WASHINGTON – The British variant of COVID-19, more contagious, is already the one that circulates the most in the United States, where the Brazilian and South African mutations of the coronavirus have also arrived, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in English).
THE BRITISH VARIANT HAS BEEN MANIFESTED IN ALL THE STATES
“Our latest estimates indicate that variant B.1.1.7 is now the most common (virus) lineage circulating in the United States,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a White House news conference.
All the states of the country have already registered cases of the British variant, formally known as B.1.1.7, and the number of confirmed infections of this mutation exceeds 16,000, according to the CDC.
The United States also adds at least 386 infections of the South African variant (B.1.351), present in 36 of the country’s states and territories, and 356 of the Brazilian (P.1), which is already in 25 of the regions, according to the same source.
Experts have also detected regional variants of the virus, including a Californian and a New Yorker, although the CDC has so far not offered data on how many infections are related to them.
Florida is the state with the most confirmed cases of the British variant, with at least 3,192, followed by Michigan (1,649), where hospitalizations for covid-19 have tripled in the last month, according to the CDC.
Young people fall into the risk category
Regarding the variant detected for the first time in the Brazilian Amazon, which is also much more contagious than the original, Florida also tops the list of infections with at least 84, followed by Massachusetts (82), Illinois (77) and California ( 3. 4).
South Carolina is the state with the most confirmed infections of the South African variant (75), followed by Maryland (44), Virginia (37), North Carolina (29) and Florida (25), the CDC data indicate.
Although the average daily deaths from COVID-19 in the United States is around 800, the lowest level since November, infections are increasing in several states of the country, something that authorities attribute to pandemic fatigue and the expansion of new variants of the virus.
Doctors in Tunja, Colombia, say a 104-year-old woman has recovered from the coronavirus for the second time. Carmen Hernández received a standing ovation from hospital staff upon discharge, after spending 21 days in the hospital fighting the infectious disease. Hernández was diagnosed with COVID-19 for the first time last June and was treated at her nursing home where she has lived for 25 years. After getting vaccinated in February, Hernández was diagnosed with COVID-19 for the second time last month and was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The incidence of cases “is too high to think that we have won the race” against the virus, Walensky warned Wednesday.
The speed of vaccination, with an average of 3 million doses administered per day, has caused many to lower their guard in the country, but the health authorities ask to maintain mitigation measures, because the country is on the verge of a fourth wave of contagions.
More than 168 million Americans, a third of the nation’s population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.
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