US questions coronavirus strategy and fears Lambda variant

The United States “fails” in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, alerted a senior health official on Sunday, as the country records the highest levels of contagion in six months due to the diffusion of the Delta strain and the most recent spread of Lambda or Andina variant.

“We should never have gotten to where we are,” said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, in front of ABC television, and sentenced: “Yes, we are failing.”

The United States is experiencing a new peak in coronavirus infections: a few weeks ago it recorded around 8,000 daily cases, but the Thursday, over 127,000, and over the past two weeks, the deaths increased by 89%, which retains the authorities concerned.

While fears over the highly transmissible Delta variant have led to increased vaccination rates, million people, especially in regions with a conservative majority, they remain skeptical despite scientific reports confirming the effectiveness of the drugs.

“We wouldn’t be where we are with this Delta increase if we had been more efficient to vaccinate everyone, ”Collins said, adding,“ Now we are paying a terrible price. “

This increase in cases occurs as Authorities debate new health measures in schools in view of the start of the school year in September.

The virologist Antoine Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Officer of President Joe Biden, stated that “anyone close to a child should be vaccinated, and precisely in what should be the protected environment par excellence for the little ones, that is to say the school ”.

The United States has yet to authorize vaccination of children under 12 and the number of children hospitalized with coronavirus is currently at a record high of 1,450.

“For me, vaccinating all adults close to children is common sense, but also through other measures like the use of masks in schools, we are seeing reactions and rebellions like in Florida, ”added Fauci, quoted by the ANSA news agency.

In the state, one of the hardest hit by the rise in infections, Governor Ron DeSantis has threatened to block funding for schools requiring masks.

However, and reinforcing Fauci’s statements, The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) state network tweeted this Sunday that asymptomatic children can transmit the coronavirus and defended the use of masks “in closed environments, including schools”.

At the same time, and while experts point out that transmission in the unvaccinated favors the mutation of the virus in increasingly contagious forms, Authorities are wondering whether they should approve a third dose for people with weakened immune systems, including those who have recently had a transplant or are receiving chemotherapy.

“We have to see them from another angle; of course, we will call these people before the general population that has already been vaccinated, and we should start doing that fairly quickly, ”urged Fauci. on CNN television, while the CDC assesses whether it should be extended to other groups of people in vulnerable situations.

In addition to the Delta variant, which accounts for about 83% of new cases in the United States, Authorities are on alert for the appearance of the Lambda mutation, the first case of which was detected last month in Texas, and since then, genomic sequencing has identified 1,060 infections, according to the independent data exchange initiative Gisaid.

Although this number is far from that attributed to the Delta variant, Infectious disease experts have assured that Lambda is one of the most found.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Delta variant as a “variant of concern.“, while until now at Lambda is identified at a lower grade, as “variant of interest”.

“It is difficult to know for sure how transmissible Lambda is and how well vaccines protect – so far, Lambda appears to be more transmissible than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus “, said Preeti Malani, medical director of the infectious disease division at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

“We learned during the pandemic that things can change quickly, so controlling the spread of Covid-19 in general will help manage Lambda,” he added, quoted by the AFP news agency.

the Vaccines are essential to counter new variants of the coronavirus, such as Lambda, that it could remain rare in the United States and that, according to Fauci, if left unchecked, it could possibly generate new strains much worse.

“As long as the virus continues to spread, it gives it ample opportunity to mutate, and when you give it ample opportunity to mutate, sooner or later you can get another variant, and it’s possible that that variant is in some ways worse than the already very difficult variant we’re dealing with now ” , said the virologist.