This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 10th, 2021. The number of COVID deaths in the US has been horrific, but researchers are again saying those deaths have been vastly undercounted. Especially among Native, Hispanic and Black Americans. New data at the county level for 2020 and January through October of this year gives more detail than ever, including where someone died, what other causes of death were on the death certificate, an...
Dec 10, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 9th, 2021. Starting off with a little reassurance. Cases of Omicron have been reported by 21 countries in the EU. All of them have been either asymptomatic or mild with no deaths reported thus far. And the head of the CDC said out of the 42 known cases of Omicron in the U.S., only one has been hospitalized. In South Africa, reports are that even those who are landing in the ER are there for unre...
Dec 09, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 8th, 2021. The World Health Organization's office for Europe said kids 5 to 14 now account for the highest infection rates in the region. Overall cases and deaths have more than doubled in the last two months in the 53-country region, and the Omicron variant has been seen in 21 of those 53 countries. Early data out of South Africa suggests the Pfizer vaccine appears to be less effective against ...
Dec 08, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 7th, 2021. The Mayor of New York City announced that all private employers, big and small, must now require their workers to get vaccinated, the most sweeping mandate of any big city or state in the U.S. And you must get the injection, there is no testing alternative. That will add about 184,000 businesses, including mom and pops, to those placed under previous mandates, The European Union's dru...
Dec 07, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 6th, 2021. At least 12 U.S. states have now identified Omicron cases, but US health officials remain more concerned about Delta. It’s accounting for 99.9% of all new infections and those infections are going up. Results from studies to gauge the severity and transmissibility of Omicron are expected in a few weeks. Cases of Omicron remain mild but that is not true of Delta. In Brussels, Belgium, ...
Dec 06, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 3rd, 2021. As expected, the US administration rolled out some measures to fight COVID and the new Omicron variant into winter. All in-bound international passengers must test within 24 hours of departure, and masks will be required on all planes and public transportation through March 18. Also, businesses will be urged expedite worker vaccine and testing mandates, and Americans with private heal...
Dec 03, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 2nd, 2021. The UN Secretary-General has called the travel restrictions being placed by countries like the United States on one region like South Africa not only ineffective, but travel apartheid. The Omicron variant is already in 24 countries around the world, and as it turns out, it appears it didn’t originate in South Africa anyway. The Netherlands had cases a week before two flights arrived f...
Dec 02, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 1st, 2021. If you’re a non-US citizen coming into the US, prepare for some tougher testing requirements. And no, it doesn’t matter if you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated. Details should be rolled out tomorrow, but one policy being considered is requiring all air travelers to the U.S. be tested within one day of boarding their flight. Omicron continues to go worldwide. Japan confirmed its first cas...
Dec 01, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for November 30th, 2021. No matter how the new Omicron variant turns out, the World Health Organization would like to see more globalization when it comes to pandemics. Specifically, some sort of international accord to prevent, prepare, and respond to future outbreaks. A draft resolution stops short of calling for a treaty or legally binding instrument, but some are saying that’s what’s needed. Scientists a...
Nov 30, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for November 29th, 2021. A lot of fear is being generated around the new coronavirus variant, now called Omicron. So first some good news or at the very least potential good news. The chair of the South African Medical Association, who was one of the first to notice the new variant, said symptoms appear to mild and treatable at home. Fatigue, body aches and headaches, not even a loss of smell or taste and ox...
Nov 29, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 26th, 2021. The news we’ve been dreading, another variant of COVID-19 that is more mutated, more contagious, and more capable of evading the vaccines we have thus far. It’s called B.1.1.529 and it’s been identified in South Africa, Hong Kong, and Botswana. Senior scientists describe it as the worst variant they’d seen since the start of the pandemic with 32 mutations in the spike protein. That’s twice as many as in t...
Nov 26, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 25th, 2021. A human subject is testing a new experimental vaccine. And that human subject is Russian President Vladimir Putin. He’s already fully vaccinated, and he got his booster shot four days ago. But now he’s taken an experimental nasal version of the Sputnik V vaccine. He said so far, he hasn’t experienced any unpleasant effects after taking the nasal vaccine. The U.S. President will require essential, nonresid...
Nov 25, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 24th, 2021. The EU’s version of the FDA said Merck has put in its request to authorize its coronavirus antiviral, the first pill shown to treat COVID-19. They expect a decision to be made on molnupiravir within weeks. Earlier this month, Britain became the first country in the world to OK the drug. It is just speculation and guesswork, but the World Health Organization's Europe office says its projections show the co...
Nov 24, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 23rd, 2021. So you’re thinking about getting a booster shot. But you’re also thinking “how long will this one last?” Well the answer is, I know this is a shock, they don’t know. However, a small study out of Northwestern University is claiming neutralizing antibody levels against COVID decreased 25-fold after a booster compared to 10-fold nine months after getting the original doses. So they think the booster might l...
Nov 23, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 22nd, 2021. In many of our minds, the year 2020 stands out as the most difficult where COVID-19 is concerned. However, in the United States, the number of 2021 coronavirus deaths have surpassed the total for 2020. And that is with the nation’s government and public health leaders having access to vaccines. The number will most definitely rise in the remaining weeks of the year. But the country’s answer is, more vacci...
Nov 22, 2021•6 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 19th, 2021. It’s known for its festive Christmas markets but health officials in Germany say they could be heading for a terrible Christmas. New measures were approved yesterday to rein in record infections and some German states are considering mandatory vaccinations for some professional groups like medical staff. Again, it is good to be Pfizer. The U.S. government will pay the company $5.29 billion for 10 million ...
Nov 19, 2021•6 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 18th, 2021. The US administration was counting on making businesses their enforcers for vaccination mandates. But the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is suspending said enforcement as ordered by the courts. OSHA had originally given employers with more than 100 employees until January 4 to comply under threat of thousands of dollars in fines. U.S. taxpayers are paying drugmakers billions of dollars to s...
Nov 18, 2021•6 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 17th, 2021. Why is Europe struggling so much? We may have at least a partial answer. A new variant has been detected in several countries there that has some mutations scientists haven’t seen before. It’s called B.1.X and it’s been found in France, the UK, Switzerland, Scotland, and Italy. It’s not known yet if the mutation means it’s as or any more dangerous than Delta. Yesterday we told you that some states and cit...
Nov 17, 2021•6 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 16th, 2021. A couple of openings to tell you travelers about. India started letting fully vaccinated foreign tourists enter the country on regular commercial flights. Infections are falling and vaccinations rising there. Visitors haven’t been allowed in since March 2020. Or maybe Cambodia’s more to your liking. It reopened its borders to fully vaccinated travelers two weeks earlier than planned and has one of the wor...
Nov 16, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 15th, 2021. Austria has locked down…at least for the unvaccinated. We’ve seen it all before, new infections are surging, and ICUs are strained. In fact, Austria has one of Europe's highest infection rates and is the first to reinstate restrictions on daily movements. Austria has one of the lowest vaccination rates in western Europe at 65%, but that’s well above the United States’ 58-59%. More vaccines are destined fo...
Nov 15, 2021•6 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 12th, 2021. It is just not looking good in Europe. Germany had a record-high number of daily cases yesterday as new measures are being considered. One of the country's top virologists warns another 100,000 could die in the next few months if the vaccination rate doesn't quickly accelerate. To the south, in Austria, that country’s chancellor is stepping up threats of lockdowns for the unvaccinated as new cases soar. A...
Nov 12, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 11th, 2021. So far, the White House is very happy with the whole get kids vaccinated thing. They say it’s off to a strong start, but they worry that so was the adult vaccination effort, then it peaked and lost momentum. About 900,000 kids aged 5 to 11 will have gotten their first dose in their first week of eligibility. The World Health Organization gave us some bad news, coronavirus deaths rose by 10% in Europe in t...
Nov 11, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 10th, 2021. Pfizer’s ready for booster shots for all adults, but are U.S. regulators? The request is in to allow anyone 18 and older to get boosters of the Pfizer vaccine. Up to now just older Americans and groups especially vulnerable to the virus have had access to dose number three. The FDA says it will move quickly on the expansion if warranted. A big change in Britain. All health care staff who work with the pub...
Nov 10, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 9th, 2021. Citizens in Russia went back to work yesterday after a mandated, nine-day break to help cope with the surge of cases there. But they’re doing so as the record-breaking surge of infections and deaths continue. In fact, statistics show the work stoppage had no effect on easing cases. Meanwhile Japan reported no daily deaths from COVID Sunday for the first time in 15 months, and infections are rapidly declini...
Nov 09, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 8th, 2021. Things have gotten stricter in Los Angeles. One of the strictest vaccine mandates has gone into effect today. Proof of vaccination is required for entry into a wide variety of businesses. Restaurants, malls, theaters – both live and movie, nail places, hair places, gyms, yoga studios, museums, convention centers, and the list goes on. First offense gets a business a warning, but fines could later run from ...
Nov 08, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 5th, 2021. As we reported yesterday, over 750,000 American lives have been lost to COVID. No other even in the country’s history, including the four-year-long Civil War, has generated more death and loss. 750,000 is also more than the populations of Vermont, Wyoming, or Alaska, which means we’ve lost the equivalent of an entire state. The World Health Organization is getting increasingly concerned about Europe. The c...
Nov 05, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 4th, 2021. A new policy for the U.S. puts the burden of vaccination on employers. A temporary emergency rule mandates that businesses that employ 100 or more people make their employees get vaccinated or test them regularly. It’s the first time a federal standard deemed a respiratory virus an occupational hazard outside of health care. Some unknowns remain, such as how employers are supposed to enforce the mandate. T...
Nov 04, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 3rd, 2021. And now parents have a big decision to make. The Pfizer vaccine was given final clearance by U.S. regulators for children ages 5 to 11. Distribution can begin immediately. And those shots might be administered at doctor’s offices, pharmacies, or even schools. The formula is one-third the dose of the adult shot. Eastern Europe is still the area to watch. Russia's reported record daily infections or deaths a...
Nov 03, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 2nd, 2021. Another horrific milestone has been crossed. The global death toll from COVID-19 has now topped 5 million people. This has happened in less than two years, and claimed victims from every corner of the globe, every color, every nationality, in both poor and wealthy nations. In fact the US, EU, Britain and Brazil — all upper-middle- or high-income countries — account for one-eighth of the world’s population ...
Nov 02, 2021•5 min
This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for November 1st, 2021. If you think it’s important, for science and public health and safety reasons, to actually know how this COVID-19 pandemic started, you may as well forget it. U.S. intelligence officials said they can’t conclude the origin. They don’t know if it was from an animal, they don’t know if it was from a lab leak, they don’t know if the virus was genetically engineered…nothing. And that’s where they’ll leave it. ...
Nov 01, 2021•5 min
