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Dr Anthony Fauci revealed there had been ‘very serious discussions’ between the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow people who have received their full cycle of COVID-19 vaccinations to socialize together .
Fauci, Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said “common sense” showed the risk to be “extremely low.”
Fauci spoke as the number of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 fell to its lowest level since November 4, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
Their data from Thursday showed hospitalizations have declined again, as has been the case every day since January 12, 2021.
The United States has recorded 28,410,917 cases since the outbreak of the pandemic and 508,114 deaths.
Dr Fauci’s remarks raised hopes that the days of forced quarantine, social distancing and wearing masks in private spaces may soon be numbered.
“ I think what you’re going to start seeing very soon – we’ve had some very serious discussions with our colleagues at the CDC – is: what happens when you get two people vaccinated, ” he said on Thursday. evening at CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
Fauci appeared on CNN Thursday night and said socialization restrictions could be lifted
“Before being vaccinated, if they wanted to come visit you, they would have to quarantine themselves for a while, get tested, wear a mask.
“ What we’re saying right now – even if it’s not backed up by data, it’s backed up by common sense – if you have two people vaccinated and they want to get together, … the risk is not zero, the risk becomes extremely low. ‘
Fauci said realizing the power of the vaccine to change ordinary interactions with friends and family members will likely encourage people to get the vaccine.
He said that once his daughter had her two hits, like him, he would invite her “ and give her a big hug ” – which he hasn’t done for a year.
“ So we’re going to start to see people say, hey, the more people get vaccinated, I can have dinner with a family member coming in, I can go see my mom, if she’s vaccinated. ”
Asked by Cuomo if he expected to see restaurants, airlines, and employers asking for some sort of vaccination “ passport ”, Fauci replied, “ I think you’re going to see a gradual increase in this. ”
He added: “There will be personal, social and public health benefit.”
Joe Biden marked the administration of the 50 millionth dose of COVID-19 vaccine since being sworn in on Thursday.
“ The more people get vaccinated, the faster we’re going to beat this pandemic, ” Biden said, noting that his administration is on track to exceed its promise to deliver 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office.
Despite bad weather hampering vaccination programs in some areas, Biden said progress has been excellent.
“We’re halfway there: 50 million shots in 37 days,” Biden said.
“It’s weeks ahead of schedule.
In total, more than 45 million Americans have received at least one dose of the approved vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna since they received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in December, and more than 20 million have received both. required doses.
Biden noted the promise of a third vaccine receiving approval as early as this weekend, as Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose candidate undergoes FDA review.
“We have a plan to roll it out as quickly as Johnson & Johnson can,” Biden said.
Nationwide, 52,669 people are currently hospitalized and on Thursday 3,138 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded.
That’s more than Wednesday’s death toll of 2,447.
As Fauci spoke on Thursday, hospitalizations were at their lowest since November 4
The death toll in the United States from the pandemic rose to 508,114 on Thursday
The number of US coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic has risen to more than 28 million
Fauci said that while vaccinations were certainly helping bring the pandemic under control, they weren’t the only thing.
“I don’t think that’s the only factor. I think it’s a combination of things, ”he said, noting that the peak in December and January was due to unsafe behavior such as vacation travel, which has now declined.
And he said people were right to worry about mutations, but the key to stopping the mutation was stopping the spread.
A new variant, developed in the United States and known as B.1.427 / B.1.429, which arose in California, has emerged as a variant of concern.
New studies have suggested that infection with the variant increases the viral load about twice as high as originally circulating strains of the virus, spreads at least as easily as other recent variants, and could be up to 11 times more deadly.
The variant was first identified in May 2020 and was virtually non-existent until October.
In a recent study, which is expected to be posted on the medRxiv.org server later this week, the University of California, San Francisco examined 2,172 samples of the virus collected between September 2020 and January 2021 in California.
In January, the new variant accounted for more than 50% of all genetically analyzed coronavirus samples.
In no time, it had become the most common strain in the state. That could account for 90% of the state’s infections by the end of March, scientists told the Los Angeles Times.
Dr Charles Chiu, professor of laboratory medicine and infectious disease expert at UCSF, told the journal that the virus appeared to be more transmissible than earlier strains by 19% to 24%.
The local California variant, called B.1.427 / B.1.429, currently accounts for 50% of all cases in the state and is expected to account for 90% of all cases by the end of March (above )
The number of daily infections rose slightly on Thursday, but it is still well below the post-holiday surge in January
The death toll on Thursday rose to just over 3,100
Separate teams of researchers have found another variant of the coronavirus – this one in New York City.
The new variant may be able to escape current vaccines. But the vaccine companies are already on the case, CBS2’s Dr Max Gomez reported Thursday.
The mutation was detected by Dr. David Ho’s team at Columbia University.
Ho said this alters the protein spike, allowing the virus to dodge antibodies that could cause a weaker immune response.
“We don’t know if it’s more transmissible, but we are seeing it increasing in our patient population,” Ho told CBS2.
Fauci said: “The best way to prevent the emergence of new variants is to stop their spread.
“Viruses only mutate if they spread.
Fauci said a vaccine would provide a level of antibodies that would act as a “ cushion ” – although it was not specifically tailored to the mutation.
“The higher the level of protection, there is a fallout, if you will,” he says.
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