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Extra Contagious Covid Variant Is Now Dominant in U.S., C.D.C. Says

More Contagious Covid Variant Is Now Dominant in U.S., C.D.C. Says

Scientists hope the vaccination will mitigate a possible fourth surge.

On Tuesday, President Biden postponed his vaccination schedule for two weeks and urged states to question every American adult by April 19. All states have already achieved or expect to achieve this goal after he originally asked them to do so by May 1st.

The variant B.1.1.7 first arrived in the USA last year. In February, a study that analyzed half a million coronavirus tests and hundreds of genomes predicted that this variant could prevail in the country in a month. At the time, the CDC was struggling to sequence the new variants, making them difficult to track.

However, those efforts have improved significantly over the past few weeks and will continue to grow, in large part due to a $ 1.75 billion funding for genome sequencing as part of the stimulus package that Mr Biden put into the Law. In contrast, the UK, which has a more centralized health system, launched a heavily promoted sequencing program last year that allowed it to track the spread of variant B.1.1.7.

“We knew this was going to happen: this variant is much more communicable, much more contagious than the parent strain, and that obviously has an impact,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Disease Expert at Emory University. The B.1.1.7 strain not only spreads more efficiently, but also appears to cause more severe disease “so you get a double blow”.

Perhaps even more worrying is the emergence of the virulent P.1 variant in North America. First identified in Brazil, it has become the dominant variant in that country, helping to bring its hospitals to the breaking point. In Canada, the P.1 variant emerged as a cluster in Ontario and then closed the Whistler ski area in British Columbia. On Wednesday, the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League said at least 21 players and four employees had been infected with the coronavirus.

“This is a vivid reminder of how quickly the virus can spread and the serious effects it can have on even healthy, young athletes,” the team’s doctor Jim Bovard said in a statement.

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The CDC ought to have up to date its surface-cleaning tips a lot sooner, Dr. Ashish Jha says

The CDC should have updated its surface-cleaning guidelines much sooner, Dr. Ashish Jha says

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should have their home surface cleaning guidelines updated in good time before this week, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health said Tuesday.

“It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Dr. Ashish Jha on CNBC’s “The News with Shepard Smith”. “I think I started saying in April and May that a lot of us in public health are quitting wiping surfaces.”

“I really don’t understand why it took CDC so long to get really clear. This virus is spreading through the air,” Jha said.

The CDC said Monday that a thorough soap-and-water scrub is enough to prevent the spread of Covid-19 around the home. However, the use of disinfectants is recommended in schools and private homes where a suspected or confirmed virus case has appeared within 24 hours.

“In most situations, regular cleaning of the surfaces with soap and detergent is enough to not necessarily disinfect these surfaces to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19,” said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a meeting at the White House on Monday.

Jha noted that the CDC’s public health news was part of a larger pattern of bad government news when it comes to Covid.

“I would say the first few months were confusing, but by April and May of last year it was clear that this was in the air,” Jha said. “It was frustrating that our federal officials didn’t always get this out consistently.”

The CDC did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

Host Shepard Smith also asked Jha about the highly contagious variant B.1.1.7 after Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Research and Policy on Infectious Diseases, warned on Sunday that the variant could infect children more easily than previous strains.

Jha said he was “concerned” about the B.1.1.7 variant in children, particularly because they have not yet been vaccinated.

“We don’t see a lot of infections in older people because we get them vaccinated and that makes young adults and children really susceptible to B.1.1.7,” noted Jha. “One of the reasons we can’t fully relax right now is because we really need to cut those numbers of infections.”

Every state in the country has reported at least one case of variant B.1.1.7, which was first discovered in the UK, CDC data shows. Walensky said Wednesday that the variant is becoming the predominant strain of Covid in many regions of the United States

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Native bar opening in rural Illinois was tied to no less than 46 new Covid circumstances, CDC says

Local bar opening in rural Illinois was tied to at least 46 new Covid cases, CDC says

Residents line up for COVID-19 testing at Pritzker College Prep High School in the Hermosa neighborhood on November 30, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois.

Scott Olson | Getty Images News | Getty Images

A local bar that opened in a rural Illinois county in early February was linked to at least 46 new cases of coronavirus and a school closure that affected 650 children, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The county’s per capita number doubled due to the cash opening, according to the CDC. Before the event, the district had an average of up to 42 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for seven days. The daily case average more than doubled 14 days after it opened, the CDC said.

The case, highlighted in a research report released Monday, provides further evidence of how weddings and gatherings in restaurants and nightclubs have the potential to become widespread events for Covid-19.

After routine case examinations, local health officials identified a group of cases linked to a handful of people at the bar opening, including a participant who had been diagnosed with asymptomatic Covid-19 the day before and who was still walking. There were also four people there that night who had symptoms and who later tested positive for the virus.

“These results show that opening settings such as bars where masking and physical distancing are challenging can increase the risk for community transmission,” the CDC said.

One bar attendee who later tested positive identified 26 close contacts he had while attending school for indoor exercise or personal lessons. Two student athletes also tested positive, causing local officials to shut down the school district after more than a dozen employees were potentially exposed.

Another bar attendee was working at a long-term care facility where an employee and two residents were rated positive days after the event. At least one resident was hospitalized before being released the same day. Nobody was vaccinated.

As of February 26, 12 people in eight different homes who were in contact with people who were at the bar that night tested positive for Covid-19, including five school-age children, according to the study. No one was admitted to the hospital.

“This research further shows that inconsistent mask usage and inadequate physical distancing indoors can increase the risk of transmission,” the CDC wrote. “”[Covid-19] The broadcast that originates from a company like a bar affects not only the customers and employees of the bar, but can also affect an entire community. “

The CDC said there were at least four caveats to the results. First, the interviews were voluntary and many community members did not provide full information, so the number of cases reported in the study is likely to be fewer than the actual number of cases.

It was also likely that not all asymptomatic cases were counted and not all contacts were tested. Information on individual behaviors such as wearing masks and social distancing was not collected from those with positive results. Finally, no samples were available for sequencing the entire genome, which is why it could not be determined whether variant Covid strains were responsible for the increase in transmission.

According to the CDC, a multi-component approach such as enforcing the correct wearing of masks, social distancing, reducing indoor capacity, adequate ventilation and contact tracing should be implemented to prevent the virus from spreading before settings such as bars and restaurants are opened.

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Salmonella Outbreak Is Linked to Wild Birds and Feeders, C.D.C. Says

Salmonella Outbreak Is Linked to Wild Birds and Feeders, C.D.C. Says

A salmonella outbreak related to exposure to wild songbirds and birdhouses left 19 people ill in eight states, eight of whom were hospitalized.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they were studying salmonella infections in California, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington state in people aged 2 months to 89 years.

Six cases have been reported in Washington and five in Oregon. No deaths were reported.

Public health officials across the country surveyed 13 of the infected and asked them about animals they had come into contact with a week before they became ill, the CDC said. Nine said they owned a bird feeder and two reported that they came into contact with a sick or dead bird. Ten people said they had pets that had access to or contact with wild birds, the agency said.

To avoid further cases, the CDC recommends cleaning birdhouses and bird baths once a week or when dirty. People should avoid bare-handed feeding of wild birds and wash their hands with soap and water after touching bird food or bathing, or handling a bird.

In California, where three human cases have been reported, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife warned of an outbreak in February and reported that it had been “swamped” by calls from Californians finding sick or dead finches at birdhouses.

Andrea Jones, director of bird protection at Audubon California, said the state had determined that most of the birds affected by the outbreak were pine teats, a species of finch that spends the winter in California. That year, numerous pine cisks gathered in California, which allowed the outbreak to spread among the birds.

“It can happen any year, but this has been a particularly bad year,” said Ms. Jones. “Pine Siskins aren’t very good at social distancing.”

Sick birds often look weak, sluggish, or appear to have difficulty breathing, Ms. Jones said. She added that most birds die within 24 hours of being infected with salmonella.

Many pine teats are now leaving California for Canada, Ms. Jones said, adding that she hoped the outbreak could end soon.

Salmonella bacteria can spread from birds to pets and humans. According to the CDC, people can experience diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps six hours to six days after being infected. Children, adults aged 65 and over, and people with compromised immune systems sometimes have worse cases of salmonella, although most people will recover without treatment in one case a week or less.

With many people recovering quickly and not being tested for salmonella, it was likely that the actual number of cases caused by the outbreak was much higher than the number of reported cases, according to the CDC.

About 1.35 million cases of salmonella are reported in the US each year. Of these, about 26,500 will have to be hospitalized and 420 will die, according to the CDC

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Biden speaks on U.S. vaccination plan after CDC chief points dire warning

Biden speaks on U.S. vaccination plan after CDC chief issues dire warning

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President Joe Biden made a comment on Monday on the government’s Covid-19 measures and vaccination efforts across the country.

Biden’s remarks come just hours after the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky had given reporters a grim warning. She said she was concerned that the US was facing “impending doom” as daily Covid-19 cases rise again and threaten to send more people to hospital even as vaccinations increase across the country.

U.S. health officials are urging Americans to get vaccinated as soon as possible while following pandemic safety measures.

A CDC study of health care workers and other key workers published Monday found that Pfizer and Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccines were 80% effective against coronavirus infections two weeks after a single dose. Two doses were better than one, with vaccines effectiveness increasing to 90% two weeks after the second dose, the agency found.

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Totally Vaccinated Individuals Can Journey With Low Threat, C.D.C. Says

Fully Vaccinated Americans Can Travel With Low Risk, C.D.C. Says

Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can travel safely domestically and abroad as long as they take basic precautions like wearing masks, federal health officials announced on Friday, a long-awaited change from the government’s dire warnings who have kept many millions at home for the past year.

Announcing the change at a press conference at the White House, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized their preference for people not to travel. However, growing evidence of the effectiveness of vaccines given to more than 100 million Americans suggested that vaccinated people could do so “at little risk to themselves.”

The change in the official stance of the CDC comes at a moment of hope and danger in the pandemic. The pace of vaccination has accelerated rapidly across the country and the number of deaths has decreased.

However, in many states, cases are increasing significantly as new variants of the coronavirus spread across the country. Only last Monday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the CDC director, facing a possible fourth wave if states and cities continue to ease public health restrictions, telling reporters that she feels “impending doom”.

Some public health experts were surprised by the announcement on Friday and expressed concern that the government is sending confusing signals to the public.

“It’s a mixture of ‘please don’t travel’ and at the same time it makes it easier for a subset of people to travel,” said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. “I think it’s very confusing and contradicts the message we heard earlier this week: ‘stay seated’, ‘wait’, ‘be patient’. And that worries me. Public health messaging has to be very clear, very consistent, and very simple. “

Dr. Walensky himself appeared to acknowledge the apparent mixed message during Friday’s press conference. “Science shows us that full vaccination allows you to do more things safely, and it is important that we include this guide on rising cases as well, ”she said.

The travel industry welcomed the new guidelines in the hope that it could mark the beginning of a turnaround for airlines, hotels and destinations that have been suffering increasing losses for more than a year.

“When travel comes back, US jobs come back,” Roger Dow, executive director of the US Travel Association, an industry group, said in a statement.

Federal officials insisted that people who were not fully vaccinated should not travel at all, a position widely supported by public health experts.

Updated

April 1, 2021, 11:02 p.m. ET

“If you are fully vaccinated you can travel again. If not, there is still a lot of virus circulating and it is still a risky endeavor. You should defer until you are vaccinated or the situation improves,” said Caitlin Rivers, epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

If unvaccinated people need to travel, the CDC recommends testing them for coronavirus infections one to three days before they travel and again three to five days after they travel. They should quarantine themselves for seven days if they are tested and ten days if they are not tested after a trip, the agency said.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two weeks after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna shot. Around 58 million people in the US, 22 percent of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures from the CDC

Scientists are still not sure whether vaccinated people can even briefly get infected and spread the virus to others. A recent CDC study suggested that such cases might be rare, but until that issue is resolved, many public health officials feel it is unwise to tell vaccinated Americans to just do what they want. They say it is important that all people vaccinated continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, and take other precautions.

Under new CDC guidelines, fully vaccinated Americans traveling domestically are not required to be tested for the coronavirus or follow quarantine procedures at destination or upon their return. When traveling abroad, they only need to have a coronavirus test or quarantine if the country they are traveling to requires.

However, the guidelines state that they must have a negative coronavirus test before returning to the United States and that they should be retested three to five days after they return.

The recommendation is based on the idea that vaccinated people can still be infected with the virus. The CDC also noted the lack of vaccine supplies in other countries and concerns about the possible introduction and spread of new variants of the virus, which are more common overseas.

Most states have shortened their deadlines for opening vaccinations to all adults as the pace of vaccination has increased across the country. As of Friday, an average of nearly three million shots a day were being administered, according to the CDC

The new advice complements the CDC recommendations issued in early March that fully vaccinated individuals can gather in small groups in private settings without masks or social distancing and visit unvaccinated individuals from a single household as long as they are at low risk of developing serious illness if with infected by the virus.

Travel has already increased nationwide as the weather warms and Americans tire of pandemic restrictions. Last Sunday was the busiest day at domestic airports since the pandemic began. According to the Transportation Security Administration, nearly 1.6 million people passed security checks at American airports.

But industry concerns are far from over. The pandemic has also shown companies large and small that their employees can often work remotely as productively as in face-to-face meetings. As a result, the aviation and hospitality industries expect it will be years before lucrative business travel bounces back to pre-epidemic levels and leaves a gaping hole in revenue.

And while vacation travel in the US may be steadily recovering, airlines expect it to take until 2023 or 2024 for passenger traffic to hit 2019 levels, according to Airlines for America, an industry group. The industry lost more than $ 35 billion in the past year and continues to lose tens of millions of dollars every day, the group said.

Many countries, including those in the European Union, are still preventing most Americans from coming. Some are starting to make exceptions for those who are vaccinated. Starting March 26, Americans who can show proof of vaccination will be able to visit Iceland and avoid restrictions like testing and quarantine, according to the country’s government

The CDC also issued more detailed technical instructions for cruise lines on Thursday, urging them to take action to develop vaccination strategies and make plans for routine crew tests and daily reporting of Covid-19 cases before simulating test runs of You can travel with volunteers before accepting real passengers. The CDC guidelines recognize that cruises “always present some risk of spreading Covid-19”.

Some destinations and cruise lines already require travelers to be fully vaccinated. The Royal Caribbean cruise line requires passengers and crew 18+ to be vaccinated to board their ships, as do Virgin Voyages, Crystal Cruises, and others.

Currently, airlines do not require vaccinations to travel. But the idea has been talked about a lot in the industry.

Niraj Chokshi contributed to the coverage.

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CDC director says U.Ok. pressure changing into the predominant pressure in elements of U.S.

CDC director says U.K. strain becoming the predominant strain in parts of U.S.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks to the press after visiting the FEMA mass vaccination center at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts on March 30, 2021.

Erin Clark | Pool | Getty Images

The highly contagious variant of coronavirus, first identified in the UK, is becoming the predominant strain in many regions of the United States, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.

The variant known as B.1.1.7 now accounts for 26% of the nationwide spread of Covid-19 cases, said CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky reporters during a White House press conference on the pandemic. It’s the predominant variety in at least five regions, she added.

The UK identified B.1.1.7 last fall, which appears to be more deadly and spreads more easily than other strains. Since then, it has spread to other parts of the world, including the US, which on Tuesday identified 11,569 cases in 51 jurisdictions, according to the CDC.

Florida has the most confirmed cases of the new variant, according to a map from the CDC data, closely followed by Michigan, Wisconsin and California. Public health officials say they are working as soon as possible to identify more cases.

Walensky said on Wednesday that she expected further infections in the United States due to the portability of variant B.1.1.7. She urged the public to continue pandemic security measures such as hand washing, wearing masks and social distancing.

Walensky’s comments come two days after she issued a terrible warning to reporters. She said Monday that she feared the nation was facing “impending doom” as variants spread and daily Covid-19 cases rise again, threatening to send more people to the hospital.

“I’m going to pause here, I’m going to lose the script, and I’m going to think about the recurring feeling I have of impending doom,” Walensky said. “We can look forward to so much, so much promise and potential where we are and so much reason to hope, but right now I’m scared.”

According to the Johns Hopkins University, an average of more than 63,000 new Covid-19 cases per day have been reported in the U.S. That number is up 16% over a week.

The Chief Medical Officer of the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the recent surge in cases is not only being caused by new varieties of the virus, but that travel and the relaxation of business restrictions are also a factor in the increase in infections.

“This is a critical moment in our fight against the pandemic,” Walensky said on Wednesday. “We cannot afford to let go of our watch.”

– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.

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The C.D.C. and N.I.H. launch a fast, at-home testing initiative in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The C.D.C. and N.I.H. launch a rapid, at-home testing initiative in Tennessee and North Carolina.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health announced a new initiative on Wednesday to see if the frequent and widespread use of rapid coronavirus tests is slowing the spread of the virus.

The program will provide free antigen testing at home to everyone in two communities, Pitt County, NC, and Hamilton County, Tennessee, for free, bringing a total of 160,000 people to test for the coronavirus three times a week for a while a month.

“This is exactly what I and others have been calling for almost a year – widespread, accessible, rapid testing to contain transmission,” said Michael Mina, Harvard University epidemiologist who advocated rapid rapid testing at home programs.

He added, “It’s something anyone can do if they take 30 seconds out of the day three times a week to do the test.”

Antigen tests are cheaper and faster than PCR tests, which are the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. However, they are less sensitive and more prone to false negative results. Mathematical models have shown that if these tests are used frequently, they can still reduce the transmission of the virus.

The tests can help identify people who may not realize they are infectious and cause them to self-isolate before they can transmit the virus to others. Real world data is limited, however, and with virus cases still high across the country, testing is still essential, according to public health experts.

“We have all hypothesized that large-scale home testing could stop the chain of transmission of the virus and allow communities to discover many more cases,” said Bruce Tromberg, who heads the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and its rapid acceleration directs the diagnostic program that provides the tests for the initiative. “All mathematical models predict that. But this is an example from the real world, real life. “

Residents who choose to participate in the program can have the tests brought to their home or collect them from local distribution locations. An online tool guides participants through the testing process and helps them interpret their results. Residents can also volunteer to take surveys to see if frequent tests have changed their behavior, knowledge of Covid-19, or their minds about vaccination.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina and Duke University will compare the positivity, case, and hospitalization rates in these two communities with those in other similar communities that are not in the program.

A. David Paltiel, Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Yale School of Public Health, described the start of a real-world study of the effectiveness of rapid home screening as “simply good news.” However, he cautioned that the results need to be interpreted carefully, especially if residents who choose to participate in the initiative are not representative of the entire community.

“We know that self-selection tends to bring out the concerned and a disproportionate number of people who are already Covid-aware or Covid-conscientious,” he said.

“It will be great to see how it works when it’s in the hands of people who really care,” he added. However, he said the results may not be broadly applicable to screening programs that require participation, as may be the case with some workplace and school programs.

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Covid was third main reason for dying in U.S. in 2020, behind coronary heart illness and most cancers, CDC says

Covid was third leading cause of death in U.S. in 2020, behind heart disease and cancer, CDC says

The body of a deceased patient is considered a health care worker treating individuals infected with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on December 30, 2020 at the United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, United States.

Callaghan O’Hare | Reuters

Coronavirus was the third leading cause of death in the United States in 2020, after heart disease and cancer, according to a new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 3.3 million deaths were reported in the US last year, up 16% from 2019. This is according to early data released Wednesday by the National Vital Statistics System, which provides annual mortality statistics based on death certificates investigates and reports.

The deadliest weeks of last year were at the start of the pandemic and then in the middle of the holiday flood in the weeks leading up to April 11, with 78,917 deaths, and December 26, when 80,656 people died, the CDC found.

According to the study published on Wednesday, Covid-19 was listed as the root cause of 345,323 deaths. More Americans died in the process than accidental injuries, strokes, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, and kidney disease.

Only heart disease and cancer killed more people than Covid-19 in the US in 2020 – heart disease killed 690,882 people and cancer killed 598,932.

Covid-19 replaced suicide in the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, the study found. Overall, the annual death rate rose nearly 16% year over year in 2020, the first time since 2017, according to the CDC.

The highest annual death rates were reported among men, people age 85 and over, and people who are not Hispanic Black and Native American and Alaskan native, according to the CDC.

However, if you just look at Covid-19, Hispanic and Native American and Alaskan Native Americans, as well as those aged 85 and over, were more likely to die of the disease compared to any other group. Men died more often from Covid-19 than women.

CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said after the study was published the results should “act as a catalyst” for Americans to reduce the spread of the virus and get vaccinated when it is their turn to get vaccinated.

“I know this is not easy and so many of us are frustrated with the disruption this pandemic has had in our daily lives, but we can do this as a nation that works together,” Walensky said during a White House press conference Covid-19

The agency’s first results were released months ahead of schedule as “freshness has improved and there is an urgent need for updated quality data during the global COVID-19 pandemic,” the researchers wrote.

Typically, it takes researchers 11 months after the end of the calendar year to “investigate specific causes of death and process and review data”. The daily Covid deaths reported by the CDC, while current, may underestimate the actual number of deaths due to “incomplete or late reports”.

“Preliminary death estimates provide an early indication of shifts in mortality trends and can guide public health policies and actions aimed at reducing the number of deaths directly or indirectly linked to the COVID-19 pandemic “write the researchers.

Some have tried to sow doubts about the real number of Covid-19 deaths, claiming they may have been overstated. However, in a separate CDC study released Wednesday, the agency found that the death certificates accurately reflected the number of reported coronavirus deaths.

The agency checked death certificates listing Covid-19 and at least one other concurrent illness. The CDC found that Covid-19 was reported in 97% of deaths alongside another condition that the virus might have caused, such as pneumonia or respiratory failure, or that contributed significantly to its severity, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

A small fraction of them – 2.5% of the certificates – documented conditions not currently associated with Covid-19, the CDC noted.

“These results support the accuracy of COVID-19 mortality monitoring in the US using official death certificates,” the researchers said.

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Biden Pushes Masks Mandate as C.D.C. Director Warns of ‘Impending Doom’

Biden Pushes Mask Mandate as C.D.C. Director Warns of ‘Impending Doom’

WASHINGTON – President Biden, facing an increase in coronavirus cases across the country, on Monday urged governors and mayors to reinstate mask mandates as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is facing “imminent doom” pandemic warned of a possible fourth surge in the US.

The president’s comments came just hours after the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who appeared to be fighting tears when she urged Americans to “hold out a little longer,” and continue to follow public health advice such as wearing masks and social distancing curbing the spread of the virus.

The successive appeals reflected a growing sense of urgency among White House senior officials and government academics that the chance to overcome the pandemic now in its second year may be missing. Coronavirus infections and hospital stays are on an upswing, including a worrying spike in the northeast, although the pace of vaccinations is accelerating.

“Please, this is not a policy – reinstate the mandate,” said Biden, adding, “Failure to take this virus seriously is what got us into this mess in the first place.”

According to a New York Times database, the seven-day average of new virus cases on Sunday was 63,000, a level comparable to the late October average. That was an increase of more than 16 percent compared to 54,000 a day two weeks earlier. Similar upward moves in Europe have seen the spread of Covid-19 rise sharply, said Dr. Walensky.

Public health experts say the nation is in a race between the vaccination campaign and new, worrying variants of coronavirus. Although more than one in three American adults has received at least one shot and nearly a fifth are fully vaccinated, the nation is a long way from achieving what is known as herd immunity – the tipping point at which a virus slowly spreads because of so many people who estimated at 70 to 90 percent of the population are immune to it.

But states are rapidly expanding access to more abundant amounts of the vaccine. As of Monday, at least six people – Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, and Oklahoma – all approved for a vaccination. New York said all adults would be eligible starting April 6th.

Mr Biden said Monday that the government is taking steps to expand eligibility and access to vaccines, including opening a dozen new mass vaccination centers. He directed his coronavirus response team to ensure that 90 percent of Americans are no more than five miles from a vaccination site by April 19.

The president said the doses are now so high that nine out of ten adults in the nation – or more – will be eligible for a shot by that date. He had previously asked states to extend eligibility to all adults by May 1. He reversed that promise because states, buoyed by the projected increase in broadcasts, are opening their vaccination programs faster than expected, a White House official said.

But it was Dr. Walensky’s raw portrayal of emotions that seemed to capture the fear of the moment. Less than three months into her new job, the former Harvard Medical School professor and infectious disease specialist admitted that she deviated from her prepared script during the White House’s regular coronavirus briefing for reporters.

She described “a feeling of nausea” she experienced last year when she saw the bodies of Covid-19 victims littered from the morgue while caring for patients at Massachusetts General Hospital. She remembered being the last to stand in a hospital room before a patient died alone and without a family.

“I would ask you to hold on a little longer to get the vaccine if you can, so that all of the people we all love will stay here when this pandemic ends,” said Dr. Walensky. The nation has “so much reason to be hopeful,” she added.

“But right now,” she said, “I’m scared.”

Virus cases in nine states have increased more than 40 percent in the past two weeks, the Times database shows. Michigan led the way with a 133 percent increase, and there was also a significant spike in virus cases in the northeast. Connecticut was up 62 percent in the past two weeks, and New York and Pennsylvania were up more than 40 percent.

Updated

March 29, 2021, 10:27 p.m. ET

Michigan’s surge was not due to an event, but epidemiologists have noted cases increased after the state eased indoor eating restrictions on February 1 and lifted other restrictions in January. Other trouble spots were North Dakota, where cases have increased nearly 60 percent, and Minnesota, where cases have increased 47 percent. Of these states, North Dakota is the only one that does not currently have a mask mandate.

The wave of new cases comes along with some promising news: A CDC report released on Monday confirmed the results of last year’s clinical trials that vaccines against Covid-19 developed by Moderna and Pfizer were highly effective. The report documented that the vaccines prevent both symptomatic and asymptomatic infections “in real life”.

The researchers tracked nearly 4,000 health care workers and key employees as of December. They found 161 infections in the unvaccinated workers, but only three in those who received two doses of the vaccine. The study found that even a single dose two weeks after administration was 80 percent effective against infections. Studies continue to investigate whether people who have been vaccinated can still pass the virus on to others, although many scientists believe it is unlikely.

The vaccination rate continues to increase. The seven-day average of vaccines administered hit 2.76 million on Monday, an increase from the pace of the previous week. This is based on data reported by the CDC alone. Almost 3.3 million people were vaccinated on Sunday alone, said Andy Slavitt, a senior White House pandemic adviser.

Broader authorization pools should further strengthen this. At least three dozen states now allow all adults to register for admissions by mid-April.

Minnesota is open to all adults on Tuesday and Connecticut is open on Thursday. Florida lowered the age of eligibility to 40 years, and Indiana lowered it to 30 years.

At the same time, the waves of Covid have made health authorities increasingly nervous in some states. Similar escalations a few weeks ago in Germany, France and Italy have now turned into major outbreaks, said Dr. Walensky.

“We know travel is on the rise and I’m just worried that we’ll see the waves that we saw again in summer and winter,” she said.

As his presidency enters the third month, Mr Biden is still waging some battles started by his predecessor who turned the wearing of masks into a political statement. Once Mr. Biden took office, he used his executive powers to impose masking requirements where he could – on federal properties. And he urged all Americans to “mask” themselves for 100 days.

However, some governors, especially in more conservative states, ignored him. When the governors of Mississippi and Texas announced this month that they would be lifting their mask mandates, Mr. Biden denounced the plans as a “big mistake” reflecting “Neanderthal thinking”.

In Texas, a recent decline in cases may be reversed. Although the Times database shows that coronavirus infections have decreased 17 percent, deaths decreased 34 percent, and hospital admissions decreased 25 percent in the past two weeks, the seven-day average of newly reported coronavirus infections rose on Sunday at 3,774. Last Wednesday, the average number of cases was 3,401.

“There’s something particularly difficult about this moment,” said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a former senior official in the Food and Drug Administration who now teaches at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. With more Americans vaccinated and the potential to end the pandemic in sight, he said, “It seems like any case is unnecessary.”

Dr. Walensky, who has issued multiple warnings in the past few weeks of the need to maintain mask wear and social distancing, said she plans to speak to governors on Tuesday about the risks of early lifting of restrictions.

“I know you all want so badly to be done,” she said. “We’re almost there, but not quite there yet.”

Eileen Sullivan contributed to the coverage.