State of Affairs: August 30, 2021
State of Affairs: August 30, 2021
If you squint, you may be able to see a small peak for the United States. On the log graph (which shows acceleration or deceleration), momentum is plateauing. Let’s hope this pattern continues into deceleration. We need all the help we can get before the winter season.
For the first time during the Delta wave, every state is in “high transmission”. This is chilling and now makes the CDC graph not useful. From here on out, the NYT map is much better at differentiating bad from worse.
Florida (106 cases per 100K), Mississippi (103 cases per 100K), and Louisiana (92 per 100K) are still the case leaders, but have all peaked. Because of the hurricane (and the implications it has on testing and healthcare resources), Louisiana’s numbers won’t be accurate for the next week or two.
The state with the fastest case growth is West Virginia with a 232% case increase in the past 14 days. Other than this, the Midwest seems to be largely driving growth now: South Dakota (115% increase), North Dakota (110% increase), Nebraska (77% increase) and Ohio (73% increase).
Hospitalizations and Deaths
On average, we have 100,789 hospitalizations per day and 25,552 ICU admissions. We are losing 1,281 people on a daily basis to COVID19.
While we have not set the national record for daily hospitalizations, Florida, Louisiana, and Kentucky continue to exceed their pandemic hospitalization and death records; Mississippi is close behind.
We are now at a stage where this is 99% preventable. I never thought we would be breaking records while having the availability of safe, effective, and free vaccines. But here we are. And it’s a national tragedy.
Vaccinations
Surprisingly (or rather unsurprisingly), full FDA approval didn’t result in 6 million people rushing to get the vaccine. While the vaccination rate is slowly increasing, it will take another 4 months to get 75% of the population vaccinated.
And then there’s another Epi curve we’re following…
Ivermectin prescriptions and overdoses are exponentially increasing. So much so that the CDC posted an official health advisory notice on August 26. There is no evidence that ivermectin is an effective treatment for COVID19. In fact, the FDA, CDC, WHO, and even Merck (the pharmaceutical company who makes it) advise against taking it to treat COVID19. Misinformation and the anti-science rhetoric is killing Americans.
Thats all for now. Hang in there, YLE
Reminder: Join me tomorrow night to chat about Delta and schools. Sign up for free here if you’re interested in joining.
Hello! One of my friends who is vaccine hesitant asked my thoughts on this video - wondering if you can help with talking points https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy3SfGPcPzA
I'm guessing you don't have much time to reply to questions, but I'll give it a try! As a secretary at a middle school in PA I was offered (and took) the J&J vaccine. With talk of Pfizer and possibly Moderna releasing a booster (or a third shot), what does that mean for us J&J people? I received the shot in late March of 2021. Should I start over with the Pfizer or just wait and see (not my favorite option:). If you have time to reply, I would greatly appreciate it, if not, I totally understand, you are doing great and important work!