Coronavirus news, updates, hotspots and information for 3-11-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for March 11th, 2021.   Researchers say a highly infectious variant of COVID-19 first discovered in Britain late last year is between 30% and 100% more deadly than previous dominant variants. The B.1.1.7 variant has since also been found in more than 100 other countries. It has 23 mutations in its genetic code and is about 40%-70% more transmissible than previous dominant variants.   The EU and the UK are in quite a tiff. The European Council President said Britain banned the export of vaccines, but U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the House of Commons, “We have not blocked the export of a single vaccine or vaccine components.” The vaccination drive in Britain is seen as a huge success at 35% of adults while that of the EU has been a major failure at 9.5%.   If you have a family member in a nursing home, you can go hug them now if they’ve been vaccinated. The government says those residents can now get indoor visits from family as long as the visiting family member is masked.   Remember all the talk about plasma treatments and how Covid-19 survivors should donate much needed plasma for those treatments? More than half a million Americans got treatments like that but after a year, there’s no proof it does any good at all. The leading researcher doing it decided to stop offering it after two very large trials found no benefit. Proponents of convalescent plasma says it works, it just has to be given early in an infection before hospitalization.   Employers can force employees to get a vaccine or they can do what Bridgestone is doing. Pay them. Its offering its 33,000 U.S. employees $100 to get the shots. In a similar behavior modification story, the University of California, Davis is telling students if you don’t go anywhere for spring break, we’ll give you $75. So far student response is said to be “awesome.”   In the United States cases were down 14%, deaths are down 20%, and hospitalizations down 33% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since February 26.    There are now 8,679,663 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: Hartley, TX. Lyon, KY. Dallam, TX. Sherman, TX. Petersburg Borough, AK. Chattahoochee, GA. Winston, AL. Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, AK. Calhoun, AL. And Orleans, VT.   The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Missouri, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.   There have been 529,213 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 267. Texas 215. New Jersey 133. New York 111. Florida 86. Arizona 78. Virginia 59. Georgia 58. Massachusetts 53. And Pennsylvania 45.   The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose, New Mexico at 26%, Alaska at 25.3%, and Connecticut at 25.2%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Georgia at 13.4%, Alabama at 15.2%, and Tennessee at 15.6%.   Globally, cases were up 11% and deaths down 10% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since March 4.     There are now 21,759,397 active cases around the world.   The five countries with the most new cases: Brazil 80,955. The United States 60,355. France 30,303. India 22,841. And Italy 22,409.   There have now been 2,618,490 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... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.