A U.S. Army soldier from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, immunizes Jacklina Méndez with the COVID-19 vaccine on the north campus of Miami Dade College on March 9, 2021 in North Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
While the pace of vaccinations is accelerating in the U.S., Covid-19 cases are rising in 21 states and highly infectious variants are spreading as rulers relax restrictions on companies such as restaurants, bars and gyms.
Public health officials warn that while approximately 2.5 million people nationwide are being shot every day, infection levels have stagnated this month and some states have been unable to reduce the number of cases daily.
According to a CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, the 7-day moving average of new infections reached 54,666 on Friday after declining for weeks.
More than 541,000 people in the U.S. have died from the disease.
The White House Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Anthony Fauci, warned on Friday during a briefing that the country should not declare victory until the level of infection is “much, much lower.” The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, has also urged states not to reopen too quickly and undermine the country’s progress against the pandemic.
Knyckolas Davis (L) and Matthew Bettencourt celebrate Davis ’35th birthday with friends at Rizzo’s Bar & Inn in Wrigleyville as coronavirus disease restrictions (COVID-19) relax in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on March 2021.
Eileen T. Meslar | Reuters
“The concern is that across the country there are several state, city and country regions that are withdrawing some of the mitigation methods we’ve been talking about: the withdrawal of mask mandates, the withdrawal of essentially not being implemented public health measures, “Fauci said in the briefing.
“So it’s unfortunate but I’m not surprised to see an increase in the number of cases a day in areas (cities, states or regions), even though vaccines are distributed in a good clip of 2 to 3 million a day,” Fauci added. “This could be overcome if some areas prematurely withdraw from the mitigation and public health measures we are all talking about.”
Infections increase in the following states: Alabama; Connecticut; Hawaii; Idaho; Illinois; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Montana; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; North Dakota; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Virginia; Washington; and West Virginia.
The highly contagious variant first identified in the UK probably accounts for up to 30% of covide infections in U.S. health officials that the variant could become dominant later this month or early April.
The variant is seen as the cause of the third wave of coronavirus in Europe. Several countries, including France and Italy, have imposed new blocking measures to mitigate the spread of the virus as cases increase.