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By Gabriella Borter and Dan Whitcomb
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tennessee emerged alongside California on Wednesday as the epicenter of the latest wave of COVID-19, even as more than one million Americans were vaccinated as US political leaders sought to protect themselves against a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus sweeping through Britain.
Tennessee recorded an average of nearly 128 new infections per 100,000 population over the past week, the highest of any U.S. state, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California ranked second with 111 new cases per 100,000 population.
“Our state is at the root of an increase in COVID-19 and we need Tennessians (to do) their part,” Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter, urging residents to wear masks and only meet with members of their own household at Christmas.
Some public health officials say Americans’ Thanksgiving trips and gatherings contributed to the latest nationwide explosion of cases.
In total, 31 U.S. states reported a grim record of new COVID-19 infections in December, as hospitalizations and deaths also rise. More than 194,600 new cases were confirmed on Tuesday alone.
The CDC said that as of Wednesday morning, more than a million people across the country received the first of two doses required for the two coronavirus vaccines that have been approved. But most Americans have been told it could be six months or more before they are eligible for vaccines, as priority is given to healthcare workers, nursing home residents, and in some cases. , to senior government officials.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Dr Anthony Fauci, America’s chief infectious disease official, received the Moderna vaccine on live television Tuesday. President-elect Joe Biden was inoculated with the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in front of cameras on Monday.
CONCERN ABOUT THE MUTANT VARIANT
U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, earlier this week criticized political leaders for putting themselves on the front lines for the shot.
“We are no more important than the frontline workers, teachers, etc. who make sacrifices every day. That’s why I won’t accept it,” Omar said on Twitter.
The Trump administration said on Wednesday it had reached a $ 2 billion deal with Pfizer to distribute an additional 100 million doses of its vaccine by July.
But Americans who saw a silver lining in the release of both vaccines in December have learned that an even more transmissible variant of the coronavirus is spreading in the UK. Drug makers Pfizer and Moderna were testing their vaccines against the variant, but believed the drugs would be effective against the mutant virus.
The United States, unlike many countries in the world, has not banned travelers from Great Britain.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would order international travelers to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival and provide their contact details to government officials. Sheriff’s deputies will travel to enforce the order on those arriving from Britain, the mayor said.
Travelers who violate these orders face fines of $ 1,000 per day, de Blasio said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked airlines to screen British travelers for COVID-19. The state was one of the early epicenter of the virus and has recorded more than 36,000 COVID deaths, far more than any other state.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee this week ordered a 14-day quarantine for travelers arriving from the UK, South Africa or other countries where the new variant has been detected.
In New York, vaccination programs have extended to the fire department, where about 6,000 staff members contracted the virus, Fire Marshal Dan Nigro told reporters. Some 400 FDNY paramedics lined up to receive their first doses of the Moderna vaccine on Wednesday, including Verena Kansog, advanced life support coordinator for Manhattan, who was vaccinated at a training center on Randalls Island.
“I feel relieved,” Kansog, who feared bringing the disease back to his elderly mother, told Reuters in a telephone interview. “I wasn’t nervous at all.”
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter and Dan Whitcomb; Additional reporting by Anurag Maan, Carlo Allegri, Jonathan Allen, Peter Szekely, Lisa Lambert, Susan Heavey and Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler)
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