CDC warns of ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ amid worrying increase in Covid cases



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Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States are on the rise again, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday, sounding the alarm on what she described as a “pandemic unvaccinated “.

In a press briefing on Friday, Dr Rochelle Walensky said the most recent seven-day average of new Covid-19 cases was around 26,300 – a jump of almost 70% from the previous average. New hospital admissions increased 36% to about 2,790 per day. Daily deaths edged up 26% to 211 per day – a sobering figure given that deaths appeared to be declining in recent weeks, Walensky said.

“There is a crystal clear message: this is becoming an unvaccinated pandemic,” Walensky said. “We are seeing outbreaks in parts of the country that have low immunization coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk.”

Pfizer-BioNTech announced earlier on Friday that the United States Food and Drug Administration had granted priority review designation to its application for full approval of its Covid-19 vaccine. The companies have said the target date for an FDA decision is January 2022.

In the past month, coronavirus cases have increased in counties with low vaccination rates, the CDC said on Friday.  (Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention)

In the past month, coronavirus cases have increased in counties with low vaccination rates, the CDC said on Friday. (Centers for Disaster Control and Prevention)

While the state of the pandemic is not as severe as it was in January, when the United States averaged nearly 200,000 cases per day and the country as a whole faced a high level of transmission, Walensky warned that the highly contagious delta variant will continue to spread. in counties and states with low immunization rates.

“If you are not vaccinated you are still at risk,” she said.

Fully vaccinated people are protected against severe Covid-19, including the delta variant, Walensky said.

She added that federal public health officials fear that “we will continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and, sadly, deaths among the unvaccinated.”

More than 160 million people in the United States were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, according to data compiled by NBC News.

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