Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle WalenskyRochelle Walensky New cases of COVID-19 among nursing home residents dropped by 80 percent in one month. The majority say teachers need to be vaccinated before schools reopen. New Yorkers must double by at least June, says de Blasio MORE warned on Friday that recent declines in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths “may be stopping, calling the trends a ‘very worrying shift’.
CDC data show that the number of new cases has dropped dramatically in recent weeks, from a peak of around 250,000 per day in mid-January to around 60,000 per day.
But now, after weeks of falling, the number of new cases has started to pick up again in the last few days and is still at a very high level, around 66,000 new cases per day.
“The latest data suggests that these declines may be declining, and possibly still a very high number,” Walensky said during an information session in the White House. “We at CDC see this as a very worrying shift in the trajectory.”
Several states have relaxed restrictions on areas such as restaurant capacity and in some cases masked mandates. Walensky urged states not to lift restrictions, without specifically mentioning any names for it.
“Things are soft,” she said. “This is not the time to relax restrictions.”
More contagious variants, especially one first identified in the UK, carry the risk of a new peak.
“We can now see the initial effects of these variants in the latest data,” Walensky said.
She also took note of new research on additional variants in New York and California that ‘apparently also spreads more easily’, and which urgently adds to the situation.
In general, officials said that with the increase in vaccinations, it is not the time to drop the restrictions and to take precautions such as wearing a mask and removing it from others, as the vaccines are much wider by spring. may be available, which helps to be more permanent. suppress the pandemic.
“Together we have the ability to avoid another boom in our country,” Walensky said.