Despite a recent decline in the number of coronavirus cases during the past several weeks, health experts are worried about spring break and the possibility of increased travel.
“Any event that involves increased travel and people relaxing preventative measures is a concern,” Amber D’Souza, a professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told NBC’s Today.
D’Souza said as the situation improves and restrictions are rolled back, many tend to become more lax, which can cause new outbreaks to surge. “This is exactly what we saw after Thanksgiving and after Christmas,” she said. “It’s an ongoing cycle and an ongoing concern.”
On Tuesday, states from coast to coast were scrambling to catch up on vaccinations a week after winter storms battered a large swath of the U.S. and led to clinic closures, canceled appointments and shipment backlogs nationwide. But limited supply of the two approved COVID-19 vaccines hampered the pace of vaccinations even before extreme weather delayed the delivery of about 6 million doses.
The White House promised Tuesday that help is on the way. States can expect about 14.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine this week, an almost 70% increase in distribution during the past month, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday. White House coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients told governors on Tuesday that the number of doses sent directly to pharmacies will increase by about 100,000 this week, Psaki said.
The stepped-up efforts come as the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. surpassed 500,000, far more than any other country.
More than 44 million Americans have received at least one dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and about 1.4 million per day received either a first or second dose during the past seven days, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although average daily deaths and cases have been falling, some experts say not enough Americans have been inoculated for the vaccine to be the reason. The decline instead is attributed to the passing of the holidays, more people staying indoors during the winter and better adherence to mask rules and social distancing.
“The rates have come down,” D’Souza said, “but they’re still not what we would consider low. We’re just much better than where we were a month ago.”
What’s more, they warn that dangerous variants could cause the trend to reverse. States are responding by simultaneously trying to catch up from last week’s pause and gear up to vaccinate more people in coming weeks.
President Joe Biden has said that every American who wants a vaccine will be able to get one by the end of July. But demand continues to outpace limited supplies distributed by the U.S. government.
Executives from five companies with contracts to supply shots to the U.S. — Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax — testified about supply issues Tuesday before Congress’ Energy and Commerce Committee.
Looking ahead to summer, Pfizer and Moderna executives said they expect to complete delivery of 300 million doses each, and J&J aims to provide an additional 100 million doses — more than enough to vaccinate every American adult.
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