Monthly Archives: September 2021

Illinois health officials on Friday reported 30,319 new COVID-19 cases in the past week, along with 178 additional deaths and over 185,000 new vaccine doses administered as the state continues to see a surge fueled by the delta variant.

In all, 1,538,324 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the state since the pandemic began, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Public Health. The additional deaths reported this week bring the state to 24,067 confirmed COVID fatalities.

The state has administered 609,585 tests since last Friday, officials said, bringing the total to more than 29.1 million tests conducted during the pandemic.

The states seven-day positivity rate on all tests dropped to 5% from 5.7% last week, which was up from 6.1% the week before, officials said. The rolling average seven-day positivity rate for cases as a percentage of total tests rose to 5.4% from 5.2% the week before, which was down slightly from 5.3% two weeks prior.

Over the past seven days, a total of 185,014doses of the coronavirus vaccine have been administered to Illinois residents - up from around 168,000 the week before and 235,000 two weeks prior. The latest figures brought the states average up to 26,431 daily vaccination doses over the last week, per IDPH data.

More than 14 million vaccine doses have been administered in Illinois since vaccinations began in December. More than 61% of adult residents in the state are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with more than 78% receiving at least one dose.

As of midnight Thursday, 2,286 patients were hospitalized due to COVID in the state. Of those patients, 551 are in ICU beds, and 302 are on ventilators. All metrics are a reported increase since last Friday.

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Coronavirus in Illinois: 30,319 New COVID Cases, 178 Deaths, 185K Vaccinations in the Past Week - NBC Chicago

When the novel coronavirus burst into the world, and 2020 was still young and full of hope, many imagined the pandemic would last for just a few weeks of "lockdown." Later it became: Okay, just one more year of this.

Then the vaccines came out, and even health experts were finally starting to talk about population-levelimmunity, relaxing restrictions and living it up like it was 19. Cases were dropping, at least in the United States, and it looked like the end times might soon be at an end.

For the first time, even as we were loosening restrictions, and the Red Sox came back and etc., cases continued to drop. I was like, This is categorically new epidemiology. This is vaccine, says Dr. Benjamin Linas, an epidemiologist at Boston University. We had that moment of hope that perhaps we could generate complete herd immunity. I had adjusted to the idea of like, This is awesome.

Turns out things are not awesome. With the surge of delta variant infections around the world and the revelation that the strain can cause fully vaccinated people to experience infections and transmit the virus, Linas and other health scientists say its time to recalibrate our expectations once again. The coronavirus might very well be around forever, and Linas says its high time we accept that.

I dont think were ever going to eradicate or even eliminate SARS-CoV-2 [or the novel coronavirus], Linas says.

That leaves public health at a crossroads. If COVID-19 cases cannot be eliminated, and the window for herd immunity has passed, then health officials need new goalposts. Linas says that so far, they haven't been well defined.

"Im not sure that I can do the winter the way I did last winter. I think its actually starting to tear apart the fabric of our society.

If the goal is to stop transmission, then everyone should follow 2020-style COVID restrictions, since delta can spread among vaccinated people as well as unvaccinated people. Linas says thatmay have the benefit of preventing new, even more dangerous variants from arising, but it also comes with costs.

The deprivation of regular social interactions, time with family, travel and other activities has already taken a toll over the last year and then some. Linas says some restrictions like public indoor mask mandates are needed for now, but the idea of carrying them on in private is depressing.

I dont know how you feel, but I dont think I can do it again this year. Im not sure that I can do the winter the way I did last winter, Linas says. I think its actually starting to tear apart the fabric of our society.

There is another option, Linas says. Vaccinated people could stop trying so hard to avoid coronavirus exposure at all costs. Its becoming increasingly clear that even with the delta variant, vaccinated individuals are much less likely to become ill, end up in an intensive care unit or die. According to data from North Carolina public health officials, vaccinated individuals are four times less likely to get COVID-19, and 15 times less likely to die of it.

We might need to distinguish the difference between COVID-19, the disease, and SARS-CoV-2, the virus," he says. "With the vaccine, it might be possible to eliminate COVID-19 disease even if we cant stop all the transmission.

That will take a serious mental adjustment. Linus says accepting more coronavirus risk, even as a fully vaccinated person, still feels like blasphemy. But if the consequences of getting COVID-19 are much less severe for vaccinated people, then it may be time to start getting more comfortable with a little more risk.

This might become easier in a future when the coronavirus is still present, but its largely lost its teeth. At some point, every adult will have either gotten a COVID vaccine or survived the disease so that most future infections result in only mild illness, says Dr. Shira Doron, a hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center. Then, she thinks, COVID will slowly fade into the background and be one of those viruses that just circulate.

"People will mostly get mild COVID and wont think about it too much.

If you think down the road, and I dont know how long from now this is, every adult [will] have some immunity to COVID," she says. "People will mostly get mild COVID and wont think about it too much.

In rare cases, people will still get severe COVID and end up in the hospital, Doron says, but this was already happening with other viruses such as the common cold.

Here's a possible wrinkle: The pandemic may have changed our attitudes about disease transmission, Doron says. Just because we were fine with the flu, RSV and common colds dancing about each winter, that doesn't mean we should have been.

With the coronavirus in the seasonal mix, Doron says it's possible we're in for a perpetual pandemic, one that resumes each winter even if the virus ceases to be a fatal risk for most people.

Doron says well reach a new stage in the pandemic when case numbers are no longer coupled with rising hospitalizations and deaths. Were definitely not at a point where restrictions can go away just yet, Doron says.

The best way to get there is by vaccinating everyone who currently lacks immunity to the coronavirus. In that way, the short-term goal hasnt changed, says Dr. Sabrina Assoumou, an infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center.

Remember, we dont vaccinate for the common cold, she says. The goal is to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death. And right now, were very fortunate that in the U.S. we have vaccines that provide a high level of protection.

Its also possible we might never see a future where COVID-19 fades slowly away. Spikes continue to happen and, Doron adds, delta pulled the rug out from under us. If vaccination doesnt happen quickly enough, its still possible a new variant might emerge that causes more disease.

No one has any idea how to predict what the future looks like in waves of illness, she says. "So we just don't know."

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The Coronavirus May Never Go Away. But This Perpetual Pandemic Could Still Fizzle Out - WBUR

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With at least 13,790 COVID-19 patients, most of them unvaccinated, hospitalized in Texas on Thursday, the state marked a week hovering at just below the record set in January for hospitalizations during the pandemic, according to numbers released by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The states previous pandemic peak of 14,218 hospitalized COVID-19 patients was reported Jan. 11 during the deadliest wave of infections the state had seen since the virus was first reported in Texas in March 2020.

During the current summer surge, the largest number of COVID-19 patients in Texas hospitals has been 13,932 on Aug. 25. But with just a couple hundred fewer patients statewide than the record and a much more exhausted and depleted workforce than they had over the winter hospitals have been operating at or above capacity for weeks.

The surge has put unprecedented pressure on the states health care system as the delta variant spreads largely uncontrolled at a rate up to eight times faster than previous versions of the virus. Medical professionals say the situation could have been prevented with wider acceptance of the vaccine.

In recent weeks, the state has already seen a record number of hospitals reporting that they had run out of staffed ICU beds available for new patients. Particular pressure is being felt by large metropolitan systems that have put elective surgeries on hold and report having to turn away ambulances due to overflowing emergency and intensive care departments.

Much of the problem, hospital officials say, is a severe shortage of nurses and other staff to take care of patients after large numbers of health workers quit or retired due to COVID-related during the pandemic. Health care workers who remain are expensive and in high demand.

During the winter surge, state health and emergency management leaders sent tens of thousands of relief nurses from across the state and nation to relieve the pressure on overwhelmed hospitals.

After vaccinations were made widely available in the spring and hospitalizations dropped, the state-supported nurse program ended in May. But vaccinations began to slow around that time as well, when just about a quarter of Texans had gotten injections.

That opened the door for the delta variant to spread more quickly starting around June; hospitalizations started surging later that month.

Experts say the best way to flatten the curve is to ramp up social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing, proven methods for stopping COVID-19's spread, while the state works to get more of Texas 29 million residents vaccinated.

But Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has stood fast against any state or local mandates that proponents say would push Texas toward more vaccinations and slower community spread.

A strong opponent of lockdowns in the wake of widespread Republican criticism of his pandemic-era rules last summer, Abbott dropped statewide business capacity restrictions and mask mandates in March.

Through a series of executive orders and legislation, Abbott and Texas lawmakers also banned Texas businesses from requiring customers to show proof of vaccination, local governments and school districts from requiring masks and public sector employers from requiring their workers to be vaccinated.

Those bans remain in legal limbo as they move through the courts.

Last week, Abbott issued an executive order saying that his bans would remain in place even after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer's vaccine full approval for people ages 16 and up on Monday. Abbott's previous orders had applied only to vaccines that had only emergency use authorization.

Meanwhile, most Texas school districts have started classes almost entirely in person, many with mask requirements in place in defiance of Abbotts stance against them, in an effort to stop the quickening spread of the delta variant among Texas children.

Just under 48% of Texans have been fully vaccinated, which experts say protects them from serious illness, hospitalization and death.

Those who arent vaccinated constitute upward of 90% of the hospitalized patients, officials report. Cities, counties, universities and private companies are offering incentives for vaccinations, and the state has reported a small upswing in the number of daily shots being given in recent weeks.

But while that number begins to climb from its low point late July, officials are seeking to solve the hospital staffing problem.

So far, the state has paid to hire more than 8,000 contract health care workers for Texas hospitals that are under the most pressure, many of which have already seen admission rates close to or higher than they were seeing in January when they had more staff to take care of those patients.

The state-funded relief nurses have been arriving at hospitals for the last few weeks. Meanwhile, some counties are considering using or have already agreed to tap federal stimulus money to add more workers to further handle the crush of patients.

More Texas doctors are also turning to monoclonal antibody therapies for COVID-19 patients who qualify, saying that the treatment gives them a better chance of staying out of the hospital and could lower statewide hospitalization rates until more people become vaccinated.

Mandi Cai contributed to this report.

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COVID-19 hospitalizations in Texas level off just below the pandemic's winter peak - The Texas Tribune

A hiring sign gets displayed in a store window in New York City in August. Last month saw a sharp slowdown in hiring from previous months as the pandemic wears on and creates uncertainty. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

A hiring sign gets displayed in a store window in New York City in August. Last month saw a sharp slowdown in hiring from previous months as the pandemic wears on and creates uncertainty.

Hiring slowed sharply in August as a new surge in coronavirus infections slammed the brakes on the economic recovery.

U.S. employers added just 235,000 jobs last month, a sharp slowdown from the torrid pace of hiring in June and July.

"The labor market recovery has downshifted," said Nela Richardson, chief economist for the payroll processing company ADP. "The U.S. economy is facing increasing headwinds as the pandemic wears on and the delta variant creates uncertainty."

The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% in August from 5.4% in July.

Confirmed coronavirus infections have jumped nearly 20% in the last two weeks, while COVID-19 deaths have nearly doubled during that period. The worsening public health outlook threw a late-summer speed bump in the recovery, making people more cautious about traveling and eating out and reducing the need for workers.

Restaurants and bars cut 42,000 jobs in August after adding 253,000 in July.

Retailers cut 29,000 jobs last month.

Homebase, which makes scheduling software for small businesses, saw a notable decline in hours worked last month especially in the entertainment and hospitality industries.

"We are hearing anecdotally from our customers that absolutely it is a result of COVID," Homebase CEO John Waldmann said. "We are seeing similar trends in the data from what we saw last year and January of this year. It would be hard-pressed to say this is not COVID-related."

The slowdown in the Homebase data was particularly pronounced in the Southeast, where COVID-19 cases are especially high. New England, where case counts are lower, fared somewhat better.

The spike in new cases has also discouraged some people from returning to work. And it threatens to disrupt in-person schooling, which could make it harder for parents to hold down jobs.

"All of us who care about small businesses really wanted to be optimistic that a lot of the things keeping people from work were going to start to heal themselves into the fall," Waldmann said. "Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to be dealing with challenges here for a little bit longer."

The slowdown in hiring comes just as emergency unemployment benefits that Congress authorized earlier in the pandemic are about to expire. In mid-August, more than 12 million people were receiving some form of jobless aid. Most will receive their final payments next week.

Warehouses and delivery services added 53,000 jobs last month as the online retail business continues to expand.

Manufacturing is another bright spot in the economy, with new orders and output both accelerating in August. But factories continue to struggle to find enough parts and workers.

Factories added 37,000 jobs last month, up from 27,000 a month earlier.

"Companies want to hire more people," said Tim Fiore, who oversees a monthly survey of factory managers for the Institute for Supply Management. "There's no doubt that demand is calling for more people, and they can't get them."

Fiore said many factories are facing increased turnover as workers depart for higher wages elsewhere.

Wages have been rising, especially in restaurants and hotels. But prices have been climbing, too, eroding workers' buying power. Private sector wages in August were up 4.3% from a year ago. But they are not keeping pace with inflation, which was 5.4% in July matching the highest rate in nearly 13 years.

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U.S. Hiring Slows Sharply As Latest Coronavirus Surge Slams The Brakes On The Economy - NPR

MONTGOMERY Governor Kay Ivey on Friday reallocated $12.3 million of the Coronavirus Relief Fund to secure qualified, out-of-state, travel nurses to work in Alabama hospitals in a temporary capacity.

Im pleased to see more folks getting vaccinated, but we are still in the thick of COVID-19 and our hospitals are overwhelmed, Governor Ivey said. In consideration of the current surge of the virus and the strain on our dedicated healthcare professionals, I have directed the $12.3 million of CARES Act funding be reallocated to recruit more trained staff to our nursing corps. Until our vaccination rates rise and our COVID-19 hospitalization rates fall, we will need the extra support these nurses provide.

In consultation with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris designated the nursing shortage Alabamas most urgent need. ADPH will work with the Alabama Hospital Association to develop a process to recruit these travel nurses.

ADPH would like to express its gratitude to Governor Ivey and State Finance Director Poole for providing this support to Alabama hospitals, which are seeing unprecedented numbers of patients infected with Covid-19 Dr. Harris said. This funding comes at a crucial time and will make a tremendous difference in increasing the nursing workforce in our state.

The $12.3 million reallocation is from CARES Act funds that were previously obligated but not reimbursed among the various approved expenditures.

The Alabama Legislative Leadership, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon and Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed, also support Alabama hospitals thru the reallocation of CARES Act funding.

The on-going coronavirus pandemic has presented struggles for many across the state, but perhaps no group has faced as many challenges or stood taller than the frontline medical workers in hospitals, clinics, and physicians offices across the state, Speaker Mac McCutcheon said. Our nurses are forced to set aside concerns and worries about their own health as they tend to the patients who are fighting a highly-contagious virus that has already taken so many from us.It seems altogether fitting that Alabama is devoting a portion of its CARES Act dollars to a group that has demonstrated it cares the most the nurses who provide aid to the sick and injured in the most remote rural communities and the largest urban centers alike.

The coronavirus pandemic has created an unprecedented need for quality nurses at hospitals across our state. Alabamas nurses, working on the front lines to save lives and care for those struggling with this virus, have been nothing short of heroic throughout this pandemic, Sen. Reed said. I have heard from leaders across our state especially from those in harder hit areas that this is a critical, much-needed resource. I am glad that these relief dollars will go towards alleviating some of the stress put on our hospital system and provide hospitalized Alabamians with the care they need.

Alabama received approximately $1.9 billion of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) funding to respond to and mitigate COVID-19. Alabama Act 2020-199 designated:

$300 million to reimburse state agencies for expenses directly related to the coronavirus outbreak;

$250 million to reimburse counties and cities for coronavirus expenses;

$250 million to deliver health care and related services to residents;

$300 to support citizens, businesses, and non-profit and faith-based organizations impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

$53 million for remote work and public access expenses incurred by state government, including the Legislature.

$300 million for technology and infrastructure expenses related to remote learning;

$200 million for reimbursement of costs to the Department of Corrections incurred because of the outbreak;

$10 million to the reimbursement of costs to ensure access to courts during the pandemic;

$5 million to reimburse the State General Fund for supplemental appropriations to the Alabama Department of Public Health.

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Governor Ivey Announces Reallocation of $12.3 Million in CARES Act Funds for COVID-19 Nursing Shortage - Office of the Governor of Alabama - Governor...