Coronavirus, COVID-19, coronavirus variants, and vaccine updates for 8-25-2021

Coronavirus 411 podcast - news, alerts, and updates on the corona virus COVID 19

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for August 25th, 2021.
Back to school didn’t go terribly well. A few weeks in, more and more school districts have given up on in-person learning or switched to hybrid models because of rising infections. More than 80 school districts or charter networks in more than a dozen states have made changes.
The US President will be receiving a classified report on the origins of the coronavirus. The review was ordered back in May and involves intelligence agencies rechecking anything that could shed light on this important question. But many intelligence and science experts say don’t get your hopes up, they’re doubtful the report will put the question to rest, and it will be added to the “guess we’ll never know” column.
This news is so disturbing because few other nations have done as well in terms of both vaccinations and now booster shots than Israel. But new daily coronavirus infections in Israel are approaching record levels. The delta variant is pervasive, even amongst the vaccinated. Officials point to this as evidence the initial round of vaccines become less effective over time.
Just like Alabama, Arkansas has said that’s it…there are no more ICU beds for COVID patients here. It’s the first time since the beginning of the pandemic the state has been maxed out as Arkansas hit a new record Monday for patients on ventilators.
Remember when country music star Reba McEntire said she and her boyfriend had COVID-19? Never mind. She genuinely thought they did but her test was a false positive. They actually had a common respiratory virus, RSV. She learned the truth after getting an antibody test. RSV does copy many of the symptoms of COVID. She said, “It takes the energy plumb out of you.”
In the United States cases were up 29%, deaths are up 91%, and hospitalizations are up 39% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since July 5.
There are 7,702,120 active cases in the United States.
With not all states reporting daily case numbers, the five states with the most new cases: Florida 21,208. Texas 17,403. California 14,583. Georgia 9,186. And Tennessee 5,153.
The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Cook, GA. Dimmit, TX. Crockett, TN. Wayne, MS. Clarke, MS. Pierce, GA. Clay, KY. Hancock, MS. Berrien, GA. And McIntosh, GA.
There have been at least 630,663 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.
The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 67.5%, Massachusetts at 65.4%, and Connecticut and Maine unchanged at 65.1%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 36.6%, Mississippi unchanged at 36.8%, and Wyoming unchanged at 37.9%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is unchanged at 51.5%.
The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Suriname up 7%. South Korea 6%. Kyrgyzstan 4%. And South Africa and Georgia 3%.
Globally, cases were up 3% and deaths were up 4% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since June 21.
There are now once again over 18 million active cases around the world, at 18,046,186.
The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 147,619. India 51,016. Iran 40,623. Brazil 31,014. And the U.K. 30,838.
There have now been at least 4,450,408 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.
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