US guidance on socializing eased with deaths fall, but worries aired over variant

The US on Monday relaxed socializing guidelines for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19, even though health officials expressed concern about a possible spike in a more contagious variant of the coronavirus.

The worries over the virus strain that was first discovered in the UK are strongest for Florida, now the country's epicenter of the B.1.1.7. variant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, announced the new guidelines for vaccinated people, saying they can gather with others of that status indoors without masks or physical distancing.

"With more and more people vaccinated each day, we are starting to turn a corner," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said at a news briefing on Monday. She called the guidance a "first step" toward restoring normalcy in how people come together.

She said more activities would be approved for vaccinated individuals once caseloads and deaths decline, more people are vaccinated, and as more science emerges on the ability of those who have been vaccinated to get and spread the virus.

The guidelines that endorse more freedoms for vaccinated people coincide with an encouraging statistic in the country's battle against coronavirus. On Monday, fewer than 1,000 deaths were recorded for the first time in nearly three and a half months, according to a tally kept by the Johns Hopkins University.

For the 24-hour period, 749 people died from the coronavirus, far below the peak of 4,473 deaths recorded on Jan 12.

Nationwide, the country had reported more than 29,045,000 cases as of early Tuesday, with 525,816 deaths confirmed, the tally showed.

In Florida, there are 642 cases of B.1.1.7., more than any other state, according to the CDC. The per-capita rate of patients currently in Florida hospitals is now about 25 percent above the national average, according to Bloomberg.

The CDC is continuing to recommend that fully vaccinated people still wear masks, avoid large gatherings and keep their distance from others when in public.

As of Sunday, 58.9 million people had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, including 30.7 million people who have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

Resistance to classes

New York City will reopen public high schools on March 22, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday. Many Asian-American families, however, reportedly are choosing to have their children continue to be taught remotely.

"We have all the pieces we need to bring high school back and bring it back strong, and, of course, bring it back safely," de Blasio told a news conference. "We are bringing our schools back fully in September, period."

Some Asian families are afraid that their children will face racist harassment at school, some are concerned about the health risks of the coronavirus, others are pleased with online learning and see no reason to send them back to school, The Washington Post reported.

Globally, nearly 117 million people have been reported infected with the virus, and almost 2.26 million have died.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 700,000 lives have been lost to COVID-19, according to an Agence France-Presse tally on Monday evening.

The region, which encompasses 34 countries and territories in South and Central America and the Caribbean plus Mexico, has recorded 700,022 deaths－the second-highest number of virus fatalities after Europe.

The Italian Health Ministry on Monday said 318 people had died in the latest 24-hour period, bringing the total to 100,103, the second highest in Europe after Britain.

Italy that day raised the age limit for use of a coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca, following similar moves from France and Germany.

When it was first released, research showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine－unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, the other two shots approved for use in Italy and other European Union states－was recommended only for those under the age of 65.

France and Germany gave the greenlight last week for the AstraZeneca vaccine on those aged 65 or older.

Ai Heping, Minlu Zhang in New York, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.