CDC warns states against lifting restrictions amid threat of virus variants

At a Monday press briefing, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, warned states not to abandon their existing coronavirus restrictions even though overall case counts are declining. She said, “We really need to keep all of the mitigation measures at play here if we’re really going to get control of this pandemic.” Meanwhile, a new study estimates that the UK coronavirus variant is doubling every 10 days in the United States and is on track to becoming the dominant strain by March. Walensky asserted, “Although hospital admissions and cases are consistently dropping, I’m asking everyone to please keep your guard up. The continued proliferation of variants remains of great concern and is a threat that could reverse the recent positive trends we are seeing.”