Minnesota has identified its first COVID-19 cases involving the BA.4 and BA.5 coronavirus subvariants that have shown the ability in other nations to spread even in highly immunized populations.
Genomic sequencing of a sampling of positive coronavirus infections found BA.4 in four cases and BA.5 in one case with four involving residents outside the Twin Cities, according to the latest data from the Minnesota Department of Health. Identified specimens involving a BA.2.12.1 subvariant, which is causing high COVID-19 levels in the Northeast now, have increased over the past week from 47 to 131.
Whether these variants will accelerate COVID-19 cases in Minnesota is unclear. While earlier delta and omicron variants produced record infections this winter, a beta variant did not produce much viral spread locally last spring after it was identified in Brazil.
One reason for concern is that the two new subvariants spread rapidly in South Africa despite recent COVID-19 waves that should have left people there with short-term immunity after infection, said Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's COVID-19 vaccine research group.
"BA.4 and BA.5 ... very efficiently escape that immunity," Poland said in a podcast released this week. "So they are having a major surge with BA.4 and BA.5 driving up cases, hospitalizations and deaths."
Pandemic activity already is increasing in Minnesota, but growth in infections continues to outpace severe illness and hospitalizations. The state on Wednesday reported another 2,120 coronavirus infections.
Nearly 1.5 million Minnesotans have tested positive for COVID-19, including 68,742 people who have been infected more than once. The total excludes positive at-home test results that aren't reported to public health authorities. Minnesota's actual infection total could be above 3.3 million, including unreported and asymptomatic cases, according to federal estimates.
State health officials are hopeful that high immunity levels from recent vaccinations and infections are at least reducing severe COVID-19 illnesses. Hospitalizations in Minnesota of patients with COVID-19 have increased from 183 on April 10 to 440 Tuesday. However, hospitals are reporting a higher proportion of patients admitted for other purposes whose COVID-19 positive tests only turn up due to routine screening.
COVID-19 hospitalizations requiring intensive care have increased from a low of 20 on April 25 to 31 Tuesday. The latest ICU total only makes up 7% of the current COVID-19 hospitalizations, though. During earlier pandemic waves, ICU patients accounted for up to 30% of the hospitalizations.
Allina Health reported that COVID-19 positivity among symptomatic patients in the hospitals increased from about 3% in the week ending April 10 to about 16% in the week ending May 8. Among hospitalized patients with no COVID-19 symptoms, the comparable test positivity rate has increased from nearly 2% to almost 4%.
COVID-19 patients placed on ventilators because of severe lung problems declined from 48 in early February to only one earlier this month.
The state on Wednesday reported six COVID-19 deaths in seniors.
The age trend of COVID-19 mortality has shifted back toward seniors, who account for 82% of Minnesota's 12,575 deaths in the pandemic. Only 72% of deaths involved seniors since last June, when the delta variant took a larger toll among younger, unvaccinated adults. However, since March, seniors have once again made up more than 80% of Minnesota's COVID-19 deaths.
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) Over 16,000 Oklahomans have died from the coronavirus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
OSDH announced in March thatit was discontinuing its daily situation updates that monitor the daily case counts, and instead, release weekly data on Thursdays.
On Thursday, data from the Oklahoma State Department of Health shows that the state has had 1,043,536 confirmed cases ofCOVID-19since March of 2020.
Thats an overall increase of 2,038 cases from last weeks numbers.
At this point, officials believe there are 2,621 active cases ofCOVID-19in Oklahoma.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Oklahoma has seen 16,050 deaths as of Thursday. Thats an increase of 54 deaths.
Officials say there were 79 Oklahomans hospitalized with COVID-19 on average over the past three days. Authorities also noted that there were 25 pediatric hospitalizations for COVID-19 included in that number.
Health leaders say over 2.82 million Oklahomans have received their initial COVID-19 vaccine, while 2.27 million have completed the series.
New Jersey on Thursday reported nine more COVID-19 deaths and 4,835 new confirmed positive tests with another 82 in-school outbreaks among staff and students in the latest weekly report.
The states seven-day average for confirmed cases increased to 4,034 on Thursday, up 26% from a week ago and up 138% from a month ago. Thats the highest seven-day average since Feb. 3.
There were 842 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported across 70 of the states 71 hospitals as of Wednesday night. Hospitalizations still remain significantly lower than when they peaked at 6,089 on Jan. 10 during the Omicron wave.
There were at least 153 people discharged in that same 24-hour period ending Wednesday, according to state data. Of those hospitalized, 99 were in intensive care and 39 were on ventilators.
New Jerseys statewide transmission rate ticked up slightly to 1.29 Thursday. When the transmission rate is over 1, that means each new case is leading to at least one additional case and the outbreak is expanding.
The positivity rate for tests conducted on Saturday, the most recent day with available data, was 17.39%.
The state on Thursday also reported 1,338 probable cases from rapid antigen testing at medical sites.
The BA.2 strain of COVID-19 has been spreading in New Jersey for weeks, though at much lower rates than the Omicron surge in December and January. Officials have said the Omicron stealth sub-variant appears to spread more easily but generally does not cause more severe illness.
For the week ending April 30, BA.2 accounted for 91.4% of the positive tests sampled (slightly up from 89.4% the previous week), while the BA2.12.1 omicron subvariant accounted for 6% of positive tests sampled (down from 6.7% the previous week).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists nine New Jersey counties with high transmission rates Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Gloucester, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean and Sussex. Those in high-risk areas are recommended to wear a mask indoors in public and on public transportation and stay up-to-date on vaccination, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eleven counties are in the medium risk category: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Salem, Somerset, Union and Warren. Cumberland County is at low. Masks are not recommended in the medium and low regions.
New Jersey has reported 2,012,287 total confirmed COVID-19 cases out of more than 17.7 million PCR tests conducted in the more than two years since the state reported its first known case March 4, 2020.
The Garden State has also recorded 328,963 positive antigen or rapid tests, which are considered probable cases. And there are numerous cases that have likely never been counted, including at-home positive tests that are not included in the states numbers.
The state of 9.2 million residents has reported 33,595 COVID-19 deaths in that time 30,537 confirmed fatalities and 3,058 probable.
New Jersey has the seventh-most coronavirus deaths per capita in the U.S. behind Mississippi, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee, and West Virginia as of the latest data reported Tuesday. Last summer, the state still had the most deaths per capita in the country.
The latest numbers follow a major study that revealed even a mild case of COVID-19 can significantly affect the brain. Long COVID the term commonly used to describe symptoms stemming from the virus long after a person no longer tests positive has been found to affect between 10% and 30% of those who contract the infection, regardless of whether they have a mild or serious case.
More than 6.89 million of the 8.46 million eligible people who live, work or study in New Jersey have received the initial course of vaccinations and more than 7.8 million have received a first dose since vaccinations began here on Dec. 15, 2020.
More than 3.74 million people in the state eligible for boosters have received one. That number may rise after the FDA on Tuesday approved booster shots for healthy children between the ages of 5 and 11. U.S. regulators authorized the booster for kids hoping an extra vaccine dose will enhance their protection as infections once again creep upward.
For the week ending May 8, with about 59% of schools reporting data, another 8,923 COVID-19 cases were reported among staff (2,461) and students (6,462) across New Jerseys schools.
Since the start of the academic year, there have been 116,771 students and 34,685 school staff members who have contracted COVID-19 in New Jersey, though the state has never had more than two-thirds of the school districts reporting data in any week.
The state provides total student and staff cases separately from those deemed to be in-school transmission, which is narrowly defined as three or more cases linked through contact tracing.
New Jersey has reported 807 total in-school outbreaks, including 5,671 cases among students and staff. That includes 82 new outbreaks in the latest weekly report ending May 16. The state reported 72 in-school outbreaks the previous week.
At least 9,049 of the states COVID-19 deaths have been among residents and staff members at nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, according to state data.
There were active outbreaks at 315 facilities, resulting in 3,383 current cases among residents and 3,121 cases among staff, as of the latest data.
As of Thursday, there have been more than 525 million COVID-19 cases reported across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins University, and more than 6.28 million people died due to the virus.
The U.S. has reported the most cases (more than 82.9 million) and deaths (at least 1,001,296) of any nation.
There have been more than 11.4 billion vaccine doses administered globally.
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Deion Johnson may be reached at djohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DeionRJohhnson
THURSDAY 5/19/2022 1:53 p.m.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has reported 1,453,007 total positive coronavirus test results in the state and 12,961 total COVID-19 deaths.
The number of known cases per variant is no longer tracked as The Wisconsin Department of Health Services has updated its website, deleting that section.
Unable to view the tables below?Click here.
The DHS announced an attempt to verify and ensure statistics are accurate, some numbers may be subject to change. The DHS is combing through current and past data to ensure accuracy.
Wisconsins hospitals are reporting, that the 7-day moving average of COVID-19 patients hospitalized was 319 patients. Of those,39 are in an ICU. ICU patients made up 11.3%of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services reports that 9,502,954 vaccine doses and 2,027,707 booster doses have been administered in Wisconsin as of May 19.
Unable to view the tables below?Click here.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is using a new module to measure COVID-19 activity levels. They are now using the Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) COVID-19 Community Levels. The map is measured by the impact of COVID-19 illness on health and health care systems in the communities.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports seven counties in Wisconsin are experiencing high COVID-19 community levels. None of them are in northeast Wisconsin.
38 counties in Wisconsin are experiencing medium COVID-19 community levels, including Brown, Fond du Lac, Forest, Green Lake, Menominee, Shawano, and Winnebago County in northeast Wisconsin.
Every other county in Wisconsin is experiencing low COVID-19 community levels.
For more information on how the data is collected, visit the CDCs COVID-19 Community Levels data page.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A bill moving forward at the Ohio Statehouse would give $422 million from the massive federal coronavirus relief bill to the states smaller towns and township governments.
The Republican-controlled Ohio House voted Wednesday to approve House Bill 377, which formally allocates some of the $10 billion Ohio got from the American Rescue Plan Act signed in 2021 by Democratic President Joe Biden. The bill will go on to the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate for consideration and also would require Republican Gov. Mike DeWines signature to become law.
The money would get split by population among Ohios non-entitlement government units -- a term that covers cities of 50,000 people or less, village and township governments -- with the requirement that it is spent to directly reimburse costs associated with responding to the coronavirus pandemic and its associated economic effects. The money would be returned if not spent by the end of the states 2023 fiscal year.
The same group of local governments got $422 million last June from the previous round of ARPA funding, which is split into two years.
The Republican-controlled Ohio House approved the bill 75-9 on Wednesday, with all the no votes coming from some of the chambers most conservative Republicans.
Half of the $10 billion the state got from the ARPA will go to the state government, with the other half going to local governments.
Republicans, including DeWine, criticized ARPA before congressional Democrats and Biden passed it.
But since the coronavirus aid bill passed in 2021, the governor, whos running for re-election this year, has touted his plans to spend Ohios share of the money, which also include spending $1.5 billion to repay a federal loan to cover unemployment benefits paid during the pandemic; $756 million for local economic recovery initiatives, water and sewer grants, and pediatric behavioral healthcare facilities; $500 million to invest in Appalachian Ohio; $250 million in police grants; and $10.5 million to buy machines that can help solve gun crimes.
State Rep. Thomas Hall, a Butler County Republican who is one of HB377s sponsors, said during committee testimony the bill is about making sure Ohios 1,300-plus townships and other smaller local governments get their fair share of the federal relief money.
Whether or not you agree with the overall funding outlined in the American Rescue Plan, it is essential that all of Ohios local governments and their communities are treated equally under the bill, he said.
Reporter Jeremy Pelzer contributed to this story
The trend emerged at the tail-end of the omicron variant outbreak and has accelerated over the past two months, setting off alarm bells for state public health experts already expecting a surge in cases this summer.
Eva Lee, director of the Center for Operations Research in Medicine and Healthcare in Atlanta, agreed that the rate of hospitalizations among boosted people was on track to outpace other populations. However, she said its not a sign of vaccines losing all effectiveness it has to do with who is choosing to get boosted.
A big part of the people that are boosted are also the ones that are really at high risk already to begin with, right? Lee said. But what has remained and hasnt changed is the following: The people that are at risk remain at risk. That means the people that are immune-compromised and the people that are like the elderly people, and people who have coexisting conditions, their risk is still higher.
Overall, the number of people hospitalized with COVID remains at or near the lowest rate since the beginning of the pandemic. But state data shows that the most protected and least protected groups are starting to find themselves fighting for their lives in Georgia hospitals at nearly the same levels.
According to Georgia Department of Public Health data, unvaccinated groups were being hospitalized due to COVID at twice the rate of other populations at the beginning of March. By the end of April, there were 1.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 vaccinated and boosted Georgians compared to 1.6 hospitalizations for every 100,000 unvaccinated Georgians.
In addition to at-risk groups being more likely to get every shot available to them, omicron and its subvariants have presented a challenge for the U.S.s current vaccines. Breakthrough cases of less serious illness are now common, and health experts warn they are a sign of the vaccines waning immunity.
Prior to Omicron we could, with a booster, assume there was well over 90-95% vaccine effectiveness vs severe disease, Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in New York, wrote in a recent column sounding the alarm for a summer surge in COVID-19 infections. It is clear, however, from multiple reports ... that this level of protection has declined to approximately 80%, particularly taking account the more rapid waning than previously seen. That represents a substantial drop-off.
The growing number of breakthrough cases has prompted national health officials to discuss reformulating the current vaccines to specifically target omicron and its subvariants. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a meeting scheduled for June 28 to evaluate vaccine efficiency and composition.
Georgia hasnt seen any noticeable uptick in COVID-19 deaths, but death reports often lag behind increasing hospitalization rates by several weeks.
While health experts are troubled by the rising hospitalization rates, they emphasize that COVIDs death toll would already be on the rise if the most at-risk Georgians werent vaccinated and boosted.
Raymond Fain knew he couldnt risk getting COVID-19. Given he has kidney disease, the 58-year-old made sure to not only get fully vaccinated but he took a Pfizer booster shot to boot.
Just two months later, during the onslaught of the omicron variant this winter, he was shocked to be told that in spite of his vaccinations he caught COVID. What followed was a bad sickness and two rounds of hospitalization that totaled nearly a month. But at the end of it, came another surprise: He lived.
I was sort of shocked that that disease that I caught didnt overcome me with the failed kidneys. You know what Im saying? Fain said.
Cleveland works with Fains doctor, both of whom have pleaded with their kidney patients to get vaccinated. Cleveland is all too familiar with kidney patients who get COVID and dont make it. Hes heard all the excuses, and hes ready to counter them.
Ive seen so much of that (kidney patients succumbing to COVID) that I do not hesitate to try to explain to my patients that Ive just seen this too many times to to be comfortable with them saying that they are afraid, Cleveland said.
The percentage of Georgia residents whove been vaccinated is among the lowest in the country the peach state currently ranks 45th. The states booster adoption rate is even worse, with less than half of all fully vaccinated people choosing to get one booster dose.
Theres also a large age disparity among those getting boosted. Nearly 60% of all Georgia seniors, people 65 and older, have gotten a booster dose, but theres a stark drop-off for younger populations. Only about 15% of 25- to 34-year-old Georgians are boosted.
The low booster adoption rate for younger people, who are less likely to be at a high risk of life-threatening infections, is an explanation for why boosted groups seem to be hospitalized at higher rates, health experts said.
All such people need to have vaccination and booster coverage but our (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has failed to convey their life-saving impact from the get go... Topol wrote in his column. Thats why we have 31% of Americans who had had 1 booster shot whereas most peer countries are double that proportion.
For Fain, hes surprised he was able to pull through his severe bout with COVID and get back on his feet, but his friends and loved ones havent let him forget how close he was to death.
Everybodys going to talk to me now, they say, Boy when you started, we thought you was going to get gone. You sounded so bad, Fain said. Yeah, but everything is okay now. Im strong.
CLEVELAND -- Guardians manager Terry Francona missed so much time over the past two seasons that even a four-game absence was difficult.
"This was forced retirement," he said. "It wasn't very fun."
Francona and two of his coaches cleared health and safety protocols Wednesday and returned to the team after missing part of the past week after testing positive for COVID-19.
Francona was back for Wednesday's game against the Cincinnati Reds along with bench coach DeMarlo Hale and assistant hitting coach Justin Toole. The trio tested positive with coronavirus last week while the Guardians were in Chicago and returned to Ohio by bus as the team continued its trip to Minnesota.
However, Francona's return was delayed another day as the Reds and Guardians were postponed by rain. The series finale will be made up Thursday with an afternoon matinee.
The Guardians have dealt with two separate outbreaks in recent weeks, and the latest rash of cases has heightened the team's awareness.
"Up to this point I think we feel pretty fortunate," Francona said. "It was starting to work its way through. Once it gets into the clubhouse, everybody's breathing on each other. We live together.
"But I will say this, it's not like it's over and you can let your guard down. We're going to have to mask up indoors just to take care. Because once it happens, it's kind of too late."
First baseman Josh Naylor remains the only Guardians player currently sidelined with the virus. However, Naylor is close to returning and was back in the clubhouse. Francona said he could be n the lineup as early as Friday, when the Guardians open a three-game series at home against Detroit.
The 63-year-old Francona, in his 10th season with Cleveland, dealt with some symptoms over the weekend but has felt better the past few days. He missed most of the last two seasons to handle some serious health issues.
With Francona back, pitching coach Carl Willis returns to his normal duties after serving as acting manager.
Sandy Alomar and Mike Sarbaugh, the team's respective first- and third-base coaches, are still sidelined after testing positive.
Hitting coach Chris Valaika returned to the Guardians on Tuesday after missing three games.
The Guardians considered bringing up other coaches from the minors, but Francona said the team opted to shift healthy members of his staff into other roles to give the players some continuity.
"The biggest thing with Carl was, we're trying to keep some sense of normalcy," he said. "When you're missing seven guys, that's kind of hard. One, we know that the players will respect when Carl talks. We just wanted the games to be played like they're supposed to."
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) WHO Thailand Situation Report 236 - 18 May 2022 - Thailand ReliefWeb
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COVID-19 is a disease caused by a contagious respiratory virus. Common symptoms may include fever, cough, congestion, sore throat, headache, fatigue or shortness of breath, among others. Symptoms of COVID-19 can be similar to symptoms of other illnesses like the flu and common cold.
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CNN
More than one million people have now died of Covid-19 in the US since the pandemics start, according to Tuesday data from Johns Hopkins University a reminder the pandemic is not over even as much of the country pushes to move away from Covid-19 measures.
And experts believe the true toll of the disease is higher.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the US was about 32% higher than reported between February 2020 and September 2021. Provisional data from the CDC also shows the US surpassed the death milestone during the week ending on May 14, and a CNN analysis of data released by the agency shows that severe outcomes disproportionately affected older Americans and minority populations.
About three-quarters of all Covid-19 deaths have been among seniors, including more than a quarter among people 85 and older, according to CDC data. And while racial and ethnic disparities have lessened over the course of the pandemic, the risk of dying from Covid-19 has been about two times higher for Blacks, Hispanics and American Indians compared to Whites in the US.
Last week, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation marking a million deaths and ordered the American flag to fly half-staff, writing that the nation must not grow numb to such sorrow.
To heal, we must remember, the President said in a statement. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible.
And it all comes as Covid-19 cases are rising again across the country, with reported infections more than doubling over the past month in the US overall. New York City reached the high Covid-19 alert level, indicating high community spread and substantial pressure on the health care system, officials said, and encouraged people to wear high-quality masks in all public indoor settings and crowded outdoor spaces, regardless of whether vaccination status is known.
Across the world, there have been more than 524 million cases reported of the virus since the pandemics start more than 82 million of which have been in the US.
The World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
Overall, death rates have been higher in the Northeast region of the country and lowest in the West, according to JHU data.
But at the state level, death rates have been highest in Mississippi, Arizona and Oklahoma each with more than 400 total Covid-19 deaths for every 100,000 people compared with Vermont and Hawaii, which have had about 100 deaths for every 100,000 people.
Globally, there have been more than 6.2 million reported Covid-19 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data.
What we can learn from the WHO Covid mortality numbers
Vaccinations for the virus have saved millions of lives, but about half of all Covid-19 deaths in the US have happened over the past year when vaccines were already widely available for everyone age 5 and older.
And though the government has not shared an official estimate of how many vaccinated people have died of Covid-19, a CNN analysis of CDC data shows that deaths in recent months have been much more evenly split between vaccinated and unvaccinated people as highly transmissible variants take hold, vaccine protection wanes and booster uptake stagnates.
But the risk of dying from Covid-19 is still about five times higher for unvaccinated people than it is for vaccinated people, according to the CDC.
And evidence continues to build around the critical importance of booster shots.
Of those vaccinated people who died from a breakthrough case of Covid-19 in January and February, less than a third had gotten a booster shot, according to a CNN analysis of data from the CDC. The remaining two-thirds had only received their primary series.
