CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), speaking to National Public Radio guest Ari Shapiro expressed some concern about the coming weeks of the pandemic course that is rarely heard from senior officials. level.
“I think,” she said, “the next two or three months could go in one of two directions. If things open up, if we’re not very careful, we could go up with a post-spring hike as we’ve seen a post-Christmas surrender. We could see a lot more disease. We will see many more deaths. ”
Similar concerns are being raised across Europe, where six million new cases were reported this week, after six weeks of steady decline, representing a 9 per cent increase over the year. -week before. Hans Kluge, head of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, said on Thursday, “We are seeing a recovery in Central and Eastern European countries where standards were already high. ”
There are still major problems in the health system of the Czech Republic. Kluge urged countries to “get back to basics” public health measures. These changes in disease result from resting restraints accompanied by a growing dominance of the more active line of the coronavirus.
In the United States, according to the CDC variable map, as of March 2, 2,506 cases of B.1.1.7 variables were detected across 46 states. States where more than 100 cases have been confirmed include Florida, Michigan, New York, Georgia, Texas and California. The protective rays B.1.351 and P.1 are also increasing, but not yet at the same level.
Dr. Michael Worobey, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, urged more attention in the United States to the P.1 variant. He raised concerns that it could become more common, even if it competes with version B.1.1.7. “At the very least, he’s going to be one of the competitors,” he told the New York Times.
These developments have damaged the optimistic hopes of many scientists when the effective COVID-19 vaccines began being used in December. The rays emanating from South Africa and Brazil prove more susceptible and damage the effect of the vaccine and, possibly, bypass the natural immunity caused by previous diseases.
Dr Chris Murray, director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), raised concerns if the South African variant or other series with similar mutations will continue to spread and grow the major changes, hospitals COVID-19 and next winter deaths could be four times higher than the flu. He told Reuters he would be in a worse position that would mean as many as 200,000 COVID deaths. These figures come from federal government estimates of annual flu deaths.
There are growing delays in how public health officials respond to media questions about when to see the country return to normal. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said, “Even after the vaccination, I would still want to wear a mask if there was a change. All you need is one little flick of a difference to another, and that’s your prediction. ”
In an interview with Wired, he said, “Won’t we tell us yet, right? You don’t want the decline we are seeing on a plateau at an unreasonably high rate. Currently, the rate of daily infections is somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 per day. That’s far too high to be appropriate. “These levels are compared to the high levels in the summer.
Local public health departments responded with great concern when Texas and Mississippi regulators lifted pandemics, lifting all mask orders and allowing businesses to operate at full capacity. Texas Governor Greg Abbott abruptly tweeted, “100 percent OPENING. EVERYONE. “Such rapid movements, in the context of multiple cycles, have caused scientists to be concerned about an alarming rise that will reintroduce health systems.
Biden advised the governors of Texas and Mississippi for what they had done, saying, “The last thing we need is a Neanderthal to think, in the meantime, that all is well, take away mask, forget it. ” In this regard, his demand for the opening of all K-12 schools for personal classes is a real abomination. Recent evidence coming out of Canada and the UK has confirmed that schools and children play a vital role as community driving vectors. In addition, the new changes appear to be the most common among young children. The reopening of schools goes over the rise in huge rows, pouring gasoline over a smoldering fire. The December wave in Manaus, Brazil, reveals this fact.
Since the pandemic first hit the area, 18 strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been identified in the Amazon. Out of this range of differences, the P.1 appeared in November and quickly grew to make up 51 percent of samples ordered in December. By the first half of January, the P.1 variant made up 91 percent of chronic coronaviruses. His meteoric rise was matched by the horrific scale of grief and death he left behind, with hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) running out of oxygen medicine.
Brazil continues to see daily cases of COVID-19 and higher rates of daily deaths. With health systems and ICUs across the country under severe pressure, running on smoke when they are about to collapse, President Jair Bolsonaro insists there will be no “locks.”
The national association of health secretaries of the country released a statement saying, “The acceleration of the disease in various states is leading to the collapse of their public and private hospital systems, which could soon occur in all regions of Brazil. ”
A recent study of the Brazilian variance conducted by a team from Oxford University, Imperial College London and the University of Sao Paulo found that the P.1 variant ranged from 1.4 to 2.2 times more mobile. It also bypassed 25 to 61 percent of previous immune defenses, raising concerns about the routine effectiveness of vaccines. More importantly, they sought to understand why, if a large number of the population had been infected in Manaus before, did the December rise surpass the April wave in both the number of cases and how intensely they spread.
In addition to a much higher transmission, even compared to the B.1.1.7 variant, they reported that the mutations in the P.1 variant helped the virus with antibodies generated by previous diseases. According to the New York T. imes, Dr. Nuna Faria, a physiologist at Imperial College, and his team in charge of the research “estimate that between 25 and 61 of them could be redefined in 100 people. was infected with a non-P.1 line in Manaus last year. if they were open to P.1 in Manaus. • Dr Faria said a ‘growing body of evidence’ showed that most cases in the second wave were due to transplants. ”
In another recently published report, researchers found that the immune plasma of COVID-19 patients had a lower hexagonal protective capacity against P.1 strain.
Reactions may not translate into true disease, as T cell immunity may reduce the severity associated with future infections despite declining antibodies. However, there are difficulties in obtaining herd immunity through natural infection or vaccination, as previously infected or vaccinated people may be prone to recurrent infections and may be vectors of community transmission in the community. future. The P.1 variant has spread across Brazil and 24 other countries, including the United States, where 13 cases have been detected across seven states.
It is essential, in considering these decisions, that all steps be taken to minimize the spread of the virus. The concept behind the Zero COVID strategy means that strict mitigation measures are maintained for a fixed period of time and reinforced by social support for the population to move the daily rate of new cases to near “zero”. . “Tight lock-in for two months could drive COVID cases to unrecognizable levels, even with change leadership, and at the same time lead to a sixfold reduction in COVID-19-related deaths.
This would allow local and state governments to support public health infrastructure and set up major vaccination campaigns with the support of federal agencies. In addition, the production and distribution of these vaccines needs to be done across wide regions of the world to ensure a reliable supply of these life-saving treatments. Controlling the first stage of the pandemic requires death and morbidity to be prevented to the fullest while protecting health systems. Regulatory elites around the world, including their response to the pandemic to the capitalist market, have proven that they are not performing these actions. Working-class intervention is required on the basis of a socialist program.
At a WHO COVID-19 virtual news conference on 1 March, Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “It is unfortunate that some countries continue to prioritize adults. younger and healthier in their own numbers ahead of health workers and the elderly elsewhere. Countries are not in a race to each other. This is a common race against the virus. We do not want countries to endanger their own people. We urge all countries to be part of a global effort to eradicate the virus everywhere … we urge all governments and individuals remember that vaccinations alone will not keep you safe. ”