The United States’ delta-variant surge is shifting into a deadly new phase: The number of weekly fatalities is now rising in more than three-quarters of the states.
The latest tally shows more than 4,800 deaths in a week, a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data shows. That’s more than triple the figure of the relative lull in early July. And the death toll is actually worse because a large California county changed its methodology, removing hundreds of reported deaths from the rolls.
Coronavirus hospitalizations have hit pandemic highs among all ages under 50, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. And total new infections are still rising in almost every state.
“We’re seeing a lot of people get seriously ill,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration’s lead adviser on the pandemic, said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “The hospitalizations are on the brink of actually overrunning the hospitals, particularly intensive care units.”
Also in the news:
►The Texas Supreme Court stepped in Sunday evening to block lower-court orders that had allowed Dallas and San Antonio – and cities, counties and schools across Texas – to impose mask mandates contrary to an executive order by Gov. Greg Abbott. The temporary restraining orders, issued by separate District Court judges and upheld Friday by intermediate appellate courts, had halted enforcement of Abbott’s July 29 edict.
►Poland has sent 1 million COVID-19 vaccines to Sydney where the delta variant continues to spread, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Sunday.
►CVS and Walgreens pharmacies began administering the newly authorized third coronavirus vaccine shot to individuals with immunocompromising conditions. People who completed their first two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines at least 28 days ago and have a qualifying condition can schedule their booster shots.
►Sunday, the U.S. reported 665,000 doses administered, including 404,000 newly vaccinated, White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said. Seventy-two percent of adults have had at least one dose and the U.S. is nearing 70% of all eligible people (ages 12 and up) with at least one dose.
📈 Today’s numbers: The U.S. has had more than 36.6 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and 621,600 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The global totals: More than 207.2 million cases and 4.3 million deaths. More than 168.3 million Americans – 50.7% of the population – have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
📘 What we’re reading: Should kids wear masks in school? These states have banned mandates, despite experts’ pleas.
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Mississippi community swamped with COVID after county fair
A rural Mississippi community is overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, two weeks after the Neshoba County Fair brought thousands of people who attended shoulder-to-shoulder outdoor concerts and horse races and listened to political speeches. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves spoke at the fair July 29, telling the crowd that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave “foolish” and “harmful” advice and that Mississippians “believe in freedom.”
As of Friday, Neshoba County had the highest per-capita COVID-19 caseload in Mississippi and the 55th highest among all counties in the nation, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 case tracker. Mississippi has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S. – 36% in the state, compared with 50% for the nation.
US booster shot decision expected within 2 weeks
The director of the National Institutes of Health says the U.S. could decide in the next couple of weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to Americans this fall. Dr. Francis Collins told “Fox News Sunday” that federal health officials are looking at the U.S. numbers “almost daily” but no decision has been made because cases so far still indicate that vaccinated people remain highly protected from COVID-19, including the delta variant. The New York Times reported that White House officials are looking at October for a booster vaccine rollout, beginning with those who received initial doses first – nursing home residents and health care workers.
The World Health Organization has called for a moratorium on booster shots in wealthy countries to send to poorer countries so they can vaccinate their populations.
Kids as young as 2 weeks old hospitalized as pediatric cases surge
As COVID-19 hospitalizations in Escambia County in Florida climb to levels not seen so far in the pandemic and schools are back in session, the growing number of children hospitalized with the coronavirus has experts worried.
Studer Family Children’s Hospital Pediatrician-in-Chief Jason Foland said Friday that last week he saw a 2-week-old baby with COVID-19 go into cardiac arrest and has recently seen more children, from newborns to teenagers, who are in the intensive care unit or need critical care.
This week, Escambia County started specifically tracking pediatric hospital admissions from COVID-19 complications on its online dashboard. On Friday, there were 12 children under the age of 18 who were being treated for COVID-19 at Escambia County hospitals.
That’s out of 357 total COVID-19 hospitalizations – yet another all-time record during the pandemic – among the county’s three major hospitals, Ascension Sacred Heart, Baptist and West Florida hospitals.
While the number of pediatric COVID-19 hospitalizations is relatively low compared to the overall population, the highly transmissible delta variant is causing the illness to spread incredibly easily among people and especially vulnerable children, according to Foland.
“(The parents are) scared and terrified,” he said. “They know the odds here, right, they know that statistically very few kids get complications from COVID but now it’s their kid and now they’re really worried about it.”
– Emma Kennedy, Pensacola News Journal
Contributing: Mike Stucka, USA TODAY; The Associated Press.