R&I – FS
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday that she’s worried the US could see “another avoidable surge” of Covid-19 if mitigation measures — such as mask-wearing, physical distancing and avoiding crowds or travel — are not followed.
“As I’ve stated before, the continued relaxation of prevention measures while cases are still high and while concerning variants are spreading rapidly throughout the United States is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation,” Walensky said at a White House briefing.
“Increasingly, states are seeing a growing proportion of their Covid-19 cases attributed to variants,” Walensky said. She said two newly identified variants — B.1427 and B.1429 — are estimated to account for 52% of cases in California, 41% in Nevada and 25% in Arizona.
The B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in the United Kingdom, is estimated to be responsible for 9% of cases in New Jersey and 8% in Florida, Walensky said.
“We must act now, and I am worried that if we don’t take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge — just as we are seeing in Europe right now and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccination.”
She said the Biden administration is encouraging governors, as well as the private sector, to maintain or reimpose coronavirus restrictions.
RandyMarsh
Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html