COVID, Coronavirus, Omicron and Delta variants, and vaccine updates for 02-03-2022
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This is Covid 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants, and new hotspots for February 3rd, 2022.

The U.S. Army will immediately start discharging soldiers who’ve refused to get the mandatory COVID vaccine. How many are possibly getting kicked out? 3,300 service members. The Army’s actually the last military service to outline its discharge policy. 3,000 soldiers have already been issued official written reprimands, which means they could be among the first to go.

History will establish what we got right and wrong in the pandemic. And a new report out of Johns Hopkins says the lockdowns recommended and promoted so heavily by experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci, which imposed enormous costs on economies, finances, education, and mental health, weren’t really necessary. The verdict from the new meta-analysis of dozens of different studies is lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy. Lockdowns in the U.S. and across Europe reduced COVID mortality by a mere 0.2% on average.

Pfizer wants the FDA to authorize their vaccine for kids six months to five years old. But will parents get them vaccinated? Looking at what they’ve done with kids 5-11 says probably not. Only 30.5% of children 5-11 have gotten at least one dose and only 21.8% are fully vaccinated. A Kaiser poll recently found 52% of parents of kids that age are opposed to or unsure about vaccinating them, with 24% saying they “definitely won’t” vaccinate them.  

France says it will start administering Pfizer’s coronavirus antiviral drug this week. That’s the first pill for treating COVID that’s been approved in the EU. And why not? France is still reporting among the world's highest per-capita daily infections. The drug, Paxlovid, will be available in pharmacies starting Friday. 

How hard is it to get teachers back in the classroom? So hard that in New Mexico, 78 members of the National Guard have been called in to serve as substitutes. They get a few hours of training and a background check before being assigned. Most of them say they don’t feel prepared, but they are at least willing to show up. And they show up in uniform so perhaps conduct has improved a little. 

In the United States, cases were down 44%, deaths are up 39%, and hospitalizations are down 14% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.  

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Arizona, Mississippi, Ohio, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. 

There are 28,852,070 active cases in the United States.

The five areas with the greatest increase in hospitalizations per capita: Alaska 57%. Wyoming 52%. Idaho 41%. Montana 36%. And West Virginia 32%. 

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Nome Census Area, AK. Franklin, WA. Pontotoc, OK. Murray, OK. Whitman, WA. Santa Cruz, AZ. Johnson, IL. Clay, KY. Mercer, KY. And Benton, WA.

There have been at least 894,211 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 79.4%, Rhode Island at 79.1%, and Maine at 77.6%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Alabama at 49.5%, Wyoming at 49.9%, and Mississippi at 50.1%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 63.8%.

Globally, cases were down 1% and deaths up 36% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since January 25. 

There are 74,214,657 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: France 315,363. The United States 302,177. Germany 223,322. Brazil 188,552. And India 164,593. 

There have been 5,699,331 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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