WASHINGTON (AP) – Nearly half of new coronavirus infections nationwide are in just five states, a situation the federal government is pushing to consider changing the way vaccines are distributed by sending more doses to hot spots.
New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey together reported 44% of the nation’s new COVID-19 infections, or about 197,500 new cases, in the last seven days available, according to data from the state health agency compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The total number of infections in the U.S. during the same week was more than 452,000.
The strong concentration of new cases in states representing 22% of the U.S. population has led some elected experts and officials to ask President Joe Biden’s administration to send additional doses of vaccine to these sites. So far, the White House has shown no signs of changing its policy of dividing vaccine doses between states according to population.
Sending extra doses to places where the number of infections increases makes sense, said Dr. Elvin H. Geng, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington. But it is also complicated. States that control the virus more successfully could see fewer vaccines as a result.
“You wouldn’t want to wait for these people because they were getting better,” Geng said. “On the other hand, it only makes sense to send vaccines to where the cases increase.”
The increase in cases has been especially pronounced in Michigan, where the seven-day average of new infections daily reached 6,719 cases on Sunday, more than double the two weeks earlier. Only New York reported higher cases. And California and Texas, which have a much larger population than Michigan, report less than half the number of infections daily.
While Michigan has seen the highest rate of new infections in the past two weeks, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has said she doesn’t plan to tighten restrictions. He has blamed the rising pandemic fatigue virus, which is causing people to move more, as well as more contagious variants.
“Taking steps back would not solve the problem,” Whitmer said when the first shot was given Tuesday at Ford Field in Detroit, home of the NFL Lions. “What we need to do is put our foot on the vaccine pedal” and urge people to wear masks, maintain social distance and wash their hands.
Whitmer got the shot the next day as Michigan extended eligibility to everyone 16 years of age or older. Last week he asked the White House during a conference call with governors whether it has considered sending additional vaccines to states fighting virus rises. He was told that all options were on the table.
In New York City, vaccination appointments are still hard to come by. Mayor Bill de Blasio has publicly swept the federal government over the need for a larger distribution of vaccines almost daily, a saying he repeated when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
“We still need supply, supply, supply,” Blasio said, before adding, “But things are really getting better.”
Statewide, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has not publicly called for an increase in New York’s vaccine allocation, even as cases picked up in recent weeks and the number of people hospitalized hit a plateau.
In New Jersey, where the seven-day continuous average of new daily infections has risen in the past two weeks, from 4,050 daily cases to 4,250, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy said he is constantly talking to the White House about the demand for the coronavirus vaccine. , although he stopped saying he was pushing for more vaccines due to the state’s high infection rate.
Vaccine shipments to New Jersey rose 12 percent last week, Murphy said Monday, though he questioned whether that was enough.
“We look constantly, it’s okay, we know we’re going up, but we’re going up at the pace we should be, especially considering how many cases we have?” Murphy said.
New virus variants are clearly one of the drivers of the increase, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, president of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco. The lack of suppression of the increase in cases will cause more people to get sick and die, he said, and will increase the intensity in other parts of the country.
The message we bring home is that we don’t jump the gun. There is light at the end of the tunnel. There we all see it. And we will get there. Slow and steady.
–Dr. Elvin H. Geng, Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington
“There needs to be more vaccine where the virus is,” Bibbins-Domingo said, adding that people should overcome the “scarcity mentality” that makes them think that increasing the vaccine in one place will hurt. people from other places.
In Florida, relaxed safeguards during a stopped spring break season likely helped spread virus variants, said University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi. The seven-day average of new daily infections in the state has exceeded 5,400, an increase of 20% in the last two weeks.
While there appear to be many new infections among the younger ones, Salemi said he is concerned about Florida seniors. About 78% of residents age 65 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine, but about a million more have not yet received any vaccine.
“Apparently we have the supply,” Salemi said. “These people don’t plan to get vaccinated?”
The discussion of sending additional shots to some states comes at a time when the number of daily infections in the United States has dropped dramatically compared to a rise in January following the holiday season. However, the average seven-day daily infection has slowly increased since mid-March.
The five states with the most infections stand out. As of Tuesday, 31 U.S. states reported seven-day averages of less than 1,000 new cases daily.
White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday that more than 28 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be delivered to states this week. This allocation will bring the U.S. total to more than 90 million doses distributed over the past three weeks.
The news came when Biden announced that more than 150 million coronavirus shots have been administered since he took office and that all adults will be eligible to receive a vaccine on April 19th.
There needs to be more vaccine where the virus is found.
–Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, president of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California at San Francisco
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 40% of American adults have received at least one COVID-19 trait. About 23% of American adults have been completely vaccinated, including more than half of Americans age 65 or older.
Geng said the nation should take a step back and go slow. Even a few more weeks of Americans adhering to social distancing and other precautions could make a big difference.
“The message we carry here is that we don’t jump the gun,” Geng said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel. We all see it. And we’ll get there. Slow and steady.”
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press writers Darlene Superville in Washington, David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, Adriana Gómez Licon in Miami, and Michael Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, also contributed to this report.
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