The Biden administration’s coronavirus task force said it disagrees with states that have begun to relax restrictions as cases begin to decline after their all-time peak in the past month, and warned Monday at a briefing of it. White House told reporters that the increased risk of variants spreading across the country are reason to keep those restrictions high, not to water down.
States like New York and Massachusetts have recently removed some of the more stringent restrictions imposed during the winter months, such as banning all eating indoors. And in a more extreme case, the governor of Iowa revoked the statewide mask mandate.
But it’s important to note that the US has been here before, experts said, especially during the summer when states lifted their restrictions, reopened after lockdowns, and triggered another spike. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky, chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and coronavirus advisor Andy Slavitt were clear in Monday’s briefing that they were encouraging states not to go that path again.
“We still have to control this pandemic. We still have this emerging threat of variants, and I would just discourage any of those activities, “Walensky said of relaxed restrictions.” We really need to keep all the restrictive measures in play here if we really want to gain control. of this pandemic. “
She urged all Americans to “stay on the lookout” as the number of cases and hospitalizations decline – noting that the country is still seeing more than 100,000 cases per day and many more hospitalizations per day than during the summer peak .
“We continue to monitor this data closely, and although hospital admissions and cases are constantly declining, I ask everyone to please stay on their guard. The continued proliferation of variants remains a major concern and a threat that could reverse the recent positive trends we see, ”said Walensky.
On Feb. 7, 699 variant cases were confirmed in 34 states. Of those cases, 690 are the B-117 variant, the variant first reported in the UK, Walensky said. It is estimated that there are many more variant cases already, but most test centers do not do the kind of detailed sequencing needed to find variants. Walensky said the CDC has increased its surveillance of variants tenfold in the past three weeks and is aiming to increase that three or four times more.
Walensky said it’s important to carry a mast, stay six feet apart, and avoid travel, crowds and poorly ventilated areas. The public should also be “vaccinated when it is available to you. I recognize that the pandemic has taken a tremendous toll on us all. But if we all work together and take these prevention steps, we can finally turn the tide,” Walensky said.
“To underline what Dr. Walensky just said, the two things we can do are: A, make sure we adhere to the public health measures that Dr. Walensky just mentioned, and B, get as many people as possible vaccinated as soon as possible. That’s the best defense against variant evolution, ”said Fauci.
When asked what the White House did to pressure states not to relax their guidelines, Slavitt and Walensky had no concrete policy steps, saying they have been clear with states and are constantly communicating to try to guide their decisions with available data.
“I’ll just say that I think our position on this is pretty well established. We attend at least a weekly governors call and I have had one-on-one contact with numerous governors so I am doing my best and I am happy to do more to encourage states to reduce their community dispersal so we can address the threat of reduce these variants, reduce our hospital admissions and get this pandemic under control, ”said Walensky.
Slavitt added that they understand the pressure states are reopening.
“And all I want to add to that, you know, we understand the pressure on the governors. We are working together as much as possible, sharing the data with them and, as we discussed during this call, helping them understand why we are in such a critical time to fight the virus and hope to keep working to convince and partner with states and localities to continue pursuing sensible public health measures, ”he said.
Massachusetts, Iowa and New York are among the states to ease COVID restrictions this week. In Massachusetts, businesses, including restaurants, gyms and close-contact services, are allowed to operate at 40% capacity starting Monday, WCVB reported. Those companies were limited to 25% capacity.
In New York City, restaurants will allow customers to enter from Friday, with a 25% capacity, Gov. Andrew Cuomo confirmed Monday. Iowa’s governor Kim Reynolds has lifted the state’s mandate as of Sunday.
Alexandra Svokos of ABC News contributed to this report.