BOSTON (WHDH) - Despite the push to vaccinate, health experts are concerned about the coronavirus variants spreading in Massachusetts and throughout the country.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the Bay State has 441 confirmed cases of the United Kingdom variant, B.1.1.7, nine confirmed cases of the South African variant, B.1.351, and four confirmed cases of the Brazilian variant, P.1.
“I continue to be worried about the latest data and the apparent stall we are seeing in the trajectory of the pandemic,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC.
The variants are said to spread more easily and quickly, with CDC models projecting that the British variant will become the dominant strain in the United States by next month.
Officials are worried the variants could drive a new coronavirus surge even as the country races to get people vaccinated.
“CDC is watching these numbers very closely,” Walensky said. “We’ve made such extraordinary progress in the last several weeks, and if we choose to invest in prevention right now, we will ultimately come out of this pandemic faster and with fewer lives lost.”
Researchers have found that seven in 10 people hospitalized for COVID-19 had not fully recovered five months after discharge.
The most common symptoms were muscle and joint pain, fatigue, breathlessness, short-term memory loss, and slowed thinking.
Nearly a quarter of Americans have gotten at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine so far.
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