Cases of Covid-19 have surged in five states including, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, accounting for 50% in new cases, prompting calls for state governors for more federally allocated vaccines, especially in low income areas. Johns Hopkins University reported a 197,500 cases in last week’s reporting period came from the five states, accounting for about 44% on the 452,000 cases in the U.S. Of the 197,500 cases, it accounts to about 22% of the U.S. population, prompting elected officials to ask 78-year-old President Joe Biden to allocate more vaccines to the states. Despite the increase in the five states, so far the White House coronavirus task force intends to keep allocating vaccines based on the U.S. population. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has no intention of imposing new restrictions, despite the increase in cases.
States have attributed the increase to the new B.1.1.7 variant and the fact that Covid-19 fatigue has set in where residents have relaxed social distancing guidelines, going out more in public to restaurants, bars, nightclubs, sporting and entertainment venues. Dr. Elvin H. Geng, Washington University, St. Louis infectious disease professor thought it was a good idea to allocate more vaccines to states seeing surges of new cases. “You want to make those folks wait because they were doing better,” Geng said. “On the other hand, it only makes sense to send vaccines to where the cases are rising,” agreeing that the best approach to control surges going forward are ramping up vaccine delivery. Michigan reported 6,719 new cases, more than double two weeks earlier. Whitmer sees the spike as residents letting their guard down in face of new more contagious variants like B.1.1.7.
Whitmer sees the path out of the spike is not imposing new restrictions but going full steam ahead on vaccines. “Taking steps back wasn’t going to fix the issue,” Whitmer said, after taking her first vaccine at Ford Field, where the Detroit Lions play. “What we have to do is really put our foot down on the pedal on vaccines,” while urging residents to continue wearing masks, social distancing and washing hands where possible. Today Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Wallensky said it’s time to end the “hygiene theater,” recognizing the fact that Covid-19 is primarily transmitted by aerosol contact, not on surfaces as first reported in the early days of the pandemic. Breaking the handwashing myth is an important step for controlling transmissability because more folks need to me mindful of wearing masks and social distancing, something that actually prevents infection.
Meeting last week at the White House, Whitmer asked whether they planned on sending more vaccines to especially hard-hit areas. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio complained that New York City was still having problems with vaccine supplies. Like Los Angeles, New York City often runs out of vaccine supplies in the middle of vaccination schedules, forcing residents to cancel their vaccine schedules or delay the time for delivering second shots. “We still need supply, supply, supply,” de Blasio said, adding, “But things are really getting better.” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the White House to deliver more vaccines, up 12% in the last week, offering residents hope. “We constantly look at, OK, we know we’re going up, but are we going up at the rate we should be, particularly given the amount of cases we have?” said Murphy, asking for more vaccines.
As of today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] reports 40% of U.S. citizens have received at least one vaccine shot, 23% have received two shots. Biden’s coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients said that 28 million vaccines were distributed last week, with over 90 million does over the last three weeks. University of California San Francisco epidemiologist and biostatistician Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo attributed the rise in cases to more contagious virus variants. “More vaccine needs to be where the virus is,” said Bibbins-Domingo, saying that the country needs to get over the “scarcity mindset.” Most elected officials now see vaccines as the way to “herd immunity,” the fastest way out of the epidemic and the disastrous economic fallout.
States like Florida have seen a 20% rise in Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks, all corresponding to Spring Break and Gov. Ron DeSantis ending all Covid-19 restrictions, including social distancing and mask wearing. University of South Florida epidemiologist Jason Salemi said that most of the new infections were younger people, meaning that less severe cases and hospitalizations. “The take-home message here is, let’s not jump the gun,” Geng said. “There’s light at the end of the tunnel. We all see it there. And we will get there. Slow and steady,” urging citizens to continue wearing masks and social distancing while public health officials continue to ramp up vaccines to achieve the elusive herd immunity needed to get the country back to normal. Biden has exceeded all expectations for getting more that 150 million shots in his first 100 days.
