Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 9-14-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for September 14th, 2021.

In a heartbreaking illustration of maxed out hospitals, the staff in one north Alabama hospital contacted 43 others across three states looking for a specialty cardiac ICU bed for patient Ray DeMonia. Most were full with COVID patients, which Ray was not. He wound up in Meridian, Mississippi, about 170 miles away, where he died of a cardiac event shortly after arriving.

Looks like Americans are okay with government vaccination mandates. A new Morning Consult/Politico poll shows 58% support them. 62% favor encouraging states to require vaccinations for all school employees; 60% support a mandate for most health care workers with no ability to opt out through regular testing; and 56% support the same rule for most federal workers and contractors.

The mantra is the vaccines help keep infections from turning into serious COVID cases. But it does happen. In fact, the Office for National Statistics in England says those who were fully vaccinated accounted for 1.2% of all deaths involving Covid-19 in England so far this year. That number is low and is actually being promoted as proof the vaccines are effective.

An international group of scientists including two FDA vaccine reviewers wrote in the science journal Lancet that the average person doesn’t need a booster yet. Their review shows the shots are working well, even against Delta. The White House, which promised to “follow the science,” is continuing to follow a different science and is pressing forward with third shots as soon as later this month. 

The CDC says Americans should not travel to Afghanistan. Which leads to the obvious response, duh. But it’s not because of that Taliban thing. The country was added to the list of Level 4 high risk areas for COVID. Also added to the list: Belize, Grenada, Mauritius, Saint Kitts and Nevis. Pretty much anyplace tropical and beautiful you’d like to travel to, they say it’s safer for you to stay in the USA, which by the way is now 40th in vaccination rates. 

In the United States cases were up 8%, deaths are up 36%, and hospitalizations are down 2% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since September 12.  

There are 9,396,924 active cases in the United States.

With not all states reporting daily numbers, the five states with the biggest increase in hospitalizations per capita: North Dakota 56%, Alaska 43%, Ohio and Montana 42%, And West Virginia 38%. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Perry, KY. Sequatchie, TN. White, TN. Warren, TN. McMinn, TN. Rockcastle, KY. Clay, KY. Bledsoe, TN. Monroe, TN. And Knox, KY. 

There have been at least 661,537 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 68.6%, Connecticut at 67.1%, and Massachusetts and Maine at 66.8%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Wyoming and West Virginia at 39.9%, and Idaho at 40.1%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 53.8%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Africa and Bangladesh up 3%. And Aruba, Panama, and Oceana 2% 

Globally, cases were down 13% and deaths were down 11% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since August 27. 

There are 18,725,144 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 109,432. The U.K. 30,825. Turkey 24,613. India 24,479. And Iran 22,541.  

There have now been at least 4,638,578 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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