Variant cases have doubled in US since Jan. 31; officials had considered using ventilator for Trump, reports say.
The United States reported dozens more coronavirus variant cases Thursday night, showing further reach of viruses that can spread more easily, dodge some treatments and immunities, or both. Known variant cases in the U.S. have more than doubled since Jan. 31, and have increased five-fold since Jan. 22. The country now has 997 known variant cases in the country, including the first cases in California and North Carolina of P.1.351, a variant first found in South Africa that some vaccines and treatments have less effectiveness with. The B.1.1.7 variant, which spreads more easily, was reported for the first time in Kansas, Missouri and Ohio. Despite the rise in variants, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced completion of a deal to purchase an additional 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses, fulfilling an agreement he outlined two weeks ago. “We’ve now purchased enough vaccine supplies to vaccinate all Americans,” Biden said during a visit to the National Institutes of Health. In add...