The increase in cases may be a result of the widening transmission of a variant first identified in Britain, B.1.1.7, that is believed to be 50% more transmissible than the conventional strain of the virus, Walensky said.
variant now represents an estimated 10% of coronavirus cases nationwide, Walensky said, up from between 1% to 4% a few weeks ago.
In California, five counties — San Mateo and Marin counties, in the Bay Area; Yolo County, west of Sacramento; and Shasta and Humboldt counties farther north — were allowed by state officials to reopen indoor restaurant dining and indoor gyms to limited capacity this week.Fauci said that the pharmaceutical company Moderna this week began a clinical trial to test a booster shot specifically designed to be effective against the South Africa variant.
Officials in Los Angeles County have started to detect a slowing in the decline of daily coronavirus cases, said Dr.County was averaging about 1,871 coronavirus cases a day over the last seven-day period, a 16% drop from the comparable figure a week earlier, which was 2,236 cases a day.
A rate of 1,500 to 2,000 new coronavirus cases a day still “indicates a pretty significant level of ongoing community spread of the virus,†Simon said.County next week, up from 211,000 doses that were distributed this week.
California has administered 8.2 million doses of vaccines, Gov.Gavin Newsom said at a press briefing in Fresno on Friday, with the state averaging about 1.4 million doses a week.
Soon, the goal will be to administer 2.7 million doses a week and eventually 4 million doses a week.
This week, California received 1.46 million doses; next week, 1.58 million doses are expected, and the week after that, 1.63 million doses, Newsom said.“Every day, we are doing better — a little bit better — on the issue of equity, and recognize we have a long way to go, so much more work to do to truly be held to account to a higher level of performance, particularly for our Latino community and our African American community,†Newsom said