USA COVID cases: Five states smashed as America enters new pandemic phase

America’s COVID disaster has hit a new phase as five states have seen their cases skyrocket, accounting for almost half the nation’s new infections.

America is once again bracing for uncertainty as coronavirus continues to tear through large parts of the nation, with five states being smashed by skyrocketing cases in recent days.

Data from Johns Hopkins University shows that infections in New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey have accounted for about 43 per cent of new coronavirus cases over the last week, despite being home to just 22 per cent of the US population.

The worst-hit state is Michigan in the nation’s northeast which is averaging more than 6600 cases a day, compared to an average of 1350 daily cases five weeks ago.

California and Texas, which have vastly larger populations than Michigan, are reporting less than half its number of daily infections.

Dr Joneigh Khaldun, the state’s chief medical executive, said there had been a “significant increase” in cases – and that hospitalisations are going up as well.

“Michiganders need to double down and take the steps to help stop the spread of this virus,” she said.

A CDC map showing the level of community transmission in the US.

According to state data, hospitalisation rates are doubling every 12 to 14 days, meaning Michigan is quickly approaching the peaks seen in December.

Elected officials and health experts have said highly contagious variants such as the B117 UK strain have contributed to increases there and in other parts of the country.

I still do not understand why there isn't a big SWAT team to vaccinate Michiganders.
Today highest number of cases in 4 months
Note the thumb region pic.twitter.com/oVh6DJZlqa

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) April 7, 2021

The data indicates that the strain is spreading quickly in young people, with those aged 20-39 having the highest case rates and a number of schools seeing outbreaks.

There has also been a concerning rise linked to youth sports. Since January, basketball, hockey and wrestling have had the highest number of cases and clusters with 376 cases linked to basketball and 256 to hockey.

Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), said health experts are seeking to “understand what is happening” with COVID-19 variants in Michigan – adding that the UK strain is now the most common strain of coronavirus in the US.

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The fear is that surges like Michigan’s may soon be seen across the nation, even though vaccination rates have increased nationally, epidemiologist Dr Michael Osterholm said.

“I wish we had another three or four months before this B117 variant surge started to occur,” he told CNN.

There are also concerns about the situation over the border in Canada, which this morning saw its economic engine and most populous province of Ontario put into a four-week lockdown.

RELATED: COVID-19 variants infecting greater numbers of young people

CDC director Rochelle Walensky said experts were looking closely at what was happening in Michigan. Picture: Susan Walsh/AFP

Ontario shares a border with Michigan and has been the worst hit area by the pandemic in Canada.

The forcing of residents to stay home and the closing of retail stores except for kerbside pick-up comes just days after already-hardened public health restrictions went into effect, but have now been deemed insufficient to contain the outbreak.

Ontario added 3200 new cases or almost three-quarters of all new COVID-19 infections across the country in the past day.

More transmissible virus variants, which account for two-thirds of new cases in the province, are outpacing a stepped-up vaccination rollout.

Back over the border in Michigan, Dr Walensky said her staff were “working closely” with the state and its health officials to figure out what is happening.

“We have CDC teams on the ground working to assess outbreaks in correctional facilities,” she said. “We’re working to facilitate increased testing that is happening on the ground in the context of youth sports.”

Despite administering more than three million vaccinations a day nationally, the number of new cases has begun to rise again in the US and there have been around 64,000 new cases a day on average during the last week – about 21 per cent higher than the average two weeks ago.

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The US is administering more than three million vaccinations a day nationally. Picture: Joseph Prezioso/AFP

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Despite some states copping a large spike in infections, many parts of the nation are seeing their daily new cases drop. One example is California, the nation’s most populous state, which over the past week has averaged 2680 new cases per day.

The situation is improving elsewhere with 31 US states reporting seven-day averages of fewer than 1000 new daily cases.

The other good news is that the number of deaths has been falling across the nation thanks to increased vaccination of “vulnerable” populations, according to the CDC.

The US has averaged 774 COVID-19 deaths a day over the last week – which is down 22 per cent from the average of the week prior, according to Johns Hopkins data. That’s also a huge drop from the first day of March, when the average was about 2000 deaths a day.

Dr Walensky said the trend was encouraging.

“I’m really encouraged about these decreased numbers of deaths that I believe to be an impact of vaccination, especially the vaccination of our elderly communities,” she said.

According to the latest CDC data, 19.4 per cent of the total US population was fully vaccinated as of Wednesday; and 57.4 per cent of people age 65 and older are fully vaccinated.

Dr Anthony Fauci has warned states against opening up. Picture: AFP

However, Dr Walensky warned that the surge in cases in states like Michigan are “way too high to be thinking that we’ve won this race”.

Infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci echoed the call, saying measures like social distancing and mask-wearing are still needed as there is a large per centage of the population still at risk.

“It is premature to declare a victory,” he said. “We’ve got to continue and hang in there a bit longer by continuing with the public health measures.”

Despite this, many states have scaled back restrictions, or are planning to in the coming months.

California, the first state to lock down, plans to fully reopen activities and businesses beginning June 15, state officials said on Tuesday.

This week Vermont also laid out its 90-day reopening plan leading up to July 4, by which time its COVID-19 mandates will become guidance.

Vermont officials anticipate roughly 70 per cent of state residents will have received at least one vaccine by that date.