COVID variant, B.1.1.7. threatens children and rates are rising in neighboring states. By Terry Falk - Apr 12th, 2021 10:36 am //end headline wrapper ?>School classroom. (Pixabay License).
On April 5, the city of Madison reported that 21 children and daycare workers at one facility came down with the B.1.1.7 variant. A recent
Wisconsin
Examiner article outlined that an increase in this variant was far more contagious and far more likely to cause serious health complications.
Because its transmission rate is 50% to 100% greater than the original COVID-19, the B.1.1.7 mutation, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, is already the dominant strand in Wisconsin. Previous evidence showed that, with the original strain, adults were most affected; children were far less likely to get sick from the virus and to transmit it. This new variant has changed all that.
Fourth Surge May Be a Second Wave
The CDC announced on April 7 that a coronavirus variant first detected in the U.K is now dominant in the U.S. In some ways, we re almost in a new pandemic, said one prominent public health expert earlier about the more transmissible variant. April 12, 2021, 7am PDT | Irvin Dawid Share B117, the coronavirus variant first detected in the United Kingdom in December, is now the most common variant in the United States, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, reported Stephanie Soucheray for CIDRAP News on Wednesday, April 7.
Texas Governor Abbott believes his state may have reached herd immunity despite only 19 percent dailymail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Has Texas achieved herd immunity? “There is no way on God’s green earth,” an expert says.
People waiting in line to enter a vaccination site at a high school in Houston last month.Credit.Go Nakamura for The New York Times
April 11, 2021
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas may have been overly optimistic on Sunday when he said on Fox News that his state could be “very close” to herd immunity the point where so much of the population is immune to Covid-19, either from being vaccinated or previously infected, that the virus can no longer spread.
“When you look at the senior population, for example, more than 70 percent of our seniors have received a vaccine shot, more than 50 percent of those who are 50 to 65 have received a vaccine shot,” Mr. Abbott, a Republican, told Chris Wallace. Mr. Wallace had asked why statewide infection, hospitalization and death rates were more under control than in other states, in spite of Texas reopening many activities and eliminating mask manda