Patrons Sari and Peter Melendez enjoy lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen, the famous charcuterie founded in 1888, on the first day of their return to the inner dining room of New York City, during the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), in New York, February 12th. , 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Reduced mask mandates and reopening restaurants have led to an increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths, according to a new CDC study that comes as the agency urges states not to aggressively lift health restrictions .
According to the study, which examined county data between last March and December, mask mandates implemented by local governments were able to curb the spread of the virus from 20 days after its implementation.
“Allowing meals from local restaurants was associated with an increase in daily growth rates of COVID-19 cases 41-100 days after implementation and an increase in daily growth rates of deaths between 61 and 100 days after implementation, ”wrote researchers from Disease Control and Prevention. “Mask warrants and restricting any local food to restaurants can help limit community transmission of COVID-19 and reduce case and death growth rates.”
The study found that mask requirements were associated with a decrease of more than one percentage point in the daily growth rate of Covid-19 cases and deaths 20 days after implementation. Food in restaurants was associated with an increase of 0.9, 1.2 and 1.1 percentage points in the growth rate of cases between 41 and 60, 61 to 80 and 81 to 100 days, respectively, after remove restrictions, according to the study.
The researchers added that these measures will be important to prevent highly transmissible coronavirus variants from spreading non-stop, which could cause more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, medical experts have warned.
“This report is a critical reminder that with current levels of Covid-19 in communities and the continued spread of more transmissible virus variants, which have now been detected in 48 states, the prevention measures followed strictly remain essential to put an end to this pandemic, “CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a Covid-19 White House press conference on Friday.
“It also serves as a warning to lift these preventive measures prematurely,” Walensky said.
Senior US health officials have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that the emergence of new variants, especially the strain first identified in the UK, known as B.1.1.7, aims to reverse the success of the nation that slowed the outbreak.
The U.S. reports a daily average of approximately 62,950 new cases over the past week, a significant drop compared to the peak of about 250,000 daily cases the U.S. reported in January, according to a compiled CNBC data analysis by Johns Hopkins University.
The decline in cases has lost strength, however, a worrying trend that has left infections at an alarmingly high level that could pick up if variants are allowed, warn top health officials.
“There’s a light at the end of this tunnel, but we have to be prepared so that the path we can follow is not smooth,” Walensky said.
Some states have made progress with reopening their economies anyway, despite requests from the Biden administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, for local leaders to wait a few more weeks until the cases show signs of falling again and more vaccines are administered.
“I don’t know why they do it, but certainly from a public health standpoint, it’s unadvisable,” Fauci told CNN on Wednesday when asked about states lifting their Covid restrictions. The scene is reminiscent of last summer when states began lifting restrictions too soon, followed by an increase in cases across the American solar belt.
“What we don’t need right now is another climb,” Fauci said.
Texas, Mississippi and Connecticut moved this week to allow companies to resume full-fledged operations in their states. Both Texas and Mississippi also decided to lift their mask mandates statewide, although state governors said residents should continue to cover their faces.
On Thursday, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey announced he would lift his state’s mask mandate beginning April 9, saying that while it was right, he respected those “who oppose and believe that that was a step too far in the government’s reach. “