ATLANTA (CNN) – First, the good news: The United States reported a record high of 4.6 million doses of vaccines delivered in one day, according to data released Saturday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Great Saturday! + 4.63 million doses administered for yesterday’s total, a new record,” tweeted Dr. Cyrus Shahpar, the COVID-19 White House data director “More than 500,000 higher than the old record last Saturday. Incredible number of doses administered.”
The problem is, more than 75% of the U.S. population has not been fully vaccinated, according to CDC data from Saturday.
Now for the bad news: For the third week in a row, new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise, according to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walenky.
“Cases and visits to emergency rooms are over,” Walensky said Friday. “We are seeing these increases in younger adults, most of whom have not yet been vaccinated.”
Not only is the B.1.1.7 variant more contagious than the original coronavirus strain – it is now the dominant strain in the US.
Experts say the B.1.1.7 variant has the potential to cause more serious illness and also be more deadly.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the US had an average of 68,000 new COVID-19 cases per day in the past week.
That’s up more than 20% since the 7-day average of March 10.
Nationally, more Americans ages 18 to 64 have gone to the emergency room for COVID-19 complications, Walensky said.
She said the trends are “magnified” in one part of the country: the Upper Midwest.
“The CDC is working closely with public health officials in this region to understand what is driving these cases and how we can intervene,” Walensky said.
‘A race to life and death’
Florida has the highest number of reported B.1.1.7 cases, according to the CDC, followed by Michigan, which reports thousands of new COVID-19 cases daily.
Michigan health officials say they are in the middle of a new COVID-19 wave.
“This B.1.1.7 variant … is more contagious, and I think there’s just fatigue from this pandemic, so a lot of people don’t wear masks, don’t have social distance, so we’re basically stepping back in Michigan, Said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
“It’s really frustrating because we’re almost there,” he said. “We have to hang there for the next two months and we won’t.”
Some Michigan hospitals are delaying and rearranging non-emergency procedures “on a case-by-case basis,” said a Michigan Health & Hospital Association spokesperson.
“Hospitals want everyone to get the care they need and only reschedule procedures as a last resort,” said John Karasinski. “We want to emphasize that hospitals are safe for anyone in need of care and that anyone with an urgent medical need should seek immediate help.”
In both Michigan and Minnesota, “there is concern about the carryover in youth sports – club sports as well as sports that are affiliated with schools,” Walensky said Friday.
Minnesota health officials warned that the state issued a “strong increase” in COVID-19 cases, saying that it is “more important than ever” to keep wearing a mask and distance yourself.
Ohio government Mike DeWine said the number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions in his state are all on the rise.
“We’re going in the wrong direction now,” DeWine said on Thursday. “More than half of our counties, 53, have seen an increase.”
“We can still turn this around if more people keep getting vaccinated,” he said. “This is a race. We’re in a race. And it’s a race to the death.”
New York is relaxing physical distance rules for some students
In contrast, New York is seeing a decline in hospital admissions and the lowest 7-day mean positivity rate since early December, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
Hospital admissions are the lowest since December 2 at 4,083, while the statewide positivity rate in New York fell just below 3%. The 7-day positivity rate in New York City also fell to its lowest level since Dec. 1, reaching 3.58%, the governor’s office said.
Those numbers, combined with recent CDC guidelines, prompted the New York Health Department to update its physical distance rules from 6 feet to 3 feet for elementary, middle, and high schools with a low and moderate risk of COVID-19- Handover.
Schools with a significant risk of transmission may also maintain a distance of 1 meter, but should also use cohorts where possible. Cohorts is when groups of students are kept together and with the same staff throughout the day to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the CDC said.
Middle and high schools with a high risk of transmission should be six feet apart if cohoritng is not possible, the state said.
However, high-risk elementary schools can still follow the 1-meter requirement.
“There is some evidence that there is a lower sensitivity and incidence of COVID-19 in younger children than in teenagers; therefore, in-person instruction represents less risk of on-site transmission in elementary schools compared to middle and high schools,” the health service said. said.
There are still times when 6 feet must be maintained, the state said, including between students and teachers, between students when they are eating, and when students are in common areas outside of classrooms, such as in gymnasiums, cafeterias, and hallways. according to the new rules.
These new guidelines for social distance come after the CDC made similar recommendations in March.
CNN has reached out to the New York Department of Education and the New York City Department of Education for comment.
More evidence that vaccines are safe and effective
As more young, unvaccinated adults are hospitalized with COVID-19, the number of older Americans hospitalized or dying from COVID-19 continues to shrink.
Health experts say that’s because older people are more likely to be vaccinated than younger adults.
According to data from the CDC, more than 78% of people 65 and older have received at least one dose of a vaccine and 60% have been fully vaccinated.
And there is growing evidence showing how safe the vaccines are for adults of all age groups.
Less than 1 in 28,000 people who received a COVID-19 vaccine – or less than 0.004% – have reported serious side effects, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services Vaccines Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS.
Vaccine providers “are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem after vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause,” according to the VAERS website.
The good news is that even when severe reactions do occur, “they usually happen in the first 30 minutes,” said vaccologist Dr. Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine.
“That’s why vaccination sites keep people there for 15 to 30 minutes after that,” he said.
The CDC recommends people with a history of severe allergic reactions stay for 30 minutes after vaccination. Others were able to leave after 15 minutes.
Any places where vaccines are administered must be armed with epinephrine to quickly combat cases of anaphylaxis, the CDC said.
The Surgeon General said there are simple steps to end this pandemic:
“One, get vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Dr. Vivek Murthy. “And two, help the people you care about get vaccinated too.”
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