Upper Midwest sees jump in new cases
Political division continues to thwart prevention measures, while vaccine rollout keeps growing in the USA and stalling in Canada, elsewhere
New cases of COVID-19 in Michigan jumped more than 50% from last week to this week, and nationwide, the rate has surged 13%. The increases coincide with relaxation of mask mandates and other “non-pharmaceutical” COVID-19 precautions.
Across the border, Ontario’s COVID-19 outbreak is again “out of control,” says the province’s scientific advisory group. To the west, British Columbia is reinstating severe restrictions, including a ban on indoor dining.
Exacerbating Canada’s trouble is a new pause in the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for most adults. Germany and Canada are restricting use of the AZ COVID-19 vaccine to older adults only until concerns about reported associations with rare blood clots are resolved.
FoxNews medical expert Dr. Marc Siegel says there will be no “fourth wave” of COVID-19 because the vaccination rate is increasing and mask mandates are unnecessary.
The CDC reports that 16% of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, and 29% have received at least one dose. Half of all adults over 65 have been fully vaccinated. Nearly 190,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed.
Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden points to the Navajo Nation as an example of how to thwart the pandemic. According to Frieden, mask mandates and an aggressive vaccination program have brought the number of new cases into the single digits and deaths down to zero.
A New York City area hospital company is drawing attention for billing insurance companies as much as around $3,000 for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, the New York Times reports. Depending on where a person was tested, the charges from Northwell Health could have been as low as about $350 or as high as $2,963. Under federal law, patients don’t get these bills but their insurance company does.
More than 20 world leaders called for a new international treaty to establish stronger public health infrastructure and cooperation protocols for use in any future pandemics.
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