Expert says US is in the 'eye of the hurricane' as variants spread

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Mon, 2021-02-08 09:54 — mike kraft

Despite dip in Covid-19 cases, expert says US is in the 'eye of the hurricane' as variants spread While a recent dip in Covid-19 infections may seem encouraging, experts warn now is not the time for Americans to let their guard down. Christina Maxouris, CNN CNN

(CNN) While a recent dip in Covid-19 infections may seem encouraging, experts warn now is not the time for Americans to let their guard down.

That's largely because of new variants circulating in the US, putting the country once again in the "eye of the hurricane," according to one expert.

"I've been on Zoom calls for the last two weeks about how we're going to manage this," Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN Sunday.

"The big wall is about to hit us again and these are the new variants."

Nearly 700 cases of Covid-19 variants first spotted in the UK, South Africa and Brazil have been reported in the US so far, according to data updated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The vast majority of those cases are the B.1.1.7 strain, which was first detected in the UK and has now been spotted in at least 33 states. Experts say the highly contagious variant will likely soon become dominant in the US, and a new study found significant community transmission may already be occurring.

"This could be really, very dire for our country as we head into the spring," Hotez said of the variants. "Now, we're in a race. We're in a race to see how quickly we can vaccinate the American people."

On Sunday, the US surpassed 27 million reported infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More than 31 million Americans have so far received at least their first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, according to CDC data, as officials work to ramp up vaccinations across the country. More than 9 million people have so far received both doses of a vaccine, according to the data.

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Mitigation measures will play an especially key role in helping schools safely reopen, two officials said Sunday, as the CDC is expected to soon release guidelines on how schools can open during the pandemic....

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