A state's overall vaccination rate can disguise much lower numbers in certain pockets that remain highly vulnerable to outbreaks. National and even state-level metrics for infection or vaccination rates can be misleading, Mokdad says. The most precise indicators of progress or problems are very local. Local numbers can tell you more than state or national ones Last month, for example, 92 people died of COVID-19 in Maryland. That means vastly different outcomes for those who are vaccinated and those who aren't. The current vaccines are highly effective against COVID-19, including the delta variant. Graduates participate in a University of Southern California commencement ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in May.Īl Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesĪs a result, Goldman says, we're likely to see continued transmission of the virus in the U.S., concentrated in the areas with lowest rates of vaccination. So that virus could still carry a lot of surprises," he says. It's not at the end of the mutation cycle that it can do. and how it has been changing, there's still a lot of room for it to mutate. "When you look at the genetic makeup and sequencing of the virus. And the coronavirus itself is evolving too. He says there aren't set-in-stone metrics to determine when a pandemic is over because such situations are dynamic and change so fast.
When the time comes, Mokdad tells NPR, "it's very important for our own CDC. He previously served in numerous roles over nearly 20 years at the CDC. The CDC did not respond to NPR on the matter.Īli Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington, hopes that the CDC will eventually give Americans that go-ahead sign. It's not clear whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will issue any sort of all-clear.
Health care workers, first responders and essential workers are honored for their service during the COVID-19 pandemic at the Hometown Heroes ticker tape parade in Manhattan on Wednesday. led the world in coronavirus cases, the virus is now under much better control due to wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines. declared the coronavirus a public health emergency in January 2020.Īfter many months in which the U.S. There are no set-in-stone metrics for when it's over The question of when the crisis will be over is a layered one - with different answers from local, national and global perspectives. Late pandemic American life hasn't quite returned to the status quo, but it feels much closer to normal than it did six months ago.īut while we may long for authorities to give an all-clear and say the pandemic is history, the crisis isn't over, in the U.S. is now averaging 154 deaths a day from COVID-19 - a tiny fraction compared with the coronavirus pandemic's peak - and some safety measures and restrictions are still in place. In many ways, American life is returning to normalcy: Masks are no longer required in many locations, schools and universities are slated to reopen and the days of social distancing have begun to fade as concerts and sporting events bring spectators back. While pandemic restrictions have been lifted for much of the U.S., the delta variant of the coronavirus is hospitalizing thousands of people in the U.S. People relax at the Georgetown Waterfront Park on Monday in Washington, D.C.
0 kommentar(er)
