Coronavirus news, updates, hotspots and information for 2-08-2021

Coronavirus 411 podcast - news, alerts, and updates on the corona virus COVID 19

This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for February 8th, 2021.
The CDC says it has distributed 59.3 million doses of vaccines in the United States and 39 million of those have been administered as of Saturday morning. 30.2 million have gotten one or more doses, while 8.3 million have definitely gotten the second dose.
Scientists say U.S. health officials may be overlooking people who get reinfected. And that data’s important to understand immunity and what vaccination programs are effective. Scientists have confirmed reinfections are possible but dismiss them as rare. But not many labs keep testing samples or do genetic sequencing. In other words, reinfections aren’t being tracked.
South Africa has suspended plans to inoculate front-line health care workers with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. A small clinical trial suggested it’s not effective in preventing mild to moderate illness from the strain dominant in that country. The variant is currently accounting for more than 90% of cases.
In the U.S., the problem is the U.K. strain. It’s still at low levels overall but is doubling its reach about every 10 days, according to published research. Modeling by the CDC last month predicted the more contagious variant could be the dominant one in the U.S. by March.
One country that is not talking about vaccine passports is Britain. That country will not introduce such COVID-19 vaccine passports, but citizens will be able to get proof from their doctor if that’s needed for travel to other countries.
In the United States cases were down 31%, deaths are down 5%, and hospitalizations down 25% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 25th.
There are now 9,782,082 active cases in the United States. The current top 5 states by number of active cases: California, New York, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia.
The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Aleutians East Borough, AK. Burleson, TX. Lincoln, CO. Crowley, CO. Crockett, TX. Mills, TX. San Saba, TX. Oldham, TX. McCormick, SC. And Cleveland, AR.
The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Maine, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
There’ve been a total 463,433 deaths in the US reported as COVID-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.7%.
The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: Texas 171. California 165. New York 152. Florida 97. Massachusetts 78. Pennsylvania 71. Indiana 65. Illinois 62. North Carolina 57. And Oklahoma 52.
The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose are Alaska at 14.1%, West Virginia at 12%, and New Mexico at 11.5%. The bottom 3 are Iowa at 7.1%, Missouri at 7.3%, and Idaho and Kansas at 7.5%.
Globally, cases were down 24%, and deaths down 8% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 11.
Globally, there are 25,828,960 active cases.
The five countries with the most new cases: the United States 89,691. Brazil 26,845. France 19,715. Russia 16,048. And the U.K. 15,845.
There have now been 2,316,702 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.
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