COVID-19 Dodgeball

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CNN reported that Covid-19 cases in children are up 32% from two weeks ago, according to new numbers published November 22, 2021 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). For the week ending November 18, 2021 there were at least 141,905 new cases among children, with children making up a disproportionate share of the cases, representing more than a quarter of all new Covid-19 cases for the past week.

Early in the pandemic, kids accounted for fewer than 3% of confirmed cases. That is because parents helped to keep them at home, socially isolated.  Now parents are glad to have the kids out from underfoot and back in school. Some schools are trying to keep the kids protected with masks and some form of social distancing, but some state governors are doing everything in there power to keep the kids unmasked so the virus can spread unchecked.

Cases have dropped since a horrific summer surge in the south, but now the cases are rising again as winter sets in. The number of children with Covid-19 is still considered “extremely high,” the AAP report said. This marks the 15th week in a row that child Covid-19 cases are higher than 100,000. But 939 children have died from Covid-19 in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Children ages 5 and older are now eligible to get Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine. A study conducted by Pfizer showed that its vaccine efficacy was more than 90% against symptomatic disease. A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that two-thirds of parents want to wait and see, or are refusing to vaccinate their children. Misinformation, mistrust and insanity are resulting in plenty of children that the virus can burn through. Those kids return home and infect the parents and grand parents and the dynamic dance of death continues.

Still Birth

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Having COVID-19 around the time of delivery will increase the risk of still birth. The risk of still birth is worst with the Delta variant.

The CDC released a study on November 15, 2021 bout the risks of still births due to COVID-19 infection.The study compared women with COVID-19 to women without COVID-19.

Pregnant women are at an increased risk for severe COVID-19 infection. Over 1 million births were in the study. Among those births there were 8,154 still births or about 0.65%.

21,553 women with COVID-19 were in the study. Of these women there were 273 still births or about 1.26%. The risk of still birth when infected with COVID-19 is close to double.

Prior to the pandemic still births were at about 0.59%. But during the pandemic women who did not have COVID at the time of birth experienced stillbirths at a rate of 6.4%. This in itself it a marked increase. Perhaps the women had been infected and recovered by the time of birth. It is also possible that omen avoided health care during the pandemic.

Prior to the Delta variant the risk of still birth was 0.98% or an adjusted relative risk of 1.47.  During the Delta variant surge the risk rose to 2.7% or an adjusted relative risk of 4.04 so still births were more than 4 times more likely during the delta variant.

It is safe to assume that in other developed countries the rates of still births would be comparable and in undeveloped nations the numbers of still births would likely be higher.

COVID-19 Air

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The U.S. lifted restrictions November 8, 2021 on travel from 33 countries, including the U.K., (9,333,891 COVID cases) South Africa, (2,924,072 COVID cases) Brazil, (21,886,077 COVID cases) Mexico, (3,827,596 COVID cases) Canada, (1,735,017 COVID cases) and most of Europe. In Europe there is a surge in COVID-19  infections, alarming health officials and sparking fears that the continent could be engulfed by a new wave of the pandemic this winter.

Travelers must show proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. I am certain that Florida‘s Governor Ron DeathSantis will take issue with these vaccination passports and will fight these airlines insisting every unvaccinated person in the world should  be allowed into the state. He has already been fighting tooth and nail with the cruise industry. But he lost that lawsuit.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) the U.S. will accept travelers who have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, (WHO) not just those in use in the U.S. That means that the AstraZeneca vaccine, widely used in Canada, will be accepted. Though vaccinations are required, there are exemptions for travelers under age 18 and passengers from countries with low vaccination availability. In other words, if the country hasn’t vaccinated many people, then hey, come on in anyway, and don’t bother taking any precautions because this is “Merica.”

Russian Spike

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In Russia the COVID-19 spike in cases shows no sign of letting up. The daily COVID-19 cases and deaths in Russia remain at their highest numbers of the pandemic as of November 3, 2021 as more regions announced they were extending existing restrictions in an effort to tame the country’s  surge of infections.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 40,443 new confirmed cases from a day earlier. It was the fifth time in seven days that the country reported more than 40,000 infections. The task force also reported a daily record of 1,189 COVID-19 deaths. Some experts believe that those numbers a far under reported.

The United States is reporting over 76,000 daily cases with the downward trend now leveling off and going up again. On November 2, 2021 there were just over 1500 deaths in America. So if this were an arms race of COVID-19 cases and deaths, America is still winning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered many Russians to stay off work between Oct. 30 and Nov. 7 2021. He authorized regional governments to extend the number of non-working days, if necessary. “One non-working week is not enough to break the chain of infection,” Tomsk governor Sergei Zhvachkin said. Many other regions are planning to extend the lockdown.

Russia has low vaccination rates, although the Sputnik V vaccine was the first in the world to be distributed. Put simply, Russian citizens do not trust the government since the vaccine did not undergo rigorous testing before it was offered to everyone. Russians also have lax public attitudes toward taking precautions. Less than 35% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urged Americans to avoid traveling to a new batch of countries, including Russia and Belgium, because of high levels of COVID-19. Russia had the third-highest number of coronaviruses cases in the world over the past 28 days – more than 917,300 cases, according to John Hopkins data.

 

Sweep

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The Tampa Bay Times reported that for 105 days in the worst of the pandemic, Florida’s COVID-19 death toll went missing. County death tolls were withheld from the public. Floridians had no idea how many of their neighbors were dying. This is part of Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis’ blue sky policy. If you hide the statistic from the public they can go about their lives in blissful ignorance.

The Florida Department of Health knows how many people are dying in each county, but stopped telling the public on June 4, 2021. That’s when state officials stopped releasing daily pandemic data, switched to weekly reports and started withholding data once available to the public.

The state directed the public to find that information via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the CDC relied on Florida’s online portal of COVID data — which the state also took down in June 2021. The CDC’s tally of deaths for Florida went blank. The number of people dying in each Florida county went missing from June 4, 2021 through September 17, 2021. This episode that illustrates how governments continue to hinder the public’s understanding of the virus and its toll. What they don’t know can’t kill them, or can it?

The designer of the Florida COVID-19 dashboard, was fired when she refused to cushion the numbers. The dashboard was also scrapped just as the Delta variant began to kill Floridians in large numbers. Florida leaders spent years whittling down the Department of Health, leaving Florida with one of the lowest numbers of epidemiologists per residents in the country.

As of October 18, 2021, the Florida COVID-19 related deaths per 100,000 was 0.79 with an average of 170.3 Floridians dying every day from COVID-19. Only Texas has a higher death toll at an average of 197 people dying every day. Lets just sweep that under the rug.

City Mouse

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The numbers of deaths from COVID-19 in 2021 has already surpassed the number of deaths in 2020. Urban Americas are dying half as often from COVID-19 infections compared to their  rural American counterparts.

Vaccinations are the most effective way to prevent Covid-19 infections from turning deadly. Roughly 41 percent of rural America was vaccinated as of September 23, 2021, compared with about 53 percent of urban America, according to an analysis by The Daily Yonder, a newsroom covering rural America. Limited supplies and low access made shots hard to get in the far-flung regions at first, but officials and academics now blame vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and politics for the low vaccination rates.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for some people who completed their two-dose series of the Pfizer vaccine at least six months ago. Getting fully vaccinated — including your boosters if you qualify — is the right thing to do because it protects others from getting COVID-19.

Boosters are suggested for:

  • People 65 or older
  • People who have a medical condition that puts them at high risk
  • People who work in a setting where they could be exposed to the virus like teachers and store clerks.

Only 57% of the Americans population has been fully vaccinated. Many elite city dwellers got their vaccine booster shots early by taking advantage of the nation’s vaccine surplus and loose tracking of those who have been fully vaccinated. As of August 11, 2021, 1.1 Million Americans had already gotten the booster shot. An NBC News analysis of CDC data shows that the number of people receiving booster shots is outpacing those getting their first or second doses of the initial vaccination.

On October 14, 2021 the FDA’s advisory committee will meet to discuss and potentially recommend approval of booster shots for people who received Moderna’s vaccine.

October 15, 2021  that committee will meet to potentially recommend approval of boosters for those who received Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Also, that day, the committee will discuss potentially mixing and matching vaccine boosters — that is, getting a booster that’s different from your original vaccine.

Then, about a week and a half later, on October 26, 2021 the FDA has scheduled a meeting to approve the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 5 to 11.

SAK in a Pandemic

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Pam’s niece was visiting from the mid-west in August and she wanted to treat her to an evening at SAK Comedy Lab.

SAK strongly encourages all non-vaccinated students to wear a face mask while in the class area.

An inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present. COVID-19 is a contagious disease that can, in some instances, lead to severe illness and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), senior citizens and people with underlying medical conditions are especially vulnerable.

Pam, her niece and I wore masks the entire time. Under this situation I wore a KN-95. I noticed that ushers also wore masks but as the audience filled in the seats there were no masks in sight. None. When the audience had filled in I turned around and saw that one lone woman also wore a mask.

The SAK seats up to 60% of their pre-covid maximum capacity. They provide one seat open between groups. That is a full two feet of social distancing. They advised online that, if you are uncomfortable being in a venue that feels somewhat dense with people, now might not be the best time to attend their shows. They politely request that all guests wear a mask in the venue regardless of vaccination status. It can be removed when you are seated with your food and drink. If wearing a mask while at a live venue isn’t your thing, they completely understand. I can vouch for the fact that veeeeery few took this advice seriously.

The performers are all vaccinated and are not masking while on stage. The performances consisted of some of the cast belting out some amazing show tunes. Chase Padget whose work I have admired from past Fringe shows was among the cast, and he did a stellar job. They all killed it. If you want to laugh yourself to death, this is the place to do it.

A few weeks after this performance, on August 20, 2021, a member of SAK’s Front of House staff reported a positive Covid-19 test. Because the staff work closely together, they decided to take their shows down for the weekend out of an abundance of caution. This was the first time since the pandemic began that they took a show down.

In August 2021 alone, more than 9,000 residents died in Florida from COVID-19, making it the most deadly month of the pandemic in the Sunshine State. Yet looking around this audience you would think that COVID was a thing of the past. Florida is way ahead of the nation’s other five largest states in a race no one wants to win. In the last six months, Florida has recorded nearly 90 deaths for every 100,000 residents, by far the highest among the six largest states. Florida’s death rate over that period is more than three times higher than in New York and more than five times higher than in California. In fact, only Texas has a rate that is at least half of Florida’s.

 

The Pietà

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Michelangelo’s sculpture of the Virgin Mary holding Christ is titled The Pietà which translates  to The Pity.

Kristen McMullen, a 30 year old Brevard County, Florida mom, died from COVID-19 just days after undergoing an emergency C-section and was able to hold  her baby for only “a few short minutes” before she died from COVID-19 ten days later.

She was able to see her newborn a few more times through FaceTime before her condition became worse and she was put on a ventilator. She was then rushed to the ICU and was put on a ventilator shortly after, her family said.

McMullen, who died on August 6, 2021 reportedly began to develop symptoms of the virus roughly three weeks before she was due to give birth.

On July 21, 2021 she was taken to hospital with COVID pneumonia, and was then sent home after four days and given antibiotics. Less than 48 hours later, however, McMullen was taken back to hospital with breathing difficulties, and doctors prepared to perform an emergency C-section to deliver her baby weeks before her due date.

When asked if Kristen had been vaccinated, Melissa Syverson said: “We personally feel that whether a pregnant woman is or isn’t [vaccinated] or whether they wear a mask or don’t wear a mask, we feel like they’re at a huge risk potentially for it to be deadly for them or their baby.”

Some doctors are also warning of an uptick of severe cases among pregnant women, a group with a low vaccination rate that has also been found to be subject to a high risk for complications related to the virus. Amid the delta variant’s spread, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has moved to encourage expectant mothers to get vaccinated, as research shows they are more likely to require admission to intensive care and use of ventilators than non-pregnant women.

“As the rest of society has higher and higher rates of vaccination, the pregnant population has lagged,” she said. “So they are exposed to more virus and they are not immune at all. And so that’s the consequence of what we’re seeing right now.”

Misinformation regarding the vaccine’s effects on pregnancy and fertility has spurred hesitancy since the shots first became available. Yet the CDC updated its recommendation September 1, 2021, encouraging pregnant women to be inoculated after it found no increased risk of miscarriage.

In Jacksonville Florida, 2 children, including a new born, died within 24 hours at Wolfson Children’s hospital from COVID-19.

Vaccine Inequality

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How many people in the world could be vaccinated? Enough vaccine doses have been purchased to cover more than 80% of the adult population of the world, high-income countries own enough doses to vaccinate more than twice their populations while low and middle income countries can only cover one-third of their population.

In the United States about half of the country has not been vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available but they are being turned down by skeptics and anti-vaxers.

A month ago, a joint statement by the CDC and FDA had said that fully vaccinated Americans did not need a booster dose. Vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infections wanes over time, but the protection they offer against hospitalizations continues to remain high.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that a third booster dose of the vaccine will be available to people 8 months after their last dose. That means I will be eligible for a third dose this coming December 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that third doses of the vaccines should not be administered. The WHO called on countries with high vaccination rates to donate surplus vaccines to poorer countries rather than administering third doses. The reasoning is that the pandemic will not end until the entire world is vaccinated. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) had called a moratorium on booster doses at least till the end of September 2021. “We’re planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket,” WHO’s emergency director Mike Ryan told reporters on Aug. 18, 2021. A COVID infection anywhere is a COVID infection everywhere.

Someone Died In My Bed!

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Roughly 1800 kids were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US last week, a 500% increase in the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations for children since early July, according to data from the CDC. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said “If your child needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have COVID and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one.” He said “Your child will wait for another child to die before getting one.”

Emerging data from a large study in Canada suggest that children who test positive for COVID-19 during the Delta wave may be more than twice as likely to be hospitalized as they were when previous versions of the virus were dominating transmission. The new data support what many pediatric infectious disease experts say they’ve been seeing—younger kids with more serious symptoms.

Children under 12 still have no access to a vaccine, so they are facing increased exposure to a germ that’s become more dangerous with little protection, especially in schools where masks as a faint suggestion rather than a much needed mandate. Florida Children’s Hospitals are overwhelmed. Florida education officials who are trying to protect the children with mask mandates are having their jobs threatened by Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis. Florida’s Orange County Public Schools said it would require students to wear masks, except pupils whose parents opt them out with a signed note. Employees, visitors, volunteers and parents also will be required to wear masks, the district said. The CDC recommends that everyone – students, teachers, staff and visitors – wear masks in schools.

8,400 Tampa Florida area students and faculty are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus after just one week of school. An emergency school board meeting will be held the evening of August 18, 2021 to discuss the spread of the virus and take up the issue of mandatory mask wearing in schools. If approved, that could put the school district directly at odds with DeathSantis. Schools in Atlanta, Georgia reported over 4,000 COVID cases in just two weeks. Ten districts in that metro area have already suspended in-person learning.

Over 50 children are being hospitalized with COVID every single day in Florida. The state now leads the U.S. in new COVID-19 infections and has the highest rate of hospitalizations among children in the nation.