February 25, 2021
The topline Covid data is better today - 890 cases (incl 132 probables) and 7,075 tests - which translates to a 12.6% positivity rate for the day and 19.4% for the week. Hospitalizations have reached the levels last seen only briefly in mid-September, before the beginning of the third wave - 722 patients in 104 reporting hospitals, or 6.94 patients per hospital. In fact, aside from a single day in September, this ratio of Covid patients per hospital is the lowest since all the way back to June 26.
You would think that fewer cases and fewer hospitalizations would result in a sharper decline in deaths, but we recorded 87 more deaths today, almost all in February, bringing the overall death toll to 9,831. I wish I could explain why the death rate remains so elevated. Two more days like today and Alabama will cross the 10,000-death threshold. It would not be surprising if Alabama hits 10,000 deaths and 500,000 cases on the same day early next week (overall cases, including probables, reached 491,110 today).
Alabama has now administered 601,300 first doses (12.3% of the population) and has fully vaccinated 262,000 people (5.3%). That equates to approximately 16.3% of the State’s adult population (19 years old and above) getting 1 dose and 7.1% of the adult population getting 2 doses. According to the Washington Post, we have averaged 27,500 shots per day for the last week, a 22% increase over the prior week.
However, worries about variants continue to abound. We already know that the U.K. and South Africa variants threaten to become the most dominant strains in the U.S. because they are so contagious. A new variant in California is said to be partially responsible for a spike in cases there. And finally, today brought news of yet another new variant recently discovered in New York.
The so-called New York variant first appeared in November and now represents about 25% of the cases diagnosed in New York City. Asked about it, Dr. Fauci said any new version of the virus is a concern because it partially blunts the body’s immune response, but current vaccines are believed to be reasonably effective against this new variant as well as the others. Both Pfizer and Moderna are examining whether third booster shots may be necessary to counter these and other variants as they arise.
Globally, the U.S. is vaccinating at a faster clip than every country except Israel, the U.A.E. and Britain. Three times more people have been vaccinated per capita in the U.S. than in most European countries, and 4 times as many as in Canada. It should be concerning to most Americans that the world lags the U.S. by such a substantial margin. If we have learned anything about this global pandemic, it is that the virus does not recognize geographic boundaries, so we are not immune from the rest of the world. The various variants make that point emphatically. The totals:
2/10 - 1401
2/11 - 1503
2/12 - 1097
2/13 - 1189
2/16 - 883
2/17 - 679
2/18 - 1198
2/19 - 847
2/20 - 774
2/21 - 857
2/22 - 677
2/23 - 1453
2/24 - 1247
2/25 - 890