The new album is great news, but it comes at a difficult time in the pandemic for the United States.
In the past seven days, the United States has reported an average of more than 68,000 new cases of Covid-19 daily, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. This has risen more than 20% since the March 10 seven-day average.
“On the one hand, we have so many reasons for optimism and hope, and more Americans are being vaccinated,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, said during a briefing Friday on Covid’s White House. -19. “On the other hand, cases and emergency room visits have increased. And … we are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated.”
Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 have seen an increasing number of visits to emergency services, he added.
And trends are “magnifying” in one part of the country, he said: the West Midwest.
“CDC is working closely with public health officials in this region to understand what is driving these cases and how we can intervene.”
“A race of life and death”
“This B.1.1.7 variant … is more contagious and I think there’s only fatigue from this pandemic, so a lot of people don’t wear masks or have social distance, so we’ve basically taken a step back to Michigan.” , Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital’s Vaccine Education Center, told CNN on Saturday.
“It’s really frustrating, because we’re almost there,” he said. “We have to stay there for the next two months and we don’t.”
Amid the growing numbers, some Michigan hospitals are delaying and rescheduling non-emergency procedures “on a case-by-case basis,” a Michigan Health & Hospital Association spokesman said.
“Hospitals want everyone to have the care they need and only reschedule procedures as a last resort,” John Karasinski said Saturday. “We want to stress that hospitals are safe for everyone who needs care and that any individual with an emergency medical need should seek care immediately.”
Not only does Michigan report alarming trends.
In both Michigan and Minnesota, “there is concern about broadcasting in youth sports, both in club sports and in school-affiliated sports,” Walensky said Friday.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday that the number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions is rising.
“Now we’re going in the wrong direction,” he said. “More than half of our counties, 53, have seen it increase.”
“We can still turn it around if more people continue to be vaccinated,” the governor added. “This is a race. We’re in a race. And it’s a life or death race.”
Health Officer: Do these two things
This means that tens of millions of Americans are not yet vaccinated and remain vulnerable to the virus.
Thus, as the country works to increase the number of vaccines and reach the levels needed to control the spread, experts say Americans should stay alert and continue to take precautions.
“To end this pandemic, this is what we need to do,” Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy at the White House briefing. “We need to strengthen ourselves and help protect each other. That’s why today I’m asking everyone to do two things: one, get vaccinated as soon as you can. And two, help the people you care about. to be vaccinated as well. ”
In an interview published last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci told Business Insider that while he is completely vaccinated against Covid-19, he will not yet go to a restaurant or movie theater.
“I don’t think even if I’m vaccinated, I would go to a place full of people and where people don’t wear masks,” Fauci said.
CNN’s Amanda Sealy, Sarah Boxer, Ben Tinker, Polo Sandoval and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.