States are reversing Covid-19 restrictions as the trend for new cases is at record levels across the country. But experts warn that it may be too soon, as the variants pose a greater risk and the pandemic – almost a year old in the United States – is far from over.
In Iowa, Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, withdrew his term from the state’s partial mask on Friday. She also said that companies no longer need to limit the number of customers or impose social distance, and there are no limits on the size of public meetings. The editorial board of the Des Moines Register classified the measure as “inexplicable and irresponsible”.
Reynolds is not acting alone. Democratic and Republican governors have eased restrictions. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced on Monday that New York City will allow indoor dining starting on Friday, a few days earlier than originally planned, and high schools will reopen. for face-to-face classes on February 25th. In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker, a Republican, said restaurants are allowed to operate at 40 percent capacity on Monday, citing a decline in hospitalizations as part of his reasoning.
Measures to remove virus-related restrictions take place while the most recent seven-day average for new cases in the U.S. is 119,509 last week, according to an analysis by NBC News. The last time that number was so low was on November 9, close to the start of the last increase. The current numbers of new cases still exceed the peaks of spring and summer.
“I have some concerns that it is premature” to loosen restrictions, said Justin Lessler, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Lessler said that the current restrictions themselves are allowing Covid-19 infection rates to decrease.
“When we remove interventions, we often see resurgences,” he said, advising caution if states want to see a continued decline. “When new variants appear, the setback that used to be good is no longer correct because of the more communicable variants.”
The CDC reported less than 700 cases of various strains of Covid-19 that entered the country after being first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. Lessler said that number is “the tip of the iceberg” and hardly portrays the extent of its spread.
“The variants are here and circulating,” said Dr. Jennifer Lighter, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases at NYU Langone Health in New York.
While much remains unknown about how the variants will spread and affect the United States, their presence is undeniable.
Lighter said the United States is not doing enough “surveillance protection” or sequencing to test how many of the recent positive cases come from the new strains. Still, she said, the increase that some anticipated for more communicable variants has yet to materialize.
Reversing a mask order, she said, doesn’t make sense, but measures like Los Angeles County’s to reopen outdoor meals in late January are sensible, since being outdoors reduces the risk associated with the virus infection.
To stay ahead of the variants, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Monday that it is crucial that people get both doses of the vaccine.
The boost in the second dose gives a “greater breadth of response,” said Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which means it can protect against the “wild type” of circulating coronavirus, including variants.
