White House takes steps to blunt potential Covid-19 surge

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Mon, 2021-03-15 19:26 — mike kraft

White House races to blunt potential Covid-19 surge The White House is racing to prevent and prepare for a potential fourth coronavirus surge as more transmissible coronavirus variants spread across the US -- investing billions of dollars to boost coronavirus preparedness, accelerating the pace of vaccinations and working to prepare the public and governors for the prospect of another surge. Jeremy Diamond, CNN CNN

(CNN) The White House is racing to prevent and prepare for a potential fourth coronavirus surge as more transmissible coronavirus variants spread across the US -- investing billions of dollars to boost coronavirus preparedness, accelerating the pace of vaccinations and working to prepare the public and governors for the prospect of another surge.

In what would be a first, the White House is drawing up plans to surge vaccines to emerging hotspots in an attempt to blunt the virus' trajectory and protect those at highest risk, two senior administration officials told CNN.

While the number of daily coronavirus cases continues to decline and more than 2 million Americans are now being vaccinated daily, the White House Covid-19 response team has been preparing for the worst. Officials have been combing through data to plot the virus's trajectory, mapping out different scenarios and drawing up plans for how the federal government would snap into action.

"Everything we do is with the thought in mind that there might be another surge," a senior administration official said, summing up the administration's efforts to combat the virus and prepare for a surge.

That focus has increased in recent weeks as the decline in new daily cases slowed, leveling off at a worryingly high level. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the more transmissible B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom, will be the dominant strain within weeks. There are also concerns about governors and local officials prematurely loosening public health restrictions in a slew of states.

A fourth surge would be the first on President Joe Biden's watch and a major test for the new administration. And while some constraints still remain -- including the lopsided authority of state and local officials over the federal government in implementing public health restrictions -- a half-dozen Biden administration officials told CNN they believe the federal government is better prepared than ever before to handle a surge. ...

Just as federal officials mobilized testing resources and set up "surge" testing sites in hotspots around the country during the summer and fall, federal officials are preparing to deploy a similar effort using federally run or supported vaccination centers. A senior official said one example of this effort would involve vaccinating workers in high-risk settings such as a meat processing plant in areas where cases are beginning to surge.

The federal government could also leverage an expanded, federally controlled pipeline of vaccine to pharmacies across the country -- soon expected to swell to more than 20,000 -- to surge doses to hard-hit areas, the officials said.

One official said the administration is also considering administering monoclonal antibody treatments -- of which the administration bought another 100,000 doses in February -- in hotspots as a prophylaxis. ...

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