Record Number of COVID Cases, Deaths in U.S.

By Ernie Mundell and Robin Foster HealthDay Reporters

FRIDAY, Jan. 8, 2021

A record-shattering variety of coronavirus infections and deaths had been reported Thursday within the United States, as well being officers fretted a few new, extra contagious variant that has now been detected in eight states.

The grim statistics? At least 280,000 new instances and greater than 4,000 deaths on Thursday, in keeping with The New York Times.

There was a glimmer of excellent information, nonetheless: Pfizer Inc. introduced Thursday that early testing reveals its vaccine does nonetheless work in opposition to the extra infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 first present in Britain and South Africa, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel mentioned Thursday that his firm was about to verify that its vaccine would additionally work in opposition to the brand new variants, Reuters mentioned.

Pfizer and scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch have simply accomplished a examine that’s awaiting peer assessment that confirmed the vaccine neutralized the virus with the N501Y mutation of the coronavirus spike protein, the information service reported. The findings are restricted, as a result of they did not take a look at the complete set of mutations present in both of the brand new variants, the Washington Post reported.

With the U.S. vaccine rollout affected by delays, Dr. Anthony Fauci urged Americans to be affected person on Thursday. In an interview with NPR, he mentioned that any program as formidable because the vaccine rollout would probably falter at sure factors and the vacations could have made issues worse, he mentioned.

“I think it would be fair to just observe what happens in the next couple of weeks,” Fauci mentioned. “If we don’t catch up on what the original goal was, then we really need to make some changes about what we’re doing.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, additionally mentioned it was not stunning that the vaccine drive had gotten off to a “rocky” begin.

“That’s a lot of logistics,” he advised the Post. “So maybe we shouldn’t be too shocked that it didn’t go like clockwork.”

Luckily, vaccinations are starting to hurry up, the Times reported.

In the third week of the drive, extra individuals acquired their preliminary photographs than within the first two weeks mixed. The authorities rely rose by 470,000 from Tuesday to Wednesday, after which by one other 612,000 from Wednesday to Thursday, the Times reported.

More infectious COVID variant now seen in eight states

The extra contagious coronavirus variant that has introduced Britain to its knees in current weeks is displaying indicators that it’s spreading extensively all through the United States, well being officers and consultants mentioned this week.

Texas, Pennsylvania and Connecticut joined California, Florida, New York, Georgia and Colorado on Thursday with reviews of variant instances. There are actually not less than 56 confirmed instances within the nation, with 26 reported in California and 22 reported in Florida, in keeping with the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.

“I would be surprised if that [number] doesn’t grow pretty rapidly,” Collins advised the Post on Wednesday.

An official from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed.

“Here at the CDC, we’re definitely taking this seriously, and we’re assuming for now that this variant is more transmissible,” mentioned Greg Armstrong, the chief of the CDC’s pressure surveillance program. The British variant “is probably not in every state at this point, but I think in a lot of states.”

Armstrong advised the Post that the CDC hopes to greater than double the variety of genomic sequences of the virus posted on public web sites inside the subsequent two weeks.

“We’re not sequencing enough yet, and we need to continue to build what we’re doing,” Armstrong mentioned.

While the variant reveals no indicators of being extra lethal than the unique model of the virus, it might ship extra individuals into hospitals, up the variety of COVID-19 deaths, and lengthen the hassle to succeed in herd immunity on this nation, the Post reported.

Herd immunity can be reached when the virus encounters sufficient individuals with immunity that it dies out. Unfortunately, the proportion of people that should be immune for a inhabitants to attain herd immunity is increased for extra infectious pathogens.

“We are in a race against time,” mentioned Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore. “We need to increase our speed in which we act so that we don’t allow this virus to spread further and allow this variant to become the dominant one in circulation. The clock is ticking.”

In addition to the herd immunity subject, any variants might restrict the ability of antibody therapies as a result of these therapies are so narrowly targeted.

The must vaccinate as many individuals as attainable as rapidly as attainable has turn into extra pressing, and a few scientists have argued that reducing doses in half or delaying the second dose is likely to be crucial to succeed in that purpose. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration final week mentioned it will stick to the two-shot dose backed by randomized medical trials.

“The data are really concerning. All signs right now are pointing to the fact that this [the new variant] is something we should be worried about,” Mary Kathryn Grabowski, an infectious illness epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, advised the Post. Even a seemingly modest enhance in transmissibility, she mentioned, “can mean huge, huge numbers of cases.”

A world scourge

By Friday, the U.S. coronavirus case rely handed 21.6 million whereas the loss of life toll handed 365,400, in keeping with a Times tally. On Friday, the highest 5 states for coronavirus infections had been: California with practically 2.6 million instances; Texas with over 1.9 million instances; Florida with over 1.4 million instances; New York with over 1 million instances; and Illinois with greater than 1 million instances.

Curbing the unfold of the coronavirus in the remainder of the world stays difficult.

In India, the coronavirus case rely was greater than 10.4 million on Friday, a Johns Hopkins University tally confirmed. Brazil had over 7.9 million instances and over 200,000 deaths as of Friday, the Hopkins tally confirmed.

Worldwide, the variety of reported infections handed 88.1 million on Friday, with over 1.9 million deaths recorded, in keeping with the Hopkins tally.

More data

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extra on the brand new coronavirus.

SOURCES: Washington Post; New York Times

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