Half Of States Report Covid Spikes Thanks To Fourth Of July, Delta Variant
From Nevada to Oklahoma, reports note that covid cases across the U.S. are rising thanks to the combination of the highly transmissible delta variant, low vaccination rates in some places, and what people were up to over the long July 4th weekend.
CIDRAP:
States Report Increase In COVID-19 Cases Over Holiday
Half of all US states reported significant increases in COVID-19 cases over the long Fourth of July weekend in a surge of virus activity caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant. The rise in cases comes as the country narrowly missed the mark of vaccinating 70% of residents ages 18 and up with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Instead, 67.1% of American adults have had at least one dose of vaccine, and 47.4% are fully vaccinated. (Soucheray, 7/6)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:
State's Covid-19 Hospitalizations Soar
The number of patients hospitalized with covid-19 in Arkansas jumped Tuesday by 55, to 416, the largest one-day increase since January. Gov. Asa Hutchinson attributed the uptick to the state's low vaccination rates.
Fifteen more covid-19 patients were admitted into intensive care units, raising the total to 176, a week-to-week increase of 34 from the 142 reported the previous Tuesday. Those patients requiring ventilators to breathe increased by 10, to 76 -- up seven from 69 a week ago.
The increases came the same day Hutchinson announced a statewide tour to talk directly with residents and address vaccine hesitancy. (Roberts, 7/7)
Oklahoman:
Oklahoma Sees High Hospital Admission Rate For COVID-19 Patients
Oklahoma is seeing a high rate of hospital admissions for COVID-19 patients amid rising case numbers in the state, according to an expert. Across the state, nearly 28% of people who have had a positive COVID-19 test in the last two weeks were admitted to hospitals, said Dr. David Kendrick, founder and CEO of MyHealth Access Network, a statewide health information exchange. “That's a really high admission rate,” Kendrick said Tuesday at a Healthier Oklahoma Coalition news conference, adding that the number of hospital admissions statewide is still low despite the high rate. (Branham, 7/7)
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Nevada Adds 1,346 New COVID Cases, Sees Sharp Jump In Positivity Rate
Nevada on Tuesday reported 1,346 new coronavirus cases and five deaths over the preceding four days as well as a sharp increase in the state’s test positivity rate. Updated data covering Friday through Monday posted by the state Department of Health and Human Services on its coronavirus website showed the two-week moving average of new COVID-19 cases increasing to 352 per day and pushed the state’s case total to 336,109. The state’s death total increased to 5,702. The five deaths reported were below the two-week moving average of two per day, when spread over four days. (Dylan, 7/6)
CNN:
US Coronavirus: US Sends Surge Team To Southwest Missouri After Delta Variant Fuels Rise In Cases And Hospitalizations
The US government is deploying a Covid-19 surge team to provide public health support in southwest Missouri, where the spread of the virus is filling up hospital beds once again. The surge of Covid-19 cases is so high in the city of Springfield, Missouri, that the CoxHealth hospital system began transferring patients infected with the virus to other facilities to provide better staffing. At Cox South, a Springfield hospital, 12 Covid-19 patients were transferred to other facilities in the region between Friday and Monday morning. (Elamroussi, 7/7)
The Washington Post:
All Marylanders Who Died Of Covid In June Were Unvaccinated, Data Show
Unvaccinated people made up all of Maryland’s reported coronavirus deaths last month, as well as the vast majority of new cases and hospitalizations, the state reported Tuesday — data that public health officials say demonstrates the effectiveness of vaccines. The numbers come as experts try to persuade the vaccine-hesitant to get shots and protect themselves against a virus that has killed more than 22,000 people in the region and nearly 4 million worldwide. (Portnoy and Wiggins, 7/6)
KHN:
California’s Highest Covid Infection Rates Shift To Rural Counties
Most of us are familiar with the good news: In recent weeks, rates of covid-19 infection and death have plummeted in California, falling to levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic. The average number of new covid infections reported each day dropped by an astounding 98% from December to June, according to figures from the California Department of Public Health. And bolstering that trend, nearly 70% of Californians 12 and older are partially or fully vaccinated. (Reese, 7/7)
In news about mask-wearing —
AP:
Anti-Mask Protesters Charged In School Board Meeting Uproar
Several anti-mask protesters who disrupted a school district board meeting in Utah earlier this year are now facing criminal charges, officials said. The 11 protesters were charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting a public meeting late last week. Granite School District spokesperson Ben Horsley says police are still searching for another person who was accused of being involved in the confrontation. (7/6)
AP:
Missouri Mayor Who Required Masks Faces Recall Vote
As the coronavirus surges in Missouri, a mayor who imposed a mask requirement and other public safety measures is facing a recall vote, even though the requirements have long since expired. Nixa voters will have the option to recall Mayor Brian Steele at a special election set for Nov. 2, the Springfield News-Leader reports. (7/7)
Also —
The Washington Post:
Appalachian Covid Deniers Anger Nurses In Virginia
The hospital executives at the lectern called her a hero, and the struggle that had earned Emily Boucher that distinction showed on her face: in the pallor acquired over 12-hour shifts in the intensive care unit, the rings beneath eyes that watched almost every day as covid-19 patients gasped for their final breaths. The pandemic had hit late but hard in the Appalachian highlands — the mountainous region that includes Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee — and over the winter many of its victims had ended up on ventilators tended by Boucher and her fellow nurses at Johnston Memorial Hospital. (Jamison, 7/6)
AP:
Unending Grief Of COVID-19 Deaths Causing Problems For Some
Kelly Brown’s 74-year-old father got sick first with COVID-19, followed by her 71-year-old mom just two days later. John and Judy Trzebiatowski died of the illness just a week apart last August, sending Brown into a black tunnel of grief that doesn’t seem to have an end. Health restrictions stripped away the things that normally help people deal with death, such as bedside visits at the Wisconsin hospital where they were treated and a big funeral with hugs and tears, she said. That left Brown to deal with her sorrow on her own, and now she’s having a hard time seeing a way forward. (Reeves, 7/6)
