For the first time in months, the death rate from COVID-19 has risen sharply. At a Friday briefing of the White House COVID-19 Response Team on Friday, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said:
“There is a clear message that is coming through: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. Our biggest concern is we are going to continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and sadly deaths among the unvaccinated.”
NPR:
The White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said, “Unvaccinated Americans account for virtually all recent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths Each COVID-19 death is tragic, and those happening now are even more tragic because they are preventable.”
“The seven-day average of new cases has increased by nearly 70% to almost 30,000 per day; hospitalizations are up 36%. And deaths from the virus have risen steadily in recent days, reversing a months-long downward trend that began in mid-January.“
COVID-19 cases surging in 49 states
- Nearly every state saw an average of new cases at least 10% higher than a week ago — and 38 states are seeing at least a 50% increase
- Only 48.3% of the US population fully vaccinated, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- In Arkansas, where only 35.1% of the population is fully vaccinated, the Delta variant has had a big impact.
- Chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Cam Patterson said, adding hospitals are “full right now and cases are doubling every 10 days.”
- In Missouri, one local health department has asked the state to fund staffing and a location for a COVID-19 care site to handle to rise in severe cases.
- California: Half of the state now urged to mask up while attending public gatherings indoors even if vaccinated.
- Los Angeles county will implement a mask mandate beginning this weekend.
- Seven Bay Area counties’ health offices on Friday urged the general public to mask up once again, regardless of vaccination status: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Sonoma, as well as the city of Berkeley.
- Sacramento, Yolo and Fresno counties issued similar recommendations earlier this week.
- Those 11 counties make up more than 20 million of California’s 39.5 million residents. Los Angeles is the nation’s largest county, with 10 million people.
- Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva will not enforce the county’s mask mandate because it’s….”not backed by science” and contradicts federal guidelines.
- Las Vegas, Nevada, recommends people wear masks in crowded indoor public places – including Las Vegas casinos – regardless of vaccination status, according to a Friday statement.
President Biden caused quite the kerfuffle by saying that misinformation (BALD-faced lies) posted on social media will get people killed.
“They’re killing people,” President Joe Biden said when asked by NBC News what his message is to platforms like Facebook on COVID-19 misinformation. “The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.”
Facebook has issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s claim:
Disqus has yet to do anything to curb the ‘bald-faced’ lies and vaccine misinformation posted on their platform.
