Covid stats for August 2022
From Johns Hopkins:
Global Confirmed: 584,308,734
Global Deaths: 6,418,174
U.S. Confirmed: 92,199,991
U.S. Deaths: 1,034,154
Vaccine doses yesterday in the US (7-day average): +77,443
Fully vaccinated: 68% of US population
Total: 223M
From IDPH:
Vaccines Administered: 23,052,786
Total Cases: 3,594,415
Confirmed Deaths:34,416
Variant Cases:
Omicron (BA.2.12.1): 51%
Probable Deaths: 4,550
Since I last gave an update, we've had a covid outbreak in Regular Band, causing one of our concerts to be postponed. Also, POTUS caught covid, had negative tests, then tested positive again. Only just today did he get a second consecutive negative test and he is leaving isolation again.
Because of omicron, vaccines are getting rejiggered, and it sounds like in the next couple of months they'll be more effective against the current strains floating about. Only people over 50, and those with underlying health conditions, qualify for a second booster, but it sounds like the revamped one will be available to anyone. Based on the percentage of fully-vaccinated people, we're still below the threshold of where we'd need to be as a country in terms of being vaccinated enough to not have it continue to be a threat.
Related, I came across an article from last Sunday that talked about vaccine rates in a particular community. Its title is "Summer Covid Caution" by Tatyana Turner and the date was 7-31-22. It discussed how covid has affected non-white populations, with part of the focus being on Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
...Native Americans and Native Alaskans have among the highest vaccination rates in the U.S. with 54.7% of the entire population being vaccinated, while some tribes are at 98%, according to the [American Public Health Association]. ...
"The innovations and collective that American Indian and Native Alaskan peoples exhibited to respond to COVID-19 under the worst conditions has been a model of value systems that support a one-for-all approach," Barlow said.
"Let their approach be a lesson for the rest of Americans, who often during this pandemic favored individual needs and desires over what was best for their communities."
(Barlow is Alison Barlow, director of Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health.)
Part of the article discussed how high-ranking members of tribes really got the word out about the importance of the vaccine, resulting in such a high number of people getting vaccinated. Yet again, we can learn from Native Americans...and yet, we don't.
The other thing to keep in mind is that 19 isn't the only variant in existence. A friendly acquaintance of mine said she got pretty sick over the summer but her covid tests came back negative. That's because she didn't have COVID-19; she had COVID-5, or perhaps COVID-05. She learned that there's a new covid strain each year, and prior to 2020 the naming convention was to name it after that year. However, because 19 was so virulent, the next dominant strains got named differently--hence, COVID-20 became known as delta, and COVID-21 became known as omicron. What she thought was weird was that, despite being so ill, she was able to go about her business without isolating/quarantining and she wasn't required to wear a mask when out and about, because the strain she caught was so under the radar, apparently, that there was virtually no chance of her passing it along. She thought that was strange. This has not been independently verified, so be aware of that, but I felt it was worth noting.
Global Confirmed: 584,308,734
Global Deaths: 6,418,174
U.S. Confirmed: 92,199,991
U.S. Deaths: 1,034,154
Vaccine doses yesterday in the US (7-day average): +77,443
Fully vaccinated: 68% of US population
Total: 223M
From IDPH:
Vaccines Administered: 23,052,786
Total Cases: 3,594,415
Confirmed Deaths:34,416
Variant Cases:
Omicron (BA.2.12.1): 51%
Probable Deaths: 4,550
Since I last gave an update, we've had a covid outbreak in Regular Band, causing one of our concerts to be postponed. Also, POTUS caught covid, had negative tests, then tested positive again. Only just today did he get a second consecutive negative test and he is leaving isolation again.
Because of omicron, vaccines are getting rejiggered, and it sounds like in the next couple of months they'll be more effective against the current strains floating about. Only people over 50, and those with underlying health conditions, qualify for a second booster, but it sounds like the revamped one will be available to anyone. Based on the percentage of fully-vaccinated people, we're still below the threshold of where we'd need to be as a country in terms of being vaccinated enough to not have it continue to be a threat.
Related, I came across an article from last Sunday that talked about vaccine rates in a particular community. Its title is "Summer Covid Caution" by Tatyana Turner and the date was 7-31-22. It discussed how covid has affected non-white populations, with part of the focus being on Native Americans and Native Alaskans.
...Native Americans and Native Alaskans have among the highest vaccination rates in the U.S. with 54.7% of the entire population being vaccinated, while some tribes are at 98%, according to the [American Public Health Association]. ...
"The innovations and collective that American Indian and Native Alaskan peoples exhibited to respond to COVID-19 under the worst conditions has been a model of value systems that support a one-for-all approach," Barlow said.
"Let their approach be a lesson for the rest of Americans, who often during this pandemic favored individual needs and desires over what was best for their communities."
(Barlow is Alison Barlow, director of Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health.)
Part of the article discussed how high-ranking members of tribes really got the word out about the importance of the vaccine, resulting in such a high number of people getting vaccinated. Yet again, we can learn from Native Americans...and yet, we don't.
The other thing to keep in mind is that 19 isn't the only variant in existence. A friendly acquaintance of mine said she got pretty sick over the summer but her covid tests came back negative. That's because she didn't have COVID-19; she had COVID-5, or perhaps COVID-05. She learned that there's a new covid strain each year, and prior to 2020 the naming convention was to name it after that year. However, because 19 was so virulent, the next dominant strains got named differently--hence, COVID-20 became known as delta, and COVID-21 became known as omicron. What she thought was weird was that, despite being so ill, she was able to go about her business without isolating/quarantining and she wasn't required to wear a mask when out and about, because the strain she caught was so under the radar, apparently, that there was virtually no chance of her passing it along. She thought that was strange. This has not been independently verified, so be aware of that, but I felt it was worth noting.