Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 02-22-2022

02/22/22 • 4 min

Vaccine 4 1 1 - Daily News on the Covid-19 and Coronavirus Vaccines

This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for February 22nd, 2022.

If you want something to worry about, you can continue to worry about the Omicron variant BA2, because it’s spreading about 30% more easily than the first Omicron, which as we recall spread pretty darn fast. Infectious disease experts are keeping a close eye on it because they assumed it would take off in the US like it has in Europe. So far that hasn't happened, but it’s steadily spreading even as the Omicron surge keeps dissipating.

Britain is scrapping the self-isolation rules starting Thursday to jump start the country's economy. People who test positive will no longer have to self-isolate for a minimum five days. That doesn’t apply to Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, which set their own regulations. The reasoning is that COVID isn’t going to suddenly disappear and waiting for that would restrict the liberties of the British people for a long time to come.

Even as we report falling case numbers, there’s still an average 2,200 people dying with COVID in the US daily. So who are these people? Doctors say it’s still mainly unvaccinated people, most of whom are in their 30s and 40s, who had no underlying health issues. A smaller percentage of deaths are among fully vaccinated (and boosted) people who are either older or have preexisting conditions.

We’re all eager to put the pandemic behind us, or at least beside us. But the Cleveland Clinic says it’s too soon to give the coronavirus endemic status. Doctors say they don’t know if it’s going to settle as a seasonal respiratory virus like the other coronaviruses or mutate and come back as something worse. It’s a game of wait and see. They say right now, the precautions people take will most likely be based on their personal comfort levels.

You may have heard it before, the place you’re most likely to get sick is in a hospital. And it was thought that hospitals were an outstanding place to catch COVID as well. But a study has shown that the rates of acquiring COVID during a hospital stay were actually quite low, with only about 1.8% of patients contracting it during their stay at the highest peak of cases in December 2020.

In the United States, cases were down 65%, deaths are down 15%, and hospitalizations are down 42% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Tennessee, Maine, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

There are 27,255,881 active cases in the United States.

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Nome Census Area, AK. Marengo, AL. Manassas Park, VA. Pointe Coupee, LA. Attala, MS. Big Horn, MT. Perry, KY. Estill, KY. Floyd, KY. And Butler, KY.

There have been 935,970 deaths in the U.S. recorded as COVID-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Rhode Island at 80.3%, Vermont at 80%, and Maine at 78.2%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 50%, Wyoming at 50.5%, and Mississippi at 50.7%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 64.7%.

Globally, cases were down 38% and deaths down 7% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25.

There are 67,132,248 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Russia 152,337. Germany 111,824. South Korea 95,347. Turkey 85,026. And Japan 72,861.

There have been 5,889,937 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for February 22nd, 2022.

In the United States, cases were down 65%, deaths are down 15%, and hospitalizations are down 42% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Tennessee, Maine, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.

There are 27,255,881 active cases in the United States.

There have been 935,970 deaths in the U.S. recorded as COVID-related.

Globally, cases were down 38% and deaths down 7% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25.

There are 67,132,248 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Russia 152,337. Germany 111,824. South Korea 95,347. Turkey 85,026. And Japan 72,861.

There have been 5,889,937 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 02-21-2022

The UK government announced those with COVID won't be legally required to self-isolate starting this week. That’s part of the plan for “living with COVID” that will also probably see testing scaled back. The Prime Minister said, “We’ve reached a stage where we think you can shift the balance away from state mandation in favor of encouraging personal responsibility.” Of course, some of the government’s scientific advisers are saying it’s a risky move.

Israel announced it’s going to allow unvaccinated tourists to enter the country starting next month. But vaccinated or not, visitors will have to take a PCR test before flying and after landing. Israel has mostly restricted the entry of foreign tourists for the past two years and shut it down altogether late last year with the arrival of Omicron. Requirements for weekly testing of school children will also be halted in the coming weeks.

The CDC is coming under fire for holding back vitally important coronavirus data. The New York Times reports there’s an eyebrow-raising quantity of data that was either never released, released only recently, was partially released, or was released with limited access. For example, they’ve had data on hospitalizations for Covid across the U.S. for over a year, broken down by age, race, and vaccination status. Most of that data has never been seen.

Now that the mRNA vaccine cat is out of the bag, what else can the technology be used for? Moderna has announced three of their next targets for it. The herpes simplex virus, the varicella-zoster virus, and a novel cancer vaccine. That gets added to some they’d already announced, including HIV, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and the Epstein-Barr virus.

Further proof that COVID can get to anyone, Queen Elizabeth II has tested positive. And that’s a big deal not only because she’s a reigning monarch, but because she’s 95-years-old. However, so far, her symptoms have been mild and cold-like. She’s even continuing some light duties at Windsor this week. The Queen is fully vaccinated.

In the United States, cases were down 65%, deaths are down 13%, and hospitalizations are down 41% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Tennessee, the third most fully vaccinated state of Maine, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Arkansas.

There are 27,454,250 active cases in the United States.

There have been 935,331 deaths in the U.S. recorded as COVID-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Rhode Island at 80.3%, Vermont at 80%, and Maine at 78.2%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama becoming the last state to be under the halfway mark at 50%, Wyoming at 50.5%, and Mississippi at 50.7%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 64.7%.

Globally, cases were down 38% and deaths down 6% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25.

There are 68,568,289 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Russia 170,699. South Korea 104,828. Germany 104,131. Japan 77,153. And Turkey 70,355.

There have been 5,886,362 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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Coronavirus vaccine and COVID variant updates for 02-23-2022

This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for February 23rd, 2022.

Hong Kong is going to test its entire population of 7.5 million people three times for COVID in March. To get that done, testing capacity will be boosted to 1 million a day or more. The city’s reported about 5,000 new infections since February 15 and the healthcare system is buckling. A lockdown of the entire city, something that’s been done a few times in mainland China, is not currently being considered.

Amidst criticism of vaccine inequities, donations of the vaccine to Africa were well-intentioned, but the Africa CDC has a message for the do-gooders. Stop it. They want all donations paused until the third or fourth quarter of this year. They say the problem isn’t a supply shortage, it’s logistics challenges combined with vaccine hesitancy. As a result, there’s a lot of vaccine just going to waste.

Lots of numbers are falling, like case rates, death rates, hospitalizations, COVID restrictions, etc., but there’s something else that has absolutely plummeted in demand. PCR tests. The CDC says nationwide demand for a COVID-19 PCR test has dropped 63% since early January. You could attribute part of that to the government mailing out free rapid tests but, PCR tests are a different, and proposedly more accurate way to find out if you’re infected or not.

Cruise lines, one right after the other, have been dropping their mask mandates. Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, and Virgin have either already stopped requiring masks in most indoor settings or will start next month. MSC Cruises and Disney have not made that decision yet. The new goal is making sure passengers are fully vaccinated and boosted.

Throughout the pandemic, most of us have been amazed at what we didn’t know. And even now in February of 2022, it’s amazing what we still don’t know. On that list of still unknowns is how many booster shots we’ll need, how long immunity from vaccines lasts, are there more dangerous variants coming, why does COVID make some people seriously ill and give people long COVID while other people shrug it off, and where did COVID-19 come from? Science has no answers for these questions so you can continue to argue about them amongst yourselves.

In the United States, cases were down 65%, deaths are down 19%, and hospitalizations are down 43% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Tennessee, Maine, Mississippi, West Virginia, and Oklahoma.

There are 27,107,363 active cases in the United States.

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Nome Census Area, AK. Manassas Park, VA. Marengo, AL. Pointe Coupee, LA. Attala, MS. Big Horn, MT. Perry, KY. Glacier, MT. Elmore, ID. And Washington, TN.

There have been 938,938 deaths in the U.S. recorded as COVID-related.

Globally, cases were down 34% and deaths down 16% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25.

There are 66,265,532 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Germany 158,507. Russia 135,172. Brazil 101,285. South Korea 99,550. And France 97,382.

There have been 5,904,723 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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