PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) – The deadliest month to date of the US coronavirus outbreak came to an end with certain signs of progress: COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions are plummeting, while vaccinations are accelerating.
The question is whether the country can stay ahead of the rapidly spreading mutations of the virus.
The death toll in the US has risen to past 440,000, with more than 95,000 lives in January alone. The death rate averages about 3,150 per day, slightly less than about 200 from their peak in mid-January.
But when the calendar changed to February Monday, the number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 dropped below 100,000 for the first time in two months. New cases of infection average about 148,000 days a day, up from nearly a quarter of a million by mid-January. And the cases are trending downward across all 50 states.
“While the recent drop in the number of cases and hospitalizations is encouraging, it is offset by the grim reality that in January we recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in any month since the start of the pandemic,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deaths don’t move up and down perfectly with the infection curve. They are a lagging indicator because it can take a few weeks for people to get sick and die from COVID-19.
Dr. Philip Landrigan, an epidemiologist at Boston College, said vaccines are a factor in the sharp drop in the number of cases, but not the primary cause. Instead, he said, the crisis has become increasingly “depoliticized” in recent weeks as more people get to grips with the threat and how they can help slow the spread of the virus.
“I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of this cultural change. I think it is critical, ”he said.
After a slow start, the vaccination campaign that began in mid-December is starting to gain momentum. More than 32.2 million doses have been administered in the US, according to the CDC. That’s up from 16.5 million the day President Joe Biden took office, January 20.
The number of shots fired in the week and a half since Biden’s inauguration has averaged about 1.3 million a day, well above the president’s often-stated goal of 1 million a day. More than 5.9 million Americans have received the required two doses, the CDC said.
However, the CDC reported on Monday that many nursing home workers do not get their injections when the doses are first offered.
Researchers looked at more than 11,000 nursing homes and other similar facilities that had at least one vaccination clinic between mid-December and mid-January. While 78% of residents were given at least one chance, only 37.5% of staff did. Surveys suggest that some nursing home workers are skeptical of the effectiveness of the shots and don’t think viruses spread easily from them to the people they care for.
Three mutated variants of the virus from Britain, South Africa, and Brazil have been detected in the U.S. The British spreads more easily and is believed to be more deadly, but the South African variant is even more of cause for concern due to early evidence that vaccines may not be. be so protective of it.
The more the virus spreads, the more possibilities it has to mutate.
Walensky urged Americans to get vaccinated as soon as injections are available to them, stressing that it is not time to relax basic precautions like wearing masks.
Meanwhile, a snowstorm on Monday forced the closure of many vaccination sites in the Northeast, including New York City and Connecticut.
And a plan to reopen Chicago schools for about 62,000 students for the first time since March has remained questionable. Last-minute negotiations on COVID-19 security measures with the teachers’ union have stalled, increasing the likelihood of a strike or lockout if teachers don’t show up for work.
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Kunzelman reported from College Park, Maryland. Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Marilynn Marchione, Sophia Tareen, Bill Kole and Mike Stobbe contributed to this report.