The Delta variant is causing an increase in the coronavirus pandemic in the United States as it begins on Labor Day weekend, with new daily cases four times higher than a year ago despite rising vaccination rates.
On Friday, the national seven-day average of new daily cases was nearly 163,000, up more than 300 percent from Labor Day weekend 2020, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of Johns Hopkins data.
Hospitalizations also doubled and deaths increased by 80% over the last Labor Day. The figures came despite the fact that 62% of the total population of the United States has now received at least one shot of the COVID-19 vaccine. Fifty-three percent of the population is completely vaccinated, according to the CDC.
Vaccination appears to be reducing deaths among the most vulnerable, but deaths and hospitalizations are increasing at a slower rate than general cases.
All three measures remain well below their U.S. peak in early January, and there are indications that the latest wave could be rising, with the CDC estimating that more than 80 percent of the population now has immunity already. who recovers from the infection or is vaccinated.
However, just as Delta shows signs of exhaustion, the relative Mu variant has established a foothold in Los Angeles as well as Miami.
The Delta variant is causing an increase in the coronavirus pandemic in the US as Labor Day weekend begins. At the top, a doctor on Wednesday checks a Covid patient inside the ICU at Adventist Health Glendale, near Los Angeles
The Mu variant was first identified in Colombia and scientists still know little about it, but the variant shows mutations that make experts fear it may elude natural immunity and vaccines.
Mu, also known as B.1.621, “has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential immune leakage properties,” according to a pandemic bulletin published by the WHO.
Its name comes from the Greek alphabet, which scientists now use to name new variants as they emerge, including Delta.
On Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health first confirmed that it had tracked confirmed cases of the Mu variant in the area.
The department said it had identified 167 specimens of Mu variants in Los Angeles County between June 19 and Aug. 21, with most Mu specimens sequenced in July.
“Identifying variants like Mu and spreading variants around the world highlights the need for Los Angeles County residents to continue to take steps to protect themselves and others,” the health director said. Los Angeles County Public, Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health
“This is what makes vaccination and layer protection so important,” Ferrer added.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday that the United States is “closely monitoring” the Mu variant of COVID-19, but “it is not an immediate threat,” noting that Delta’s highly contagious variant now accounts for 99 percent. of US Cases.
“Yes, I’m sure we’re aware of the Mu variant.” We are watching it a lot, ‘said Fauci in an information session.
“This variant has a constellation of mutations that suggest it would evade certain antibodies, not just monoclonal antibodies, but vaccine and convalescent-induced serum antibodies,” Fauci said.
But there is not much clinical data to suggest this. This is mainly in vitro laboratory data. Not to downplay it, we take it very seriously.
Chaplain Elias Molina works within the ICU at Adventist Health Glendale Wednesday in Southern California. At present, the hospital has 65 Covid patients in its 515-bed hospital. Most covid patients are not vaccinated
The Mu variant is also confirmed in Miami. Doctors transport a patient on a stretcher from an outpatient ambulance to Coral Gables Hospital, where coronavirus patients are being treated near Miami last month
Confirmed cases of the Mu variant in Florida, which is in the making of its deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the pandemic began, have also been traced.
Although the Delta variant is driving the current deadly wave in Florida, a cluster of Mu variants was previously discovered in the Miami area.
Florida already accounts for about one-fifth of new coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S.
By mid-August, the state was averaging 244 deaths per day, up from just 23 a day in late June and eclipsing the previous high of 227 during the summer of 2020.
Due to the way deaths are recorded in Florida and delays in reporting, the most recent data on fatalities per day are incomplete.
Florida hospitals have had to rent refrigerated trucks to store more bodies. Funeral homes have been overflowing.
Cristina Miles, a mother of five children from Orange Park, is among those facing more than one loss at a time. Her husband died after contracting COVID-19 and, less than two weeks later, her mother-in-law succumbed to the virus.
“I think we’re all in a weird dream state,” she said, adding that her children are in different mourning, with a closure, another feeling inspired to go through a tough swimming test and the biggest thing the his life as usual. .
Hospitals have been flooded with patients who, like Miles ’husband and mother-in-law, had not been vaccinated.
On a positive note, the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 in Florida has dropped in the past two weeks, from more than 17,000 to 14,200 on Friday, indicating that the rise is slowing.
Florida made an aggressive effort at first to vaccinate its seniors. But Dr. Kartik Cherabuddi, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Florida, said the gross number of people who have not yet gotten the vaccine is large, given Florida’s large population of 4.6 million.
“Even 10 percent is still a very large number, and then the people who live with them who come in contact with them are not vaccinated,” Cherabuddi said. “With Delta, things spread very quickly.”
Cherabuddi said there is also a “huge difference” in attitudes toward masks in Florida this summer compared to last year. This summer, “if you were traveling around the state, it was like we weren’t really in the middle of a wave,” he said.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has strongly opposed certain mandatory measures to keep the virus under control, saying people should be trusted to make decisions for themselves.
He has also stated that the rise in cases is seasonal, as Floridians spend more time indoors to escape the heat.
Residents protest before Lake County School Board begins emergency meeting to discuss mask warrants on Thursday to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Tavares, Florida, Thursday
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has banned masks and vaccine warrants, but some local districts are rebelling. At the top, residents hold banners at an emergency meeting of Lake County School Board on Wednesday
On Friday, in an impromptu session with reporters aboard Air Force One, a White House spokeswoman said President Joe Biden planned to address the nation next week about his administration’s response to the pandemic.
“We are finalizing these details and we will have more to share in the coming days,” said Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Biden hopes to launch a campaign to administer 100 million vaccine-boosting vaccines by Sept. 20, but the plan has not yet been approved by Food and Drug Administration regulators, who are reportedly furious at the White House for having announced the plan before FDA approval.
If it progresses, the White House reinforcement plan will likely begin only with the vaccine made by Pfizer.
Biden had hoped to offer Moderna as well, but the vaccine maker seems to have lagged behind in asking for permission for an additional dose.
Biden-designated health experts are expected to recommend that everyone get the Pfizer booster shot eight months after the initial dose, regardless of the vaccine they first received.
“It’s time to prepare Americans for a booster shot,” Dr. Jeff Zients, Tsar of Biden COVID, in a briefing on Tuesday.