Even with roughly 2.5 million Americans getting vaccinated daily, cases are back on the upswing raising new concerns and fears about the fight against coronavirus.
According to CNBC, 21 states are reporting increases in cases.
The states seeing spikes in daily infection numbers include Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
Experts believe a new strand of the virus is partially to blame.
The highly transmissible U.K. variant is reportedly responsible for over 30% of new infections in the U.S.
Health officials also believe that by the end of March/early April, it will become the dominant strain.
States relaxing COVID-19 restrictions and forgoing mask mandates in public is believed to be another contributing factor.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky asked states to reconsider opening prematurely as it could undermine all the progress the country has made to decrease cases.
Similarly, Dr. Anthony Fauci noted that victory could not be declared until numbers are “much, much lower.”
“The concern is that throughout the country, there are a number of state, city, regions that are pulling back on some of the mitigation methods that we’ve been talking about: the withdrawal of mask mandates, the pulling back to essentially non-public health measures being implemented,” he explained.
Fauci added that he wasn’t surprised to see the number of cases go back up “even though vaccines are being distributed at a pretty good clip of 2 to 3 million per day.”
In early March, Fauci warned of a potential spike. “We’ve just now recently experienced the worst surge. The issue is that we are starting to plateau. That plateau is about 60,000 to 70,000 cases a day. When you have that much viral activity in a plateau, it almost invariably means that you are at risk of another spike,” he explained citing past coronavirus data.
CNBC analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University found the seven day average for new infections plateaued at 54,666 as of Friday after declining for weeks.
On Monday, March 22, 14 states are expanding vaccine eligibility including Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Florida.
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