“We saw what happens in other countries that really had coronavirus under relatively good control, so these variants took control and had an explosive spread of the virus, and then overwhelmed hospitals,” said emergency doctor Dr. Leana Wen to Anderson CNN Cooper.
“If there is something more contagious between us, if we thought that going to the supermarket before was relatively safe, there is actually a greater likelihood of contracting coronavirus through these day-to-day activities,” she said.
“Wearing an even better mask, reducing the number of times we have to go out shopping or in crowded indoors, all of which will be useful,” added Wen.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC on Monday that wearing two masks is probably more effective in preventing the spread of the virus.
“If you have physical coverage with one layer, you add another layer, it makes sense that it is more effective,” he said.
Moderna says its vaccine protects against some variants
The good news, Fauci told CNN in a separate interview on Monday, is that current Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be effective against the new variants.
“The worrying news,” he added, “(is) the more and more replication, you can get more and more mutant evolution, which means that you always have to be one step ahead.”
But as Covid-19 evolves, it will be important to “repeatedly” prove that vaccines provide protection against new strains, Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge said during a panel on Monday.
“Until we have this thing completely suppressed and under control, and people are widely vaccinated or seropositive and protected against it, it will be an ongoing battle for the next two years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is being tested in South Africa, the U.S. and Brazil, and these results may provide insight into how it works against emerging variants, said one of its developers. The company said it could share data from Phase 3 vaccine tests as early as this week.
“If we see the results of efficacy … it will give us insights not only on whether this vaccine candidate is effective or not, but it will also give us insights on whether the variants that are circulating in South Africa may or may not be a problem for vaccines, “Dr. Dan Barouch, a professor at Harvard Medical School, told CNN.
6% of the United States population took a Covid-19 vaccine
A White House official told CNN that the government’s official target remains 100 million shots fired in the president’s first 100 days in office.
Across the country, health leaders and state officials have been working to improve their vaccination strategies and increase the number of vaccines that go to arms.
CVS will begin offering vaccines on site at more than 270 locations in 11 states in February, said Dr. David Fairchild, associate medical director at CVS Health, on Monday.
“We are definitely prepared and we want to play a big role in helping to spread the vaccine,” he added. “Our internal goal is to be able to take 25 million shots a month or more.”
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice debuted a new online pre-registration system on Monday that allows residents to pre-register to receive a vaccine. Since the system was launched on Monday morning, more than 32,000 residents have scheduled a vaccination appointment, the governor said. This will work in conjunction with an existing hotline that residents can call and pre-register.
Illinois announced that it was entering its next vaccination phase on Monday, opening guidelines for people aged 65 and over and essential frontline workers, including teachers, first aid and grocery workers. The governor added that as more doses become available, more mass vaccination sites will be opened
Chicago will target 15 “communities in high need based on the city’s COVID vulnerability index,” the mayor’s office said in a press release. The initiative will include “attack teams” that will reach “those who can be disconnected from the more traditional vaccine delivery channels,” the document said.
“Our city has two-thirds of people of color,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot told a news conference. “Still, we are falling terribly behind in the number of people of color who were vaccinated today.”
Lightfoot said that of the nearly 108,000 residents who received the first dose of the vaccine, only 17% are Latino and about 15% are black.
Offer still limited
But many states are still struggling with supplies.
Kentucky has used about 88% of its first doses so far, said Governor Andy Beshear on Monday, and asked the federal government to send more supplies.
Beshear told reporters that the state achieved a record high vaccination rate last week, with more than 82,500 doses administered, but stressed that the state could be in the range of 250,000 weekly doses if the supply was there.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis has also renewed his request for more vaccines, as the state continues to run out of supplies allocated by the federal government.
“I continue to ask our federal partners and the new Biden government in Washington to increase the distribution of the vaccine immediately,” Polis said in a statement. “Colorado is ready to immediately use three to four times more vaccines than we are getting each week.”
The state has so far administered more than 458,400 injections, more than 82,600 of which are second doses.
“The sooner Colorado gets more vaccines, the faster we can put them in the arms and the faster we can help our small businesses and the economy to grow stronger,” said the governor. “We are ready and we are pleased to receive renewed federal assistance to get the job done.”
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Chris Boyette, Taylor Romine, Gisela Crespo, Omar Jimenez, Amanda Sealy, Andrea Diaz, Leslie Perrot, Maggie Fox and Naomi Thomas contributed to this report.