US reports lowest average of daily Covid-19 infections and deaths since March 2020. But experts warn millions are still vulnerable

The US is making significant strides in curbing the coronavirus pandemic just in time for the summer, with reported infections reaching a new low over the last year.

The country averaged less than 14,400 daily reported infections and 427 deaths over the past seven days, according to Johns Hopkins University data. It’s the lowest the US has seen since late March 2020, just weeks after the pandemic was first declared.

The good news comes as about 42% of Americans are fully vaccinated, while nearly 52% have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But health experts are warning that the recent lag in vaccination rates leaves millions unprotected against Covid-19 variants that have made their way to the US from other parts of the world.

The US reached its peak of daily vaccinations on April 1, with more than 4.3 million people inoculated in one day, according the CDC. Since then, the numbers have plummeted. Over the past week, an average of roughly 560,000 Americans have been vaccinated each day.

As the US enters what the former CDC director called the “slog-phase of the vaccination campaign,” health experts have been drawing attention to both vaccine hesitancy and accessibility issues.

In Texas, a group of Houston Methodist Hospital workers on Monday protested the health care system’s requirement that staffers be vaccinated against Covid-19, CNN affiliate KTRK reported.

Houston Methodist became the first major health care system in the US to mandate Covid-19 vaccinations on March 31, starting with managers, according to an initial announcement from Houston Methodist CEO Marc Boom.

Boom told CNN that those who did not comply with his vaccination hospital’s policy were suspended after violating the tenets of the medical profession.

“Every one of our professional tenets require us to put patients first, require us to keep our patients safe, by anything we can possibly do, so those individuals who are choosing not to get vaccinated are basically saying they are going against the tenets of our profession and they’re not putting patients first,” Boom said.

Variants: The ‘powerful argument’ to get vaccinated

Experts have warned that Covid-19 variants, such as the B.1.617.2 variant first identified in India, pose considerable danger to those who are unvaccinated and relying on their immunity from previous infection.

The variant’s spread and dominance in the United Kingdom, which was first hit hard by the Alpha variant — B.1.1.7 — could spell trouble for the US if people don’t get vaccinated, Fauci said in a White House Covid-19 briefing.

“We cannot let that happen in the United States,” Fauci said in a White House Covid-19 briefing Tuesday, adding it’s “such a powerful argument” to get vaccinated.

Fauci, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, warned that the Delta variant “may be associated with an increased disease severity, such as hospitalization risk, compared to (the Alpha variant, B.1.1.7).”

The variant is susceptible to available two-dose vaccines from Pfizer and AstraZeneca, he said, but protection from these vaccines requires following a two-dose schedule.

“There is reduced vaccine effectiveness in the one dose,” Fauci said. “Three weeks after one dose, both vaccines, the (AstraZeneca) and the Pfizer/BioNtech, were only 33% effective against symptomatic disease from Delta.”

He added that variant-specific boosters may be on the horizon.

Even those who’ve already had coronavirus should get vaccinated because research shows immunity achieved through vaccination is better than immunity through previous infection, Fauci said.

CDC issues new international travel guidance

Federal health officials on Monday added 33 countries to the lowest travel risk category and recommended new guidelines for vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

The CDC uses levels 1 through 4 to determine a threat in a given country, 1 being the lowest risk and 4 being the highest, depending on the number of Covid-19 cases. At each level, the CDC advises getting vaccinated, but its guidance for unvaccinated people varies by how severe the pandemic is in each country.

Iceland, Israel and Singapore were added Monday to the lowest risk category. Brazil, India and Iraq are currently in level 4, which means they’ve had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the last 28 days.

For countries at level 3, such as Mexico, Russia and Iran, the CDC recommends against nonessential travel for those who are unvaccinated. These countries are currently reporting 100 to 500 cases per 100,000 residents.

The agency also recommends that unvaccinated travelers who are at severe risk for severe illness from Covid-19 should not visit countries in level 2, which include Finland, Cambodia and Kenya.

Finally, countries at level 1, such as Australia and New Zealand, are considered the lowest risk destinations, reporting less than 50 Covid-19 cases in the last 28 days. The CDC still recommends getting vaccinated before traveling to a low-risk location.