The spread of COVID-19 across the US has slowed. Confirmed cases, which rose more than 200,000 a day less than two months ago, are currently rising by less than 100,000. Nevertheless, the U.S. has 28,761,741 confirmed cases, about 25% of the world total. Deaths, which increased by more than 4,000 a day two months ago, have dropped to a daily increase of closer to 2000. At 515,138 it is about 20% of the world total.
Among the biggest concerns of epidemiologists and public health officials are variants. Three showed up at CDC tracking systems and the agency reports daily on their distribution. Most talk about the UK, South Africa and Brazil. The British variant is spreading faster than the one that has plagued the US for more than a year. Another concern is that current vaccines may not be as effective against these strains as the current dominant in America. And the UK version is spreading fast enough that it could become the dominant version by March.
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The biggest hopes to curb COVID-19 growth are vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.
Recently, a new variant has emerged in California. There is a lot of concern that it is extremely deadly. Daily Mail reports:
The coronavirus variant, known as B.1.427 / B.1.429 – also sometimes called CAL.20C / L452R – first appeared in California in May 2020.
Experts predict that the variant, which spreads as easily as that of the United Kingdom and South Africa, will make up 90% of state affairs by March
The variant has also been discovered in several other states, including Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.
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FOLLOWING
The Los Angeles Times quotes a scientist who followed the new variant:
Californians, along with the rest of the country, have struggled for an onslaught of the more transferable tensions from the UK, known as B.1.1.7. But they need to know that a competitive tension that is probably just as worrying has already been established and is likely to account for 90% of the state’s infections by the end of next month, Drs. Charles Chiu, a researcher and physician of infectious diseases at UCSF.
“The devil is already here,” Chiu said. He led a team of geneticists, epidemiologists, statisticians and other scientists in an extensive analysis of the new variant, which they call B.1.427 / B.1.429. “I wish it was different. But science is science. ”
The page “US COVID-19 cases caused by variants” shows that there are 2 102 B.1.1.7 cases in 45 states, 49 cases of B.1.351 in 15 states and six cases of P.1 in 5 states. The agency does not yet show data for CAL.20C / L452R.
The journal Science summarizes the concern about the new variant:
A new strain of the pandemic coronavirus, first identified and now spreading in California, appears to be a bit more transmissible and increases the risk of intensive care unit admission (ICU) and death of patients, according to ‘ a laboratory study and epidemiological data of the pre-print. .
This provides some confirmation for the growing concern that variants may cause a new boom.
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