Coronavirus news, updates, hotspots and information for 5-06-2021

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for May 6th, 2021.

In the U.S., the realization is setting in…“herd immunity” won’t be achieved this year, or maybe even next year. Vaccine hesitancy is just too high, so new variants will likely emerge and spread. Daily vaccinations have slowed enormously as the story of Covid-19 is shaping up to be, development of the vaccines was an unprecedented achievement, distribution of the vaccines a success, but the communication plan encouraging people to get the vaccine was a catastrophic failure. 

A case of the variant causing thousands of deaths and crushing health systems in India has been discovered in San Diego. The infected person is a woman in her 20s, who returned from India in late March and was hospitalized in early April. The variant has also been found in Michigan and Iowa. 

As feared, the variant in India is beginning to cross borders. Nepal is being overwhelmed by a COVID-19 surge. 57 times as many cases as a month ago, with 44% of tests now coming back positive. The Red Cross said, "What’s happening in India right now is a horrifying preview of Nepal’s future if we can’t contain this latest surge that’s claiming more lives by the minute.”

The U.S. government is supporting a controversial proposal to waive intellectual property rights for vaccines. Meaning companies like Pfizer and Moderna would not be able to exclusively use their patents. It’s thought releasing these private companies’ information to the world will increase global supplies.

With so many in quarantine and lockdowns for so long, some thought there might be a pandemic baby boom. The opposite has happened. The U.S. birth rate fell 4% last year, the largest single-year decrease in almost 50 years. The drop was seen in every major race and ethnicity, and nearly every age group.

In the United States cases were down 26%, deaths are down 3%, and hospitalizations are down 12% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since April 14.  

There are now 6,692,782 active cases in the United States. The current top 5 states by number of active cases: California, Virginia, New York, Maryland, and Florida. 

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Dimmit, TX. Fluvana, VA. Gilmer, WV. Grand, UT. Baraga, MI. Chattahoochee, GA. Powell, KY. Wirt, WV. Luce, MI. And White Pine, NV. 

The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Rhode Island, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Pennsylvania.

There have been 579,265 deaths in the US reported as Covid-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.79%.

The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: Florida 93. Pennsylvania 63. Texas 58. New York 52. New Jersey 49. California 47. Michigan 45. Illinois 33. Georgia 32. And North Carolina and Virginia 21. 

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose, New Hampshire at 61%, Vermont at 58%, and Massachusetts at 57.7%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Mississippi at 31.4%, Louisiana at 32.4%. and Alabama at 32.8%.

Globally, cases were down 7% and deaths up 1% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since April 23. 

There are 19,347,162 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: India 412,618. Brazil 75,652. The United States 46,129. Turkey 26,476. And France 26,000.    There have now been 3,237,435 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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