AP -
July 6, 2021
John Rogers waited months after becoming eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. It was only after talking with friends that the 66-year-old retiree from rural Spencer County, Kentucky, was persuaded to get the shot. “They said, ‘You know, the vaccine may not be 100%, but if you get COVID, you’re in bad shape,’” Rogers said. … public health officials in places like Spencer County have shifted the emphasis away from mass vaccination clinics toward getting more information out in a more targeted way about the benefits of getting inoculated.
CNN -
July 6, 2021
After months of progress in the fight against Covid-19, cases are rising again as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads across the US. States with below-average vaccination rates have almost triple the rate of new Covid-19 cases compared to states with above-average vaccination rates, according to new data from Johns Hopkins University. As of Sunday, states with lower rates of vaccination reported an average of 6 new cases per 100,000 residents every day over the past week, according to Johns Hopkins.
HealthDay -
July 6, 2021
His team looked at 20 healthy people, average age 37, who ran on a treadmill to peak exhaustion while wearing an N95 mask, a cloth mask and no mask. None of the participants had any safety issues while working out in either type of mask, and monitors showed no abnormal heart rhythms or unsafe drops in oxygen. The main reason participants stopped running was due to mask discomfort, according to the study published online June 30 in JAMA Network Open.
AP -
July 2, 2021
The WHO said Thursday that any COVID-19 vaccines it has authorized for emergency use should be recognized by countries as they open up their borders to inoculated travelers ... In addition to vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna Inc., AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, the WHO has also given the green light to the two Chinese jabs, made by Sinovac and Sinopharm.
CNBC -
July 2, 2021
The counties in question are mostly located in the Southeast and Midwest and are most vulnerable to Covid infection, according to CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. The agency is already seeing increasing rates of disease in these counties due to further spread of the more transmissible delta variant, Walensky said.
CBS News -
July 2, 2021
When it comes to convincing more Americans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, giving them paid time off could go a long way toward getting the U.S. closer to the herd immunity that experts say is needed as variants of the deadly virus spread, new research shows. Roughly two-thirds of workers say their employer encourages vaccinations, but only half say they're being given paid time off to get the vaccine and recover from side effects.
USA Today -
July 2, 2021
Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts, free bagels at Panera Bread and now buy-one-get-one free Chipotle burritos. Chipotle Mexican Grill is the latest business to offer an incentive for getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The fast-casual chain said Wednesday it will offer free entrees July 6 from 3 p.m. to closing time at participating restaurants nationwide with the purchase of an entree.
TODAY -
July 2, 2021
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States rose 10% this week as the highly contagious delta variant gained further ground, the CDC said Thursday. The country's lagging vaccination rate coupled with the "hypertransmissible delta variant" could account for the increase, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House briefing. The variant, which was first detected in India, now accounts for a quarter of all new cases, and has been detected in all 50 states.
HealthDay -
July 2, 2021
The disease was the third leading cause of death for much of 2020, but became the leading cause of death in December 2020 and early 2021, reaching a peak of 3,136 deaths per day in January 2021 and far surpassing U.S. deaths from heart disease and cancer during that time. Heart disease is typically the number one cause of death (about 2,000 a day), while cancer claims about 1,600 lives a day, according to the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker.
Yahoo! Finance -
July 2, 2021
The U.S. economy added back jobs for a sixth straight month in June, with job growth picking up speed alongside the reopening economy.
AP -
July 2, 2021
The latest alarming coronavirus variant is exploiting low global vaccination rates and a rush to ease pandemic restrictions, adding new urgency to the drive to get more shots in arms and slow its supercharged spread. The vaccines most used in Western countries still appear to offer strong protection against the highly contagious delta variant, first identified in India and now spreading in more than 90 other countries.
Fox News -
July 1, 2021
Younger children could become eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine this fall, according to a top executive at Pfizer who noted plans to request emergency approval for use of its vaccine in kids aged 5 to 11 by September or October. … Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is currently authorized for use in individuals aged 12 and older.
Wall Street Journal -
July 1, 2021
People who became infected with Covid-19 after getting a messenger RNA vaccine carried less virus and had shorter cases than unvaccinated people who became infected, a study by government health researchers found. Sixteen people in the study who got infected, despite taking a Pfizer Inc. or Moderna Inc. vaccine, had on average 40% less virus in their nose … The vaccinated individuals also had a 66% lower risk of having detectable virus for more than one week, and they had a shorter duration of illness, with about two fewer days spent in bed, the study said.
HealthDay -
July 1, 2021
Released Wednesday, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) report shows 65% of adults polled have received at least one dose of the vaccine, up from 62% in May. But only 3% of those who haven't been vaccinated said they plan to do so as soon as they can. About 14% said they will definitely not get vaccinated.
CNN -
July 1, 2021
Researchers with the University of Pennsylvania found that people who received text messages about the annual flu vaccine were more likely to get the shot. … Their findings, published in May in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed the texts boosted flu vaccination rates by an average of about 5%. It wasn't just the reminder that did the trick. The messages that performed best were those telling the patient that a vaccine was "reserved" or "waiting" for them.
ABC News -
July 1, 2021
The state recorded 21 COVID-19 deaths that were "breakthrough cases," meaning patients who caught coronavirus 14 days or more after completing the vaccine series, out of 433 total deaths from March 1 to June 24. Such cases accounted for just 5% of deaths in that time frame, Wisconsin's Department of Health shared with ABC News.