Covid-19: C.D.C. Order Requires Masks for Travel in U.S.
Countries are tightening borders to evade virus variants...
“At least one confirmed case of the South Africa-based coronavirus variant has been detected in the Baltimore metro region.
Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland on Saturday
said there had been at least one confirmed case in the state of a more contagious variant of the coronavirus found in South Africa that has proved to be
more resistant to vaccines.“
[...]
“The variant was
first detected in the United States this week in South Carolina, which is already experiencing one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the nation. Not long after, a second case was discovered with no known connection to the first, state officials announced on Thursday.
Neither patient had a history of travel, officials said, suggesting what many public health experts feared had come to pass: The new variant of the virus had taken root in the United States.
The Biden administration on Saturday put in place a
ban on incoming travel from South Africa of noncitizens.
Known as B.1.351, the variant is one of several that have emerged during the pandemic. Others include a variant from Brazil, which has been
detected in Minnesota, and one from
Britain, which is spreading more widely in the United States.”
[...]
“Epidemiologists tracking the United States epidemic were already concerned that the variant first identified in Britain
could become the dominant strain circulating in the United States by March. The United States
is conducting little of the genomic sequencing necessary to track the spread of new variants that have caused concern.
Both
Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech — the companies manufacturing the two vaccines on the U.S. market — have said their shots are slightly less effective against the variant from South Africa, and the companies are considering creating either a booster shot or new version to head off the variant. The vaccine developed by Novavax, which has yet to be administered in the United States,
appeared to be especially ineffective in trials at protecting against the South Africa variant.
Public health officials including Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, have warned that circulation of new variants with increased transmissibility would invariably lead to more infections, and by extension, increased hospitalizations and deaths. Dr. Fauci said Friday that
new clinical trial results from Johnson & Johnson, showing that its vaccine is less effective against the variant from South Africa,
were a “wake-up call.”“
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Countries tighten borders as alarm over coronavirus variants grows.
“Countries are tightening their borders as a ban takes effect Saturday on noncitizens traveling to the United States
from South Africa, amid warnings over the threat posed by a
virus variantspreading rapidly there and signs that it can weaken the effectiveness of vaccines.
In recent days,
Johnson & Johnson and
Novavax have each announced that their vaccines provided strong protection against Covid-19, but the results came with a significant cautionary note: Their
efficacy rate dropped in South Africa, where the highly contagious variant is driving most cases. Studies suggest that the variant also blunts the effectiveness of Covid vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax.
The variant, B.1.351, has spread to at least 31 countries, including two cases documented in the United States this week.“
