PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) – The deadliest month to date of the coronavirus outbreak in the US has come to an end with some signs of progress: COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are declining, while vaccinations are increasing rapidly.
The question is whether the country can keep up with the rapidly spreading mutations of the virus.
The U.S. death toll has risen above 440,000, with only 95,000 lives lost in January alone. Mortality averages about 3,150 a day, and drops slightly by about 200 from their peak in mid-January.
But when the calendar turned Monday on February, the number of Americans in hospital with COVID-19 fell below 100,000 for the first time in two months. New cases of infection average about 148,000 days, falling from nearly a quarter of a million in mid-January. And business is declining in all 50 countries.
“While the recent decline in cases and hospital admissions is encouraging, it is offset by the harsh reality that in January we recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in any month since the pandemic,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mortality does not move up or down with the infection curve in perfect lock. It is a backward indicator because it can take several weeks before people get sick and die from COVID-19.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, an epidemiologist at Boston College, said vaccines are a factor in the sharp drop in cases, but are not the main cause. Instead, he said, the crisis has become increasingly “depoliticized” in recent weeks as more people experience the threat, and how they can help slow the spread of the virus.
‘I do not think you can underestimate the importance of this cultural change. I think this is critical, “he said.
After a slow start, the vaccination drive that began in mid-December is picking up pace. According to the CDC, more than 32.2 million doses have been administered in the US. That is higher than 16.5 million on the day President Joe Biden took office on January 20.
The number of shots fired in the week and a half since Biden’s inauguration averages about 1.3 million a day, far more than the president’s stated goal of 1 million a day. More than 5.9 million Americans received the required two doses, the CDC said.
However, the CDC reported on Monday that many workers in the nursing home do not get their chance to offer doses.
Researchers looked at more than 11,000 nursing homes and other such facilities that had at least one vaccination clinic between mid-December and mid-January. While 78% of residents received at least one shot, only 37.5% of staff members did so. Surveys indicate that some workers in the nursing home are skeptical about the effectiveness of the shots and do not think that viruses spread easily from them to the people they care about.
Three mutated variants of the virus from Britain, South Africa and Brazil have been detected in the USA. The British one spreads more easily and presumably becomes more lethal, but the one in South Africa raises even more concerns due to early indications that vaccines may not be just as protective against it.
The more the virus spreads, the more opportunities it has to mutate.
Walensky urged Americans to be vaccinated as soon as shots are available to them, stressing that it is not time to relax basic precautions such as wearing masks.
Meanwhile, a snowstorm on Monday forced the closure of many vaccination sites in the Northeast, including New York City and Connecticut.
And there are still doubts about the plan to reopen Chicago schools for the first time since March for about 62,000 students. Negotiations at the last minute on COVID-19 safety measures with the teachers’ union have stopped, which increases the possibility of a strike or exclusion if educators do not show up for work.
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Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland. Associated Press authors Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Marilynn Marchione, Sophia Tareen, Bill Kole and Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.