Coronavirus news, updates, hotspots and information for 3-9-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for March 9th, 2021.   The CDC made it official fully vaccinated Americans can get together with other vaccinated people indoors without a mask or social distancing. Vaccinated people can also get together in a single household with people considered at low risk. Think vaccinated grandparents visiting healthy grandkids.   The latest world leader to test positive is Syrian President Bashar Assad. He and his wife tested positive but have mild symptoms only. He is 55, she is 45 but is a breast cancer survivor. The pandemic has been a major challenge for Syria's health care sector, which was already depleted by years of war.   A probe in South Korea concluded there is no causal link between the AstraZeneca vaccine and eight deaths in recently vaccinated people. All eight were in long-term care facilities and had pre-existing health conditions. None showed an allergic reaction to the vaccine.   In Canada, an association representing nursing homes says almost half of employees still haven’t filled out their consent form for vaccination. 90% of residents have received a vaccine, but the staffs, not so much. Reasons vary, but most officials think lack of information and misinformation about the vaccine is at the root of the problem.   Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome club was packed Saturday for a massive dance party. Sounds irresponsible right? But they were asked to do it, for science. It was a study of how safe such large events currently are. 1,300 people, who all tested negative first, were organized into different groups following different rules and tracked. One group was even told to sing and scream to the music to see how much spit flew out of them.   In the United States cases were down 12%, deaths are down 10%, and hospitalizations down 34% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since February 26.    There are now 8,756,390 active cases in the United States. The current top 5 states by number of active cases: California, New York, Florida, Georgia, and Maryland.   The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Lyon, KY. Dallam, TX. Hartley, TX. Petersburg Borough, AK. Crowley, CO. Cimarron, OK. Aleutians West Census Area, AK. Sherman, TX. La Salle, TX. And Coke, TX.   The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Arkansas, and South Carolina.   There have been 525,750 deaths in the US reported as Covid-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.82%.   The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: California 171. Virginia 87. Florida 83. Texas 69. New York 64. Georgia 42. North Carolina 33. Arkansas 24. Washington 22. And Connecticut 21.   The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose, Alaska at 24.7%, New Mexico at 24.6%, and Connecticut at 24.1%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Georgia at 13.4%, Alabama at 14.5%, and Utah at 15.1%.   Globally, cases were up 7% and deaths down 8% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since March 4.     There are now 21,712,353 active cases around the world.   The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 45,116. Brazil 36,136. India 15,353. Italy 13,902. And Turkey 13,215.   There have now been 2,599,596 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.   For the latest updates, subscribe for free to Coronavirus 411 on your podcast app or ask your smart speaker to play the Coronavirus 411 podcast.     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.