Breaking

COVID Cases Keep Falling - Yahoo News
Oct 26, 2021 2 mins, 5 secs

Covid cases have been falling in every region of the U.S., offering hope.

It is time for one of The Morning’s occasional updates on the state of the pandemic.

The number of new daily Covid-19 cases has plunged 57 percent since peaking on Sept.

Yes, there are some local hot spots, as has almost always been the case since the pandemic began.

will fall roughly another 20 percent over the next three weeks.

The bottom line: There is no reason to expect another Covid surge anytime soon, but surges don’t always announce themselves in advance.

When the Delta variant began spreading this summer, many people worried that it was both much more contagious than earlier versions of the virus and much more severe.

Delta is clearly more contagious, which is the main reason that every metric of the pandemic — cases, hospitalizations and deaths — soared this summer.

But a typical Covid case during the Delta wave was about as severe as a typical case during the earlier stages of the pandemic.

During the wave in late 2020 and early this year, about 1.2 percent of positive cases led to death; during the Delta wave, the share was 1.1 percent.

Some have found Delta to be more severe than other versions of the virus, and others have found that it is not.

Until the research becomes clearer, the best guess may be that Delta is modestly more severe, which could explain why hospitalizations and death rates have held steady even as vaccination rates have risen.

About 1,500 Americans have died of Covid every day over the past week.

And the main reason is that millions of Americans have chosen to remain unvaccinated.

Many of them are older and have underlying medical conditions, leaving them vulnerable to severe versions of Covid.

In late August, near the height of the Delta wave, 24 out of every 10,000 unvaccinated Americans 65 and above were hospitalized with Covid symptoms, according to the C.D.C.

Among fully vaccinated Americans 65 and above, the number was 1.5 per 10,000.

Even so, many Americans are saying no to a shot.

Only 67 percent of American adults without a four-year college degree have received a shot, compared with 82 percent of college graduates, according to the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll.

And only 58 percent of self-identified Republicans are vaccinated, compared with 90 percent of Democrats.

Offered a lifesaving drug to counteract a highly contagious virus, many Americans are instead choosing to take their chances.

Facebook said its quarterly profits rose 17 percent to $9.2 billion over the past year.

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED