(Adds employee quotes)
WASHINGTON, February 26 (Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases may be stalling, a development she described as worrying, although urging that safeguards to combat the virus remain in place.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters that the number of cases had increased in the past three days compared to the previous week and that falls in hospitalizations and deaths were also “potentially stabilizing at an even very high number”.
Walensky painted a critical picture of the current state of the pandemic.
“Things are tenuous. Now is not the time to relax restrictions. Cases, hospital admissions and deaths remain very high and the recent change in the pandemic must be taken extremely seriously. ”
States and cities have been gradually lifting restrictions in recent weeks. New York City reopened in-house restaurants earlier this month and Massachusetts plans to remove capacity limits for restaurants starting in March. Montana and Iowa lifted mask requirements across the state earlier this month, while North Dakota’s term expired in January.
The White House urged companies on Friday to join forces to help fight the pandemic, requiring masks to be worn by employees and educating customers.
Andy Slavitt, a senior consultant on the White House COVID-19 response team, listed several companies that were taking steps to help fight the pandemic and called for more membership.
He announced what he described as a new partnership between the Biden administration and leading business organizations to encourage the private sector to encourage companies to demand masks and social detachment to protect employees and customers, make it easier for employees to vaccinate with incentives and educate the public about the benefits of masks and vaccines.
“We are asking companies to extend CDC’s messages about masking and vaccination on their products, properties and websites,” said Slavitt.
Ford and Gap were producing and donating millions of masks, he said, while Best Buy, Target and Dollar General were giving workers time off or compensating them for vaccines.
Uber, PayPal and Walgreens were teaming up to provide $ 10 million in free travel to vaccination sites, he said, while Lyft partnered with CVS and the YMCA to provide $ 60 million in free or discounted travel to vaccination sites.
The White House is working on a broad campaign to educate Americans about the vaccine, which aims to control the pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people in the United States.
President Joe Biden noted on Thursday the concern that later this spring the supply of vaccines will exceed demand due to the vaccine’s hesitation.
Moderna Inc. said on Wednesday that it is working with scientists from the United States government to study an experimental booster that targets a new variant of the coronavirus.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci said the study, which will be conducted by the National Institutes of Health, will start in mid-March and that there are still no plans to start manufacturing the experimental reinforcement on a scale, as it is not It is unclear whether the new variant B1351 found for the first time in South Africa will become a dominant variant in the United States.
Reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Carl O’Donnell in New York; additional reporting by Lisa Lambert Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Heinrich