Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 8-27-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for August 27th, 2021.

Kentucky and Texas joined a growing list of states seeing record numbers of hospitalized patients in a surge that’s afflicting more children. Wednesday, both reported more patients in their hospitals than at any other time since the pandemic began. In New Mexico, health officials warned they’re about a week away from rationing health care. And in Idaho, state leaders called on residents to volunteer to help keep medical facilities operating.

U.S. health regulators could approve a third booster shot for adults beginning only six months after full vaccination, instead of the previously announced eight-months. Approval of boosters for Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson is expected in mid-September. Pfizer’s already started the application process for approval of its booster shot for those 16 and older, saying it spurs a more than three-fold increase in antibodies. 

If you’re worried about getting a blood clot from the vaccine, you have a bigger problem. COVID. A new peer-reviewed study out of Oxford shows the risk of rare blood clotting is significantly higher from Covid-19, than from vaccination. Researchers estimated 107 out of 10 million people would be hospitalized or die from low platelet counts within 28 days of getting a first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine, while that number rose to 934 people per 10 million after a positive test for Covid.

New research in the journal Nature says around one third of Americans had been infected with Covid-19 by the end of 2020. That’s a number much higher than what official testing detected. The model showed around 103 million Americans had been infected while the CDC data puts the figure at only 20.5 million. 

How do Americans feel about employers imposing vaccine mandates? Split, as always. A new AP poll shows half are in favor, half aren’t. Same for workplace mask mandates, half in favor, half opposed. The results are a bit different for Black and Hispanic workers, both of whom tend to be more supportive of vaccine and mask mandates.  

In the United States cases were up 23%, deaths are up 111%, and hospitalizations are up 32% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.  

There are 7,958,077 active cases in the United States.

With not all states reporting daily case numbers, the five states with the most new cases: Florida 21,183. Texas 18,112. California 12,622. Georgia 10,823. And North Carolina 8,620. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Cook, GA. Clay, KY. Pierce, GA. Brantley, GA. Dodge, GA. Hancock, MS. Nome Census Area, AK. Glynn, GA. Berrien, GA. And McIntosh, GA. 

There have been at least 633,479 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont unchanged at 67.5%, Massachusetts at 65.5%, and Connecticut and Maine at 65.3%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 36.8%, Mississippi at 37.3%, and Wyoming at 38.2%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 51.7%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Georgia, South Korea, and Ukraine up 4%. And El Salvador and Argentina 3%.  

Globally, cases were up 2% and deaths were up 4% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21. 

There are 18,331,093 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 169,953. India 44,558. The U.K. 38,281. Iran 36,758. And Brazil 31,024. 

There have now been at least 4,472,870 deaths reported as Covid-related...
 

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