Among the main concerns of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: travel.
“We are very concerned about the transmissible variants,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told CNN at the end of last week. “Many of them have passed through our travel corridors, so we are being extremely cautious about travel now.”
The director said that every time the number of trips increases, an increase in Covid-19 cases tends to occur – as was the case with major holidays like July 4th, Labor Day and the winter holiday season.
“There are almost the same number of trips now that happened during Thanksgiving,” she said.
Florida – a popular spring break destination – is already seeing crowded beaches.
“We are seeing a lot of spring break activity,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber told CNN on Saturday morning. “We have a problem with a lot of people coming here, we have a problem with a lot of people coming here to let go.”
“We are concerned,” said the mayor. “It is very challenging.”
In Orlando, Mayor Buddy Dyer asked visitors to practice Covid-19’s safety precautions.
Keep your mask on. Here’s why:
“I think we are releasing it a little earlier. Because we are talking about lifting the mandatory mask,” emergency doctor Dr. Leana Wen told CNN on Saturday. “I understand the reopening of businesses, I want our businesses and schools, our churches and other institutions to be reopened. We can do that if we keep the masking mandates in place.”
In Oklahoma, Governor Kevin Stitt announced on Thursday that he was removing all restrictions on events or residents and removing the mask requirement on state buildings.
But, citing concerns about variant B.1.1.7, which was first detected in the UK and is now spreading in the U.S., an expert said that now is the “wrong time” to withdraw mandates from the masks.
“If there was ever a time to put on the mask, this is it,” the director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, told MSNBC on Saturday. “Every bit of data proves that wearing a mask reduces infections, reduces deaths, if we are still seeing 50 to 60,000 cases a day now … this is the time.”
Expanded eligibility in some states as of Monday
But the United States still faces major challenges when it comes to vaccinating weapons, including “continued hesitation in supplying restricted vaccines and growing myths and misinformation,” according to Walensky.
In efforts to increase vaccination numbers, state leaders across the country are announcing expanded requirements for vaccine eligibility.
“The national supply of the vaccine remains limited, so consultations for the estimated 4.4 million Californians with these conditions or disabilities will not be immediately available to everyone who is eligible,” said state health officials.
The dangerous side effects of a pandemic
On the one hand, there have been “worrying” declines in childhood vaccinations against other infectious diseases, Walensky said during a press conference at the White House on Friday.
“Punctual vaccination during childhood is essential because it helps to provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially fatal diseases,” said Walensky. “During the pandemic, we saw substantial drops in visits to the pediatrician and, because of that, CDC’s requests for childhood vaccinations dropped by about 11 million doses – a substantial and historic decline.”
As leaders work to get students back to school, “we certainly don’t want to find other preventable infectious outbreaks, like measles and mumps,” said Walensky.
“When planning your child’s safe return to daycare or school programs, check with your child’s doctor to make sure he is up to date with vaccines,” she added.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he is also concerned about the mental health toll that the pandemic has caused in the country.
“That is the reason why I want to leave the virological aspect of this pandemic behind as soon as possible, because the long-term devastations are so multifaceted,” he told CBS on Thursday.
An expert told CNN on Saturday that it would be useful for the United States to prepare for a potential increase in mental health needs by increasing access to mental health services.
“We know that 75% of adults here in America are feeling stressed – they are feeling overwhelmed, anxious and depressed,” said Riana Elyse Anderson, assistant professor of behavior and health education at the University of Michigan.
“We have to be willing to heal.”
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Naomi Thomas, Melissa Alonso, Rebekah Riess, Jacqueline Howard, Pete Muntean and Greg Wallace contributed to this report.