-
Michael Osterholm, a leading disease expert, said on Sunday that the United States was the “eye of the storm”.
-
New daily cases fell from their peak earlier this year, but there is still cause for concern.
-
Several states have reduced restrictions, but experts warn that such actions are premature.
-
Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, warned on Sunday about the current state of the pandemic in the United States, despite the continuing decline in new cases.
“We are in the eye of the storm right now,” he said during an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press”. “It looks like things are going really well – you even see the blue sky. We have been through a terrible terrible year.”
According to data analyzed by Johns Hopkins University, the number of new daily cases of COVID-19 diagnosed each day has dropped to less than 70,000 new cases each day – below a peak earlier this year, where new daily cases exceeded 200,000.
Vaccinations were also accelerated as supply increased following the Johnson & Johson single dose vaccine emergency clearance in late February. Biden said on March 6 that all adult Americans could be vaccinated in mid-May.
But Osterholm said there are reasons to be concerned about the spread of the most contagious variant B.1.1.7 of the virus, which was first discovered in the UK and has since “wreaked havoc” in Europe.
About a month ago, 1 to 4% of COVID-19 cases diagnosed in the United States were variant B.1.1.7, said Osterholm. But today, about 30 to 40% of new cases were the variant. When cases of B.1.1.7 reach about 50% of cases in Europe, the virus begins to “increase”, he added, warning of a possible increase in the USA.
“Many of these countries have been blocked for two months just to try to control the virus,” said Osterholm of the European countries hard hit by the variant.
The warnings come amid relaxed public health measures that health officials have warned are premature. US states have once again started to reduce measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. Several states, including Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota, have rescinded the masks’ mandates.
Experts also warned that spring break tourists could spread the highly contagious variant in the coming weeks, even as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to discourage travel.
Read the original article on Business Insider