“We may be done with the virus, but the virus is clearly not done with us.”
That was the message from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Rochelle Walensky, managing director, MPH, today during a COVID-19 information session of the White House.
Referring to the increasing incidence of B117 cases across the country, Walensky said that despite positive, downward trends in new cases, it is not the time for Americans to take their guard against the new coronavirus.
“Ten percent of cases are now B117, up from 1% to 4% a few weeks ago,” Walensky said. What the country needs to prevent a fourth increase in viral transmission due to B117, Walensky said, is mass vaccination, which is ‘on hand’.
CDC predicts fewer deaths
As of today, the CDC Variation Tracker shows 2,102 B117 cases in 45 states, 49 B1351 cases in 15 states and 6 P1 cases in 5 states. But these numbers are likely to be grossly underestimated, as genetic sequencing of positive virus samples is now emerging across the country.
According to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker, the United States reported 75,176 new COVID-19 cases yesterday and 2,237 deaths. In total, the United States recorded 28,453,199 cases, including 508,997 deaths.
The 7-day average of new cases has flattened out over the past week, following sharp declines following the holiday increase in viral transmission. The United States is currently averaging about 70,000 cases per day, according to Walensky, it is still too high.
The CDC also released its latest predictions on the pandemic yesterday.
“This week’s national ensemble predicts that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths is likely to decrease over the next four weeks, with 4,300 to 12,600 new deaths likely to be reported in the week ended March 20, 2021,” he said. the CDC said.
The models predict a total of 526,000 to 548,000 COVID-19 deaths will be reported in the United States by March 20th.
White House offers public-private partnerships
Walensky said she and her colleagues are eagerly awaiting news from a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee on Vaccines and Related Biological Products (VRBPAC), which will determine whether the candidate for the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine 19 is recommended by the FDA. for authorization for emergency use.
If this is the case, the vaccine could complete other regulatory barriers over the weekend, and it would be distributed around midweek next week.
Andy Slavitt, senior adviser to the White House on COVID response, said Biden’s government is working with private companies through the Chamber of Commerce, the Roundtable Business and the National Association of Manufacturers to vaccinate the U.S. population this summer. to speed up.
Slavitt said several companies, including Target, have already promised to offer employees paid time to get the vaccine, while Uber and Walgreens will launch a pilot program to get people to drive free pharmacies.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows that 91,673,010 doses of COVID-19 were delivered in the United States and 68,274,117 doses were administered, with 21,555,117 Americans being fully vaccinated.
In connection with the vaccine news, the FDA yesterday approved that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be transported and stored in pharmacy freezers for up to 2 weeks at conventional temperatures.
Black Americans under 40 take the least chance of getting vaccinated
According to a new survey, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau, black adults under the age of 40 are the most likely group of Americans to say they will not get a COVID-19 vaccine. Twenty-four percent of black adults between the ages of 18 and 39 say they will definitely not get the vaccine, compared to 11% of Hispanic and White adults.
However, all adults over 65 were more interested in getting the vaccine as soon as possible. According to a new survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more American adults are willing to be vaccinated now than at any other time in the pandemic.
Fifty-five percent of American adults now say that they have received at least one dose of the vaccine (18%) or that they will receive it as soon as they can (37%), compared to 47% in January and 34% in December. KFF said.
Other US developments
- U.S. officials have agreed to buy 100,000 courses of Eli Lilly’s recently approved treatment of the antibody cocktail for COVID-19, CNBC reports.
- According to California, California exceeded 50,000 COVID-19 deaths this week, more than any state in the country. Los Angeles Times.
- More than 530,000 COVID-19 cases have been linked to college campuses since the pandemic, according to a new analysis by The New York Times, including 120,000 cases reported since January 1.