Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 24: Should I Stay Home If I Wake Up With Symptoms?, Japan Faces Major Healthcare Worker Shortage

Kinkakuji, the Golden Pavilion, in Kyoto

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 928th day of the pandemic.

If you’ve already returned to the office or workplace and wake up not feeling well, you may be wondering if you should stay home.

It’s easier than ever to telecommute and far more accepted by society thanks to changes that took place in the early days of the pandemic, and workplace mindsets have changed to largely encourage those who could cause a typhoid-like outbreak and wipe out the entire office to stay away.

First determine how sick you are.  Do you have a fever? Any other symptoms?  What about headache?

A sore throat or runny nose could be Covid so take a home coronavirus test before anything else.  If the rapid test says you have Covid, that’s a fairly definitive result and you should unquestionably stay home and isolate.

If it’s negative but you are symptomatic, stay home and test again a few hours later. If the test is still negative, and you’re still symptomatic, you could still have another respiratory virus or infection that could be highly transmissible.

Remember, caution is the better part of valor, with apologies to William Shakespeare.

In other news we cover today, national student test scores in the United States fell dramatically during the pandemic and Japan is facing a major shortage of healthcare workers.

UNITED STATES

President Joseph Biden will get his bivalent coronavirus booster shot on Tuesday.  The president plans to take the opportunity to emphasize the importance of getting a booster in advance of an expected winter wave of new infections in order to reduce the severity of the potential surge.

The National Report Card found that pandemic-induced disruptions caused a significant decline in math scores and a drop in reading scores when compared to 2019, the year prior to the start of the pandemic.  One in four eighth-graders achieved proficiency in math.

“The data prior to the pandemic did not reflect an education system that was on the right track,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The pandemic simply made it worse. It took poor performance and dropped it down even further.”

If you’re wondering if the country is in for a “twindemic” or a “triple threat,” the increase in flu activity should be cause for concern.  South Carolina health officials are reporting widespread flu activity above the state baseline in 11 counties.

The data from the Department of Health and Environmental Control shows that 4.3% of patient visits to healthcare providers were for flu-like illness, which is above the state’s 3.6% baseline.

The director of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, reported that she tested positive for SARS-CoV-2.  The news comes just one month after she received her bivalent booster shot.  Walensky reported only “mild symptoms” and said she is isolating in accordance with CDC guidelines.

GLOBAL

In Japan, a government report released Monday said that the country needs “one million” additional healthcare workers thanks to severe staff shortages.  The number of healthcare staff has been greatly reduced thanks to pandemic burnout and a lower birthrate over the past few decades, the report said.

TODAY’S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Monday, October 24.

As of Monday morning, the world has recorded 633 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million cases, and 6.6 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 612 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.4 million.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Monday at press time is 14,394,582, a decrease of 184,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 14,356,161, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 38,421, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.

The United States reported 6,975 new coronavirus infections on Monday for the previous day, compared to 2,576 on Sunday, 33,923 on Saturday, 63,637 on Friday, and 68,420 on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate is now 35,249.  Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.

The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 37,741, a 7% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 361, a decrease of 6% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 26,798, a 1% decrease.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Monday, recorded 99.1 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.1 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.6 million, and a reported death toll of 528,977.

The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States.  Rosstat reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.

Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 36.5 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 35.2 million total cases.

Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 687,680, has recorded over 34.8 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.

The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with over 25.3 million cases, the United Kingdom, with 23.9 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 23.3 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with 22 million, and Russia, with 21.4 million.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of last Thursday, over 265.6 million people in the United States – or 80% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 68.2%, or 226.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 632.9 million. Breaking this down further, 91% of the population over the age of 18 – or 234.9 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 78% of the same group – or 201.4 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 52.3% of that population, or 105.3 million people, has already received a first booster dose of vaccine.

Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Monday by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.

Some 68.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Monday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 12.86 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 2.67 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 23.3% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.

In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.

Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)