Miscellaneous
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for February 11th, 2021.Updated guidance from the CDC. You usually should quarantine 1-2 weeks if you may have been exposed to see if you develop symptoms. Now the CDC says that’s not necessary for fully vaccinated people within 3 months of getting their last dose as long as they don’t have symptoms.Apparently, you don’t just need to wear a mask, you need to wear two of them at the same time. U.S. government researchers found wearing one mask — surgical or cloth — blocked about 40% of particles. But when you wear a cloth mask over a surgical mask, about 80% were blocked.Speaking of masks, they’re the subject of a big scam. The feds are investigating a massive counterfeit N95 mask operation in which fake 3M masks were sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities, and government agencies.Some great news about the Pfizer vaccine. Even those who become infected with the coronavirus before they get their second dose present a much lower risk of transmission. The vaccine appears to lower the viral load 4x for infections that happen 12 to 28 days after the first dose. That study has not yet been peer reviewed.Get ready to get your heart warmed. Being a hospitalized Covid patient can be frightening, and lonely with no family allowed. In Massachusetts, Dr. Ben Moor figured since he’d gotten his second dose of the vaccine, he could just visit with patients outside of work hours. He now has 46 volunteers and growing doing the same. They still must wear layers of protective equipment, but patients are getting comforting human interaction.In the United States cases were down 35%, deaths are down 20%, and hospitalizations down 26% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 25th. There are now 9,586,691 active cases in the United States. The current top 5 states by number of active cases: California, New York, Florida, Arizona, and Georgia.The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Aleutians East Borough, AK. San Saba, TX. Crowley, CO. Burleson, TX. Lexington, VA. Crockett, TX. McCormick, SC. Jeff Davis, TX. Hall, TX. And Cleveland, AR.The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are South Carolina, Rhode Island, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma.There’ve been a total 471,377 deaths in the US reported as COVID-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.73%.The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: California 478. Texas 348. Alabama 309. Arizona 176. New York 165. Florida 164. New Jersey 147. Pennsylvania 142. North Carolina 135. And Georgia 120.The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose are Alaska at 15.2%, West Virginia at 12.3%, and New Mexico at 12.1%. The bottom 3 are Kansas and Missouri at 8%, and Alabama and Rhode Island at 8.1%.Globally, cases were down 26%, and deaths down 13% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 11. Globally, there are 25,484,001 active cases.The five countries with the most new cases: the United States 96,806. Brazil 60,271. France 25,387. Spain 18,114. And Russia 14,494. There have now been 2,353,620 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.For the latest updates, subscribe for free to Coronavirus 411 on your podcast app or ask your smart speaker to play the Coronavirus 411 podcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.