Experts urge caution as states lift restrictions despite unknown impact of Covid-19 variants

States are rolling back restrictions on Covid-19 as new cases tend to drop from record levels across the country. But experts warn it may be too early as the variants pose an increased risk and the pandemic – almost after a year in the United States – is far from over.

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, lifted the state’s partial mask mandate on Friday. She also said companies no longer had to limit the number of customers or apply social distancing, and that no limits remained on the size of public gatherings. The Des Moines Register editorial board called the move “inexplicable and irresponsible.”

Reynolds does not act alone. Democratic and Republican governors relaxed the restrictions. In New York City, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, announced Monday that New York will allow dining starting on Friday, a few days earlier than scheduled, and that colleges will reopen for in-person instruction on February 25. Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said restaurants were allowed to operate at 40% of capacity as of Monday, citing a drop in hospitalizations as part of his reasoning.

The moves to remove virus-related restrictions come as the most recent seven-day average for new cases in the United States is 119,509 for the past week, according to an NBC News analysis. The last time that number was this low was on November 9, near the start of the last wave. The current number of new cases is still far above the peaks of spring and summer.

“I fear it is premature” to relax the restrictions, said Dr Justin Lessler, infectious disease epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Lessler said the very restrictions in place allowed Covid-19 infection rates to drop.

“When we remove interventions, we frequently see resurgences,” he said, cautioning if states want to see a continued decline. “When new variants appear, the recoil that was perhaps acceptable before is no longer OK because of the more transmissible variants.”

The CDC has reported fewer than 700 cases of the various strains of Covid-19 that entered the country after being first identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil. Lessler said that number was “really the tip of the iceberg” and hardly represented the extent of their spread.

“The variants are here and are circulating,” said Dr. Jennifer Lighter, pediatric infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Health in New York City.

While much remains unknown about how the variants will spread and affect the United States, their presence is undeniable.

Lighter said the United States was not doing enough “protecting surveillance” or sequencing to test the number of recent positive cases from the new strains. Yet, she said, the surge that some anticipated of more heritable variants has not yet materialized.

Reversing a mask warrant, she said, does not make sense, but measures like Los Angeles County’s to reopen alfresco dining at the end of January make sense when done. being outdoors decreases the risk associated with contracting the virus.

To stay ahead of the variants, Dr Anthony Fauci said on Monday that it was crucial that people receive both doses of the vaccine.

The boost from the second dose gives “a greater breadth of response,” said Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, meaning it may protect against the “wild type.” of circulating coronaviruses, including variants.