9 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – June 21 2021”

  1. One further comment about concert intermissions and the delay in reinstating them:
    In addition to the milling around in the crowd, the restroom lines are generally epic — there’s no way to keep the intermission to 15-20 minutes without extreme crowding! It’s hard enough to start the second half on time even when there isn’t a pandemic.

    1. I just saw this. Thank you. To me it is important to understand there are reasons that we just do not understand. Social media has made this worse. I appreciate your letting us know why.

  2. Recently reported deaths (tallying from the last 4 weeks) from the Delta variant in the UK reveal that 45% were partially vaccinated (had 1 shot) and 29% were fully vaccinated (with 2 shots). The vaccinations most used in the UK are Astra Zeneca and Pfizer. There’s some usage of J&J and Moderna.

    Israel is likely to reinstitute masks and distancing in some indoor locations, as authorities there fear the Delta variant. They’re looking at data from Lisbon in Portugal, as well as the UK.

    Delta is impacting a much younger age cohort in the UK and Portugal (and also the US where it’s made incursions).

    It behooves authorities in the US to remain vigilant. Doubt they will be. While they may react they will not be proactive. Just not an American thing in public health. I’ve examined many public health crises in the US – from opioids to suicide to diabetes to Covid-19 – and public health takes a back seat to other healthcare measures. it’s not something we do well, or even care about very much. This used to be different, but that was a very long time ago.

    1. All the more reason to get as many teens and younger vaccinated over the summer. Parents should insist they do so.

      Amazing how a year ago, the elderly and middle aged were ravaged and most youth unscathed.

      1. I look at it differently. Forcing parents to make a decision on a not approved or two quickly approved vaccine is irresponsible. Let the parents decide. They know their children. The government does not.

        The logical thing to go IMO is continue the option of remote learning. We are not a logical country.

  3. UK does a lot more genomic sequencing than we do. PHE is trying to establish the prevalence of confirmed reinfections and any association that may exist to variants. In order to do so you need to have genomically sequenced both (or more) infections, which even in Britain hasn’t been done that often. From all the 1260 cases of confirmed (and sequenced) reinfection in the UK, already 311 are Delta variant infections, with the proportion of Delta reinfections growing steadily every week. This is a significant factoid, which suggests Delta variant has a greater propensity than other variants to lead to a reinfection.

  4. The Delta variant in Portugal may constitute as many as 96% of coronavirus cases.

    Israel’s tightening of restrictions in certain locales is a response to local outbreaks of the Delta variant. Israel’s been vaccinated almost exclusively with Pfizer/BioNTech.

  5. The good news: Globally cases have fallen for 8 straight weeks. Deaths have decreased for 7 consecutive weeks. The bad news: Daily cases are still at or above 300,000. Daily deaths are still at or above 8,000.

    UK Covid update: Biggest jump in number of people hospitalized since February 1:

    – New cases: 10,633 (+3,000 compared to last Monday)
    – Average: 9,778 (+413)
    – In hospital: 1,504 (+156)
    – In ICU: 227 (+4)
    – New deaths: 5

    Population vaccinated:
    – 1st dose: 64.6%
    – 2nd dose: 47%

    Deaths are still low, but as we all know they are a lagging indicator.

    Moving forward, all eyes will be on the UK and spillover effects to the European continent, which we already see evidence of in Portugal.

    Further, we in the US need to pay attention to where Delta variant outbreaks are occurring, like Missouri and Florida.

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