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While emerging variants of the coronavirus remain a threat, health experts have said they hope rising vaccination rates and continued wearing of masks may dampen the potential of a new wave.
One wonders whether the immunity offered by vaccines will be less effective against certain variants of the coronavirus, including the strain first identified in South Africa, B.1.351, and the Californian strain, B.1.427 / B .1.429.
Researchers at UC San Francisco have said that in lab tests, the California strain was more resistant to the effects of neutralizing antibodies generated by the immune system in response to COVID-19 vaccines or by a previous coronavirus infection. Compared to other variants, the protection provided by the antibodies was reduced by a “moderate … but significant” amount, the UCSF researchers said.
When the neutralizing antibodies were mounted against the local strain, their effectiveness was reduced by half. By comparison, when these antibodies encountered the strain of coronavirus now dominant in South Africa, their effectiveness has been reduced to one sixth of their usual levels.
Vaccine makers have started working on booster shots that would be more suitable for the newer variants. But researchers say vaccines are still good enough and remain our best bet for being protected against the virus. Doctors urge people to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible.
Vaccination campaigns are a major contributor to the continued decline in daily coronavirus cases, and the trend is gratifying, said Dr Eric McDonald, medical director of the San Diego County Department of Epidemiology this week.
McDonald said that although the California strain “is a little more contagious than others circulating in the community, the take-home message is the same: you must do whatever we have recommended to prevent transmission.” – therefore, wear masks, take social distances, stay at home.
“We couldn’t say it in stronger terms: we think it’s a mistake to take the foot off too soon, especially when we’re ramping up our vaccination efforts right now,” said Andy Slavitt, senior COVID adviser at the White House -19 Response Team.
Vaccinations have been a factor in the decline of new coronavirus cases in LA County, as well as the fact that so many residents have developed some immunity from exposure to the virus. Health officials also credit residents with greater adherence to guidelines for wearing masks in public and avoiding social gatherings since the start of the fall and winter wave. (Officials also did not detect a surge in cases linked to rallies over Super Bowl weekend.)
At LA County skilled nursing facilities – among the first places vaccines were administered – daily new cases of coronavirus have plummeted in recent weeks, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said this week. . As of February 7, the average number of daily coronavirus cases associated with residents of skilled nursing facilities was only five. Four weeks earlier, that number was over 100.
As of February 14, 74% of residents eligible for injections at skilled nursing facilities in LA County, and 77% of staff, had received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Of those who received their first dose, 83% of staff and 79% of residents also received their second injection.
“With many more staff and residents vaccinated, new cases are expected to continue to decline, which means fewer outbreaks and, thankfully, fewer deaths,” Ferrer said.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top infectious disease specialist, said the rise of variants made it all the more essential that people get vaccinated as soon as they can.
Fauci has raised concerns that a fittest survival competition between UK and California variants could accelerate the spread of the strain best able to escape the effects of COVID-19 vaccines. The best way to avoid this, Fauci told The Times, is to stop the spread of both variants by getting vaccinated, wearing masks, and limiting exposure to others.
New daily cases have dropped dramatically in California, but the week-over-week decline has eased in recent days. California averaged 5,800 cases per day on Thursday, down 21% from the previous week. The week-over-week decline was larger, 34%.
Federal officials expressed concern on Friday that the drop in daily domestic coronavirus cases is starting to flatten out, as one of the mutant variants, originating from the UK, increases across the country.
They warned of state loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, saying the nation remains at a precarious point that could tip into a fourth wave before more people are vaccinated.
“We’re in this very precarious position that we were in just before the fall push – where anything that could disrupt that could give us another push,” Fauci told reporters in a briefing Friday. “We don’t want to be people who always look at the dark side of things, but you want to be realistic. So we need to take a close look at what happens over the next week with these numbers before we start to make things understandable. [decisions] to relax on certain restrictions.
The average daily number of coronavirus cases in California is at its lowest point since the fall and winter wave began its rapid acceleration in early November. The daily number of cases statewide has fallen 87% since early January, when there were 45,000 new cases a day.
COVID-19 hospitalizations in California have fallen 75% from their January 6 peak of 21,936; that number fell to 5,590 on Thursday, the lowest since November 23.
In addition, the number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care units in California fell 66%, from a high of 4,868 on January 10 to 1,640 on Thursday. This is the lowest figure since November 28.
The rate at which coronavirus test results come back positive in the past seven days hit 2.7% on Friday, a substantial drop from the peak of the winter surge, when the positivity rate reached 14.34% for the seven-day period that ended in January. 7. California’s positivity rate is now the lowest since mid-October.
Hundreds of deaths from COVID-19 are still reported daily, although at a rate lower than the peak of around 562 deaths per day at the end of January. As of Thursday, 401 more COVID-19-related deaths were reported by California’s 61 local health agencies, according to a Times tally; another 395 deaths were reported Friday evening, according to an incomplete preliminary investigation.
As of Friday evening, local health agencies in California had reported a total of 51,788 deaths from COVID-19 in the state since the start of the pandemic. Per capita, California has the 30th highest cumulative COVID-19 death rate among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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