Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 9-27-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for September 27th, 2021.   Health officials in the U.S. say supply isn’t a problem. There are more than 40 million doses of vaccines available, so that’s enough to give qualified older Americans boosters and the first rounds for young children when the vaccine is approved for them. More than 70 million Americans remain unvaccinated.   Breakthrough cases in the vaccinated are still rare but growing less rare. In fact, experts expect them to be even more common in the near future, saying most people will become infected at some point in their lives. But the appeal is still that vaccines will help keep cases from being severe. The CDC’s latest data found unvaccinated people are 10 times more likely to be hospitalized from the virus.   So if healthcare workers keep quitting, some of them because of vaccine mandates, who’ll take care of patients? In New York, the possible answer is The National Guard. They’re looking into that, as well as bringing in professionals from other states and countries, and reactivating retired nurses. Some 16% of the state’s hospital staff have not been fully vaccinated.   In California, first responders also remain disproportionately reluctant to get vaccinated. Public health officials have identified more than 200 outbreaks at police or fire agencies throughout Los Angeles County since the start of the pandemic. Vaccination rates for LAPD an LAFD employees generally lag behind the 68% of eligible county residents who’ve gotten their shots.   Also, lots of vaccine reluctance in the NBA, a league that’s trying to figure out what to do about it. There are 10% or so of players that are still holding out. And that doesn’t make basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar too happy. He says “there’s no room for players” who pass on the vaccine. And as influencers, he says they’re “failing to live up to the responsibilities that come with celebrity.”   In the United States cases were down 18%, deaths are up 23%, and hospitalizations are down 15% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since September 13.    There are 9,858,405 active cases in the United States.   With not all states reporting daily numbers, the five states with the greatest increase in per capita hospitalizations over 14 days are Vermont at 45%, Montana 24%, Maine 23%. West Virginia 21%. And Pennsylvania and North Dakota 20%. Vermont and Maine are among the most fully vaccinated states.   The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Cleburne, AL. Whitley, KY. Magoffin, KY. Custer, MT. Braxton, WV. Kodiak Island Borough, AK. Lewis, WV. Russell, KY. Big Horn, WY. And Harlan, KY.   There have been at least 688,032 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.   The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont unchanged at 69.1%, Connecticut at 68.2%, and Maine at 68%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are West Virginia still unchanged at 40.2%, Wyoming at 41%, and Idaho at 41.1%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 55%.   The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Australia and St. Lucia up 2%, and Azerbaijan, Australia, and Oceana 1%.     Globally, cases were down 16% and deaths were down 10% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since August 27.   There are 18,614,780 active cases around the world.   The five countries with the most new cases: The U.K. 32,417. India 27,022. Turkey 25,861. The United States 24,343. And Russia 22,498.   There have now been at least 4,747,726 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.   For the latest updates, subscribe... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.