Some states are seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases

Covid-19 cases in the U.S. have steadily increased over the past week as USA Today reports that nearly half of the new Covid-19 infections nationwide are in just five states. These states include New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey which together reported 44% of the nations new infections. Michigan averaged at 6,600 cases a day for over a week according to CNN.

With the uptick of cases in these states, this has pressured the federal government to reconsider how its currently distributing vaccines by sending more doses to these hot spots.

Elected officials and health experts have pointed out that the highly contagious variants such as the B.1.1.7 which was first detected in the U.K. has caused this increase in cases. On April 7, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that the B.1.1.7 variant is now the dominant lineage in the U.S. The B.1.1.7 has been detected in every state as more than 16,200 cases of the variant have been confirmed in surveillance testing.

This comes as vaccines continue being distributed nationwide. CNN reported that on April 7, the U.S. had more than 109.4 million people aged 18 and older with at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine which is about 42.4% of adults in the U.S.

Some states including North Dakota might be able to vaccinate all willing adults by the end of June. California will open up vaccine eligibility to residents 16 and older on Thursday joining the other states that have expanded vaccine eligibility. However, it could some states until the end of this year to distribute vaccines.

While some states have seen a recent surge in cases, others have seen a decrease as California’s cases have been declining. According to the Los Angeles Time, there were 1,799 patients hospitalized with Covid-19 statewide over the weekend which is a decline of 22% from two weeks ago. California has also seen its lowest average number of deaths from Covid-19 being reported daily since the autumn and winter.