MISSION,
Kan. (AP) — With the U.S. vaccination drive picking up speed and a third
formula on the way, states eager to reopen for business are easing coronavirus
restrictions despite warnings from health experts that the outbreak is far from
over and that moving too quickly could prolong the misery.
Massachusetts
on Monday made it much easier to grab dinner and a show. In Missouri, where
individual communities get to make the rules, the two biggest metropolitan
areas — St. Louis and Kansas City — are relaxing some measures. Iowa’s governor
recently lifted mask requirements and limits on the number of people allowed in
bars and restaurants, while the town of Lawrence, home to the University of
Kansas, now lets establishments stay open until midnight.
Mike
Lee, who owns Trezo Mare Restaurant & Lounge in Kansas City, said he hopes
increased vaccine access, combined with warmer weather, will improve business.
“I
think that people are excited to put this past them and be able to start to get
back to their ways of doing things,” Lee said.
The
push to reopen comes as COVID-19 vaccine shipments to the states are ramping
up. Nearly 20% of the nation’s adults — or over 50 million people — have
received at least one dose of vaccine, and 10% have been fully inoculated 2 1/2
months into the campaign to snuff out the virus, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Johnson
& Johnson shipped out nearly 4 million doses of its newly authorized, one-shot
COVID-19 vaccine Sunday night to be delivered to states for use starting on
Tuesday. The company will deliver about 16 million more doses by the end of
March and a total of 100 million by the end of June.
That
adds to the supply being distributed by Pfizer and Moderna and should help the nation amass enough doses by
midsummer to vaccinate all adults. The White House is encouraging Americans to
take the first dose available to them, regardless of manufacturer.
In New
York City, where limited indoor dining has resumed, officials said the J&J
vaccine will help the city to inoculate millions more people by summer,
including through door-to-door vaccinations of homebound senior citizens.
But the
efforts come with strong warnings from health officials against reopening too
quickly, as worrisome coronavirus variants spread.
On
Monday, the head of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, urgently warned state
officials and ordinary Americans not to let down their guard, saying she is
“really worried about reports that more states are rolling back the exact
public health measures that we have recommended.”
“I
remain deeply concerned about a potential shift in the trajectory of the
pandemic,” she said. “We stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground that
we have gained.”
Cases
and hospitalizations have plunged since the end of January, and deaths have
also dropped sharply, but they are still running at dangerously high levels and
have even risen slightly over the past several days.
“We
cannot be resigned to 70,000 cases a day and 2,000 daily deaths,” Walensky
said.
Overall,
the outbreak has killed more than a half-million Americans.
The
vaccine already is contributing to a decrease in severe cases and deaths among
older people, and is “quickly becoming a bigger contributor” nationally, Justin
Lessler, an expert in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University, said in
an email.
“I
suspect we will see it overtake natural infection as the biggest driver of
immunity late spring earliest, more likely midsummer,” Lessler said.
Dr.
Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins University,
said he believes states and cities have leeway to ease some restrictions
because hospitals no longer are at capacity in most communities. But “I do
think that masks are likely going to need to be kept in place for some time
until we get more of our vulnerable populations vaccinated,” he said.
“It is
important for restaurants who are increasing their capacity to remember that we
are still in a pandemic and to continue to follow some of those rules,” Adalja
said.
The
Biden administration wants to see all three vaccines distributed evenly, while
also acknowledging that the easy-to-handle J&J vaccine will be used in
pop-up mobile sites and locations without freezer storage capacity.
States
are hoping that the surging vaccine supply will help tamp down new infections.
In
Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker lifted restaurant capacity limits entirely.
Theaters can open at 50% capacity, with a maximum of 500 people. And capacity
limits across all businesses have been raised to 50%.
Las
Vegas on Monday became the latest of the nation’s largest school districts to
return children to classrooms. Pre-K children to third graders will go back two
days a week, with other grades to be phased in by early April.
And in
California, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders reached an agreement aimed at getting
most children back in classrooms by the end of March. Under the deal announced
Monday, school districts could receive up to $6.6 billion if they reopen by
March 31.
The
U.S. ranks fourth in the world, behind Israel, the United Arab Emirates and
Britain, in the number of doses administered relative to the population,
according to data compiled by the University of Oxford.
President
Joe Biden fell well short of his goal of setting up 100 new federally operated
mass-vaccination sites by the end of February, with just seven up and running.
White
House vaccination coordinator Jeff Zients also acknowledged that scheduling of
vaccination appointments “ remains too difficult in too many places.” But
he said the White House is working with states to improve scheduling systems
and is exploring federal support for call centers to make it easier for people
to get appointments.
Webber
reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press writers Adam Beam in
Sacramento, Califonia; Bryan Anderson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Carla K.
Johnson in Seattle; Mark Pratt in Boston; Karen Matthews in New York City; and
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this
report.
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