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As health officials continue to eliminate cases of the coronavirus variants across the country, Americans can take several steps to protect themselves against infection.
Several mutated strains of the virus were confirmed in the United States on Friday, including those initially detected in South Africa, Brazil and the United Kingdom, as well as a local strain in California linked to large outbreaks in the counties and to more than a third of cases in Los Angeles, researchers say.
These strains have raised a lot of concerns because they include mutations along the virus’s surface spike protein, which it uses to infect cells. Experts have expressed concern that the mutated strains will reduce the effectiveness of vaccines as the rollout of the long-awaited injections continues around the world.
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Early results suggest that the vaccines will remain effective against the strains, although the South African strain, in particular, has reduced efficacy. For example, new findings from Novavax reveal that its vaccine is 89% against COVID-19 disease, but has dropped to 60% among trial volunteers in South Africa. Including the HIV-positive volunteers, the overall protection against the South African variant was 49%, the company said.
Nevertheless, the advice of health officials has remained the same.
“We know that even as we work hard to defeat COVID-19, the virus continues to evolve like all viruses,” Jan Malcolm, Minnesota’s health commissioner, said in a press release when the state confirmed the first American cases from Brazil. variant this week. “This is yet another reason why we want to limit the transmission of COVID-19 – the fewer people who contract COVID-19, the less opportunity the virus has to evolve.”
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“The good news is that we can slow the spread of this and all variants of COVID-19 using the proven prevention methods of wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, staying home in case of disease and to be tested if necessary. “
The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr Rochelle Walensky, reiterated on Friday that the country’s first two cases of the South African variant announced Thursday in South Carolina were among two people who had not the travel history and did not know each other, suggesting that the strain was circulating in the community.
While there is still a lot of unknowns about the mutated strains and scientists are struggling to answer answers such as the impacts on transmission, virulence and vaccine efficacy, experts say a tight fit is one of the most important factors when considering a coronavirus face mask.
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As more and more cases of variants are identified, experts are investigating whether wearing two masks instead of just one could offer even more protection. The CDC is currently studying the effectiveness of double masks – particularly a cloth mask placed over a medical mask – in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, but does not yet have “hard data” to determine whether it would be better to use just one mask, he said. .
Walensky told NBC “Today” on Friday that 59% of Americans wear face masks right now. According to the CDC, masks should have two layers of breathable fabric, with a tight fit covering the nose and mouth.
Fox News’ Alexandria Hein and Madeline Farber contributed to this report.
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