Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 14: 4 in 10 Misrepresented Covid Health or Vaccination Status, New Boosters Generate Strong Immune Response
The Boekhandel Selexyz Dominicanen, a bookstore in an 800-year-old church in Maastricht
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 918th day of the pandemic.
If you lied about your vaccination status or adherence to public health protocols over the past two years, you weren’t alone.
A new study found that 42% of those polled admitted to lying about either their vaccination status or their adherence to coronavirus safety protocols.
The study, which covered 1,733 adults and was conducted in December 2021, was published this week in the in the American Medical Association’s online monthly journal JAMA Network Open. Researchers found that 42% admitted either not adhering to or misrepresenting to others how they were adhering to coronavirus pandemic safety protocols.
The most commonly endorsed reasons included “wanting life to feel normal and wanting to exercise personal freedom,” according to the research.
When broken down, the results get even scarier.
Among respondents who admitted to misleading others, about 25% said they told someone that they were taking more coronavirus preventative measures than they actually were.
Another 22% admitted to breaking Covid-19 quarantine rules; 21% said they avoided getting tested for the virus when they thought they might have the virus; and 20% said they lied about knowing they had the virus when being screened to enter a medical practice.
The perhaps only good news is that 33% more of those surveyed admitted to saying they were not vaccinated when they were, versus those who said they were vaccinated when in fact they were not.
In other news we cover today, cases are surging in England, new boosters are generating a strong response against BA.4 and BA.5, and a rise in complaints about candles could indicate a new Covid wave.
UNITED STATES
The United States on Thursday extended the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic’s status as a public health emergency for an additional 90 days. The move preserves measures such as high payments to hospitals and expanded Medicaid coverage.
Pfizer-BioNTech reported that their new bivalent Covid vaccine generate a strong immune response against both the BA.4 and BA.5 sublineages of the omicron variant.
Finally, a rise in poor reviews for Yankee Candles could mean that a rise in Covid cases is coming, a physician, Dr. Jorge Caballero, said in social media. A rise in complaints according to several academic circles could correlate not to a manufacturing defect but to a loss of smell due to cases of SARS-CoV-2.
GLOBAL
In England, the rate of new Covid infections surged by a third in a single week. Office for National Statistics statisticians reported that over than 1.5 million people in England were infected with Covid on any given day in the week up to October 3.
In addition, a new study links coronavirus lockdowns to a birth rate drop in Europe. The researchers reported that the month of January in 2021 saw a 14% drop in the birth rate when compared to prior years.
Fujifilm, a Japanese conglomerate, said it was discontinuing its Covid antiviral drug Avigan. Once hailed as a silver bullet, studies show that it wasn’t effective in combating SARS-CoV-2.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, October 14.
As of Friday morning, the world has recorded 629.1 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.6 million cases, and 6.6 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 608.2 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.4 million.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Friday is 14,359,029, an increase of 187,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 14,320,407, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 39,622, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 75,172 new coronavirus infections on Friday for the previous day, compared to 74,018 on Thursday, 50,629 on Wednesday, 23,823 on Tuesday, and 6,850 on Monday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 38,423. 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 38,530, a 19% 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 377, a decrease of 7% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 26,655, a 7% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Friday, recorded 98.8 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.09 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.6 million, and a reported death toll of 528,857.
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 36.1 million, although Brazil has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 687,120, and has recorded 34.8 million cases, placing it in the number four slot.
Germany is in the number five slot with 34.5 million cases.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 25.1 million cases, the United Kingdom, with 23.8 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with over 22.9 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with 21.7 million, and Russia, with 21.8 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Thursday, over 265.1 million people in the United States – or 79.9% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 68.1%, or 226.2 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 627.8 million. Breaking this down further, 90.8% of the population over the age of 18 – or 234.5 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 77.9% of the same group – or 201.1 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 52.1% of that population, or 104.8 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 Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 68.3% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Friday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 12.83 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 3.58 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)
