Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 8-24-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for August 24th, 2021.

As expected, now that the Pfizer vaccine has full FDA approval, the Pentagon will require all service members to get vaccinated. Over the past month, the number of service member deaths from COVID jumped from 25 to 34 – more than a one third increase.

The head of the World Health Organization is calling for a 2-month moratorium on booster shots to reduce global vaccine inequality. He says he’s “really disappointed” that many countries struggle to provide first and second doses while rich countries like the United States are moving forward with third doses from stockpiled vaccines.

Historically committed as they are, 75 doctors from a hospital in Palm Beach Gardens in South Florida walked out of their shifts to bring attention to how hard the surge has been on facilities and staff. They say 85% of ICU beds in the state are full and urged people to “ignore the nonsense and absurdities you’re hearing at public meetings and recognize the value of what a vaccine will do.”

No state should brag about how well they handled the pandemic. Take Oregon. It was held up as an example as it imposed some of the strictest safety measures like mask mandates for indoors and outdoors, limits on gatherings, and restaurant closures. Now the state has more people hospitalized with COVID than ever before. One Chief Medical Officer said the early success may have actually helped the Delta variant because the aggressive measures left many population pockets with no immunity. 

Six more destinations have been added to the CDC’s highest-risk destinations for travelers. They are Bahamas, Haiti, Kosovo, Lebanon, Morocco, and Sint Maarten. To hit this category a country has to have had more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

In the United States cases were up 36%, deaths are up 95%, and hospitalizations are up 43% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.  

There are 7,597,700 active cases in the United States.

Keeping in mind several states stopped reporting daily case numbers, the five states with the most new cases: Florida 14,621. California 10,136. Texas 8,317. Georgia 6,734. And North Carolina 5,184. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Cook, GA. Nome Census Area, AK. Dimmit, TX. Clarke, MS. George, MS. Hancock, MS. Berrien, GA. Tift, GA. Wayne, MS. And Neshoba, MS.

There have been at least 629,390 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67.4%, Massachusetts at 65.3%, and Connecticut and Maine at 65.1%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 36.3%, Mississippi at 36.8%, and Wyoming at 37.9%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 51.5%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Bangladesh up 3%. And Malaysia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka 2%.  

Globally, cases were up 4% and deaths were up 4% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21. 

There are 17,996,230 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 111,134. Iran 38,657. The U.K. 31,914. Japan 22,285. And Russia 19,454. 

There have now been at least 4,440,279 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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