“With July 4th holiday coming up and eventually kids going back to school, we have to be concerned that this would be a trend that could continue. And if it does, it would appear that we may be in the beginning of the third surge of Covid-19 here in the state of Arkansas,” he stated.
More than 90% of energetic virus circumstances are individuals who haven’t been vaccinated, Gov. Asa Hutchinson stated throughout the briefing.
The state noticed 988 Covid-19 deaths since late January, and 99.6% of these deaths had been individuals who weren’t vaccinated, Hutchinson added. In the identical time interval, greater than 98% of these hospitalized with Covid-19 weren’t vaccinated.
“The vaccine, as well as continued practicing of social distancing and masking when that is necessary, are our pathways out of a third surge of Covid-19,” Patterson stated.
The risk of another wave might be triggered by the four million individuals who have but to get vaccinated, she warned.
“We have enough risk and enough unvaccinated people for Delta to pose a threat to our recovery and masking up now, could help prevent a resurgence in transmission,” Ferrer stated, pushing again in opposition to criticism about steering to renew mask-wearing indoors.
Overall, the US noticed a 10% enhance in the seven-day common of Covid-19 circumstances, stated Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who heads the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Looking state by state and county by county, it is clear that communities where people remain unvaccinated are communities that remain vulnerable. This is all true as we monitor the continued spread of the hyper-transmissible Delta variant,” Walensky stated.
Two-thirds of adults in the US have acquired a minimum of one dose of the vaccine as of Thursday, CDC information exhibits. Over the previous week, a mean of 661,795 individuals turned absolutely vaccinated each day.
4th of July celebrations are OK. But first: Be cautious and get vaccinated
Dr. Anthony Fauci supplied a glimmer of excellent news forward of the vacation: Americans can rejoice with the correct precautions, he stated.
“That is, if you were vaccinated, you have a high degree of protection. If you are not, you should wear a mask, and you should think very seriously about getting vaccinated,” stated Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Jeff Zients, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, echoed Fauci’s recommendation.
“It’s an appropriate time to step back and celebrate the progress we’ve made,” Zients stated throughout a briefing.
The vacation signifies that extra individuals shall be on the transfer.
In Chicago, Friday is anticipated to be the busiest day of journey at O’Hare and Midway International Airports since the starting of the pandemic, in keeping with the metropolis’s Department of Aviation. More than 220,000 passengers are anticipated to go by means of O’Hare and 41,000 passengers at Midway on Friday, the division stated in a press release.
Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport can be anticipated to see its busiest journey surges since the pandemic started, an airport spokesperson informed CNN. During the interval from Wednesday by means of Monday, the airport expects over 1.7 million passengers.
J&J vaccines defend in opposition to variants and do not want boosters, information exhibits
Johnson & Johnson stated its one-shot coronavirus vaccine offers immunity that lasts a minimum of eight months, and it seems to supply safety in opposition to the Delta variant.
“Current data for the eight months studied so far show that the single-shot Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine generates a strong neutralizing antibody response that does not wane; rather, we observe an improvement over time,” Dr. Mathai Mammen, head of analysis and growth at J&J’s Janssen vaccine arm, stated in a press release.
The firm stated one dose elicits each a long-lasting antibody response and generates immune cells referred to as T-cells that may final for that point interval.
Further, the firm stated further information from its examine of the Covid-19 vaccine shall be made accessible in the coming months.
And for individuals who acquired a J&J shot, Fauci stated scientific information at the moment don’t present a must administer booster doses.
Fauci added that the choice to spice up could rely on native conditions and might be selected a neighborhood stage.
“But you should only be making a formal recommendation based on clinical data,” Fauci stated
CNN’s Deidre McPhillips, Carma Hassan, Devon M. Sayers, Jacqueline Howard, Maggie Fox, Cheri Mossburg and Jen Christensen contributed to this report.