President Biden commented on the Delta variant and a document from Catholic Bishops that may rebuke him for his support of abortion rights. USA TODAY
WASHINGTONPresident Joe Bidenannounced Friday the U.S. has administered 300 million COVID-19 shots in 150 days, a milestone moment in the campaign to overcome the coronavirus pandemic.
What we're seeing is a truly American accomplishment, 65%of American adults have gotten at least one shot, including 87% of our seniors. Just five months ago we were at only 5% of adult Americans,"Biden said during remarks on the COVID-19 pandemic at the White House.
As of Friday morning, nearly 315million shots have been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Biden also touted closing the racial gap in vaccinations.
President Joe Biden speaks about reaching 300 million COVID-19 vaccination shots, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) ORG XMIT: DCEV311(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)
"More than 58% of shots administered by federally run vaccination sites have gone to people of color. Across the nation people of color have accounted for more than half of all vaccinations in the last month," Biden said.
"The more we close the racial gap in vaccination rates, the more lives we'll save," the president added.
Earlier this month, Biden announced a monthlong effort to persuade more Americans to receive the vaccine. The announcement included a "Shots at the Shop," initiative that brought together 1,000 Black-owned barbershops and beauty salons to serve as vaccination locations.
During his remarks, Biden warned the nation about the need to get vaccinated and the dangers of a COVID-19 Delta variant, which devastatedIndia last month.
The best way to protect yourself against these variants is to get fully vaccinated," Biden said.
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"The truth is that deaths and hospitalizations are drastically down in places where people are getting vaccinated. But unfortunately, cases and hospitalizations are not going down in many places, in the lower vaccination rate states. Theyre actually going up in some places," Biden continued.
It has been an uphill battle for the nation to meet Bidens goal to have 70% of U.S. adultsreceiveat least one COVID-19 shot by July 4. Only65% of adults age 18 and above have received one dose of the vaccine, according to the CDC.
On Tuesday the U.S. surpassed600,000 COVID-19 deathsand nowhas more than 33.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases accordingtoJohns Hopkins Universitydata.
"People getting seriously ill, being hospitalized due to COVID-19, are those who have not been fully vaccinated, the president said.
Biden also offered words of hope for a beleaguered nation.
Were heading into, God willing, a summer of joy, a summer of freedom. On July 4, were going to celebrate our independence from the virus as we celebrate the independence of our nation," Biden said. "Lets get this done, all of us together.
More: Biden's new goal: 70% of adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4
Contributing: Nada Hassanein, Joey Garrison
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A McDonalds restaurant. Courtesy of the company
Eight local McDonalds franchises are teaming up with San Diego County to offer free COVID-19 vaccinations at special one-day events starting Monday, officials announced Saturday.
The eight restaurants are in Chula Vista, El Cajon, Escondido, National City, Oceanside, Ramona, San Diego and Vista.
Everyone who receives a free shot will also get a coupon for one free McDonalds menu item. In addition, everyone who receives a vaccination at the McDonalds events will be automatically entered in a drawing to win a free pair of San Diego Padres tickets.
The one-day, pop-up clinics are open to the public, McDonalds employees and their family members. No appointments are necessary and walk-ups are welcome. Some of the sites are offering pre-registration.
The times, dates, locations and vaccines available at the San Diego County McDonalds pop-up vaccination clinics are:
Ramona McDonalds, 1550 Main St., Monday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Johnson & Johnson/Janssen and Pfizer for children 12 and up and second doses.
County officials gave their last regularly scheduled COVID-19 update Tuesday, with any future briefings being provided as needed. Daily news releases with COVID-19 data will be replaced by a weekly news update on Wednesdays.
Last Wednesdays data including 48 new cases increased the cumulative number of infections to 281,422. No new deaths were reported and the death toll remains at 3,770.
Hospitalizations related to the pandemic dropped by one to 74 in Wednesdays data. The number of patients in intensive care units remained 21. There are 59, staffed, available ICU beds in the county.
As of Wednesday, a total of 2,123,647 people in the county had received at least one dose of vaccine.
Fully vaccinated residents numbered 1,776,647 84.5% of a county-set goal of vaccinating 2,101,936 people 12 and older. That mark, based on 75% of Aprils population estimate for eligible age groups, is intended to reach community herd immunity.
More than 4.24 million doses have been received by the county, with more than 3.91 million administered.
A full list of available vaccination sites can be found at www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/community_epidemiology/dc/ 2019-nCoV/vaccines.html.
Of 8,721 tests reported by the county on Wednesday, 0.6% returned positive. The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 0.8%.
City News Service
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GENEVA - African health officials are urgently appealing for vaccines to combat a third wave of COVID-19 surging across the continent.
The World Health Organization reports the number of African COVID-19 cases has exceeded 5 million and the disease has killed 136,000 people.
WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti says cases have been increasing over the past four weeks. She says new cases in the past week have risen by nearly 30% across the continent and deaths have increased by 15%.
She says five countriesSouth Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Uganda, and Namibiaaccount for 76% of new coronavirus infections in Africa.
Africa is in the midst of a full-blown third wave. The sobering trajectory of surging cases should rouse everyone to urgent action, said Moeti. "Weve seen in India and elsewhere how quickly COVID-19 can rebound and overwhelm health systems. Public health measures must be scaled up fast to find, test, isolate and care for patients and to quickly trace and isolate their contacts.
Moeti says it is urgent that Africa quickly receive more vaccines as the circulation of more contagious variants across the continent is accelerating. She says the Delta variant, the most virulent strain, has been reported in 14 African countries, and the Beta and Alpha variants have been found in more than 25 countries.
She says 12 million people in Africa now are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. She welcomes the receipt of vaccine doses from the WHO COVAX sharing facility and from government donations that has made this possible.
Threat of Third COVID Wave in Africa Real and Rising, WHO Warns
Doctor warns that Italian migrants are not being vaccinated. India orders 300 million doses of unapproved vaccine
However, she says those 12 million people represent less than 1% of Africas 1.3 billion population.
"At the continental level, we are seeing a rise in cases similar to the first wave peak in July 2020 and about 50% of the second wave peak in January 2021. Africa needs millions more doses here and now to curb the third wave, and best practice approaches will be key to make the most of the available vaccines, said Moeti.
WHO says Africa needs 200 million vaccine doses by the end of September to inoculate 10% of the population against the coronavirus. The European Union has pledged to donate 100 million doses to low-income countries and the United States has said it would provide 80 million doses to poorer countries.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci participated in a Community Corps Day of Action in Southeast D.C. on Saturday to increase vaccination rates in certain wards.
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Across the entire city, more than 70% of the adult population in the District has received at least one COVID-19 vaccination.
But while that may be the average over all eight wards, its not the average in every single one of the Districts eight wards.
To change that, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and infectious disease specialist Anthony Fauci participated in another Community Corps Day of Action in Southeast D.C. on Saturday.
They visited with volunteers whove been knocking on doors and encouraging people to get jabbed with a vaccine shot at places like Anacostia High School, Ron Brown High School and other venues.
City residents 18 and up who get their first shot between now and July 17 will get a VISA gift card with $51. Residents who get that first shot on Saturday at places like Anacostia High will also be entered into drawings for free groceries, Metro passes and even cars and airline tickets.
Your chances of winning are very, very good, said Bowser, standing outside Kramer Middle School.
We know the devastating impact that COVID has had on African Americans, Bowser told the crowd. We know that 80% of the people that are still getting COVID are African American, and we know that 90% of the people who have died from COVID in our city are African American. This should not be the case.
When Fauci took his turn behind the mic, he said that that the 90% effectiveness of the COVID shots is better than most other vaccines available for various illnesses.
Getting vaccinated, you can stop the chain of transmission of the virus and thats exactly what we want to do, said Fauci. We want to be dead-ends for the virus. When the virus comes to us, sorry, stop signs, youre not getting infected and thats what vaccines do.
Before appearing at Kramer Middle School, they toured the clinic at Anacostia High, just a block away. There, they stopped and surprised people who had just gotten their first shots, as well as volunteers, as they got a briefing on what the situation was in this part of the city. That led to hugs, handshakes and pictures by those who were already inside.
Asking about the vaccination percentage in Ward 8, Fauci was told by a staffer at the clinic that only about 30% to 40% of the ward has been vaccinated, depending on which set of data you look at.
Youve got to to correct that, said Fauci, and youre doing it. Youre doing it.
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The Hamilton County Health Department is no longer making appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine. Individuals may drive up to the Tennessee Riverpark vaccination site during operating hours to receive their first or second dose of the vaccine.
We want to make this process as easy as possible so that we can eliminate barriers to getting vaccinated, says Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes, We now have the ability to accommodate anyone who shows up at the vaccination site, so there is no longer a need for the appointment system.
June 30th is the last day that the Health Department will be accepting appointments. The Tennessee Riverpark vaccination site is open Monday Friday from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Those that have lost their COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card may request a record of immunization through the Tennessee Department of Health. To submit a request, call 615-741-7247.
For additional assistance, call the COVID-19 Hotline at 423-209-8383.
Currently, 39.1 percent of the Hamilton County population is fully vaccinated, and 43.7 percent of the population is at least partially vaccinated.
While the Hamilton County fully vaccinated rate continues to increase, we are falling behind other metropolitan areas in Tennessee and the United States, says Ms. Barnes. Our rates need to be much higher to protect our community and avoid a potential resurgence. There is a lot of capacity to immunize in the community. We want to encourage everyone not yet vaccinated to take advantage of this opportunity available to them.
The vaccine data dashboard is updated every weekday and is available here.Free Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination events will be offered at multiple locations this week. No appointment is necessary, and anyone 12 years of age and older is eligible. Visit vaccine.hamiltontn.gov and click on Vaccine Calendar of Events to see the most up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine calendar. To accelerate the vaccination process, print and complete the vaccine encounter form available on the website.
Friday, June 18: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn. 37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Saturday, June 19: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Westside Missionary Baptist Church, 4001 Hughes Ave, Chattanooga, Tn.37410, noon-3 p.m.
Sunday, June 20: No events
Monday, June 21: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Tuesday, June 22: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Wednesday, June 23: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Birchwood Clinic, 5625 TN-60, Birchwood, Tn.37308, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 24: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Friday, June 25: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sequoyah Health Center, 9527 W Ridge Trail Rd, Soddy-Daisy, Tn.37379, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Super Carniceria Loa, 400a Chickamauga Rd, Chattanooga, Tn.37421, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday, June 26: Tennessee Riverpark, 4301 Amnicola Hwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Riverfront Nights, 201 Riverfront Pkwy, Chattanooga, Tn.37402, 7-8:30 p.m.
The COVID-19 Hotline is available to assist with COVID-19 vaccine inquiries Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. at 423-209-8383.
READ IT HERE:
In April, while more Kansans reported being vaccinated for COVID-19 and fewer Kansans reported being undecided, the percentage of Kansans who said they definitely would not get a vaccine remained steady. This fact sheet analyzes data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey for April 14 to 26 and focuses on understanding the reasons why some Kansas adults would definitely not get a vaccine or remained undecided, including those who would probably or would probably not get a vaccine and those who responded by selecting a new "unsure" category on the survey.
Key Points include:
The Kansas Health Institute supports effective policymaking through nonpartisan research, education and engagement. KHI believes evidence-based information, objective analysis and civil dialogue enable policy leaders to be champions for a healthier Kansas. Established in 1995 with a multiyear grant from the Kansas Health Foundation, KHI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization based in Topeka.
When Margaret Collins, a 43-year-old geologist from Fort Worth, Texas, got her first dose of the Moderna vaccine January 6, she came home and cried.
I was finally getting the shot, she says. I saw it as a step back to the life that I loved.
A self-described extrovert, Collins became a hermit during the pandemic. She and her husband rarely stepped outside, and never without a mask. Her caution is warranted because she suffers from a generalized autoimmune disorder that includes hepatitis, psoriatic arthritis, vitiligo, and type 1 diabetes. Collins is also particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because she received a donated pancreas and kidney in 2014 and takes three medications to suppress her immune system so her body doesnt reject those organs. Yet, vaccines work by harnessing the capability of a fully competent immune system.
Since the FDA authorized the first COVID-19 vaccine, people with compromised immune systems have lived in limbo, waiting to find out whether, or how much, vaccination might protect them. The vaccine clinical trials excluded nearly all immune-compromised people because including them might interfere with determining vaccine effectiveness for the general population. But thats left this group with little data on what vaccination means for them. Now studies are trickling in.
Were starting to learn some of the things we dont know, whereas before, it was a bunch of we dont know what we dont know, says Peter Martin, a hematologist and oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.
Its difficult to gauge the number of immune-compromised people in the U.S. One study estimates that 2.8 percent of people with private insurance take immune-suppressing drugsabout nine million Americans. But that doesnt include Medicare or Medicaid patients, who are more likely to have some conditions requiring immunosuppression, says study author Beth Wallace, a rheumatologist at University of Michigan Medicine. It also doesnt include people with immune-compromising conditions who arent taking immune-suppressing medications.
From the very beginning of the pandemic Collins worried how her body would respond to the vaccine. But when she later read a study of organ transplant recipients that found low antibody levels after the first mRNA vaccine dose, she panicked.
Even though she had been vaccinated and wore a mask, she thought How safe was I? It really scared me.
A follow-up study that found about half of transplant recipients responded to the vaccine offered her little comfort. Thats essentially the flip of a coin, Collins says. But a small study published Monday offers a flicker of hope.
After two doses of mRNA vaccine, 30 transplant recipients with no or low antibodies got a third shot, though not necessarily of the same vaccine they received first. The six people with low antibody levels subsequently developed higher levels, and a quarter of the others, who had never responded to the COVID-19 vaccine, developed antibody levels thought to be high enough to prevent COVID-19 after the third dose.
But this study has substantial limitations: Its very small and involves a grab bag of different vaccine combinations. Further, the Food and Drug Administration has not authorized a third dose, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently advises against it. The authors concluded that their findings suggest the need for more studies to test third doses in people without fully functioning immune systems.
Immune-compromised people fall into two broad categories: Either they have an underlying condition that weakens their immune system, such as people with leukemia, uncontrolled HIV, or a rare genetic disease, or they have an underlying condition requiring immune-suppressing therapy, such as organ transplant recipients and people with rheumatic diseases (inflammatory, autoimmune conditions) or some cancers. A few conditions, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia and lupus, fall into both categories.
Factors that might affect someones response to a vaccine include the medication theyre taking and what it does, how long theyve been taking it, their specific disease, and their history of infection. For organ transplant recipients, the time since their transplant may also matter.
Thats why its really important for people who have these immune-suppressed conditions to talk to an expert about their specific situation, because there is such a great amount of variability, says Aaron Richterman, an infectious disease fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, regarding how immune-compromised people can assess their infection risk after vaccination.
The wide range of conditions and drugs that weaken the immune system explain why the response to COVID-19 vaccines is so mixed. The evidence so far shows that transplant recipients, certain leukemia patients, and people taking a handful of specific medications have the poorest vaccine response. The drugs that appear linked with the poorest response include mycophenolate (prevents organ rejection), rituximab (treats some blood cancers and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis), belatacept (prevents organ rejection), and methotrexate (treats a wide range of cancers and autoimmune diseases).
For example, the organ transplant study Collins read found only 54 percent of 658 organ transplantrecipients had any antibodies after two doses of the mRNA vaccine, particularly if they were taking a drug like mycophenolate. A similar study of 609 kidney transplant recipients found half had detectable antibodies after mRNA vaccination, but only 5 percent of those taking belatacept did. Transplant recipients produced even fewer antibodies in response to the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Studies in people with autoimmune disease have similarly shown that vaccine response typically depends on the specific drug theyre taking.
In a study of 404 people with rheumatic disease who had both doses of an mRNA vaccine, almost all had detectable antibodies, but those taking rituximab or mycophenolate had very low levels. Meanwhile, everyone taking anti-inflammation drugs called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors to treat Crohn's disease or rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, had strong antibody responses.
Another study (preprint) of 133 people had similar findings: Antibody levels were 1/50 as high in people taking rituximab, a drug that intentionally depletes antibody-producing B cells, as in people with competent immune systems. Those taking certain chemotherapy drugs, rheumatoid arthritis drugs, or prednisonea steroid that treats inflammationalso had lower antibody levels.
People with certain types of leukemia or lymphomas, particularly non-Hodgkins lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, also dont produce many antibodies after vaccination, though people with most other cancers fare better. Thats particularly concerning since some people with CLL dont know they have it, says study author Mounzer Agha, director of the Mario Lemieux Center for Blood Cancers at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Those are just a sampling of the studies examining different immune-compromising conditions and medications, but all are small, providing only some insight into these specific conditions or therapies.
What matters is how much immunosuppression youre getting, what agents youre getting, and possibly how long youve been getting them, says Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine who wrote the organ transplant studies and several others above.
These studies also focus only on antibody response, which is just one component of the immune response.
We think antibody levels may correlate to clinical protection to a degree, Richterman says. But even in healthy people, he says, we dont know the minimum antibody levels necessary to assure protection. Since the significance of antibody levels is ambiguous, the FDA and CDC recommend against antibody testing because it is unclear how to interpret the findings.
Immunologic responses and effectiveness of a vaccine are two different things, says Emily Blumberg, director of Transplant Infectious Diseases at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. We think vaccinating [transplant] patients may have a benefit above and beyond what you can measure with antibodies.
Thats partly because vaccines induce immunity in multiple ways. One way is stimulating B cells to make antibodies, which explains why medications that reduce B cellssuch as rituximab, methotrexate, mycophenolate, and steroidsresult in such poor responses. But vaccines can also stimulate killer T cells, which attack infected cells, and helper T cells, which aid B cells and killer T cells.
Our understanding of whats happening on the T cell side is pretty close to zero, Segev says. Studying T cell responses is difficult and costly, he adds, though his group and others are working on it.
Vaccines can also trigger the production of memory B cells, which remember how to make antibodies. If you get the virus and the memory cells are there, then you can have a better and faster antibody response the next time around, explains Ignacio Sanz, chief of rheumatology at Emory University School of Medicine. He believes that presence of memory B cells might partly explain why a third vaccine dose led to antibody production in transplant recipients without previous responses.
The only way to find out how effective the vaccines actually are in immune-compromised people is to wait fordata comparing infections between vaccinated and unvaccinated people in different immune-compromised groups, and that takes time.
Where does all this leave the millions of people who dont know if they are protected by the vaccine, especially with the CDCs advice that vaccinated people can stop masking?
For now, get vaccinated, act unvaccinated, Segev says. But thats a difficult message to communicate.
One of the unintended consequences of [that message] is fueling vaccine hesitancy in patients who say, Why should I bother if Im not going to have a response? Blumberg says.
A February study of more than 1,200 people with autoimmune disease found that more than half wanted to get vaccinated, and a third were uncertain, despite studies showing the vaccines are safe for those with inflammatory diseases.
Alfred Kim, a rheumatologist at the Washington University School of Medicine who conducted one of the studies on people with rheumatic disease, agrees it can be confusing to advise patients to get vaccinated without being able assure it protects them, but even partial protection is better than no protection, he says.
That introduces another problem: How safely can immune-compromised people go out in public even if vaccinated?
The CDC guidelines assume everybody is socially responsible, which unfortunately is not the case, Agha says.
Masks work, but masks work best if everybody is wearing them, Segev says. If you have a superspreader walking around Kroger spewing their Delta variant all over the store, and theyre standing next to an immunosuppressed transplant patient who tried their best to get vaccinated and is still wearing a mask, that [immunosuppressed] person is still at risk.
While immune-compromised patients have always been more susceptible to infections, even before the pandemic, the stakes are higher now.
With influenza, it was not such a great concern because patients do survive influenza even when they get quite ill, Mounzer says. With COVID, its a different story. Theres a real risk of dying from the disease.
In a post-masking world, that makes even brief trips to the grocery store more complicatedand perilousfor immune-compromised people.
As a society I think we have an obligation to come up with strategies to prevent those people from getting acutely sick so they can re-enter society like the rest of us are all ready to do, Martin, the hematologist, says. Theyre just as ready as anybody else, and its terrifying to be in their position.
Blumberg tells her patients to encourage friends, family members, and coworkers to get vaccinated. The better job we do with vaccinating everybody, the less COVID there will be to make them sick, she says.
Thats exactly what Collins, the vaccinated transplant recipient from Texas, is doing. But she has friends and family members who refuse to get vaccinated, and that frightens her, not only for herself but also for other immune-compromised family members and friends.
If we reach herd immunity, then I have less to worry about, Collins says. But she doesnt think the country will reach that milestone, which is scary for people like me.
If social responsibility does not motivate people to get vaccinated, theres also the specter of new variants. Evidence suggests that people whose immune systems dont respond properly to infection could provide an ideal environment for mutations, says John Moore, a microbiologist and immunologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. They have a lot of ongoing viral replication in their bodies for prolonged periods of time, Moore says. Virus replication in an antibody-low individual can drive the emergence of variants that are problematic on a societal basis, so this is not a trivial issue.
In other words, protecting the most vulnerable members of society is ultimately the best way to protect all of society.
These are the patients that are going to be a source of continued infection in the population, Blumberg says. If we dont protect these immuno-suppressed hosts, we will have a harder time getting rid of the virus.
But virus variants, particularly the Delta variant, have been a top concern for many experts when it comes to those who remain unvaccinated against the coronavirus.
The Midwest and South lag in vaccination rates compared to coastal states, with Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming among the slowest to vaccinate.
In Missouri, where 43.4% of the total population is at least partially vaccinated, the Delta variant is on the rise.
"We have seen a five-fold increase in hospitalized patients in less than four weeks. Our doctors are describing them as younger, sicker. They're often coming to us later in the disease process so we have less therapy options for them," Steve Edwards, the CEO of the CoxHealth, a system of hospitals and clinics based in Missouri, told CNN on Friday.
About four weeks ago, Edwards' health system was seeing nearly one death per week, he said. Currently, however, he said one or two people are dying daily.
"We can't tell why one patient is doing poorly and one is doing well. There's just something different about how this variant is affecting the immune system of our patients," Edwards said.
He added that doctors are also struggling with determining patients' health trajectories compared to January.
Edwards explained that while the low vaccination rate in Southwest Missouri, where his hospitals operate, is a contributing factor to the rise in cases, the Delta variant is also playing a big role in the surge.
"I think the Delta variant is what's fueling this," he said. "Much of the South, Midwest, much of the places that have low vaccination rates -- if confronted with the Delta variant, will see a similar kind of surge of patients as we're beginning to see right now."
The good news is that the virus is almost "rare" in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner said.
"But in other parts of the country, like Missouri, it's not that way at all," Reiner said. "We have to really pick up the pace in the South, or we're going to see a lot of people die who just simply don't need to die."
There are other variants, too
The dangers of the Delta variant cannot be overstated.
But other variants have emerged in parts of the US.
Gamma, which the CDC has also classified as a variant of concern, has been detected in every state where the CDC has variant information. The most recent tracking data shows that Gamma's prevalence is greater than 15% in multiple regions, including the West and Northeast.
"We've seen it across the state of course, but we're seeing it in some outbreaks in Eastern Washington, we're seeing it in counties with low vaccination rates, and I'm very concerned the role that this P.1 is going to take. It has increased its percentage in this state."
So far, none of the most common variants show much ability to evade the effects of full vaccination. But several have shown the ability, both in laboratories and in real life, to re-infect people who recovered from natural coronavirus infection and to infect people who have been only partially vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people had a strong and broad immune response that should take care of the variants, vaccine experts have agreed.
The Gamma variant has become common in Rhode Island, where it comprises 20% of all variants, according to Dr. Philip Chan, consultant medical director with the state's Department of Health.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Health and Human Services halted the distribution of two monoclonal antibody treatments from Eli Lilly in nine states, citing reduced effectiveness against both the Gamma and Delta variants. Those states are Rhode Island, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon and Washington.
According to the CDC, the Gamma variant exhibits "significantly reduced susceptibility" to the Lilly treatment and reduced neutralization from post-infection and post-vaccine immunity.
That antibody resistance presents a key issue in this variant, Dr. Peter Hotez told CNN.
"If you're not vaccinated or if you've only got a single dose of vaccine, you have vulnerability," said Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
Covid-19's potential effects on the brain
The researchers, who are from the University of Oxford and the Imperial College, compared brain scans of 782 people who have been volunteering as part of a larger study and who had MRIs three years apart -- before and after the pandemic.
Those who had Covid-19 had evidence of a loss of brain cells compared to similar people who had not been infected, the study found.
It's not yet clear what the findings mean because the researchers didn't provide details about the subjects. The study has not peer-reviewed, and it's a pre-print posted online.
The researchers noted that it was hard to tease out whether the impact on smell and taste were a symptom of the virus' infection or because of the potential pathway of infection.
CNN's Virginia Langmaid and Nadia Kounang contributed to this report.
Some of New York states mass vaccination sites will begin downscaling and will shift their resources to localized vaccination efforts, according to a news release from Gov. Andrew Cuomos office.
The decision to downscale the mass vaccination sites was made given overall statewide progress on vaccinations, the governors office said.
On Tuesday, Cuomo announced that 70% of New Yorkers had received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose and that most state-mandated restrictions would be lifted immediately.
The state now plans to shift resources to communities where the vaccination rate is below the state average.
On Thursday, Cuomo announced that 12 new pop-up vaccination sites would be opening in such areas, including in the Bronx and Brooklyn.
The state sites designated for downscaling are chosen based on demand, proximity to other vaccination sites, and other local vaccination efforts, Cuomos office said.
The downscaling will begin on Monday, with the closing of mass vaccination sites in Corning, Oneonta, Potsdam and York College, the release stated.
Barbara and Christine Colucci long to remove their masks and kiss their 102-year-old mother, who has dementia and is in a nursing home in Rochester, New York. They would love to have more than two people in her room at a time so that relatives can be there too.
We dont know how much longer shes going to be alive, Christine Colucci said, so its like, please, give us this last chance with her in her final months on this earth to have that interaction.
Pandemic restrictions are falling away almost everywhere except inside many of Americas nursing homes. Rules designed to protect the nations most vulnerable from COVID-19 are still being enforced even though 75% of nursing home residents are now vaccinated and infections and deaths have plummeted.
Frustration has set in as families around the country visit their moms and, this Fathers Day weekend, their dads. Hugs and kisses are still discouraged or banned in some nursing homes. Residents are dining in relative isolation and playing bingo and doing crafts at a distance. Visits are limited and must be kept short, and are cut off entirely if someone tests positive for the coronavirus.
Family members and advocates question the need for such restrictions at this stage of the pandemic, when the risk is comparatively low. They say the measures are now just prolonging older peoples isolation and accelerating their mental and physical decline.
They have protected them to death, said Denise Gracely, whose 80-year-old mother, Marian Rauenzahn, lives in a nursing home in Topton, Pennsylvania.
Rauenzahn had COVID-19 and then lost part of a leg to gangrene, but Graceley said what she struggled with the most was enforced solitude, going from six-day-a-week visits to none at all.
Rauenzahns daughters eventually won the right to see her once a week, and the nursing home now says it plans to relax the rules on visits for all residents in late June. But it has not been not enough, as far as Graceley is concerned.
I believe its progressed her dementia, Graceley said. Shes very lonely. She wants out of there so bad.
Pennsylvanias long-term care ombudsman has received hundreds of complaints about visiting rules this year. Kim Shetler, a data specialist in the ombudmans office, said some nursing homes COVID-19 restrictions go beyond what state and federal guidelines require. Administrators have been doing what they feel is necessary to keep people safe, she said, but families are understandably upset.
Weve done our darndest to advocate for folks to get those visitation rights, she said. Its their home. They should have that right to come and go and have the visitors that they choose.
A recent survey by National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, an advocacy group, found time limits on visits remain commonplace, ranging from 15 minutes to two hours. Some facilities limit visiting hours to weekdays, making it difficult for people who work during the day, or restrict visits to once or twice a week.
Rauenzahns Pennsylvania nursing home has been limiting most residents to a single, 30-minute visit every two weeks.
Advocates also take issue with federal guidance on how nursing homes deal with new COVID-19 cases. The guidance says most visits should be suspended for at least 14 days. Some family members, administrators and advocates complain that the recommendation has led to frequent lockdowns because of one or two cases.
Weve never had a real long, lengthy period of time where were able to have visitors, said Jason Santiago, chief operating officer at The Manor at Seneca Hill in Oswego, New York. He said continued isolation is inflicting a heavy toll. Weve got to do things that make more sense for these residents, make more sense for these families.
