“The continued relaxation of prevention measures, while cases are still high and while variants are spreading rapidly across the United States, is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation,” said the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. , Dr. Rochelle Walensky Monday.
“It could be anyways,” he added, about whether the country could face yet another increase.
Since the beginning of the month, at least a dozen state leaders have eased Covid-19’s restrictions. And the day after comments from both experts, two more governors announced plans to relax some measures.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced on Tuesday that from April 6, the state’s facial coverage mandate will become a state mask consultant. The masks will remain mandatory in state buildings and facilities, as well as in Covid-19 testing and vaccination sites, the governor said.
Also from April 6, decisions about the capacity of the venue will be in the hands of local authorities, said Holcomb, and customers in restaurants, bars and nightclubs will no longer have to sit down. Six foot spacing between tables is still recommended, he added.
“Although some capacity limits are raised, we must all remember to remain vigilant and work together to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities,” he said in a statement.
With more vaccines, Americans leaving more
Many state leaders – including those who chose to ease restrictions – have expressed optimism over the past few weeks about the approaching end of the pandemic, citing reduced numbers of Covid-19 compared to the peak of winter and the increase in vaccinations.
At least two states – Alaska and New Mexico – have fully vaccinated more than one in five residents, according to data published Tuesday by the CDC. In New Mexico, more than a third of the population received at least one dose of the vaccine.
As more Americans get vaccinated, the number of people leaving home also increases, according to an Axios-Ipsos survey published on Tuesday.
Compared to a month ago, the number of people who went out to eat or visit friends and family increased by 12 and 9 percentage points, respectively, according to the survey – conducted from March 19 to 22 and comprised of 995 Americans 18 and over old people.
The number of people who believe that dining out poses a major health and wellness risk has dropped to 23% compared to 33% a month ago. The number of visits to friends or relatives – 48% – is the highest since October. In addition, 54% visited a non-grocery retail store – the highest number since May.
In some cases, it is the unvaccinated ones that are driving the change in behavior. For example, 52% of unvaccinated respondents say they visited friends or relatives in the past week, compared with 41% of people who got the vaccine.
The good news is that security measures are not being abandoned. More than seven out of 10 people still wear a mask every time they leave home and 80% said they will continue to wear a mask even after vaccination. About 63% also said they will continue to distance themselves socially after vaccination.
Experts fear AstraZeneca’s confusion could lead to vaccine hesitation
In a press release on Monday, AstraZeneca said its vaccine was 79% effective against symptomatic diseases and 100% effective against serious illness and hospitalization in a new clinical trial in the United States.
But the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said in a statement on Tuesday that the independent board that analyzes data from multiple vaccine candidates raised concerns about the company’s announcement.
The board “expressed concern that AstraZeneca may have included outdated information from that study, which may have provided an incomplete view of the effectiveness data,” said the NIAID statement.
Speaking on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the AstraZeneca press release may have contained misleading information about the vaccine’s effectiveness – “an unforced error” that it can create doubts about what is probably a good vaccine.
The data is “really very good, but when it was published in the press release, it was not entirely accurate,” said Fauci.
AstraZeneca said in a statement on Tuesday that “it will immediately engage with the independent data security monitoring board (DSMB) to share our primary analysis with the most up-to-date efficacy data”, adding that it intends to issue the results of the analysis primary within 48 hours.
An expert says she fears it could undermine confidence in vaccines among Americans.
“I am very concerned because there is already a lot of misinformation and misinformation out there,” emergency doctor Dr. Leana Wen told CNN on Tuesday. “With this amount of public scrutiny, I think that every company should aim at full transparency and accountability and we really need to understand what happened here.”
“AstraZeneca owes us an explanation,” she added.
Rebekah Riess, Deidre McPhillips and Naomi Thomas of CNN contributed to this report.