Over the last 14 days, Floyd County’s COVID-19 cases have increased by 26% with 2,665 total infections and 49 deaths. At least 48% of those cases have infected residents “full vaccinated” and 61% of those infections hit those aged 65 and over.
These numbers come from the state, county, and regional health departments and many officials admit privately that the numbers, if anything, are lower than the real counts.
Nationally, reports a database maintained by The New York Times, 111,512 new cases were reported in America with 344 new deaths and 29,099 hospitalized. Cases and hospitalizations continue to rise.
On Wednesday, cases rose by the highest rates in Wyoming, Oklahoma, Alabama, and Mississippi. Two of the cases came from our home, with both my wife and me infected. We are out of quarantine, but the infections left us exhausted and, frankly, paranoid about the future. We continue to wear masks in public areas with crowds, including grocery stores.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a study Tuesday that says schools in America employ “low-cost strategies to improve the ventilation to slow the spread of the coronavirus.”
With most schools closed for the summer recess or lower student counts in “summer school,” the CDC recommends schools upgrade their system through increased use of federal funds. Floyd County schools have air-conditioned classrooms and other spaces and improved ventilation.
CDC says new variants of the virus — known as BA, 4, and BA.5 now represent 13% of new COVID cases, a 7.5% increase in the past week. “The spread of these subvariants adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States,” says CDC in a statement.
A federal advisory committee voted this week to recommend regulatory approval of a new COVID-19 vaccine from Novavax in the nation’s “Operation Warp Speed program. It would be a fourth booster shot for adults in the United States.
The White House, noting that federal regulators are expected to authorize vaccines for children 5 and younger, says the first does “could become available as early as June 21.”