The covers should be worn over the nose and mouth during waiting, embarkation, travel and disembarkation, he said. Masks must have at least two or more layers of breathable fabric and must be attached to the head with bows, loops or elastics, as requested.
The CDC said it reserves the right to enforce the order through criminal penalties, but “strongly encourages and anticipates widespread voluntary compliance” and expects support from other federal agencies to implement the order.
As the death toll from Covid-19 in the US reaches 436,000 people, the Biden administration has already ordered 100 days of mask use, as well as a 16% increase in the distribution of vaccine doses to each state in the hope of controlling impacts. of the virus that made January the most lethal month of the pandemic.
Variants may dominate the pandemic going forward
And although vaccines are reaching the public, health experts say the country faces many more months of the pandemic, and the spread of variants has raised the alarm.
More than 400 cases of a coronavirus variant first identified in the UK have been reported in the United States, and health experts say that new strains like this may soon become dominant.
At least 434 cases of the variant have been detected in 30 states, the CDC said on Wednesday – that number is more than 100 more than the cases reported a few days earlier.
The UK variant, as well as another one first identified in South Africa, has worried authorities and experts because it is more easily transmitted than the tension the United States has faced so far. And as leaders rush to vaccinate Americans, they say the latest strains can spread quickly.
“The projection that is made in relation to the United Kingdom (variant) is that probably by the end of March, beginning of April, it will really become more dominant in this country”, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Diseases infectious diseases, he said during a press conference at the White House on Friday.
“The fact is that when you have a virus that is able to transmit more efficiently than the wild type in the community, sooner or later by the pure viral dynamics itself, it will become more dominant than the wild type “said Fauci.
Its model now projects 594,624 deaths by May 1, compared to its previous forecast of 569,000 deaths to date.
And a rapid variation would take that number to 620,000 by May 1, said the IHME. In the worst case, almost 654,000 Americans could die from Covid-19 by May 1, warned the IHME.
Closing the vaccine gap while fighting new strains
To control the spread of the virus, it is necessary to close the gap between the number of vaccine doses available and those that have been administered, according to experts.
So far, at least 49,216,500 doses of vaccine have been distributed and at least 27,884,661 doses of vaccine have been administered, according to the CDC.
Experts say they expect existing vaccines to be protective against new strains of the virus, but that the nature of the strain originating in South Africa could make them less effective, adding another obstacle to efforts to bring a sense of normalcy back to life. In the USA. .
But officials also said they anticipate that the production of new boosters or vaccines will return quickly, thanks to systems already installed.
The biotechnology company Novavax said it is developing a backup to protect against emerging strains.
On Thursday, the company announced that its vaccine, known as NVX-CoV2373, was 89.3% effective in a Phase 3 clinical trial conducted in the United Kingdom and the vaccine appeared to demonstrate clinical efficacy against some variants of the coronavirus.
In January, Novavax started developing boosters for the newest variants and hopes to select its ideal candidates in the “next few days”.
“The company plans to start clinical trials of these new vaccines in the second quarter of this year,” said Novavax.
CNN’s Jen Christensen, Rebekah Riess, Lauren Mascarenhas, Michael Nedelman and Jacqueline Howard contributed to this report.