# Everyday activities are more dangerous now that new Covid-19 variants are circulating, expert says



## Becky1951 (Jan 26, 2021)

I read this after reading that California has lifted its stay at home order and curfew.
IMO, California should have waited considering the ease of the new variants ability to spread. 

*Everyday activities are more dangerous now that new Covid-19 variants are circulating, expert says*

_(CNN)_Health officials are "extremely" worried about the new Covid-19 variants that have been detected in the US and what they could mean over the coming months, one expert said Monday night.

"We've seen what happens in other countries that have actually had coronavirus under relatively good control, then these variants took over and they had explosive spread of the virus, and then overwhelmed hospitals," emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen told CNN's Anderson Cooper.

Officials in Minnesota announced Monday they detected the P.1 variant of the virus in a traveler from Brazil. The variant is one of four being closely watched by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and appears to be more easily transmissible. CDC officials have also said another variant -- called B.1.1.7 and first spotted in the UK -- has been detected in more than 20 states.

While the US seems to be heading in the right direction on infection rates -- with 42 states reporting downward trends -- that progress could be erased if variants take hold, Wen said. Preventing that will mean extra vigilance.

"If there is something more contagious among us, if we thought that going to the grocery store before was relatively safe, there's actually a higher likelihood of contracting coronavirus through those every day activities," she said.

"Wearing an even better mask, reducing the number of times that we have to go out shopping, or in indoor crowded settings, all of that will be helpful," Wen added.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told NBC Monday wearing two masks is likely more effective in stopping the spread of the virus.

"If you have a physical covering with one layer, you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective," he said.

The good news, Fauci told CNN in a separate interview Monday, is that current Covid-19 vaccines are likely to be effective against the new variants.

"The sobering news," he added, "(is) as you get more and more replication, you can get more and more of evolution of mutants, which means you always got to be a step ahead of it."

Moderna said Monday its vaccine created antibodies that neutralized Covid-19 variants first found in the UK and South Africa. There are concerns the vaccine may have a somewhat decreased efficacy against the strain first spotted in South Africa, and the company is working on a booster shot aimed at fighting it.

But as Covid-19 evolves, it will be important to prove "time and time again" that vaccines provide protection against new strains, Moderna president Dr. Stephen Hoge said during a panel Monday.

Article continued at

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/us-coronavirus-tuesday/index.html


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## StarSong (Jan 26, 2021)

Closures are a delicate dance.  Businesses suffer terribly from the closures, but infection numbers decline when they're followed.  
California's stay-at-home and other (very) restrictive measures numbers are based: 

*To be released from the most stringent measures, a region within California must have its area’s forecasted ICU capacity for the next four weeks reach 15% or greater*.

The counties then return to the existing reopening tier system, determined by the coronavirus case rate and test positivity rate, to determine what industries can reopen.

It appears that closures, strict masking rules, and the (at least) 3.2 million Californians who've been infected, plus the 2 million who've been vaccinated, are combining to bring down the contagion rate.


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## Don M. (Jan 26, 2021)

At the rate people are getting ill and dying from this virus, it may soon become the nations Number One cause of deaths....surpassing cancer and heart disease.  We'll be lucky if enough people are vaccinated by years end to control this virus.  Given the response of millions who refuse to follow the mask/distancing guidelines.....and may even refuse to get the vaccine....this illness, and its variants are Not going to go away anytime soon.


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## MarciKS (Jan 26, 2021)

Until *EVERYONE* is on board with this we will be permanently endangered by this virus. And it's blatantly apparent that the majority of the US doesn't give a crap.


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## Aneeda72 (Jan 26, 2021)

CNN was talking about how we may need a third vaccine for the African strain.  And then what?  As the virus mutates and mutates again and continues to mutate how many vaccines will we need.  How will we keep up?

The key is to wear a mask.  Now I see several people doubled masks, the President included.  The news reporters-several of them are double masked.  The African virus requires an N95 or a KN95 mask plus another mask, or at least a 3 layer mask and a face shield.

Perhaps our own private plastic bubble to totally encase us as we roll around.  The vaccines are supposedly good for 95 percent protection so you still have to wear a mask.  The vaccines protect from our variety of the virus plus the Chinese’s and the UK variety but not the African.  And what about the next one?

So, if seems, even if everyone is on board, it might not matter.  As the virus, like all viruses, continues to mutate.  We must get on with our lives.  Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask, I think people should do what they want as they will anyway.


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## Jeweltea (Jan 27, 2021)

We will be in full haz-mat suits soon.


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## garyt1957 (Jan 27, 2021)

We're heading for yearly covid shots much like the yearly flu shots. Doesn't seem to be anyway around it with all the variants popping up.


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## win231 (Jan 28, 2021)

I just realized something.  My new car wasn't sterilized - neither during the test drive or before  I bought it.  Neither were the other 2 cars I tested.   
We both wore masks - as required in our area.


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## Becky1951 (Jan 28, 2021)

win231 said:


> I just realized something.  My new car wasn't sterilized - neither during the test drive or before  I bought it.  Neither were the other 2 cars I tested.
> We both wore masks - as required in our area.


Well then it's a good thing your car didn't backfire on you as Covid is spread through droplets.


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## Murrmurr (Jan 28, 2021)

win231 said:


> I just realized something.  My new car wasn't sterilized - neither during the test drive or before  I bought it.  Neither were the other 2 cars I tested.
> We both wore masks - as required in our area.


The dealerships here (the reputable ones) spray the cars before and after a test drive. maybe they did that around back or whatever.


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## win231 (Jan 29, 2021)

Murrmurr said:


> The dealerships here (the reputable ones) spray the cars before and after a test drive. maybe they did that around back or whatever.


I doubt it.  The salesman drove me to a Marriott Hotel parking lot where they store the cars for the test drives.  They had been sitting there for several weeks & were dusty.
Oh....and one other "Big Risk."  The salesman's boss was not comfortable with me driving off in the car & coming in the next day to drop off my check, so he had me drive the salesman to my house to get it that night.  Of course, I invited him in for coffee.   Oooooooooh.


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## old medic (Jan 29, 2021)

Jeweltea said:


> We will be in full haz-mat suits soon.


Going to work is my #1 hazard ... and yes I have a Tyvek suit and respirator mask I carry...
LMAO.... left over from the Ebola Scare a few years back


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## Aneeda72 (Jan 29, 2021)

win231 said:


> I doubt it.  The salesman drove me to a Marriott Hotel parking lot where they store the cars for the test drives.  They had been sitting there for several weeks & were dusty.
> Oh....and one other "Big Risk."  The salesman's boss was not comfortable with me driving off in the car & coming in the next day to drop off my check, so he had me drive the salesman to my house to get it that night.  Of course, I invited him in for coffee.   Oooooooooh.


“They“ have said that surfaces are not as big a risk as they first thought so I doubt you have to worry.  We still wash our groceries off since I have not told my husband this .  I have continued to have workmen into the house when needed.  As long as they stay masked, I think it’s fine.  Safer then the grocery store for sure.


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## Aneeda72 (Jan 29, 2021)

old medic said:


> Going to work is my #1 hazard ... and yes I have a Tyvek suit and respirator mask I carry...
> LMAO.... left over from the Ebola Scare a few years back


I never even worried about Ebola.


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## Jeweltea (Jan 29, 2021)

We will be in full haz-mat suits soon


Aneeda72 said:


> I never even worried about Ebola.


Me neither.


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## Nathan (Jan 29, 2021)

Don M. said:


> At the rate people are getting ill and dying from this virus, it may soon become the nations Number One cause of deaths....surpassing cancer and heart disease.  We'll be lucky if enough people are vaccinated by years end to control this virus.  Given the response of millions who refuse to follow the mask/distancing guidelines.....and may even refuse to get the vaccine....this illness, and its variants are Not going to go away anytime soon.


I believe that I heard recently that Covid had in fact become #1 cause of death in the U.S.
There is a sizable number of people that hold anti-mask / anti-vaxxor "beliefs" who will continue to mindlessly put others at risk.
....from my view there is no end in sight, for either the virus or the  followers of bizzare nonsense.


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