This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for December 29th, 2020. 

Novavax, a once-struggling company rescued by $2 billion in funding for its vaccine candidate at last started its U.S. efficacy trial. It was postponed several times as the company struggled to scale up manufacturing. Despite a nearly 30-year history making vaccines, Novavax has never won regulatory approval. 

Here, we regularly report the numbers. But the numbers as they are provided by various countries. Russia has now acknowledged its death toll was more than three times higher than reported. That quickly makes it the country with the third-largest number of fatalities.

Over the past week, almost 100,000 coronavirus cases have been reported in Los Angeles County. At one hospital five overflow tents are outside, and patients are being put in the gift shop, a chapel, and a conference room. The County Public Health Director said there’ve been 97,472 new cases over the past seven days and it’s expected to get worse. 

We’ve heard of those who’ve been vaccinated being able to carry proof of some sort. Spain is looking at it another way. They’re considering keeping a list of citizens who refuse to be vaccinated. Getting the shot will be voluntary, but if you don’t volunteer, you’d go on the list.

A new study in the U.K. suggests healthcare workers are seven times more likely to develop severe cases of COVID-19 than people in “nonessential” roles. People in social care and education job roles had an 84% higher risk.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Glasscock, TX. Montour, PA. Pleasants, WV. Bent, CO. Oldham, TX. Richmond, VA. Montgomery, IL. Woods, OK. Hudspeth, TX. And Bradford, FL. 

There are now 7,741,715 active cases in the United States. The current Top 10 states by number of active cases: California, Florida, New York, Arizona, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, and Colorado.  

The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Texas, Tennessee, California, Oklahoma, and Alabama. 

The infection reproduction rate is currently highest in Maine, West Virginia, Hawaii, South Carolina, and Idaho. The states with the lowest reproduction rate are Alaska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. 

There’ve been a total 334,830 deaths in the US reported as COVID-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.76%.

The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: California 245. New York 169. Illinois 134. Texas 126. Connecticut 113. Florida 96. Pennsylvania 85. Tennessee 76. Michigan 64. And Ohio 62. 

Globally, there are 22,092,340 active cases.

There were 447,539 new cases around the world in the last 24 hours against a high of 748,974 reported on December 11. 

The five countries with the most new cases: the United States 186,296. The U.K. 41,385. Russia 27,787. Brazil 22,605. India 16,072. 

There have now been 1,774,130 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. Down 6% over 14 days.  

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