Covid-19 is returning to parts of the northeastern United States with the BA.2 variant, becoming the dominant strain, authorities said Wednesday, while Congress is urged to approve new funds against the disease, necessary so as not to jeopardize the supply of future treatments and vaccines.
The country is currently registering an average of 28,600 cases per day, well below the last contagion peak of more than 800,000 daily infections on average in January.
Deaths from covid-19 are around 900 per day, with a total, expected in about a month, of one million deaths from the disease.
The director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, told the press that there were early signs of a new wave of infections.
“We have seen a slight increase in reported cases of COVID-19 in the state and in New York City and also some increases in people hospitalized for COVID-19 in New England, specifically where the BA.2 variant has reached levels of 50% (prevalence),” he said.
The new variant BA.2 does not seem to cause a more severe form of the disease than that caused by the first omicron variant, BA.1, nor does it seem more likely to evade immune protection, but it is more transmissible.
Currently, 35% of cases nationwide are caused by the BA.2 variant and it is expected that it will soon be the dominant strain in the country.
The coronavirus spike comes as Congress declined to add $22.5 billion to funding for the Covid response in a bill passed last week.
“At this stage, our resources are exhausted,” said Health Secretary Xavier Becerra.
Supplies of monoclonal antibody treatments to states have been cut by 35%, and treatments are expected to run out by May.
The coordinator of the response against the White House covid, Jeff Zients, affirmed that there were enough supplies to give a fourth dose of the vaccine to the immunocompromised and in the coming weeks to the elderly population.
“However, if the science shows that the fourth dose is needed for the general population by the end of the year, we do not have the necessary supplies to ensure free doses are readily available to all Americans,” he added.
“Inaction in Congress will set us back, leaving us less prepared and costing more lives,” the official warned.
