually growing here and just not being informed?”
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AP medical writer Mike Stobbe of New York contributed to this report.
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