Written by Steven Hansen

The U.S. new cases 7-day rolling average are 55.8 % HIGHER than the 7-day rolling average one week ago and U.S. deaths due to coronavirus are now 12.3 % LOWER than the rolling average one week ago. Today’s posts include:

• U.S. Coronavirus New Cases are 60,838
• U.S. Coronavirus deaths are at 397
• Illinois reporting six times more gamma variant cases than delta
• Mitch McConnell warns there could be LOCKDOWNS if more Americans don’t get vaccinated as the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc
• Existing drug masitinib is shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus
• New Jersey officials say nearly 50 fully vaccinated residents have died from COVID-19
• Joe Biden Spread Misinformation on COVID Vaccines
• Survey of Practicing Physicians Shows Support for Mass Injections ‘Far From Unanimous’
• Southern California cities rebel against new mask mandate
• Covid is a terrible health crisis. It’s not the country’s only health crisis
• Countries’ Zero COVID Policies Have Failed As The Virus Spreads
• Study in France suggests high efficacy of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern
• Death rates soar in Southeast Asia as virus wave spreads
• Plus many more headlines …

​

include($_SERVER[‘DOCUMENT_ROOT’].’/pages/coronavirus1.htm’); ?>

Hospitalizations Are The Only Accurate Gauge

Hospitalizations historically appear to be little affected by weekends or holidays. The hospitalization growth rate trend continues to improve.

source: https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/covidnet/COVID19_3.html

Historically, hospitalization growth follows new case growth by one to two weeks.

As an analyst, I use the rate of growth to determine the trend. But, the size of the pandemic is growing in terms of real numbers – and if the rate of growth does not become negative – the pandemic will overwhelm all resources.

The graph below shows the rate of growth relative to the growth a week earlier updated through today [note that negative numbers mean the rolling averages are LOWER than the rolling averages one week ago]. As one can see, the rate of growth for new cases peaked in early December 2020 for Thanksgiving, and early January 2021 for end-of-year holidays – and it now shows that the coronavirus effect is improving.

In the scheme of things, new cases decline first, followed by hospitalizations, and then deaths. The potential fourth wave did not materialize likely due to immunizations.

Coronavirus and Recovery News You May Have Missed

SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted by cats – New-Medical

Researchers in The Netherlands have warned that domestic cats may play a role in the transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

… Data collated from these studies indicated that the SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number (R0) among the animals was significantly higher than 1, suggesting that cats may well play a role in the transmission and maintenance of the virus.

However, questions regarding the risk of human to-cat and cat-to-human transmission remain to be addressed, say the researchers.

“Further data on household transmission and data on virus levels in both the environment around infected cats and their exhaled air could be a step towards assessing these risks,” they write.

A pre-print version of the research paper is available on the bioRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

Death rates soar in Southeast Asia as virus wave spreads – AP

Indonesia has converted nearly its entire oxygen production to medical use just to meet the demand from COVID-19 patients struggling to breathe. Overflowing hospitals in Malaysia had to resort to treating patients on the floor. And in Myanmar’s largest city, graveyard workers have been laboring day and night to keep up with the grim demand for new cremations and burials.

Images of bodies burning in open-air pyres during the peak of the pandemic in India horrified the world in May, but in the last two weeks the three Southeast Asian nations have now all surpassed India’s peak per capita death rate as a new coronavirus wave, fueled by the virulent delta variant, tightens its grip on the region.

The deaths have followed record numbers of new cases being reported in countries across the region which have left health care systems struggling to cope and governments scrambling to implement new restrictions to try to slow the spread.

Covid is a terrible health crisis. It’s not the country’s only health crisis. – New York Times

Covid-19 has caused the largest decline in U.S. life expectancy since World War II, the federal government reported yesterday. But Covid is not the only reason that life expectancy in this country fell last year to its lowest level in almost two decades.

Even before the pandemic, the U.S. was mired in an alarming period of rising mortality. It had no modern precedent: During the second half of the 2010s, life expectancy fell on a sustained basis for the first time since the fighting of World War II killed several hundred thousand Americans.

By The New York Times | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Deaths of despair

It’s hard to imagine a more alarming sign of a society’s well-being than an inability to keep its citizens alive. While some of the reasons are mysterious, others are fairly clear. American society has become far more unequal than it used to be, and the recent increases in mortality are concentrated among working-class Americans, especially those without a four-year college degree.

For many, daily life lacks the structure, status and meaning that it once had, as the Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have explained. Many people feel less of a connection to an employer, a labor union, a church or community groups. They are less likely to be married. They are more likely to endure chronic pain and to report being unhappy.

These trends have led to a surge of “deaths of despair” (a phrase that Case and Deaton coined), from drugs, alcohol and suicide. Other health problems, including diabetes and strokes, have also surged among the working class. Notably, the class gaps in life expectancy seem to be starker in the U.S. than in most other rich countries.

By The New York Times | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Covid, of course, has aggravated the country’s health inequalities. Working-class Americans were more likely to contract severe versions of Covid last year, for a mix of reasons. Many could not work from home. Others received lower-quality medical care after getting sick.

Illinois reporting six times more gamma variant cases than delta: report – The Hill

Illinois is reporting six times as many gamma variant cases of the coronavirus than delta variant ones, according to an analysis done by Chicago’s local CBS News affiliate.

There have been more than 10,000 variant COVID-19 cases recorded so far by the Illinois Department of Public Health as of Monday, according to the outlet, with the gamma variant making up more than 2,600 of them compared to only 403 for the delta, which has been been wreaking havoc across the nation.

“The Delta variant that we are hearing so much about doesn’t seem to be making, as of yet, as much inroads into Chicago as we would’ve otherwise expected,” Stefan Green, director of the Genomics and Microbiome Facility at Rush University Medical Center, told the CBS station.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Tuesday that the delta variant made up 83 percent of all current COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

It is unclear why Illinois is seeing more of an uptick in the gamma variant.

Mitch McConnell warns there could be LOCKDOWNS if more Americans don’t get vaccinated as the Delta variant continues to wreak havoc – Daily Mail

• McConnell made the comments to reporters on Tuesday as COVID cases surge
• While he did not outright threaten health restrictions, McConnell hinted at ‘a situation in the fall that we don’t yearn for’ unless more people get the shot
• At 79 years old, the Republican leader is squarely within the ‘high-risk’ category
• McConnell’s plea for Americans to be inoculated comes as the new Delta variant ravages the country and accounts for more than 80% of new infections
• The majority of Americans hospitalized with COVID now are unvaccinated

‘Zero COVID’ Catastrophe: Participating Nations See New Records Across The Board – ZeroHedge

Zero Covid, the idea that heavy-handed government edicts and population controls can permanently eliminate a coronavirus from a country, is now failing spectacularly everywhere it is being tried.

You might not read about it in western corporate press agencies, but Zero Covid nations are seeing explosions in Covid-19 cases across the board. The widely praised “success story” countries that followed the radical ideology that is Zero Covid have not only failed to contain a virus, but are now witnessing the uncontrolled spread of that virus in their population centers. The governments committed to this pseudoscientific, totalitarian adventure are scrambling for options, and responding by locking down their nations and further violating the rights of their citizens. The lid has flown off the Zero Covid pressure cooker, revealing the shortcomings of such a reckless ideological endeavor.

Let’s take a look at how “Zero Covid” nations are holding up:

• Australia is arguably the most dedicated large nation to a Zero Covid strategy. The country has been closed off from the vast majority of the world since the beginning of COVID Mania. Even many Australian citizens have been unable to enter or leave the country.
• Labeled a Zero Covid “success story” by the corporate press for its ultra stringent policies, cases are now exploding in Vietnam.
• Seoul set up one of the most intrusive Covid surveillance regimes in the world. Applauded by authoritarians as a country that had its priorities in order, South Korea was supposedly the model “contact tracing” nation. Today, South Korea is seeing record numbers across the board.
• Once a Zero Covid nation in good standing with the radical ideologue “public health experts,” the government in Singapore wised up and decided last month to drop the idea of forever eliminating a minimally threatening endemic virus.
• China is lying about its COVID numbers and just about everything else. The Chinese Communist Party claims to be a Zero Covid participant, but in reality, Beijing has been fooling the world about mitigation and suppression “successes” since day one of Covid Mania.
• Thailand, a widely praised “success story” for its strict lockdowns and other draconian policies in pursuit of Zero Covid, is setting its own Covid case records.
• New Zealand, which has been in a self siege since the beginning of 2020, remains completely committed to its Zero Covid elimination strategy. Like Australia, the country has set up quarantine camps for people who have been granted access to the nation. Due to isolation-related Covid “immunity debt,” the country is seeing skyrocketing hospitalizations among children, who are not threatened by Covid-19.

Summary: Every country that has embraced the radical notion of Zero Covid has ended up failing to contain a virus and/or failing to accept that the costs of attempting to contain a virus have been exponentially worse than the benefits of containing the virus. The promised “cures” have been infinitely worse than the disease. There are no longer any “success stories” involving nations using tyrannical means in an attempt to stop a virus. Zero Covid, as any rational person could have predicted a long time ago, has failed in spectacular fashion.

Southern California cities rebel against new mask mandate, hinting at delta variant drama to come – Washington Post

Los Angeles County’s new mask mandate is infuriating officials in the sprawling region, leading to angry denunciations as some irate local leaders demand resignations and threaten to cut ties and form their own public health departments.

“The county cannot handle our current situation,” said Councilman Tony Wu of West Covina, a town of about 110,000 in the eastern part of the county. “We are absolutely not going to enforce nothing about this BS.”

The municipal mess reflects the growing national tension over how to respond to the coronavirus‘s new delta variant, which has led to a sizable rebound in cases and caught many government officials and business leaders by surprise. It is reviving tensions about vaccination levels and mask rules at a moment when many Americans had thought the virus was behind them.

This particular uproar underscores the volatile politics around the pandemic even in liberal Southern California, where patience has worn out in some quarters with new demands from health officials. Barely a month after state officials lifted nearly all pandemic restrictions — and even as the White House continues to insist that vaccinated people need not wear masks — the nation’s largest county clamped back down this past weekend, announcing a new requirement for everyone to wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status.

The backlash was immediate. While dominated by the city of Los Angeles itself, L.A. County is home to around 10 million residents spread across 88 distinct cities separated by hundreds of miles. And in some of these places, local officials have had it.

“We have had enough of these policies! We demand that you stop this one-size-fits-all approach to health and health outcomes,” elected officials from a half-dozen towns including El Segundo, Torrance and Manhattan Beach wrote this week in a letter to their local county supervisor. “We implore you to modify this recent order, engage with us, and set a policy that better reflects the unique context of our area.”

Survey of Practicing Physicians Shows Support for Mass Injections ‘Far From Unanimous’: Medical Association – The Epoch Times

An internet survey by a non-partisan physicians’ association found that most respondents have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or plan to get the shot.

In the June 16 online survey by the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) in Tuscon, Arizona, nearly 60 percent of over 700 both retired and practicing physicians said they were not fully vaccinated and would decline the shots based on their assessment of risk.

“This contrasts with the claim by the American Medical Association that 96 percent of practicing physicians are fully vaccinated. This was based on 300 respondents,” the AAPS stated in a press release.

While neither survey represents a random sample of all U.S. physicians, the AAPS survey shows that doctor support for the mass injection campaign “is far from unanimous.”

“It is wrong to call a person who declines a shot an ‘anti-vaxxer,'” AAPS Executive Director Jane Orient said in a statement. “Virtually no physicians are ‘anti-antibiotics’ or ‘anti-surgery,’ whereas all are opposed to treatments that they think are unnecessary, more likely to cause harm than to benefit an individual patient, or inadequately tested.”

The survey also showed that 58 percent of the practicing physicians who responded were aware of patients suffering a “significant adverse reaction” after receiving a COVID vaccine.

Wage pressures vary widely across the globe – The Conference Board

New research from The Conference Board reveals that strong wage pressures recently seen in the United States are not being observed in many other economies.

According to the Wage Pressure Index, a new metric developed by researchers at The Conference Board, wage pressures vary widely around the world. These pressures are especially weak in Southern Europe, France, and Japan, mostly due to weak economic growth in 2020 and slow estimated productivity growth in 2021. A wider gap between the unemployment rate and the natural rate of unemployment (i.e., more unemployed workers compared to periods of labor market tightness) will also keep wage growth muted in these nations.

However, wage pressures may intensify over the next few years as labor shortages reappear due to the rapidly aging workforce and declining unemployment rates in many mature economies. This is especially true in Central and Eastern Europe. In the US, strong wage growth is already evident, especially in blue-collar and manual services jobs.

New Jersey officials say nearly 50 fully vaccinated residents have died from COVID-19 – The Hill

New Jersey health officials say that almost 50 fully vaccinated people have died from COVID-19, according to data through July 12, NJ Advance Media reported on Wednesday.

Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health, told the news outlet that all 49 people who died were over 50 years old. Thirty were over 80 years old, 13 people were between 65 and 79 years old, and six were between 50 and 64 years old.

Leusner also said many of the people who died had preexisting conditions. Seventeen people had cardiovascular disease, nine had cancer or other conditions that compromised their immune systems and seven had diabetes, the news outlet reported. Others had chronic conditions in the lungs, kidney and liver.

… In mid-June, New Jersey reported that 4.7 million people — or 70 percent of the state’s adult population — were fully vaccinated, hitting the goal about two weeks earlier than expected, ABC 7 New York reported. About 5.1 million people are fully vaccinated in the state.

According to data from John Hopkins University, the state has reported deaths in the single digits since early June.

An Urgent Message from Professor Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi – BitChute

[editor’s note: this video may be out in left field and is not logical to me.]

Prof. Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi MD explains recent findings that fundamentally change the Covid narrative. We already have antibody memory immunity to COVID-19, rendering 99% of us immune. This not only makes vaccination unnecessary, but re-vaccination potentially life threatening.

Existing drug is shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 virus – EurekAlert

A new University of Chicago study has found that the drug masitinib may be effective in treating COVID-19.

The drug, which has undergone several clinical trials for human conditions but has not yet received approval to treat humans, inhibited the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in human cell cultures and in a mouse model, leading to much lower viral loads.

Researchers at UChicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), working with collaborators at Argonne National Laboratory and around the world, also found that the drug could be effective against many types of coronaviruses and picornaviruses. Because of the way it inhibits replication, it has also been shown to remain effective in the face of COVID-19 variants.

“Inhibitors of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, like masitinib, could be a new potential way to treat COVID patients, especially in early stages of the disease,” said Prof. Savas Tay, who led the research. “COVID-19 will likely be with us for many years, and novel coronaviruses will continue to arise. Finding existing drugs that have antiviral properties can be an essential part of treating these diseases.”

The results were published July 20 in Science.

Joe Biden Spread Misinformation on COVID Vaccines – Newsweek

President Joe Biden appeared at a CNN town hall in Cincinnati, Ohio on 21 July, where he discussed topics including the COVID pandemic and the uptake of vaccinations against the disease.

At the town hall, CNN presenter Don Lemon asked the president whether he believes COVID is in retreat.

The president said there is a pandemic for those who are not vaccinated against COVID. He went on to claim: “If you’re vaccinated, you’re not going to be hospitalized, you’re not going to be in an ICU unit, and you are not going to die.”

… [Fact Check} – Joe Biden spread misinformation about COVID vaccines at a CNN town hall on Wednesday.

It is not true that people vaccinated against COVID will not get the disease, be hospitalized, end up in an ICU, or die because of it.

As evidenced by CDC data, these occurrences are rare.

Study in France suggests high efficacy of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern – News-Medical

A recent history of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (2 – 6 months) was found to be 83% – 88% protective against all tested viral variants. Similarly, a relatively distant history of SARS-CoV-2 infection (more than 6 months) was found to be 74% – 84% protective against all viral variants

The protective efficacy of mRNA vaccines 7 days after the 2nd dose was found to be 88% against the original SARS-CoV-2, 86% against the B.1.1.7 variant, and 77% against the B.1.351/P1 variants.

China rebuffs WHO’s terms for further COVID-19 origins study – AP

China cannot accept the World Health Organization’s plan for the second phase of a study into the origins of COVID-19, a senior Chinese health official said Thursday.

Zeng Yixin, the vice minister of the National Health Commission, said he was “rather taken aback” that the plan includes further investigation of the theory that the virus might have leaked from a Chinese lab.

He dismissed the lab leak idea as a rumor that runs counter to common sense and science.

“It is impossible for us to accept such an origin-tracing plan,” he said at a news conference called to address the COVID-19 origins issue.

The search for where the virus came from has become a diplomatic issue that has fueled China’s deteriorating relations with the U.S. and many American allies. The U.S. and others say that China has not been transparent about what happened in the early days of the pandemic. China accuses critics of seeking to blame it for the pandemic and politicizing an issue that should be left to scientists.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, acknowledged last week that there had been a “premature push” after the first phase of the study to rule out the theory that the virus might have escaped from a Chinese government lab in Wuhan, the city where the disease was first detected in late 2019.

The following are foreign headlines with hyperlinks to the posts

By Rejecting a Draft Nuclear Deal, Iran Tests the U.S.’s Limits. With a new hard-line president taking office next month, Tehran’s demands for broad sanctions relief from Washington will likely only grow.

Man with coronavirus disguises as wife on Indonesian flight. An Indonesian man with the coronavirus has boarded a domestic flight disguised as his wife, wearing a niqab covering his face and carrying fake IDs

The U.S. women’s soccer team, favored to win gold, lost its first match, to Sweden, 3-0. The Americans play New Zealand on Saturday. The U.S. softball team beat Canada, 1-0.

Three Czech Olympians test positive for COVID-19

Olympic Athlete Claims Team Gets 10 Minutes to Eat Amid COVID Outbreaks. “It makes mealtime conversations pretty difficult…but it keeps us safe,” the star athlete acknowledged.

Guinea Becomes Second Country To Pull Team From Olympics for COVID Concerns. The announcement made Guinea the second country to pull out of the Olympics due to COVID. North Korea decided to not participate in the Games in early April.

U.S., Germany strike a deal to allow completion of controversial Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Russia Unveils “Checkmate”: Its Latest, 5th Generation Stealth Fighter

Death toll in China floods climbs to 33 as rains spread and more cities call for help

Biden administration to impose sanctions on Cuban officials following attacks on protesters

Why Did China Buy an Airstrip in Texas?

Japan is the first country to fully approve casirivimab/imdevimab, the monoclonal antibody cocktail for mild to moderate COVID-19, Regeneron announced.

Study in France suggests high efficacy of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

England’s Contact-Tracing App Hinders Boris Johnson’s Plan to Fully Reopen. In what has been dubbed by local media as a “pingdemic,” the contact-tracing app alerted 618,903 people in England and Wales this week alone to self isolate.

The following additional national and state headlines with hyperlinks to the posts

LA-LB terminals cast wary eye on intermodal rail cutbacks. Terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach expect UP and BNSF restrictions on eastbound intermodal services to Chicago will further stress an inland supply chain that is already stretched thin.

Record trans-Pacific rates pricing out more shippers: experts. US retail inventories as a percent of sales sit at an all-time low, but many importers and shippers are getting priced out of restocking because of high ocean freight rates.

Sen. Paul Sending Criminal Referral of Fauci to Department of Justice

Author of Retracted Study on Harm of Mask-Wearing by Children Says Removal Was ‘Political’

Sickle Cell Disease Tied to COVID-19 Mortality, Hospitalizations

Some U.S. health care workers have refused to get vaccinated. More hospitals are requiring them to.

“I’m sorry, but it’s too late”: A doctor in Alabama spoke to AL.com about the regrets of unvaccinated patients.

Four major drug companies reached a $26 billion deal with states to drop thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic.

Lumber Prices are Crashing: What That Means for Home Depot.

McConnell says GOP will not vote to raise debt ceiling, setting up clash in Congress.

Here’s Why America’s Labor-Shortage Will Drive Inflation Higher

Inflation data says hotel prices are skyrocketing

Democrat Texas state Rep. Donna Howard, who appeared in the now infamous photo of maskless Dem lawmakers on a private jet, faced ridicule after she called for “universal mask-wearing.”

In America’s least air-conditioned cities, brutal heat changes some people’s minds

During a town hall in Ohio, President Joe Biden predicted that a COVID-19 vaccine would gain full FDA approval by September or October.

Average annual opioid doses prescribed to Black patients on Medicare were 36% lower than white patients treated at the same hospitals, a national sample of U.S. health systems found.

Breast feeding within the first few days of a newborn’s life was linked with lower blood pressure at 3 years.

With over 90 million people in the U.S. living in counties with surging COVID-19, experts say it might be time to follow Los Angeles County’s lead and mask up; White House officials are debating whether to promote masks again as well.

RWJBarnabas, a large New Jersey healthcare system, fired six senior staffers for failing to get vaccinated against COVID-19; this follows a growing trend of hospitals mandating vaccination for healthcare workers.

NFL warns that teams with COVID-19 outbreaks could forfeit games

New Orleans ‘strongly recommends’ masks as COVID-19 cases rise

White House announces new funds for COVID-19 testing and vaccination amid delta surge

Philadelphia Health Officials Call for Masks in Public Amid Delta Variant

U.S. States With High COVID Cases Seeing Vaccination Rate Increase. The spread of the highly contagious delta variant accounts for an estimated 83 percent of all COVID-19 cases across the country.

When Vaccinated People Should Get COVID-19 Test Amid Breakthrough Cases. Given the effectiveness of the vaccine against current variants, vaccinated individuals really only need to be tested ahead of certain travel or if they have symptoms.

Florida Hospital Canceling Elective Surgeries Amid COVID Surge

CDC group weighs Covid booster shots for immunocompromised people at risk of breakthrough infections

Dr. Scott Gottlieb says the Covid delta spike may peak sooner than many believe

Massive internet outage briefly takes down corporate sites, including FedEx, Delta and McDonald’s

Today’s Posts On Econintersect Showing Impact Of The Pandemic and Recovery With Hyperlinks

June 2021 Headline Existing Home Sales Expand

June 2021 Leading Economic Index Increased Again

July 2021 Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Increased Further

17 July 2021 New York Fed Weekly Economic Index (WEI): Index Marginally Improves

June 2021 CFNAI Super Index Moving Average Index Slows

17 July 2021 Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Modestly Worsened

Necessary Or Not, Covid Booster Shots Are Probably On The Horizon

include(“/home/aleta/public_html/files/ad_openx.htm”); ?>

Permanent link to most recent post on this topic