Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 8-17-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for August 17th, 2021.

For the first time since February when things were pre-vaccine, the US reported more than 900,000 cases last week. Cases are on the rise in 46 states. Just yesterday the US reported 382 deaths. 

Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, reported its worst day of the pandemic yesterday with 478 new infections and seven deaths. Two of the dead had gotten one dose of a two-shot vaccine. The rest were unvaccinated. Australia has one of the slowest vaccine rollouts among wealthy countries. Meanwhile Japan’s state of emergency has been extended through Sept. 12 as cases continue to surge.  

The CDC added four places to their list of the highest-risk destinations for travelers. The newcomers are Dominica, the Island of Jersey, Montenegro, and Turkey

With half of America rejecting the vaccines, testing for COVID is taking on a renewed sense of importance. And scientists at the National Institutes of Health believe they’ve developed a new, better, cheaper, and faster way to do it. The existing way involves amplifying viral RNA to detectable levels. But the RNA has to be extracted first, which is the time-consuming part. The new way can not only directly test RNA without extraction, it also inactivates the virus, making things safer for lab personnel.

The NFL’s Atlanta Falcons may or may not have a conference championship to boast about this year, but they do now have the distinction of being the first team in the league to reach 100% vaccination. The team had the NFL’s first in-season positive COVID test and another COVID shutdown a month after that, but they have clearly turned things around. There is, however, no trophy for this.  

In the United States cases were up 64%, deaths are up 113%, and hospitalizations are up 70% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.  

There are 6,870,886 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 17,216. California 9,542. Texas 7,985. Georgia 6,480. And Louisiana 4,457. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Neshoba, MS. Stone, MS. Columbia, FL. Wayne, MS. Lafourche, LA. Livingston, LA. Newton, MS. Tift, GA. George, MS. And Ascension, LA. 

There have been at least 622,292 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67%, Massachusetts at 64.7%, and Maine at 64.6%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 35.4%, Mississippi at 35.8%, and Wyoming unchanged at 37.3%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 50.7%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Trinidad and Tobago up 5%. Kyrgyzstan 4%. And Malaysia, Suriname, and Bangladesh 3%. 

Globally, cases were up 7% and deaths were up 5% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21. 

There are 17,228,724 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 103,697. Iran 41,194. The U.K. 28,438. India 24,725. And Thailand 21,157.    There have now been at least 4,370,447 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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