WASHINGTON (AP) – Nearly half of new coronavirus infections nationwide occur in just five states – a situation that is pressuring the federal government to consider changing the way it distributes vaccines by sending more doses to hot spots .
New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey collectively reported 44% of new COVID-19 infections in the country, or nearly 197,500 new cases, in the last available seven-day period, according to data from the state health organization compiled by Johns. Hopkins University. The total number of infections in the US during the same week was more than 452,000.
The strong concentration of new cases in states that make up 22% of the US population has prompted some experts and elected officials to call on President Joe Biden’s administration to ship additional doses of vaccine to those places. So far, the White House has shown no signs of a shift in its policy of distributing vaccine doses among states based on population.
It makes sense to send extra doses to places where infections are on the rise, says Dr. Elvin H. Geng, a professor of infectious diseases at Washington University. But it is also complicated. States that control the virus more successfully may therefore receive less vaccine.
“You wouldn’t want to keep those people waiting because they did better,” Geng said. “On the other hand, it only makes sense to send vaccines where the cases are on the rise.”
The spike in cases is especially pronounced in Michigan, where the seven-day average of daily new infections reached 6,719 cases on Sunday – more than double that of two weeks earlier. Only New York reported higher case numbers. And California and Texas, which have a much larger population than Michigan, report less than half the number of daily infections.
Although Michigan has seen the highest number of new infections in the past two weeks, the Democratic government’s Gretchen Whitmer has said it has no plans to tighten restrictions. She has blamed the rise in viruses for pandemic fatigue, causing people to move more, as well as more contagious variants.
“Taking steps back wouldn’t solve the problem,” Whitmer said when she received her first vaccine Tuesday at Ford Field in Detroit, home of the NFL’s Lions. “What we need to do is really put our foot on the pedal of vaccines” and urge people to wear masks, stay at a social distance and wash their hands.
Whitmer got the chance the day after Michigan expanded eligibility for anyone 16 and older. She asked the White House during a conference call last week with governors whether it has considered sending additional vaccine to states battling virus spikes. She was told all options were on the table.
In New York City, vaccination appointments are still a challenge. Mayor Bill de Blasio has publicly harassed the federal government about the need for an increased amount of vaccines, almost daily, a chorus he reiterated when speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
“We still need delivery, delivery, delivery,” said de Blasio, before adding, “But things are really getting better.”
At the state level, Governor Andrew Cuomo has not publicly called for an increase in vaccination allocations in New York, even as cases took hold in recent weeks and the number of people hospitalized reached a plateau.
In New Jersey, where the seven-day moving average of daily new infections has risen from 4,050 daily cases to 4,250 over the past two weeks, Democratic government Phil Murphy said he is constantly talking to the White House about the question of the coronavirus vaccine. , though he stopped saying he was lobbying for more vaccines due to the state’s high contamination rate.
Vaccine shipments to New Jersey are up 12% in the past week, Murphy said Monday, though he wondered if that’s enough.
“We’re constantly looking at, okay, we know we’re going up, but are we going up at the pace we should be, especially given the number of cases we have?” Murphy said.
New virus variants are clearly one of the driving forces behind the increase, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of the division of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. If the rise in cases is not suppressed, it will lead to more people getting sick and dying, she says, and will lead to increases in other parts of the country.
The message to take home is: let’s not flip. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We see it all there. And we will get there. Slow and steady.
–Dr. Elvin H. Geng, professor of infectious diseases at Washington University
“There needs to be more vaccine where the virus is,” said Bibbins-Domingo, adding that people need to overcome the “scarcity mentality” that makes them think that pushing vaccine to one place will hurt people elsewhere.
In Florida, relaxed precautions during a busy spring break likely contributed to the spread of virus variants, said University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi. The state’s seven-day average of daily new infections was more than 5,400, a 20% increase in the past two weeks.
While many appear to be new infections among younger people, Salemi said he is concerned about Florida seniors. About 78% of residents 65 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine, but about 1 million more have still not received injections.
“We seem to have the supply,” said Salemi. “Are these people not planning to get vaccinated?”
There is talk of sending additional photos to some states at a time when the number of daily infections in the US has dropped dramatically from a peak in January after the holiday season. However, since mid-March, the seven-day average of daily infections has been slowly increasing.
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 daily cases.
White House coordinator Jeff Zients said Tuesday that more than 28 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will be delivered to states this week. That allocation will bring the US total to more than 90 million doses distributed in the past three weeks.
The news came when Biden announced that more than 150 million coronavirus shots have been administered since taking office and that all adults will be eligible for a vaccine by April 19.
There needs to be more vaccine where the virus is located.
–Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 40% of American adults have now received at least one COVID-19 shot. About 23% of American adults are fully vaccinated – including more than half of Americans 65 and older.
Geng said the nation needs to step back and go slow. Even just a few weeks of Americans clinging to social aloofness and other precautions can make a huge difference.
“The message to take home is, let’s not jump the gun,” Geng said. ‘There is light at the end of the tunnel. We see it all there. And we will get there. Slow and stable. ‘
Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Smith reported from Providence, Rhode Island. Associated Press writers, Darlene Superville in Washington, David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan, Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, and Michael Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, also contributed to this report.
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