October 2, 2021: 235,399,322 cases; 4,810,952 deaths worldwide

719,674 COVID Deaths USA

October 2, 2021: 44,491,504 cases; 719,674 deaths in the US

October 11, 2021: Merck said that it had submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration to authorize what would be the first antiviral pill to treat Covid.

An approval for the drug, molnupiravir, would be a milestone in the fight against the coronavirus, experts said, because a convenient, relatively inexpensive treatment could reach many more high-risk people sick with Covid than the cumbersome antibody treatments currently being used. [NYT article]

4,913,952 COVID Deaths Worldwide

% Vaccinated (+18 old) USA

October 17, 2021: 65.9% at least once; 68.4 % fully

Cold Weather Effect

October 18, 2021: the NY Times reported that even as the Delta-variant-driven virus wave was receding in much of the United States, many counties across the country’s northernmost regions were experiencing rising cases as colder weather arrived.

The top five states in new daily cases per capita were led by Alaska, which was logging the highest daily average: 125 cases per 100,000 people, according to a New York Times database. The next four states, with at least 67 cases per 100,000 people, were Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho.

Cases were at least trending downward or holding steady in those states. The five states with the fastest rising caseloads were Vermont, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan and Minnesota, and the two counties with the most cases per capita in Vermont and New Hampshire were on the Canadian border.

US Falls Behind

October 24, 2021: the NY Times reported that the United States was one of the first countries to begin vaccinating its population, and by summer 2021, was leading most nations in getting shots in arms, with 67 percent of the population receiving at least one shot by July 4, 2021.

By October 2021, the United States,  despite having a surplus of doses, had fully vaccinated only 57 percent of its population, according to a New York Time tracker. Resistance remained high among some demographic groups and within some specific work force sectors, including police officers and firefighters.

That left the United States lagging behind dozens of nations in the pursuit of full vaccination. Although, with a population of about 330 million, it ranks third in the sheer number of administered doses, more than 411 million, after China’s more than 2.2 billion doses and India’s more than one billion.

Cautious Optimism in US

October 27, 2021: rates of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths had sunk significantly in the US since a wave driven by the highly contagious Delta variant peaked in September.

4,995,959 COVID Deaths Worldwide

% Vaccinated (+18 old) USA

October 28, 2021: 66.5% at least once; 69.1 % fully

Available, But Reluctant

October 29, 2021: the Food and Drug Administration authorization a Covid-19 vaccine for ages 5 to 11 which made 28 million unvaccinated children in the United States suddenly eligible for the shot and offered the country an opportunity to make big inroads in its efforts to achieve broad immunity against the coronavirus, but even many parents who were themselves vaccinated and approved the shot for their teenagers were churning over whether to give consent for their younger children, questioning if the risk of the unknowns of a brand-new vaccine was worth it when most coronavirus cases in youngsters are mild.

In announcing its authorization of a lower-dose shot made by Pfizer and BioNTech for the age group, the F.D.A. said clinical trial data showed the shot was safe and prompted strong immune responses in children. The most common side effects were fatigue, fever and headache. [NYT article]

5,000,000 Deaths

November 1, 2021: the number of people who have died from Covid-19 around the world has surpassed five million, according to data held by the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Coronavirus Resource Center.

Such a designation is reserved for dangerous variants that may spread quickly, cause severe disease or decrease the effectiveness of vaccines or treatments. The last coronavirus variant to receive this label was Delta, which took off this summer and now accounts for virtually all Covid cases in the United States.

The W.H.O. said the new version, named Omicron, carries a number of genetic mutations that may allow it to spread quickly, perhaps even among the vaccinated. [NYT article]

5,294,744 COVID Deaths Worldwide

71.2%  Fully Vaccinated (+18 old) USA

December 8, 2021: 70.4% at least once; 71.2 % fully (18+)

National Guard Called Up

1/100 Elderly

December 13, 2021: the New York Times reported that as the coronavirus pandemic approached the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group had suffered more than older Americans. All along, older people had been known to be more vulnerable, but the scale of loss was only now coming into full view.

Seventy-five percent of people who had died of the virus in the United States — or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far — had been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans had died from the virus.

For people younger than 65, that ratio was closer to 1 in 1,400.

Omicron/Cautious Optimism

December 22, 2021: two new British studies provided some early hints that the omicron variant of the coronavirus might be milder than the delta version.

Scientists stressed that even if the findings of these early studies held up, any reductions in severity need to be weighed against the fact omicron spreads much faster than delta and was more able to evade vaccines. Sheer numbers of infections could still overwhelm hospitals.

The new studies seemed to bolster earlier research that suggested omicron might not be as harmful as the delta variant, said Manuel Ascano Jr., a Vanderbilt University biochemist who studies viruses.

“Cautious optimism is perhaps the best way to look at this,” he said.  [AP article]

5,393,397 COVID Deaths Worldwide

72.6%  Fully Vaccinated (+18 old) USA

December 22, 2021: 72.6% at least once; 72.6 % fully (18+)

December 7, 2021: as daily coronavirus cases in the United States soared to near record levels, federal health officials shortened by half the recommended isolation period for many infected Americans, hoping to minimize rising disruptions to the economy and everyday life.

Virus-related staff shortages had upended holiday travel, ledd to the cancellation of thousands of flights, and threatened industries as diverse as health care, restaurants and retail. Yet health experts warned the country is only in the early stages of a fast-moving surge.

“The Omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The agency had previously recommended that infected patients isolate for 10 days from when they were tested for the virus, butit slashed that period to five days for those without symptoms, or those without fevers whose other symptoms were resolving. [NYT article]

Record Number of US Cases

December 28, 2021: the U.S. record for daily coronavirus cases was broken, as two highly contagious variants — Delta and Omicron —  converged to disrupt holiday travel and gatherings, deplete hospital staffs and plunged the United States into another long winter.

As a third year of the pandemic loomed, the seven-day average of U.S. cases topped 267,000 , according to a New York Times database. The milestone was marked after a year that had whipsawed Americans from a relaxation of rules in the spring to a Delta-driven summer wave to another surge that accelerated with astonishing speed as Omicron emerged after Thanksgiving. [NYT article]

Free Home Testing

January 10, 2022: under a new policy announced by the White House, individuals covered by a health insurance plan who purchase an over-the-counter COVID-19 diagnostic test that has been authorized, cleared or approved by the Food and Drug Administration will be able to have those test costs covered by their insurance beginning this Saturday.

Insurance companies and health plans would be required to cover eight free over-the-counter at-home tests per covered individual per month, according to White House officials. For instance, a family of four all on the same plan would be able to get up to 32 of these tests covered by their health plan per month.

“We are requiring insurers and group health plans to make tests free for millions of Americans. This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stated in a news release. [NPR article]

5,538,904 COVID Deaths Worldwide

73.4%  Fully Vaccinated (+18 old) USA

January 13, 2022: 74.6% at least once; 73.4 % fully (18+)

ICUs Approach Capacity

January 14, 2022: the New York Times reported that the extremely contagious Omicron variant was fueling an enormous coronavirus wave that  pushed hospitals close to their capacity limits in about two dozen states, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Figures showed that at least 80 percent of staffed hospital beds were occupied in 24 states on January 14, including Georgia, Maryland and Massachusetts.

More troubling, the data showed that in 18 states and Washington, D.C., at least 85 percent of beds in adult intensive care units were full, with the most acute scarcity of beds in Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Texas.

The pressure on I.C.U. capacity came as the Omicron variant had touched off a nearly vertical rise in infections and hospitalizations. The country as a whole and 26 states had reported more coronavirus cases in the past week than in any other seven-day period.

In that time, an average of more than 803,000 coronavirus cases had been reported each day in the United States, an increase of 133 percent from two weeks ago, according to a New York Times database, and 25 states and territories had reported their highest weekly caseloads yet. Deaths were up 53 percent to an average of roughly 1,871 a day.

February 9, 2022: 403,450,029 cases; 5,795,175 deaths worldwide

935,922 COVID Deaths USA

February 9, 2022: 678,824,393 cases; 972,200 deaths in the US

February 25, 2022: 433,304,746 cases; 5,956,508 deaths worldwide

935,922 COVID Deaths USA

February 25, 2022: 80,532,307 cases; 935,922 deaths in the US