According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two coronavirus variants first detected in California, B.1427 and B.1429, are now considered to be of concern. The CDC said the variants are 20% more transferable.
By comparison, variant B117, first identified in the UK, is considered 50% more transmissible than the original wild-type COVID-19 virus. None of the new variants of concern are suspected to escape the efficacy of currently approved vaccines, but therapeutic agents, including monoclonal antibody treatments, may be slightly less effective.
Currently, the CDC’s variant tracker shows 4,686 B117 cases in 50 states, 142 B1351 cases in 25 states and 27 P1 cases in 12 states.
New hotspots emerging across the country
The variants, especially B117, may be behind the rise of hotspots in parts of the Upper Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, according to the Washington Post. The increase in cases in those regions comes after nearly two months of declining cases, deaths and hospitalizations after the third winter holiday of viral activity.
In New York, declining rates have slowed, and Michigan, Minnesota and Maryland all saw a slight increase in cases this week.
Experts have the Washington Post that pandemic fatigue in addition to variants also contributes to the increase in cases. This past weekend, 1.2 million to 1.3 million people traveled by air every day from Thursday to Sunday, more than any four-day period since March 2020.
Trump calls for vaccination
The increase is because many states are simultaneously reducing restrictions and more residents are eligible for vaccination. Maine, Virginia and Wisconsin, as well as Washington DC, announced this week that all adults in their states will be eligible for President Biden’s vaccination by May 1st.
According to the New York Times, Colorado, Connecticut, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana and Utah hope to qualify for all adults by the end of this month.
The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows that 147,590,615 COVID-19 vaccine doses were delivered in the U.S., and 113,037,627 were administered, with 39,989,196 Americans being fully vaccinated.
Yesterday, former President Donald Trump told Fox News that he and former First Lady Melania Trump received their COVID-19 vaccines privately in January and urged his followers to follow suit.
“I would recommend it and I would recommend it to a lot of people who do not want to get it, and a lot of people said it honestly,” Trump said.
CDC announces more funding for testing in underserved communities
According to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker, 53,579 new COVID-19 cases and 1,286 deaths were reported yesterday. In total, the United States confirmed 29,562,060 COVID-19 cases, including 537,284 deaths.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said today during the White House press briefing that the latest 7-day averages for new cases are 53,000, with daily hospitalizations at 4,700 and the daily death toll at 1,100.
Walensky said the CDC is making a new effort to expand testing and contact detection in underserved communities, and has updated their clues as to who should be tested with what kind of tests.
“Testing remains a critical approach to ending the pandemic,” she said. The White House has also announced new efforts to expand testing within schools.
The CDC will also target $ 2.25 billion on health inequalities and COVID-19.
“This investment will be monumental in anchoring equity at the heart of our country’s COVID-19 response – and is an important step forward in bringing resources and focus to the inequalities in health that have plagued our country for far too long. continues, “Walensky said in a statement.
Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, MHS, head of the Health Equality Task Force, also said the Biden administration is allocating $ 150 million to monoclonal antibody therapies in underserved communities.