“You can take off your mask. You don’t need it anymore”, said the taxi driver to the report of Sheet, who boarded with his face covered in a race in Boston. The app, however, continues to require the item to travel.
After months without restrictions on agglomerations or the closing of shops and schools, the United States is feeling the heat of early spring in the Northern Hemisphere and is preparing for the third summer of the pandemic as if it already did not exist. Meanwhile, experts recall that it is not quite like that – the federal government too, as it has extended the mandatory use of masks on planes and hospitals and on public transport, which would cease to be valid this Monday (18), for another two weeks.
The last few weeks indicate an increase in Covid cases. Of the 50 American states, 27 recorded a worsening in contagions. “The other states will likely see the same in the next two weeks,” says David Dowdy, a professor of immunology at Johns Hopkins University. “But hospitalizations are not going up. It is reasonable to take some preventive measures, but this wave will not be as serious as the last one.”
The national average of cases is 33 thousand per day, far below the 780 thousand daily diagnoses reached in January this year. The current high hits especially the northwest region of the country, which includes New York and Washington. The area has had around 120 new cases daily per 100,000 inhabitants. That’s double the rate recorded in March, but still a far cry from the 2,200 rate seen in January.
The worsening is credited to the advancement of a subvariant of the omicron, BA.2, which is becoming prevalent in places like New York. Initial studies point out that it is 30% more contagious than the original omicron. “We still don’t know if it also generates more deaths, hospitalizations or sequelae. But we don’t see a wave of hospitalizations in the last 14 or 21 days related to the new strain, which is encouraging”, says Mark Schleiss, researcher at the University’s Molecular Virology Institute. from Minnesota.
According to him, one of the reasons that make it difficult to study the new mutation is the increase in the volume of self-tests, carried out at home – the US government has distributed thousands of them free of charge.
The plot of a wave brought by a variant has been repeated on other occasions, but now the state response has been more timid, also because the other numbers are stable. The average number of deaths is in the range of 450 daily, lower than the 700 in April 2021 and well below the record of 2,200 in January this year.
Among the big cities, Philadelphia, with 1.6 million inhabitants, determined the return of the use of masks in closed places from Monday (18). If the situation worsens, the next measure will be to resume the requirement of proof of vaccination for access to public places – closing activities or restricting hours for now are out of the question.
The US remains firm in this strategy. Even in January, at the highest peak in cases on record, schools and businesses continued to operate. At the time, the actions of governments were to reinforce the appeal for masks and, in some cities, to demand the vaccination pass for leisure spaces. The strategy, however, only lasted a few weeks: in Washington, the immunization charge lasted from January 15 to February 15, and mandatory use of face protection in places like grocery stores and gyms dropped in early March.
“We can end school and business closures. We have the tools we need. It’s time for Americans to get back to work and fill inner cities,” Joe Biden said in his March 1 State of the Union address. “Covid no longer controls our lives.”
The White House tactic focuses on the vaccine, but immunization with the first complete cycle stagnated at 66% — in Brazil, the percentage is 75.6%. Even with stimulus campaigns (which included money and sweepstakes) or punishments (such as restricting the access of unvaccinated people to restaurants), the total number of immunized people has advanced only 3 percentage points since January.
And the 66% cover very different realities: there are states where practically one in two inhabitants has not been vaccinated, such as Alabama (51% with full cycle) and Georgia (54%). Other more populous ones, such as California (72%) and New York (77%), have higher rates.
At the end of March, the government started offering the fourth dose to people over 50 years old. Biden, 79, received his at a public event, which he used to pressure Congress to approve more resources to fight Covid – a deal is sought to free up $10 billion to buy more tests, drugs and vaccines.
Republicans hold back approval of the budget to pressure Democrats to review measures that would ease immigration. The current agreement, which needs to be voted on, leaves out the cost of exams and immunizations for people without health insurance. So a simple test, now free in many places, costs around $100 for the uninsured.
Another risky encounter between the pandemic and politics takes place with the “midterms”, midterm elections that renew part of Congress, in November. If in Washington the tenuous Democratic majority will be at stake, due to the low popularity of Biden, the elections in city halls and state governments in several parts of the country could lead governments to avoid the adoption of unpopular measures in the coming months.
Schleiss argues that the best weapon to beat Covid now will be to vaccinate children widely, as they help spread the virus even if they don’t show symptoms. “It’s the same thing with any other viral disease, like measles. As long as we don’t have a strategy to universalize childhood vaccination against Covid, we will continue to fight the disease.”
Dowdy also indicates care in large agglomerations. “It’s not about banning mass events, it’s about taking steps like improving ventilation, prioritizing outdoor environments, requiring vaccinations — and even considering wearing masks,” she says.
The heat is conducive to all this. In late March, thousands of people came to see the cherry blossoms in Washington, with parks filled with unmasked people swarming to take pictures. The accessory was only seen on the subway, with crowded wagons and many passengers forgetting protection. There were no employees to charge for usage, and other travelers didn’t seem to mind.
