NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tennessee emerged next to California on Wednesday as an epicenter of the latest COVID-19 wave, even as more than 1 million Americans have been vaccinated as US political leaders tried to guard against a highly contagious variant of coronavirus sweeping through Britain rages.
Tennessee has had an average of nearly 128 new infections per 100,000 people in the past week, the highest of any U.S. state, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California ranked second with 111 new cases per 100,000 residents.
“Our state is ground zero for a wave of COVID-19 and we need Tennesseans to (do) their part,” Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter, urging residents to wear face masks and only get together with members of their own household during Christmas.
Some public health officials say the travel and gathering of Americans for Thanksgiving contributed to the latest nationwide explosion in cases.
All told, 31 US states have reported a grim record in new COVID-19 infections for December, as hospitalizations and deaths are also spiraling. More than 194,600 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday alone.
The CDC said that as of Wednesday morning, more than 1 million people across the country had received the first of the two doses needed for the two coronavirus vaccines that have been approved. But most Americans have been told that it may take six months or more to qualify for the admissions as priority is given to health workers, nursing home residents and in some cases senior government officials.
Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most senior infectious disease official in the US, received the Moderna vaccine on live television Tuesday. President-elect Joe Biden was inoculated in front of cameras on Monday with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
CARE GROWS ABOUT THE MUTANT VARIANT
US Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, earlier this week criticized political leaders for putting themselves in the front row for the shot.
“We are no more important than frontline workers, teachers, etc. who make sacrifices every day. That’s why I don’t take it, ”said Omar on Twitter.
The Trump administration said on Wednesday it had reached a $ 2 billion deal with Pfizer to distribute an additional 100 million doses of its vaccine by July.
But Americans who saw a ray of hope in the release of the two vaccines in December learned that an even more transmissible coronavirus variant is spreading in the UK. Drug makers Pfizer and Moderna tested their vaccines against the variant, but thought the drugs would be effective against the mutant virus.[n4N2J229V]
The United States, unlike many other countries around the world, has not banned travelers from entering Britain.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city should quarantine international travelers for 14 days upon arrival and provide contact information to government officials. The sheriff’s deputies will be making visits to enforce the warrant on those coming from Britain, the mayor said.
Travelers who violate these orders face fines of $ 1,000 per day, de Blasio said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked airlines to screen British travelers for COVID-19. The state was an early epicenter of the virus and has recorded more than 36,000 COVID deaths, far more than any other state.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee this week ordered a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the UK, South Africa or other countries where the new variant had been detected.
In New York City, vaccination programs have expanded to the fire department, where about 6,000 staff have contracted the virus, Fire Chief Dan Nigro told reporters. About 400 FDNY paramedics lined up to receive their first doses of the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday, including Verena Kansog, advanced life support coordinator for Manhattan, who got her shot at a training center on Randalls Island.
“I feel relieved,” Kansog, concerned about bringing the disease home to her elderly mother, told Reuters in a phone interview. “I wasn’t a bit nervous.”
Reporting by Gabriella Borter and Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting by Anurag Maan, Carlo Allegri, Jonathan Allen, Peter Szekely, Lisa Lambert, Susan Heavey, and Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler