Driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, as well as a gradual lifting of mitigation measures like social distancing and face-mask wearing, data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows that 100,317 inpatient hospital beds are now occupied by Covid patients in the United States.
The seven-day average of coronavirus deaths currently stands at 1,233, according to a New York Times tracker, or double the number counted two weeks ago. Hospitalizations, which were above 100,000 on Thursday indicate the average of new cases is up 24 percent from two weeks ago.
Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the US Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee, told CNN Wednesday the vast majority of this year’s hospitalized patients are unvaccinated, and with the availability of vaccines, these hospitalizations are tragic.
“The numbers now … are actually in many ways worse than last August,” Offit said. “Last August, we had a fully susceptible population, (and) we didn’t have a vaccine. Now, we have half the country vaccinated … but nonetheless, the numbers are worse.”
The Guardian is reporting that a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the mortal danger that unvaccinated Americans are now facing.
The CDC study found that people without the vaccine are about 29 times more likely to end up hospitalized with Covid than those who are fully vaccinated, while unvaccinated people are also almost five times as likely to become infected as those who get the shots.
The numbers are not good
The rising death rate brings Florida’s total death toll to 42,731. The state reported 26,203 new Covid cases to the CDC on Wednesday, the Miami Herald reported.
Chirag Patel, an assistant chief medical officer in Jacksonville, told the New York Times: “We’ve had more patients this time around that have passed away at a younger age with very few if any medical problems,” he said. “They simply come in with Covid, and they don’t make it out of the hospital.”
Texas and Kentucky have also reported more Covid-19 patients in their hospitals than an any other time since the pandemic began. At least five other states, Arkansas, Louisiana, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Oregon, have already broken their hospitalization records.
The bottom line is plain to see… How many more young adults and now, children must we lose to this deadly virus? Wear a damned mask and get vaccinated, people.
