The latest COVID-19 trend highlights the continuous threat of the coronavirus pandemic as more and more vaccinated people are dying of the disease, based on a new analysis of federal and state figures.
The apparent waning efficacy of coronavirus vaccines and increasingly contagious variants of the virus spreading to elderly and immunocompromised individuals have resulted in more deaths. This is particularly true among those who have taken at least one vaccine dose.
Latest COVID-19 Trend
A report noted that 58% of coronavirus deaths in August were among people who were either vaccinated or boosted against COVID-19. They also described a "troubling trend" over the rising number of deaths among vaccinated people in the past year.
In September 2021, 23% of coronavirus fatalities were found to be vaccinated individuals, and in January and February 2022, that number rose to 42%. The vice president of the non-profit organization Kaiser Family Foundation, Cynthia Cox, said that we are no longer fighting a pandemic of the unvaccinated, as per Fox News.
Top health officials in the United States have repeatedly urged American citizens to complete their primary vaccines and get booster shots to maximize their protection against COVID-19. During a Tuesday press briefing, White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha revealed the Biden administration's new "six-week sprint" campaign.
The program seeks to get Americans vaccinated before the holiday season. Jha added that the government will do everything it can to help families get updated with their vaccines in the next six weeks.
According to the Sacramento Bee, the concerns come as in California last year, data showed that the state was heading into a COVID-19 winter spike. The number of coronavirus cases began to plateau in late 2021 until the omicron variant caused a surge that holiday season. Health officials warn that despite the omicron bivalent vaccine and relatively low case rate, history could repeat itself.
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Coronavirus Deaths
The two worst surges in California during the entirety of the pandemic have each come around this time of year. Health officials warn that cold weather and winter holidays drive people to gather more frequently indoors, where the virus could easily spread.
In the state, the seven-day average is more than 3,500 cases, which equates to roughly 8.8 new cases for every 100,000 people. During this time last year, the case rate was found to be 11.2, based on available data.
The situation comes as the elderly are more at risk of succumbing to the disease, making up a large proportion of COVID-19 fatalities than ever before. Despite the total number of fatalities having gone down, the burden of mortality is shifting even more to people over the age of 64.
Furthermore, deaths in nursing homes are jumping back up, even as the coronavirus remains one of the top causes of death for all ages. COVID fatalities among people aged 65 and up more than doubled between April and July this year. The numbers represent a rise of 125%, based on a recent analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Scientific American reported.
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