New case rate starts to drop nationwide
But death toll keeps mounting - could reach 500,000 within four weeks, and epidemiologists worry that new, more virulent strains will trigger new surges.
There hasn’t been much encouraging news about the pandemic, so it is refreshing to see mostly shades of green on the Johns Hopkins state-by-state trends board. This means that the seven-day rolling average numbers of new cases is trending downward. Across the USA, total new cases are down 24% in two weeks, but deaths are up 5% - averaging around 3,300 deaths per day and reaching nearly 428,000, according to the STATNews tracker. The latest CDC forecast estimates 500,000 deaths by the end of February, but the number of new deaths per day is starting to trend slightly downward from its mid-January peak.
However, the number crunchers at CovidActNow account for new cases plus hospitalizations and test positivity to calculate their assessments:
And some headlines of note:
Most pregnant women are advised not to take either the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, according to the World Health Organization. Neither company’s clinical studies included pregnant women, so the safety is unknown.
Large numbers of staff at long-term care facilities in the Mid-Atlantic states are refusing COVID-19 vaccinations. The Washington Post reports that many were swayed by anti-vaccine misinformation spread largely online.
The International Monetary Fund says that “pandemic complacency” threatens the global economy. Stability requires a combination of health care approaches to the pandemic as well as government actions and prudence by corporations and investors.
Hundreds of children are among those hurt by tainted hand sanitizer. Now, the FDA warns against buying hand sanitizer from Mexico. Nearly 85% of samples tested by the agency were tainted with potentially harmful methanol or other chemicals.
New CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, NIAID Director, White House Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci and other federal health officials held their first COVID-19 briefing. Among the announcements: the USA is implementing a testing strategy intended to detect new variants and other important details of new COVID-19 cases. Presently, this type of testing is done only sporadically. Britain detected the B.1.1.7 variant because it has a nationwide viral surveillance program.
Federal officials are looking at whether domestic travelers should be required to take COVID-19 tests before flying, as required for most international travelers now. Britain now wants arriving international travelers to quarantine at hotels before going into their communities.
Confused about what to do to stay safe from Covid? This Wall Street Journal article breaks it down. It’s worth bookmarking.
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