CDC: Rise in US cases driven by the young
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said young people are driving the latest uptick in COVID-19 cases, as the increasing rate of vaccination in older Americans is preventing the most serious cases among seniors.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing Monday that “cases are increasing nationally, and we are seeing this occur predominately in younger adults.” She cited the increasing spread of variants, but also a rise in youth sports and extracurricular activities as contributing to the steady increase in cases over the last four weeks.
But Walensky pointed to positive developments among the most vulnerable age group, saying senior citizens’ virus deaths have reached their lowest levels since the early fall. More than 75% of those aged 65 or older nationally have received at least one dose of a vaccine and nearly 55% are fully vaccinated.
“What we’re seeing is both a decrease in emergency department visits as well as hospitalizations associated with that demographic,” Walensky said.
March numbers much improved from January
The U.S. reported 37,925 COVID-19 deaths and about 1.8 million new coronavirus cases in March, with numbers roughly a third of the pace of a disastrous January, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins data shows. But the easing appears to be short lived as numbers have begun to rise again.
In Delaware, the last time people were testing positive at a rate as high as they are now was Feb. 11. Michigan has the most cases per capita of any state and on Saturday reported the highest case total in the state since early December.
In Florida, the actual tally of variant cases ravaging the state is likely two or three times higher than what’s reported, said the director of the state-run Palm Beach County health department.
40% of US adults have been jabbed
The U.S. reported more than 4 million vaccine doses in a single day for the first time Saturday, according to data from the CDC. More than 103 million Americans have had at least one dose of vaccine, about 40% of all adults. And 23% of U.S. adults are now fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, 12 states opened vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 or older Monday: Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Michigan, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
The White House announced the opening of three more federally run mass vaccination sites, in Columbia, South Carolina; Pueblo, Colorado; and St. Paul, Minnesota. This brings the total number of sites to 28.
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Vaccine skepticism is more widespread among white evangelicals than almost any other major bloc of Americans, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that 40% of white evangelical Protestants said they likely won’t get vaccinated, compared with 25% of all Americans, 28% of white mainline Protestants and 27% of nonwhite Protestants.
Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he won’t get a vaccine because his doctors told him he still has a high level of antibodies from when he was infected in January.
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Retail stores across most of Greece were allowed to reopen despite an ongoing surge in infections.