President Joe Biden and government health officials have been calling the resurgence in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths a pandemic of the unvaccinated, which has been exacerbated by the highly contagious delta variant. But a new data analysis also suggests that this has become a pandemic of conservatives.
In counties where former President Donald Trump received at least 70% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election, COVID-19 has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June, health care analyst Charles Gaba tells the New York Times. But in counties where Trump won less than 32% of the vote, the number is a fraction of that about 10 out of 100,000.
The Times report featured in its morning newsletter on Monday also referred to a recent Pew Research Center poll looking at the political divide in vaccination rates, which found that 86% of Democratic voters had received at least one shot, compared with 60% of Republican voters.
The political divide over vaccinations is so large that almost every reliably blue state now has a higher vaccination rate than almost every reliably red state, notes the Times report.
And as the COVID vaccines from BioNTech BNTX, -7.91% /Pfizer PFE, -0.84%, Moderna MRNA, -4.95% and Johnson & Johnson JNJ, -0.72% have been effective at preventing severe illness and death, the most severe and fatal cases of COVID have been occurring in the unvaccinated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that as the delta variant surged in early summer, those who were unvaccinated were more than 10 times more likely than the fully vaccinated people to be hospitalized, and 11 times more likely to die.
Related: Unvaccinated Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 cost the U.S. health care system $2.3 billion in June and July: report
So it stands to reason that as the unvaccinated are increasingly concentrated in red America, then the more severe and fatal cases of COVID are being counted in these communities, as well, the Times analysis says.
And this led red COVID to start trending on Twitter TWTR, -2.75% on Monday morning with more than 13,000 tweets as readers shared and dissected the report.
The U.S. is still averaging more than 2,000 COVID deaths a day, and health officials are still struggling to overcome vaccine hesitancy in the roughly 36% of Americans who have still not received at least one dose of the three available COVID-19 vaccines. Just over half (55.3%) of Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to the latest CDC data.
Some places have tried penalizing those who havent received a COVID vaccine yet as an incentive. In New York, health care workers who remain unvaccinated as of Monday risk losing their jobs under a state vaccination mandate. And those axed over not getting a COVID shot wont be able to collect unemployment benefits unless they can show proof of a medical exemption. And the vaccination rate among Delta employees spiked after the airline said its unvaccinated workers would pay a $200 monthly health-insurance surcharge.
Related: With more than 1,300 Americans dying each day from COVID, experts say penalizing the unvaccinated works better than incentives
Other places have tried sweetening the deal with cash prizes and freebies, instead. States such as Ohio, California and Michigan have offered million-dollar lotteries to residents who got vaccinated, while Krispy Kreme has given free doughnuts and Taco Bell has dished free tacos to customers who show their COVID vaccination cards.
`;// articleContent = document.querySelector(".article-content");// articleContent.innerHTML = articleContent.innerHTML + formbox;let firstParagraph = document.querySelector("div.article-content > p:nth-child(1)");if (firstParagraph !== null) {firstParagraph.insertAdjacentHTML("afterend", formbox);}function waitForElement(id, callback){var goStahp = setInterval(function(){if(document.getElementById(id)){clearInterval(goStahp);callback();}}, 100);}waitForElement("JotFormIFrame-212304983870155", function(){const expandButton = document.querySelector('h3.expand_box_click_to_open_covid_form');expandButton.addEventListener('click', function() {let box = document.querySelector('.corona_form_expand_box_covid_form');let first = 'opening';let second = 'open';let buttonAction = 'Hide story tip submission form';let deviceAction = "Tap";if (window.innerWidth > 666) {deviceAction = "Click";}// console.log(window.innerWidth);if(box.classList.contains(first)) {[first, second] = [second, first];buttonAction = `${deviceAction} to submit a coronavirus story tip`;}expandButton.innerHTML = buttonAction;box.classList.toggle(first);setTimeout(() => {box.classList.toggle(second);}, 0);});var ifr = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame-212304983870155");if(window.location.href && window.location.href.indexOf("?") > -1) {var get = window.location.href.substr(window.location.href.indexOf("?") + 1);if(ifr && get.length > 0) {var src = ifr.src;src = src.indexOf("?") > -1 ? src + "&" + get : src + "?" + get;ifr.src = src;}}window.handleIFrameMessage = function(e) {if (typeof e.data === 'object') { return; }var args = e.data.split(":");if (args.length > 2) { iframe = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame-" + args[(args.length - 1)]); } else { iframe = document.getElementById("JotFormIFrame"); }if (!iframe) { return; }switch (args[0]) {case "scrollIntoView":iframe.scrollIntoView();break;case "setHeight":console.log(`case: setHeight`);iframe.style.height = parseInt(args[1]) + 15 + "px";break;case "collapseErrorPage":console.log(`case: collapseErrorPage`);if (iframe.clientHeight > window.innerHeight) {iframe.style.height = window.innerHeight + "px";}break;case "reloadPage":window.location.reload();break;case "loadScript":var src = args[1];if (args.length > 3) {src = args[1] + ':' + args[2];}var script = document.createElement('script');script.src = src;script.type = 'text/javascript';document.body.appendChild(script);break;case "exitFullscreen":if (window.document.exitFullscreen) window.document.exitFullscreen();else if (window.document.mozCancelFullScreen) window.document.mozCancelFullScreen();else if (window.document.mozCancelFullscreen) window.document.mozCancelFullScreen();else if (window.document.webkitExitFullscreen) window.document.webkitExitFullscreen();else if (window.document.msExitFullscreen) window.document.msExitFullscreen();break;}var isJotForm = (e.origin.indexOf("jotform") > -1) ? true : false;if(isJotForm && "contentWindow" in iframe && "postMessage" in iframe.contentWindow) {var urls = {"docurl":encodeURIComponent(document.URL),"referrer":encodeURIComponent(document.referrer)};iframe.contentWindow.postMessage(JSON.stringify({"type":"urls","value":urls}), "*");}};if (window.addEventListener) {window.addEventListener("message", handleIFrameMessage, false);} else if (window.attachEvent) {window.attachEvent("onmessage", handleIFrameMessage);}});//
Hernando County firefighter David Hackett died of COVID-19 complications Saturday night, the county said in a media release. He was 44.
Hackett started with the Fire & Emergency Services Department in 2002. He served at Fire Station #14 in Brooksville. He was promoted to driver engineer in 2013. In that role, Hackett drove the fire truck and served as second in command on calls.
Fire service ran in Hacketts family. His father, Dennis Hackett, is a retired Hernando County district chief. The younger Hackett dedicated his life to his family and the fire service, the release said.
David Hackett is survived by his wife of 12 years, Julie, and two sons, Jacob, 11, and Nicholas, 8.
Please keep his wife and children, as well the rest of his family, friends and members of the fire service, in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time, the release said.
Information on funeral services will be released when arrangements are finalized.
Just before COVID-19 reached Utah, the state health department was finishing a plan for how the state should respond to an influenza pandemic. There was just one holdup.
No one could agree on who would make policy decisions during a health crisis.
Would it be in the Legislature? Would it be in the governors office? Would it be in the health department? remembers then-state epidemiologist Dr. Angela Dunn.
Those exact questions would divide state government and ensnarl Utahs COVID-19 response in politics as hundreds, and then thousands, of Utahns fell ill while the coronavirus spread worldwide.
State and local health officials lacked the trust of and reliable support from many elected leaders and had to contend with a maelstrom of political forces, current and former public health officials said.
Critics contend public health officials overreacted with early stay-at-home orders, changed their recommendations too frequently or, at times, didnt act fast enough, such as in expanding testing.
For their part, public health leaders say they felt underfunded and squeezed out of the states response, with little to no input as leaders signed multimillion-dollar testing and contact tracing contracts with tech companies that lacked public health experience.
Later on, they watched as the Legislature overruled their masking and social distancing orders and diluted their power to control the spread of the virus a trend that occurred in other states nationwide.
Now, as Utah struggles with the surging delta variant, testing backlogs, a vaccination rate hovering just over 50% and continuing political divisions, current and former state officials are hoping to rebuild trust with Utahns and pushing Gov. Spencer Coxs administration to reinvest in public health.
The diminished public trust in public health is a casualty of the pandemic and the politicized response, said Carrie Butler, executive director of the Utah Public Health Association. But public health has been underfunded for 100 years. The infrastructures that should have been in place werent there.
Utahs pandemic planning fluctuated depending on who was governor, said Dr. Andrew Pavia, who has served in state pandemic planning groups and is chief of pediatric infectious diseases at University of Utah Health.
A pandemic influenza task force and other planning efforts during the administration of then-Gov. Jon Huntsman produced lengthy lists of recommendations for preparing for and responding to a health crisis. Officials called for increasing testing capacity at the Utah Public Health Laboratory, improving statewide influenza monitoring and building the capacity to deliver a new vaccine across the states population.
Dr. David Sundwall, who ran the Utah Department of Health from 2005 to 2011, helped create the Huntsman playbook. It was exhaustive, he said, but the state failed to follow through in ensuring it had a sufficient supply of personal protective gear, other basic equipment and testing capacity.
The health departments reserves in early 2020 contained about 218,000 N95 masks, about 193,000 exam gloves, fewer than 10,000 face shields and a few thousand isolation gowns, according to the agency. There was no requirement to keep any specific quantity of these supplies on hand, a UDOH spokesman said.
Still, Pavia said, the state was well-prepared in some areas. Utah had hammered out a blueprint for allocating scarce health care resources in a crisis, he said, and had a robust influenza surveillance system.
And UDOH had a strong epidemiology leader in Dunn, Pavia said, with a good core of infectious disease experts.
There just werent enough of them at the start of the pandemic. Since then, the agency workforce has expanded nearly 30%, from 1,179 employees in September 2019 to 1,525 today.
Part of the staffing shortage stemmed from years of underfunding for public health, a concern that has emerged across the nation during the pandemic, public health advocates say.
In Utah, health department staffing levels havent been keeping up with the states explosive population growth, according to a Kaiser Health News and Associated Press report. In fact, the number of UDOH employees per resident in Utah dropped by 14% from 2010 to 2019, according to the analysis.
About 80% of the funding for the departments infectious and chronic diseases division comes from the federal government, Dunn said. Much of that money is awarded through grants with strings attached, she said, so UDOH officials were always asking the state to contribute more.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
State lawmakers provide roughly a fifth of the divisions funding, setting aside $18 million in the 2019 legislative sessions. That was cut to $16.6 million in the 2020 sessions, during the first year of the pandemic.
Former state Sen. Allen Christensen, a North Ogden Republican who spent years as head of the legislative committee that oversees health spending, acknowledges that he and his colleagues didnt see a pandemic coming and talked relatively little about preparing for one.
Rep. Paul Ray, who now leads the committee, said theres never enough money to meet all the needs, and policymakers can feel like theyre perpetually playing catch-up.
Thats why the public health, the pandemic preparedness wasnt there, the Clearfield Republican said. Because were trying to fund Medicaid, were trying to fund mental health, were trying to fund suicide prevention.
Underfunding left the Utah Department of Health vulnerable when COVID-19 hit, Pavia said.
Without enough stockpiled masks, gloves or testing material, the state had to scrounge for this equipment on a global market and, Utah auditors have noted, paid inflated prices. Utah has ordered more than $68.6 million of personal protective equipment during COVID-19, much of it outside the standard procurement processes meant to promote fairness and competition.
Auditors pointed out that the Huntsman-era pandemic plan had recommended that health officials develop a sufficient stockpile and voiced dismay that some bureaucrats were blindsided by fragmented supply chains.
Without adequate surge capacity, or enough staffing for a full-blown crisis response, the agency also faced challenges in ramping up contact tracing and testing, Pavia said.
Dunn, who now directs the Salt Lake County Health Department, said people outside public health often had the misconception that the agency could simply hire anyone off the street to do these jobs, but it was more complicated than that.
When hiring employees to work with the public, she said, its all about trust. We need the public to feel like they can trust us to give us their sensitive data. And that relationship can be ruined with just a single individual.
Meanwhile, the states powerful budget manager, Kristen Cox of the Governors Office of Management and Budget (GOMB), wanted her office to play a leading role in Utahs pandemic response and began second-guessing public health, according to Dr. Joseph Miner, who was UDOH executive director at the start of the pandemic.
As millions of dollars in federal coronavirus aid began pouring into the state, GOMB started to commit funding in a series of massive, no-bid contracts. To meet the demand for increased testing capacity, state officials turned to a consortium of tech companies that had offered its services, initially, at no cost. But the sole-source contracts that went to the initiative, known as TestUtah, soon ballooned and now tally in the tens of millions of dollars.
GOMB supervised the TestUtah contract with Nomi Health, a tech company that has captured nearly $34 million from the state to run a coronavirus testing initiative and later vaccination sites. Nomi Healths CEO acknowledged his company had no prior lab testing experience, and infectious disease experts have raised concerns about the reliability of the tests initially used for the project.
We had no input or response or were never asked about resources that we needed, Miner, who retired late last year, said. That was completely done separate from public health.
(Francisco Kjolseth | Tribune file photo) A TestUtah site alongside Provo Towne Centre Mall on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021.
Kristen Cox said the state had to be aggressive, especially when then-Gov. Gary Herberts office was pressing to build capacity and to act fast to save lives and livelihoods.
One of the disagreements centered on expanding coronavirus testing to residents who did not have symptoms something Dunn had opposed and the ability of public health to execute on this, which was challenging at first.
They [public health officials] may feel, We should have taken the lead on it, but it was a collaborative effort, Cox, who now is based at the University of Utahs business school, said in an interview. Everybody had a voice in this, but maybe some didnt think they had enough. But, you know, step up and come up with a plan, bring it all together, then go for it. But despite their good intentions and expertise public health leaders didnt immediately have a plan that included basic elements, like masks, asymptomatic testing and data on hospital capacity.
Cox said she was following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a strategy described in Herberts Utah Leads Together plan. Public health officials, she said, hadnt outlined any steps beyond shutting down the state. She hopes thats a major lesson for the next crisis or pandemic.
We have to find ways to meet the multiple needs of citizens, she said. Solving one problem [like slowing the spread of the pandemic] while creating others isnt a solution.
Still, former public health officials say that Coxs approach outsourcing a portion of testing was a waste of money that could have been better spent investing in public health.
Robyn Atkinson-Dunn, who was the director of the Utah Public Health Laboratory until June 2020, said for just $2 million, capacity could have been increased in the same time it took TestUtah to be fully operational.
The state laboratory could have pooled resources with its counterparts and tapped university students in lab technician programs to help process tests; that could have had an added benefit of training the next generation of health professionals with little to no downside, Atkinson-Dunn said. The short-term investment in the state laboratory would have had long-term benefits, she added.
Turning instead to TestUtah, she said, is a huge waste of money that goes to a company instead of building capacity for the state.
Atkinson-Dunn later was demoted because she was unwilling to send a share of coronavirus test samples, from a temporary glut at the state health lab, to the TestUtah lab at Timpanogos Regional Hospital, after a federal inspection found it was out of compliance with federal rules. She has since left the state health department.
Miner said similar frustrations also bubbled up in his conversations with public health workers.
They came to me and said, We just cant do our job because were being ordered to do this and that by Kris Cox, he recalled, and she wont let us do what were trained to do and what we know to do.
Miner said a certain amount of outsourcing is to be expected during a pandemic. But, he argues, the states testing contracts were premature and shouldnt have gone to companies with no public health experience.
Dunn joked that the states pandemic planning documents were great for about three weeks of COVID-19 but quickly lost relevance once elected officials took control of the response.
It was so fascinating and frustrating when people were like, Lets document all that were doing in COVID so we have something we can pull off the shelf when the next pandemic happens, she said. And I was like, why waste our time? We had it for flu, and nobody looked at it.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Executive director of Salt Lake County Health Department Dr. Angela Dunn speaks at a news conference in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021.
As COVID-19 spread, it threw public servants in state health departments across the U.S. into the political fray, with the high-profile clashes between then-President Donald Trump and the nations top medical advisers replicated in smaller skirmishes across the nation.
In Utah, groups formed objecting to face covering mandates and social distancing protocols. Some defied public health orders by refusing to don masks at businesses and public meetings, and anti-mask protesters even gathered outside Dunns home late last year.
Miner said hes been surprised and bitterly disappointed by the pushback to lifesaving health measures, from masks to vaccination. Hes also dismayed by how powerful such dissenters have grown.
They are so vocal and organized that they intimidate legislators, he said. ... Legislators dont have the will or strength to really support the good science.
Ray said public health officials in Utah failed to account for the political dynamics at play and should have understood that people would resist policies that they felt were forced on them.
Science means nothing if the public doesnt believe you, Ray said. And what happened was, is they would just come out and they would change their response on a daily basis sometimes. They would say one thing, and then the next day change it. And that just eroded the public trust in the system.
The lawmaker pointed out that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, in early 2020 advised the public against wearing masks because he wanted to preserve personal protective equipment for health care workers. Fauci and the CDC now recommend face coverings as a way to prevent disease transmission, but his early statements have become ammunition for anti-mask groups.
In years past, the state health department had a more direct line to the governors office, said Michael Stapley, a former acting executive director of UDOH and a retired CEO of Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators. But that relationship had started to break down over the past decade or so, he said, and resulting tensions boiled over during the pandemic.
The net effect of the politicization was information and disinformation leading to a confused public. And its only gotten worse, he said. It became a major factor in our ability to effectively manage the pandemic.
Unfortunately, Miner said, the outbreak will leave public health with less power and stature than it had before COVID-19, as lawmakers have diluted the power of UDOH and local health departments.
Earlier this year, legislators prohibited school districts from imposing their own mask mandates and set up a new process for instituting any health restrictions one that gives county commissions or councils veto power over these orders.
One of Rays proposals, nicknamed the endgame bill, rolled back nearly all of Utahs mask mandates and other health orders in early May, as soon as the state crossed certain thresholds for vaccination and containing coronavirus spread.
Though intensive care unit numbers and coronavirus case rates have since soared well above the markers again, those public health orders remain terminated.
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Dunn said she remains so disappointed by the Legislatures move. Legislators are responsible to their constituents. Public health leaders are responsible for the health of everybody in their community, regardless of how theyre going to vote. So very different viewpoints, she said. I think we as a state would have been better served if both viewpoints were equally represented at the decision-making table.
Ray argues officials are elected to make strategy decisions.
I will never turn everything over to doctors or the health departments, to bureaucrats and say, Make our decisions for us, he said. That comes to why I was elected, it comes to why county commissioners were elected, why school board members were elected. Their job is to balance what they need in their area and make those calls.
Even with the staffing UDOH has added, the agencys workforce is exhausted after more than a year fighting a pandemic, said Nate Checketts, who became the agencys interim executive director in June, its fourth leader during the pandemic.
Our teams have been on this for over 18 months now, he said. When I came on, there was a slight lessening in the caseload, and there was hope that with the vaccinations being rolled out rapidly that we would be moving to a very different phase of the pandemic response.
And unfortunately, with the arrival of delta ... and the caseloads increasing again, were back into some of the same environments we were last year.
And, despite adding staff, the health department is still relying heavily on contractors. Several weeks ago, UDOH handed off most of its coronavirus testing sites to TestUtah so it could redeploy its teams for an anticipated surge in testing demand at schools.
Today, UDOH aims to keep at least a 90-day supply of inventory in its pandemic stockpile, which now includes 3.1 million N95 masks; 1.3 million KN95 masks; 182,000 face shields; 22.7 million isolation gowns; 82.5 million exam gloves; 601,000 swabs; and 408,000 sample collection kits.
Health officials said that should last the state at least through the winter. Theres no ongoing effort or earmarked money to set up a permanent stockpile in the health department, despite state auditors recommendation that the agency do so.
(Trent Nelson | Tribune file photo) Workers organize supplies at the Receiving, Staging and Shipping Center at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Friday, May 8, 2020. At the start of the pandemic, the center served as a central location for personal protective equipment received by the State of Utah and sent to hospitals, local health departments and emergency managers.
Dunn worries the states ongoing effort to combine the health department with the Utah Department of Human Services could undermine the goal of future pandemic planning. Without a stand-alone agency devoted to public health, she said, shes concerned that it might get overshadowed.
Dunn said shell be watching these developments with a keen eye, and at the same time, preparing for Salt Lake County Health Department to potentially fill any gaps that are there, she said. What are we going to have to do to step up if the state public health system becomes marginalized?
Checketts said most members of the governors Cabinet represent several interests and noted that the merged health and human services agency will be large, compared to other state departments. That means its director will have an opportunity to speak and advocate forcefully for agency interests, he said.
And Dr. Robert Rolfs, a former state epidemiologist, said politicians and public health could sidestep some of the past pitfalls by building strong working relationships. Rolfs helped develop Utahs pandemic response plan during the Huntsman administration and said he was keenly aware that the department could lose its authority if it was misused.
Public health has had many of the powers it used to have curtailed, he said. I think ultimately that will prove to be bad. But [its] not totally unexpected.
Rolfs said he understands the Legislatures concerns about public health emergencies that stretch on for months. And Sundwall said that, in retrospect, state health officials took a sledgehammer approach to mitigating the pandemic, such as school closings in 2020, when the state could have taken a more surgical tack.
We did a reasonably good job, but the facts belie that, he said, pointing to how the delta variant has surged in recent months in Utah. Were perplexed and embarrassed and should be.
To win back some of the publics trust, Sundwall said, health officials must demonstrate humility regarding past overreach. And lawmakers need to help by reinvesting in public health, he said, in what he calls an opportunity.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Spencer Cox suggested he has an interest in revisiting recent legislative actions to curb public health powers. In a statement, spokeswoman Jennifer Napier-Pearce said Cox believes we should take the lessons learned from this phase of the pandemic to reevaluate laws passed last session.
Cox also wants to make sure we are building up public health in the budget proposal hes beginning to craft for next year, she said.
Senate President Stuart Adams said he anticipates some tweaks to the laws on public health powers in the coming legislative session and a continued effort to invest in UDOH.
I have great regard for them, and I think most everyone does, Adams, R-Layton, said of public health workers. Whats more important than your health? Its pretty hard to enjoy life without great public health.
During the next session, Ray said, hell be advocating for more funding for local health departments and work to reserve money in case of future public health emergencies. Having $25 million or $30 million in the bank, he argues, would go a long way toward setting up an initial crisis response.
I dont know when it will be, but there will be another time, he said. It might be 20 years, it might be 100 years, but we need to make sure that were prepared and learn our lessons from this year.
Editors note: Jon Huntsman is a brother of Paul Huntsman, the chairman of The Salt Lake Tribunes nonprofit board of directors.
Ministers have ordered a major relaxation of coronavirus infection control measures in Englands hospitals in an effort to make it easier to tackle the backlog.
The move follows a review, led by the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Jenny Harries, into whether the NHS could start to remove some Covid rules and enable medics to see more patients.
Currently, stringent guidelines designed to protect staff, patients and visitors from coronavirus, in place since the early part of last year, also make it harder to treat the rising numbers in need of elective care.
A record 5.6 million people in England are waiting for treatment, according to the latest NHS data.
Three key recommendations for elective care were accepted by Sajid Javid, the health secretary, on Monday. Each comes into force immediately.
They involve cutting social distancing from 2 metres to 1, dropping the need for patients to isolate before operations, and adopting standard rather than advanced cleaning procedures.
They are likely to prompt concern among some health professionals and scientists, as the virus continues to infect tens of thousands in the UK each day. Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary healthcare at the University of Oxford, said on Twitter that the relaxation of rules could make things worse.
Dr Simon Clarke, associate professor in cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said the changes appeared generally reasonable and should be implemented where they can to improve access to healthcare. However, he warned that false negative test results could mean that some asymptomatically infected patients will be put on wards with vulnerable patients.
Clarke also said the new cleaning guidance smacks of corner-cutting and may well lead to transmission of Covid-19 and other infections in our hospitals.
The changes come hours after it emerged that the UK has joined a handful of countries to have fully vaccinated two-thirds of its population against Covid.
More than 44.7m second doses have been delivered in the UK, government figures show the equivalent of just over 66.6% of the total population. Other countries to have passed this mark include Belgium, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Spain.
As ever more people benefit from the protection of our phenomenal vaccination campaign, we can now safely begin to relieve some of the most stringent infection control measures where they are no longer necessary to benefit patients and ease the burden on hardworking NHS staff, said Javid.
A new analysis by the Health Foundation warned on Monday that the waiting list is likely to grow significantly. It suggested that 7.5 million fewer people were sent for hospital care than expected during the pandemic.
While it is not clear whether all those will eventually come forward to seek help, the thinktank warned the waiting list will continue to grow over the next few years. Boris Johnson conceded this month that the backlog would get worse before it gets better.
Now fresh advice will be issued to hospitals over how they carry out elective care, Harries said, as more of the population is vaccinated and scientists understand more about how the infection is transmitted and how it can be contained.
The review says NHS staff working in areas where Covid control measures have been relaxed should be fully vaccinated, asymptomatic and not be a contact of a positive case.
We have reviewed the existing Covid-19 evidence-based guidance and made a series of initial pragmatic recommendations on how local providers can start to safely remove some of the interventions that have been in place in elective care specifically for Covid-19, said Harries. This is a first step to help the NHS treat more patients more quickly, while ensuring their safety and balancing their different needs for care.
The guidance will not apply to certain areas, such as emergency departments.
Patients preparing to undergo elective operations, such as hip or knee surgery, will no longer need to have a negative PCR test or isolate for three days before the procedure. Instead, patients in low-risk groups who are double vaccinated and asymptomatic will take a lateral flow test on the day.
MOBILE, Ala. -- USA Health, in partnership with the Alabama Department of Public Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced today that it has expanded access to COVID-19 monoclonal antibody therapies and will begin administering treatment at the Mobile Civic Center.
For people who are at high risk for developing severe COVID-19 illness and have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus orhave been exposed to someone who has tested positive, this monoclonal antibody treatment has been shown to help prevent progression of the disease that might otherwise require hospitalization, according to a USA Health news release.
With the rapid spread of the Delta variant and a major surge in COVID-19 case rates, USA Health says it expand access to the monoclonal antibody infusion for eligible patients with a new 10-chair unit located in the Civic Center at 401 Civic Center Drive in Mobile. With the launch of the new infusion site, USA Health will be able to treat up to 70 patients per day, the news release states.
To confirm eligibility for the treatment and book an appointment, patients should contact 1-833-TREAT-COVID (1-833-873-2826) or visit sendgrid.net
If administered within a few days of the onset of COVID-19 symptoms, the one-time therapy is highly effective in neutralizing the virus and preventing symptoms from worsening, according to health care officials. The treatment is administered through infusion therapy.
Our mission at USA Health is to help people lead longer, better lives. This new partnership serves as a catalyst for better care for residents during this pandemic, and ultimately, it is helping us save lives, said Owen Bailey, chief executive officer of USA Health, for the news release.
As we continue to see positive COVID-19 cases in our area, we are excited to be able to provide the underserved members of our community with this life-saving treatment, Bailey continued.
"Monoclonal antibody therapy available through this new treatment site, along with the federal funding that supports it, will help ensure more high-risk Alabamians receive the care they need to recover more quickly and may prevent them from being hospitalized," State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama Department of Public Health, said. "Low vaccination rates and the Delta variant continue to be obstacles in our fight against COVID-19. The additional access provided by USA Healthand HHS to this life-saving treatment with the launch of this antibody therapy center is crucial in helping halt disease progression in these vulnerable patients."
In March HHS announced it was investing $150 million to increase access to monoclonal antibody therapy for high-risk patients in underserved and disadvantaged communities across the country. With support from KPMG LLP, HHS is developing new prototype models for expanding access to monoclonal antibody treatment and leveraging an existing network of health care partners to provide the therapy for underserved and disadvantaged populations.
USA Health is one of the first provider organizations in Alabama to join this national initiative. It joins a growing list of monoclonal antibody therapy providers supported by KPMG and sponsored by HHS as part of the federal effort to help end COVID-19 and improve health equity in underserved communities across the country.
In addition to the Mobile Civic Center location, more than 60 infusion sites have now been established or expanded with the following provider organizations: FirstCall Medical Center, Henry Ford Health System, Family Health Centers of San Diego, Cape Cod Healthcare, Houston Methodist, Beckley Appalachian Regional Healthcare, UMass Memorial Health, Spectrum Health, Jordan Valley Community Health Center, McLeod Health, North Mississippi Health Services, Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, Hattiesburg Clinic, Atrium Health, Ochsner Lafayette General, DCH Health and Community of Hope.
The monoclonal antibody therapy is the first COVID-19 treatment granted emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for outpatient use. A Phase 3 clinical trial showed that the antibody therapy reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by up to 70% in patients who received the drug intravenously compared to those who received a placebo.
The FDA emergency use authorization provides information on eligibility for monoclonal antibody treatment. The infusion treatment takes less than an hour, with an observation time afterward. Treatment is offered regardless of immigration status, health insurance coverage, or ability to pay.
PITTSFIELD The majority of people who took a city survey on how to spend American Rescue Plan Act money coming to the city support using that money for economic assistance to businesses, nonprofits and the self-employed and are least interested in backfilling lost city revenue related to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than $40 million is headed to Pittsfield in federal coronavirus relief money. On Friday, the city released the results of its monthlong online survey, which was conducted in August and taken by almost 1,200 participants or about 3 percent of the population of Pittsfield.
Im so proud that so many people have been engaged in this process already, Mayor Linda Tyer said.
While some residents have argued in recent weeks about the efficacy of the survey, the number of respondents and the survey questions ability to create an accurate image of what all Pittsfield residents value when it comes to ARPA spending, Tyer said she felt that the online survey created a good first look at community sentiments.
When you combine the community forums and what we learned in those sessions and what we learned from the survey, I think we have a good starting point [to understand community sentiments] Tyer said.
Comparing 2019 American Community Survey estimates to the demographics of survey participants shows an underrepresentation of several groups: renters, male residents, residents with a disability and residents older than 75.
Race demographics for the survey were skewed by 141 people who chose not to identify their race, but Asian American, Black or African American residents and white residents were underrepresented in the survey.
Residents from Ward 4 and Ward 3, on the citys southeast side, were overrepresented in the survey.
Tyer said that the results of the survey and feedback from four community forums hosted by the city on public health and human services, economic recovery, housing and neighborhoods, and tourism and cultural organizations, will be vital in instructing a soon-to-be-formed ARPA advisory committee and a new special project manager position.
(Having trouble loading the graphs in our app? Visit BerkshireEagle.com.)
Survey highlights
City officials asked survey participants to rank their preferences for spending within categories established by the Treasury Department.
Participants of the survey said that they would prefer that the city prioritize economic assistance to businesses, nonprofits and the self-employed when spending its ARPA money.
Lowest on the list of survey takers priorities was backfilling lost city revenue related to the pandemic.
The Treasury Department has told municipalities that they can use ARPA money to cover a calculated lost revenue amount.
Finance Director Matthew Kerwood said the initial revenue-loss calculation for Pittsfield came to about $2.33 million.
Within this category, most of the survey participants said that financial assistance to small businesses and the self-employed, and job skill development projects, should top the list of any business projects the city pursues.
While economic projects topped survey takers priorities for ARPA spending, only a slight majority, about 51 percent of survey participants, said they worked in the city.
About 38 percent of survey participants said they were employed full time in Pittsfield. About 7 percent said they were self-employed, about 6 percent said they worked part time in the city and about 3 percent said they were unemployed.
When it came to ranking potential ARPA-funded resident assistance projects, survey participants prioritized meeting immediate needs for food and shelter.
The American Community Survey results from 2019 show that about 13 percent of residents were living in poverty before the pandemic. At a recent community forum on ARPA spending related to neighborhoods and housing, residents said that population has grown even as supports have been eaten away by the economic impacts of the pandemic.
The Morningside and West Side neighborhoods have been highlighted by the city as areas that might have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, because of the level of poverty in the area. Despite the potential for spending in the area, the city saw low participation on the survey from the wards encompassing the neighborhoods.
About 180 people who took the survey identified as residents of Wards 2 or 6.
Almost 60 percent of survey takers said the first public health project city officials should prioritize is additional mental health, substance abuse and behavioral health supports.
A consistent theme through the city forums on ARPA spending was the mental health impact of the pandemic. During the forums, residents said they see existing mental health concerns exacerbating problems around employment, housing, health and school.
The results of a question on the type of infrastructure projects Pittsfield should support with ARPA money showed a clear prioritization for better drinking water infrastructure.
In Pittsfield, six surface reservoirs provide drinking water to residents. In the latest consumer confidence report, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection categorized the water system at a high susceptibility to contamination, and the department also commended the city on promoting measures to protect our potable water supply sources.
The report found that while there was lead, copper and 18 other regulated contaminants in city water, none of the contaminants levels was high enough to pose a risk to residents health.
The Erie County Department of Health is reporting 173 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend, along with 1 new death.
Cases reported from the weekend:
11:59 p.m. on Sept. 26 62 new cases11:59 p.m. on Sept. 25 107 new cases
The cumulative total in the county now stands at 25,229, with 508 total deaths reported in NEDSS.
The CDC recommends everyone wear masks indoors in areas with substantial to high transmission rates. All counties in Pennsylvania are currently listed as having high transmission rates.
A mask mandate is currently in place for all K-12 schools in the state until further notice.
Find vaccines near you:
Get tested for COVID-19:
For schedule of upcoming mobile clinics and other vaccination sites, visit eriecountypa.gov/covid-19/covid-19-vaccine.
For news delivered right to you,subscribe to JET 24/FOX 66/YourErie.coms breaking, daily news & severe weather email lists
Fauquier County recorded 13 positive COVID-19 cases today, 19 yesterday and 29 on Saturday. The seven-day average of cases is 22. Fauquier has reported 6,362 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Daily new cases of COVID-19 in Virginia were tallied at 1,997 today after reaching 2,568 Sunday and 3,422 Saturday. (Case numbers are usually lower on Sundays and Mondays.) According to reporting from the Virginia Department of Health, there have been 857,852 total reported cases (215,122 probable) of COVID in Virginia. The seven-day average of new cases in the state is 3,102.
As of Sept. 27 in the five-county Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, 1,005 cases of COVID have been reported in children younger than 10 years old; 2,110 have been reported in those 10 to 19. In the state, there have been 50,583 cases in children younger than 10, 100,910 cases in those 10 to 19 years old.
As of Sept. 27, the seven-day positivity rate for the state (total tests compared to positive tests) is 9.2%; it has been decreasing since Sept. 9. The VDH website has not updated the testing data for individual health districts since Sept. 23; in the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, the positivity rating at that time was 8.9%. The Centers for Disease Control reports that the positivity for Fauquier County is currently 8.53%.
Fauquier County School Division
Local schools opened for five-day-a-week, in-person learning on Aug. 11. As of the morning of Sept. 27, 325 positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in theschool system, 231 students and 94 staff members.
There are currently 40 active cases of COVID-19, 28 students and 12 staffers. Sixteen people came off the list over the weekend.
People stay on the active list for 10 days after first reporting an infection.
Since the beginning of school, no outbreaks have been reported in the school division; one was recorded over the summer at a school-sponsored camp.
School spokeswoman Tara Helkowski reported that, as of Sept. 23, because of contact with positive cases, 235 students are currently quarantining a drop from last weeks 259. Seven staff members are quarantining. Superintendent of Schools David Jeck said Aug. 31 that the overwhelming majority of students (95%) who have quarantined have tested negative for COVID-19.
There were 191 positive cases of COVID-19 during the 2020-21 school year, 97 in students and 94 in staff members. Cases were not included in the dashboard over the summer.
The list provided below outlines total cases since the first day of school. (Active cases are noted if the number is different from the total cases.)
Staff members testing positive include:
Fauquier lost a resident to COVID-19 Sunday, after losing two on Saturday and one on Friday. The county also reported a fatality on Sept. 17 and two Sept. 14. Before that, Fauquier reported fatalities on Sept. 9 and on Aug. 27. The county has reported a total of 80 COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic, five in September.
The VDH does not report demographic data at the county level, but in the RRHD, of the 221COVID-19 deaths reported in the RRHD so far, 98 have been in residents older than 80. There have been 58 deaths in those 70 to 79 years old, 27 deaths in those 60 to 69, and 29 deaths in those younger than 59. (For nine of the deaths, no age was reported.)
In the RRHD, one person between the ages of 10 and 19 has died. In the state, four children younger than 10 years old have died of the virus; seven of those between 10 and 19 have died.
Today the VDH reported three COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, 32 yesterday and 46 Saturday. (Reported deaths are usually lower on Sundays and Mondays.) The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in Virginia is listed as 12,592 (1,967 probable).
The seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths in the state is 40. That number generally has been rising since Sept. 7, when it was 18.
Fauquier Hospital spokeswoman Sarah Cubbage said Sept. 20 that the number of COVID-19 inpatients has been fluctuating, remaining just below or just above 10. As of Sept. 20, it was nine, she said.
According to the VDH, Fauquier County reported a new hospitalization Saturday, Sept. 25, one on Wednesday, Sept. 22, four new hospitalizations Sept. 18 and one on Sept. 19. The county has reported 17 hospitalizations since Sept. 14. Fauquier tallied 25 hospitalizations in August and 34 so far in September. The county has reported 261 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The state added 61 new hospitalizations today, 45 on Sunday and 124 on Saturday. According to the VDH, the total number of hospitalizations in the state is 36,362 (2,002 probable).
The seven-day average of new hospitalizations is 92.
In Mondays updated data from the RRHD, of the 625 people hospitalized, 110 have been older than 80 years old; 111 have been 70 to 79 years old; 117 have been between 60 and 69 years old and 125 have been between 50 and 59. One hundred and forty-eight have been younger than 50. (For 14 of the hospitalizations, age was not reported.)
In the health district, six children younger than 10 and six between 10 and 19 years old have been hospitalized. In the state, 481 younger than 10 have been hospitalized; 568 between 10 and 19 years old have been hospitalized.
TheVirginia Hospital and Healthcare Associationdata for Sept. 27 states that 2,068 Virginians are hospitalized with COVID-19. The seven-day average number of hospitalizations (2,126) has been rising since July 11, but it may be plateauing.
The VHHA reports that the number of COVID-19 confirmed or COVID-19 suspected patients who are in intensive care units as of Sept. 27 is 540. The number of COVID patients in intensive care has been generally rising since July 5, when it was 45.
Three-hundred and fifty-one COVID-19 patients are receiving ventilator support.
The VDH and VHHA compile statistics in different ways, so their data does not always match up. For instance, VHHA reported that 67,412 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized and discharged as of yesterday, but the VDH reports that the total number of Virginians hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic is36,362.
In the local health district, there was an outbreak reported in a long-term care facility last week. There were also outbreaks reported Sept. 18, Sept. 8, Aug. 24 and 26. There were three outbreaks between Aug. 15 and 19 in congregate settings.
One of the long-term care centers in Fauquier is listed on the list of affected facilities. White Springs Senior Living in Warrenton is reporting seven cases but no deaths. That outbreak is pending closure.
There have been a total of 59 outbreaks in the RRHD since the beginning of the pandemic -- 24 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, 21 outbreaks in congregate settings, four in correctional facilities, two in a healthcare setting, two in a childcare setting, one in a college setting and five in a K-12 setting. The total number of cases attributed to the outbreaks is 1,811.
Another long-term care outbreak is listed in Madison, at Autumn Care of Madison (32 cases). Two are listed in Orange, at Dogwood Village of Orange County (29 cases) and at Trinity Senior Village, with fewer than five cases. The outbreak at Trinity is pending closure; the ones at Dogwood and Autumn Care are in progress.
In the state, there are 1,211 outbreaks being reported in long-term care facilities (resulting in 34,855 cases and 4,331 deaths); 1,747 outbreaks in congregate settings; 266 outbreaks in healthcare settings; 191 in correctional facilities; 132 in college settings; 386 in childcare settings and 558 K-12 outbreaks being reported. There have been a total of 4,491 outbreaks in Virginia since the beginning of the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Controlranks counties by level of transmission; Fauquier, as of Monday morning, is rated high, as are all the other counties in Virginia.(The CDC reevaluates county ratings every afternoon.)
The county was rated moderate on July 27, substantial on July 29 and high as of July 31, but the rating was changed to substantial the afternoon of Aug. 3. The rating was back up to high the afternoon of Aug. 4, and has remained there.
Community transmission is based on two metrics the number of new cases per 100,000 in the last seven days (166 for Fauquier) and percent positivity (8.58% for Fauquier) A county is rated high if there are more than 100 cases per 100,000 in the last seven days or if the percent positivity is over 10%. The numbers for Fauquier have dropped since Saturday morning, when they represented 197 cases per 100,000 and a positivity rate of 10.22%.
On July 27, the CDC issued guidance recommending that fully vaccinated individuals wear masks when indoors in areas with substantial to high transmission.
As of Sept. 27, 10,532,362 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Virginia residents. About 67.5% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose; 60.1% of Virginians have been fully vaccinated. In the adult population, 80.2% have been vaccinated with at least one dose; 71.5% are fully vaccinated.
An average 13,532 vaccine doses are being administered daily in the state.
Thus far, about 61.7% of the countys residents (all ages combined) have been vaccinated with at least one dose; 55.4% are fully vaccinated. About 73.8%of adults(older than 18) have been vaccinated with at least one dose. The percentage of fully vaccinated adults is 66.5%.
For Virginians between 12 and 17, 65.1% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose (55.9% are fully vaccinated). Only children between 12 and 17 are eligible for the vaccine. For those 18 and older, 75.4% have received at least one dose of a vaccine (67.3% fully vaccinated); for those aged 65 and older, 89.3% have received at least one dose (82.4% fully vaccinated).
About 57.9% of Fauquier residents between 12 and 17 have been vaccinated with at least one dose (50.4% fully vaccinated); 73.8% of those 18 and older (66.5% fully vaccinated) and 88.5% of those 65 and older (80.8% fully vaccinated).
For Virginians older than 12 (which represents everyone in the state who is eligible to be vaccinated), 74.5% have received one dose; 66.3% are fully vaccinated. In Fauquier, 72.3% of the over-12 population has received one dose; 64.9% are fully vaccinated.
The VDH reports that between Jan. 17 and Sept. 18, there have been 26,926 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in vaccinated people (.5% of total cases); 1,053 of fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized (.021% of total hospitalizations) and there have been 273 deaths in fully vaccinated people (.0054% of total deaths).
The VDH website says that unvaccinated people have developed COVID-19 7.4 times more than fully vaccinated people, and 2.4 times higher than partially vaccinated people.
The weekly COVID-19 modeling report, created by the UVA Biocomplexity Institute and posted on the Virginia Department of Health website Sept. 24, provides these key takeaways:
The map depicting the state by health districts and their caseloads is markedly different than last week. Eight health districts are considered in surge; last week there were 12. But the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District was in a plateau last week; this week its considered to be in slow growth.
The modeling report considers what may lie ahead for the fall and winter months: The UVA team compared the seasonal transmissibility of 2020 to 2021, and found that the two are "nearly identical" if adjusted for the Delta variant's increased infectiousness. The fall/winter2020 scenario assumes the same increase will happen in 2021 and adds the effects of Delta.
We have an advantage over 2020, with a partially vaccinated population and natural immunity. But when you account for Delta's increased transmission rates, and waning immunity, this path takes us to a far higher peak than we've ever seen. Models suggest the potential January 2022 peak could reach 8,000 cases a day in Virginia.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 25: The weekly COVID-19 modeling report, created by the UVA Biocomplexity Institute and posted on the Virginia Department of Health website Sept. 24, provides these key takeaways:
COVID-19 growth trajectories by health district, as of Sept. 24
COVID-19 growth trajectories by health districts, as of Sept. 17.
The map depicting the state by health districts and their caseloads is markedly different than last week. Eight health districts are considered in surge; last week there were 12. But the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District was in a plateau last week; this week its considered to be in slow growth.
The modeling report considers what may lie ahead for the fall and winter months: The UVA team compared the seasonal transmissibility of 2020 to 2021, and found that the two are "nearly identical" if adjusted for the Delta variant's increased infectiousness. The fall/winter2020 scenario assumes the same increase will happen in 2021 and adds the effects of Delta.
We have an advantage over 2020, with a partially vaccinated population and natural immunity. But when you account for Delta's increased transmission rates, and waning immunity, this path takes us to a far higher peak than we've ever seen. Models suggest the potential January 2022 peak could reach 8,000 cases a day in Virginia.
VDH data
Most of the information below is from Sept. 24. The VDH does not update its website Saturdays or Sundays. The information from the VHHA (on hospitalizations) and from the CDC (on rates of transmission) is from Sept. 25.Data from the school division is also as of the morning of Sept. 25. The data on testing is from Sept. 23; the VDH did not update that page Friday.
Fauquier County recorded 22 positive COVID-19 cases today, 29 yesterday. The seven-day average of cases is 24. Fauquier has reported 6,301 cases since the beginning of the pandemic.
Daily new cases of COVID-19 in Virginia were tallied at 2,886 today after reaching 3,767 Thursday. According to reporting from the Virginia Department of Health, there have been 849,865 total reported cases (212,907 probable) of COVID in Virginia. The seven-day average of new cases in the state is 3,438.
As of Sept. 24 in the five-county Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, 1,005 cases of COVID have been reported in children younger than 10 years old; 2,110 have been reported in those 10 to 19. In the state, there have been 49,773 cases in children younger than 10, 99,818 cases in those 10 to 19 years old.
As of Sept. 23, the seven-day positivity rate (total tests compared to positive tests) is 9.7%; it has been decreasing since Sept. 9. In the Rappahannock-Rapidan Health District, the positivity rating is 8.9%. The VDH website has not updated the testing data for Sept. 24.
Fauquier County School Division
Local schools opened for five-day-a-week, in-person learning on Aug. 11. As of the morning of Sept. 25, 325 positive cases of COVID-19 (seven more than yesterday) have been reported in theschool system, 231 students and 94 staff members.
There are currently 56 active cases of COVID-19 (two fewer than yesterday), 38 students and 18 staffers. People stay on the active list for 10 days after first reporting an infection.
Since the beginning of school, no outbreaks have been reported in the school division; one was recorded over the summer at a school-sponsored camp.
School spokeswoman Tara Helkowski reported that, as of Sept. 23, because of contact with positive cases, 235 students are currently quarantining a drop from last weeks 259. Seven staff members are quarantining. Superintendent of Schools David Jeck said Aug. 31 that the overwhelming majority of students (95%) who have quarantined have tested negative for COVID-19.
There were 191 positive cases of COVID-19 during the 2020-21 school year, 97 in students and 94 in staff members. Cases were not included in the dashboard over the summer.
The list provided below outlines total cases since the first day of school. (Active cases are noted if the number is different from the total cases.)
Staff members testing positive include:
Fauquier lost a resident to COVID-19 today. The county also reported a fatality on Sept. 17 and two Sept. 14. Before that, Fauquier reported fatalities on Sept. 9 and on Aug. 27. The county has reported a total of 77 COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the pandemic, five in September.
The VDH does not report demographic data at the county level, but in the RRHD, of the 216COVID-19 deaths reported in the RRHD so far, 96 have been in residents older than 80. There have been 56 deaths in those 70 to 79 years old, 26 deaths in those 60 to 69, and 29 deaths in those younger than 59. (For nine of the deaths, no age was reported.)
In the RRHD, one person between the ages of 10 and 19 has died. In the state, four children younger than 10 years old have died of the virus; seven of those between 10 and 19 have died.
Today the VDH reported 48 COVID-19 deaths in Virginia, 54 yesterday. The total number of COVID-19 related deaths in Virginia is listed as 12,511 (1,947 probable).
The seven-day average of COVID-19 deaths in the state is 38. That number generally has been rising since Sept. 7, when it was 18.
Fauquier Hospital spokeswoman Sarah Cubbage said Sept. 20 that the number of COVID-19 inpatients has been fluctuating, remaining just below or just above 10. As of Sept. 20, it was nine, she said.
According to the VDH, Fauquier County reported a new hospitalization Wednesday, one Sept. 22, four new hospitalizations Sept. 18 and one on Sept. 19. The county has reported 16 hospitalizations since Sept. 14. Fauquier tallied 25 hospitalizations in August and 33 so far in September. The county has reported 260 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The state added 85 new hospitalizations today, 114 Thursday. According to the VDH, the total number of hospitalizations in the state is 36,132 (1,999 probable).
The seven-day average of new hospitalizations is 103.
In Fridays updated data from the RRHD, of the 623 people hospitalized, 108 have been older than 80 years old; 111 have been 70 to 79 years old; 117 have been between 60 and 69 years old and 125 have been between 50 and 59. One hundred and forty-eight have been younger than 50. (For 14 of the hospitalizations, age was not reported.)
In the health district, six children younger than 10 and six between 10 and 19 years old have been hospitalized. In the state, 471 younger than 10 have been hospitalized; 559 between 10 and 19 years old have been hospitalized.
TheVirginia Hospital and Healthcare Associationdata for Sept. 25 states that 2,099 Virginians are hospitalized with COVID-19. The seven-day average number of hospitalizations (2,144) has been rising since July 11, but it may be plateauing.
The VHHA reports that the number of COVID-19 confirmed or COVID-19 suspected patients who are in intensive care units as of Sept. 24 is 534. The number of COVID patients in intensive care has been generally rising since July 5, when it was 45.
Three-hundred and forty COVID-19 patients are receiving ventilator support.
The VDH and VHHA compile statistics in different ways, so their data does not always match up. For instance, VHHA reported that 67,238 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized and discharged as of yesterday, but the VDH reports that the total number of Virginians hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic is36,132 (as of Friday).
In the local health district, there was an outbreak reported in a long-term care facility today. There were also outbreaks reported Sept. 18, Sept. 8, Aug. 24 and 26. There were three outbreaks between Aug. 15 and 19 in congregate settings.
One of the long-term care centers in Fauquier is listed on the list of affected facilities. White Springs Senior Living in Warrenton is reporting seven cases but no deaths. That outbreak is pending closure.
There have been a total of 59 outbreaks in the RRHD since the beginning of the pandemic -- 24 outbreaks in long-term care facilities, 21 outbreaks in congregate settings, four in correctional facilities, two in a healthcare setting, two in a childcare setting, one in a college setting and five in a K-12 setting. The total number of cases attributed to the outbreaks is 1,811.
Another long-term care outbreak is listed in Madison, at Autumn Care of Madison (32 cases). Two are listed in Orange, at Dogwood Village of Orange County (29 cases) and at Trinity Senior Village, with fewer than five cases. The outbreak at Trinity is pending closure; the ones at Dogwood and Autumn Care are in progress.
In the state, there are 1,209 outbreaks being reported in long-term care facilities (resulting in 34,813 cases and 4,329 deaths); 1,745 outbreaks in congregate settings; 266 outbreaks in healthcare settings; 191 in correctional facilities; 132 in college settings; 387 in childcare settings and 552 K-12 outbreaks being reported. There have been a total of 4,482 outbreaks in Virginia since the beginning of the pandemic.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Controlranks counties by level of transmission; Fauquier, as of Saturday morning, is rated high, as are all the other counties in Virginia.(The CDC reevaluates county ratings every afternoon.)
The county was rated moderate on July 27, substantial on July 29 and high as of July 31, but the rating was changed to substantial the afternoon of Aug. 3. The rating was back up to high the afternoon of Aug. 4, and has remained there.
Community transmission is based on two metrics the number of new cases per 100,000 in the last seven days (197 for Fauquier) and percent positivity (10.22% for Fauquier) A county is rated high if there are more than 100 cases per 100,000 in the last seven days or if the percent positivity is over 10%.
On July 27, the CDC issued guidance recommending that fully vaccinated individuals wear masks when indoors in areas with substantial to high transmission.
As of Sept. 24, 10,484,719 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Virginia residents. About 67.3% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose; 59.8% of Virginians have been fully vaccinated. In the adult population, 79.9% have been vaccinated with at least one dose; 71.2% are fully vaccinated.
An average 13,656 vaccine doses are being administered daily in the state.
Thus far, about 61.5% of the countys residents (all ages combined) have been vaccinated with at least one dose; 55.2% are fully vaccinated. About 73.7%of adults(older than 18) have been vaccinated with at least one dose. The percentage of fully vaccinated adults is 66.3%.
For Virginians between 12 and 17, 64.7% of the population has been vaccinated with at least one dose (55.2% are fully vaccinated). Only children between 12 and 17 are eligible for the vaccine. For those 18 and older, 75.2% have received at least one dose of a vaccine (67% fully vaccinated); for those aged 65 and older, 89.1% have received at least one dose (82.2% fully vaccinated).
About 57.4% of Fauquier residents between 12 and 17 have been vaccinated with at least one dose (50.1% fully vaccinated); 73.7% of those 18 and older (66.3% fully vaccinated) and 88.4% of those 65 and older (80.7% fully vaccinated).
For Virginians older than 12 (which represents everyone in the state who is eligible to be vaccinated), 74.3% have received one dose; 66% are fully vaccinated. In Fauquier, 72.1% of the over-12 population has received one dose; 64.7% are fully vaccinated.
The VDH reports that between Jan. 17 and Sept. 18, there have been 26,926 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 in vaccinated people (.5% of total cases); 1,053 of fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized (.021% of total hospitalizations) and there have been 273 deaths in fully vaccinated people (.0054% of total deaths).
President Biden receives COVID-19 booster shot on camera
President Biden renewed his calls for Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccine and for eligible citizens to get the Pfizer-BioNTech booster.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden received his COVID-19 vaccine booster shot Monday live on camera.
"Boosters are important," Biden said during a news conference ahead of rolling up his sleeve. "The most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated."
"This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated," he added.
Biden said he will also travel to Chicago on Wednesday to highlight the importance of businesses issuing their own vaccine requirements.
"Please do the right thing. Please get the shots. It can save your life," he continued.
Biden, who got his first shot on Dec. 21 and his second dose on Jan. 11. At 78, he qualified to receive the booster shot following approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for those 65 and older.
Biden said he didnt have any side effects from the shots.
Biden received his first two doses with his wife, Jill Biden. Biden said his wife will also receive a booster.
Last week, the president praised U.S. health officials approval of the Pfizer booster, which was also cleared for adults with underlying health conditions and people at increased risk of being exposed because of their jobs.
Biden told reporters on Friday, "Ill be getting my booster shot. Its hard to acknowledge Im over 65, but Ill be getting my booster shot."
The U.S. approval of Pfizers booster shot last week for certain Americans marked a dramatic scaling back of the Biden administrations original plan announced last month to dispense boosters to nearly everyone to shore up their protection against the fast-spreading delta variant.
FILE - US President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the COVID-19 response and the vaccination program at the White House on Aug. 23, 2021 in Washington, DC. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
RELATED: FDA approves Pfizer booster for 65 and older, others at high risk
A CDC advisory panel stressed last week that its recommendations will be changed if new evidence shows more people need a booster.
About 26 million Americans got their last Pfizer dose at least six months ago, about half of whom are 65 or older. It wasnt immediately clear how many more would meet the CDC's booster qualifications.
CDC data show the vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness for all ages, but there is a slight drop among the oldest adults. And immunity against milder infection appears to be waning months after people's initial immunization.
RELATED: J&J COVID-19 booster 94% effective 2 months after 1st shot, company says
For most people, if youre not in a group recommended for a booster, "its really because we think youre well-protected," said Dr. Matthew Daley of Kaiser Permanente Colorado, a member of the CDCs advisory panel, said last week.
Vice President Kamala Harris, 56, received the Moderna vaccine, for which federal regulators have not yet authorized boosters but they are expected to in the coming weeks.
Data on Johnson & Johnson's boosters are also under review.
RELATED: COVID-19 boosters: WHO chief urges countries halt extra shots for rest of 2021
This story was reported from Cincinnati. The Associated Press contributed.
