Treating the Unvaccinated | The New Yorker
In Utah, and across the U.S., doctors are facing a wave of preventable COVID deaths—and trying to convince the hesitant that “it doesn’t have to be this way.”
Coronavirus
NPR
The death rate from COVID-19 in the U.S. is rising steadily for the first time in months as the nation grapples with a renewed burst of cases in what's become "a pandemic of the unvaccinated," the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
The seven-day average of new cases has increased by nearly 70% to almost 30,000 per day; hospitalizations are up 36%. And deaths from the virus have risen steadily in recent days, reversing a months-long downward trend that began in mid-January.
NPR
In Springfield, Mo., firefighters are giving vaccine shots. Churches are scrambling to schedule vaccine clinics. Students and staff at summer school at the public schools are back to wearing masks.
Dozens of traveling nurses are due to arrive at one of the city's two biggest hospitals over the coming weeks; extra ventilators from around Missouri and Arkansas were transported to the other major hospital after it ran short over the July Fourth weekend.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in southwest Missouri and northern Arkansas has become the nation's largest and is mostly driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Officials warn it could continue to grow unchecked if vaccination rates stay low.
Vaccination isn't a tax or a mandate on your business or life. It's a one or two unpleasant jabs in your arm. Then you go on living your life.
200 Million COVID-19 Vaccinations Have Been Given In 100 Days : NPR
President Biden announced Wednesday that Americans have received 200 million COVID-19 vaccinations since he took office, double his initial goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, and what he called "an incredible achievement for the nation."
Biden, who will officially cross the 100-day mark next week, also announced the availability of tax credits to employers who give their workers paid leave to get a shot.
"No working American should lose a single dollar from their paycheck because they are doing their patriotic duty to get vaccinated," Biden said. Biden Administration To Spend $1.7 Billion To Track Spread Of Coronavirus Variants Shots - Health News Biden Administration To Spend $1.7 Billion To Track Spread Of Coronavirus Variants
The tax credits for employers with fewer than 500 employees were part of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan he signed into law last month.
The administration is calling for employers to incentivize employees to get their shots, including by giving them discounts and through product giveaways. The administration said that nearly a quarter of Americans who do not plan to get vaccinated say they would if they got paid leave, gift cards, cash bonuses or other incentives.
This is fantastic news for public health and America more generally.
Rural folks and not getting vaccinated
Rural folks and not getting vaccinated 👩🏻🌾💉
For many people it’s hard to see the value of getting vaccinated if you don’t know anyone else who has gotten COVID-19 except maybe on the television. It seems unnecessary and unnatural to inject chemicals into one’s body for a low risk threat especially in rural areas when you are young and healthy.
But the flip side is that millions of people have gotten vaccinated and while the side effects aren’t pleasant the next day, the vaccine is quite effective and now widely available. So many people have use it so we know there are few health consequences at least in the short-term and in the long run its unlikely based on the science to cause harm.
A lot of people, especially seniors have gotten vaccinated. Some haven’t. Some have because getting sick for an extended period could be devastating especially on the family farm if everybody is sick. But that’s their choice. I expect more will get vaccinated come the autumn as COVID-19 becomes more common with the colder weather and holiday travel, and the virus seeks out rural areas with fewer vaccines individuals. Hopefully rural health departments will respond with additional immunization fairs like at town highway garages, senior centers and other community gathering places so that anybody who decides to get vaccinated will be able to easily.
Coronavirus Updates : NPR
The account has been his way to honor some of the nearly 600,000 people who have died in the U.S.
Even back in March 2020, Goldstein knew something was wrong. The communications specialist's home city of Boston was hit early and harshly from virus. As the death toll climbed and businesses shut down, he started to feel overwhelmed. How could a virus kill so many and yet he knew so few of its victims? Who were the people who had passed away from COVID, and what were their stories?
Shots – Health News : NPR
A new kind of COVID-19 vaccine could be available as soon as this summer.
It's what's known as a protein subunit vaccine. It works somewhat differently from the current crop of vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. but is based on a well-understood technology and doesn't require special refrigeration.
In general, vaccines work by showing people's immune systems something that looks like the virus but really isn't. Consider it an advance warning; if the real virus ever turns up, the immune system is ready to try to squelch it.
In the case of the coronavirus, that "something" is one of the proteins in the virus — the spike protein.