The spread of COVID-19 in the USA has slowed. Confirmed cases, which were increasing at a rate of more than 200,000 per day for less than two months, currently increase to less than 100,000. However, the US has 28,761,741 confirmed cases, about 25% of the world total. Deaths, which were increasing by more than 4,000 a day for two months, have dropped to a daily increase of about 2,000. At 515,138, they are about 20% of the world total.
Among the main concerns of epidemiologists and public health officials are variants. Three appeared on the CDC’s tracking systems and the agency’s reports on its daily release. The most commented are from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. The UK variant spreads faster than the one that has plagued the United States for more than a year. Another concern is that current vaccines may not be as effective against these strains as the one currently dominant in America. And the UK version spreads quickly enough to become the dominant version in America by the end of March.
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The main hope of keeping COVID-19 case growth low is the vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Recently, a new variant has emerged in California. There is much concern that it is extremely deadly. The Daily Mail reports:
The coronavirus variant, known as B.1.427 / B.1.429 – also sometimes called CAL.20C / L452R – first appeared in California in May 2020.
Experts predict that the variant, which spreads as easily as those in the UK and South Africa, will account for 90% of state cases by March
The variant has also been discovered in several other states, including Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.
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The Los Angeles Times quotes a scientist who followed the new variants:
Californians, along with the rest of the country, have been preparing for a violent attack by the UK’s most transmissible strain, known as B.1.1.7. But they should know that a rival strain that is probably equally worrying has already set in and is likely to be responsible for 90% of the state’s infections by the end of next month, said Dr. Charles Chiu, an infectious disease researcher and doctor at UCSF .
“The devil is already here,” said Chiu, who led a team of geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians and other scientists in a comprehensive analysis of the new variant, which they call B.1.427 / B.1.429. “I wish it were different. But science is science. “
The page “US COVID-19 Cases Caused by Variants” shows that there are 2,102 B.1.1.7 cases in 45 states, 49 cases of B.1.351 in 15 states and six cases of P.1 in 5 states. The agency still does not show data for CAL.20C / L452R.
Science magazine summarizes the concern with the new variant:
A new strain of the pandemic coronavirus, first identified and now spreading in California, appears to be slightly more transmissible and increases patients’ risk of admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and death, according to a preliminary report from laboratory studies and epidemiological data.
This confirms the growing concern that the variants may cause a new outbreak.
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