WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that a recent decline in COVID-19 cases could be halted, a development he described as worrying while urging that safeguards be maintained for fight the virus.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters that the number of cases had increased over the past three days compared to the previous week and that falls in hospitalizations and deaths were also “reduced by a very high number.”
Walensky made a critical picture of the current state of the pandemic.
“It simply came to our notice then. Now is not the time to relax the restrictions. Cases, hospital admissions and deaths are still very high and the recent change in the pandemic must be taken very seriously.
States and cities have been gradually lifting restrictions in recent weeks. New York City reopened the indoor dining room earlier this month and Massachusetts plans to remove restaurant capacity limits starting in March. Montana and Iowa lifted state mask requirements earlier this month, while North Dakota’s term expired in January.
The White House on Friday urged companies to join forces to help combat the pandemic by demanding the use of masks by employees and educating customers.
Andy Slavitt, a senior adviser to the White House’s COVID-19 response team, listed several companies taking steps to help fight the pandemic and further urged them to join.
He announced what he described as a new partnership between the Biden administration and major business organizations to drive the private sector to encourage companies to require masks and distance themselves socially to protect employees and customers, make it easier for employees to vaccine with incentives and educate the public about the benefits of masks and vaccines.
“We’re asking companies to amplify CDC’s messages about masking and vaccines on their products, properties, and websites,” Slavitt said.
Ford and Gap produced and donated millions of masks, he said, while Best Buy, Target and Dollar General gave paid workers time or compensated them for vaccines.
Uber, PayPal and Walgreens teamed up to provide $ 10 million in free travel to vaccination sites, he said, while Lyft had partnered with CVS and the YMCA to provide $ 60 million free or discounted travel to sites of vaccination.
The White House is working on a broad campaign to educate Americans about the vaccine as it seeks to control the pandemic that has killed more than 500,000 people in the United States.
President Joe Biden noted on Thursday the concern that by the end of this spring the supply of vaccines would exceed demand due to the vaccination of the vaccine.
Moderna Inc. said Wednesday it is working with U.S. government scientists to study an experimental booster target for a new variant of the coronavirus. [L1N2KU3A9]
The infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the study, led by the National Institutes of Health, will begin in mid-March and there were still no plans to begin manufacturing the experimental reinforcement at scale, as it is unclear whether the new The B1351 variant which is found for the first time in South Africa will become a dominant variant in the United States.
Report by Jeff Mason in Washington and Carl O’Donnell in New York; additional reports by Lisa Lambert; Edited by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Heinrich