Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 8-13-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for August 13th, 2021.

The Department of Health and Human Services is the latest federal agency requiring employees who provide care or services for patients be vaccinated. That affects more than 25,000 clinicians, researchers, contractors, trainees, and volunteers. 

The Supreme Court said yes, universities can impose a vaccine mandate on students and faculty. It declined to block a mandate at Indiana University or provide emergency relief requested by some students who said the mandate violates their constitutional right to bodily integrity under the 14th Amendment.

A vaccine sentiment survey by Verywell Health shows 27% of vaccinated respondents said they were previously against getting the vaccine. So the important question is, what was able to change their minds? The top reason—chosen by 40%—was the risk of COVID overtaking the risks of getting vaccinated. Other converts just needed some time to warm up to the idea. 

Vermont, as you hear almost every day in this podcast, has the highest vaccination rate in the country. Yet cases in the state rose 245% in the past two weeks, according to a Fortune analysis of New York Times data. That’s the highest increase in the country over that period. The state is still among those with the lowest cases per capita. And, of course, the messaging on the vaccines has shifted from it will help you keep from getting infected to it will mitigate the severity of your COVID case. 

We have gone from anyone who thinks the virus leaked from a lab in China is a conspiratorial nutcase to it’s a “likely hypothesis.” And that characterization comes from the head of the World Health Organization’s investigation. Dr. Peter Embarek said their team was forced to conclude a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" in their official report to avoid conflicts with the Communist Chinese government.

In the United States cases were up 86%, deaths are up 75%, and hospitalizations are up 82% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.  

There are 6,469,453 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 24,869. Texas 14,182. California 12,063. Georgia 7,016. And North Carolina 5,900. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Neshoba, MS. Dimmit, TX. Lafourche, LA. East Feliciana, LA. Wayne, MS. Tift, GA. Iberia, LA. Terrebonne, LA. Tangipahoa, LA. And Stone, MS.

There have been at least 619,098 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 68%, Massachusetts unchanged at 64.5%, and Maine at 64.4%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama unchanged at 35%, Mississippi at 35.4%, and Wyoming at 37.2%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is unchanged at 50.3%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Kyrgyzstan up 9%. Nepal and Vietnam 6%. And Trinidad & Tobago and Taiwan 5%. 

Globally, cases were up 13% and deaths were up 11% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21. 

There are 16,804,693 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 143,537. India 40,078. Iran 39,049. Brazil 35,891. And the U.K. 33,074.    There have now been at least 4,333,370 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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