US is unprepared to protect residents from virus while states are reopening, former acting CDC director says

“We don’t have the testing capacity now to know where this disease is,” Besser said. “We have not scaled up the thousands and thousands of contact tracers that we need, we don’t provide safe places for people to isolate or quarantine if they are identified as either having an infection or being in contact.”

“We are saying, if you have money and you are white, you can do well here,” he said. “If you are not, good luck to you.”

African Americans hit harder than any other US group

Black Americans represent 13.4% of the US population, according to the US Census Bureau, but counties with higher black populations account for more than half of all coronavirus cases and almost 60% of deaths, the study found.

Epidemiologists and clinicians from four universities worked with amfAR, the AIDS research non-profit, and Seattle’s Center for Vaccine Innovation and Access, PATH, and analyzed cases and deaths using county-level comparisons.

They compared counties with a disproportionate number of black residents — those with a population of 13% or more — with those with lower numbers of African American residents. Counties with higher populations of black residents accounted for 52% of coronavirus diagnoses and 58% of Covid-19 deaths nationally, they said.

More states reopening

By May 10, at least 43 states will have completely or partially reopened.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who issued the first stay-at-home order and vowed to abide by science despite mounting pressure from business owners, announced this week that some retail stores — including florists and book shops — will be allowed to reopen Friday.

“I cannot impress upon people more, we’re not going back to normal, we’re going back to a new normal, with adaptations and modifications until we get to immunity until we get to a vaccine. We’ll get there,” Newsom said.

For the first time since the outbreak began, the weekly count of coronavirus deaths in the state has declined, according to data from the state’s health department. The week ending May 3 saw 505 deaths, a slight drop from the prior week’s report of 527 victims.

In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that starting this week, outdoor gatherings of up to 20 people will be allowed and dine-in services at restaurants will also be allowed to resume.

The state saw its largest number of reported deaths in a day, the governor said Tuesday, adding that Mississippi has also seen the largest number of cases reported in two of the last five days.

Starting May 8, hair salons, nail salons, tanning salons and pools will also be allowed to reopen in the state as long as long as they maintain certain guidelines.

Virus spread extremely quickly starting late last year

As they reopen, some states have pushed to build stronger contact tracing frameworks and conduct more antibody tests to get a better understanding of just how far and fast the virus has spread.

But officials are still learning about the virus.

Researchers in Britain looked at mutations in the virus and found evidence of quick spread, but no evidence the virus is becoming more easily transmitted or more likely to cause serious disease.

“The virus is changing, but this in itself does not mean it’s getting worse,” genetics researcher Francois Balloux of the University College London Genetics Institute told CNN.

The analysis also ruled out scenarios that assumed coronavirus was circulating for months before it was identified and had by now infected “large proportions of the population,” the researchers wrote.

At most, 10% of the global population has been exposed to the virus, Balloux estimated.

“Think how much pain, suffering, death and economic disruption we’ve had in getting from 5% to 15% of the population infected and hopefully protected,” Osterholm said. “Wake up, world. Do not believe the rhetoric that says this is going to go away.”