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The New York Times State of the virus, updated for Jan. 14:
  • The Omicron variant has pushed the country’s daily case reports to record levels, with more than 800,000 new infections being reported each day.
  • Most of the country continues to see explosive case growth, but infection levels seem to have peaked in some of the places that were hit first by Omicron. Puerto Rico, Cleveland, Chicago, New York City and Washington, D.C., are among the places beginning to see improvement.
  • About 150,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized nationwide, more than at any previous point in the pandemic. That figure includes so-called incidental infections of people with minor symptoms who are hospitalized for reasons other than the virus.
  • Around 1,900 deaths are being announced each day, a 50 percent increase over the last two weeks.
  • Reports of new infections are up about 400 percent over the last two weeks in Alaska, Oregon and Utah.
  • With many people testing themselves on at-home tests, and other infections going undetected, reported cases are an undercount of actual infections, but indicate how the virus is spreading. Case trends help officials, businesses and residents assess risk and make decisions. Hospitalizations show strain on health care systems and can indicate the severity of recent infections.

Before reading or linking to the data we believe The New Yorker’s Dhruv Khullar’s article "Do the Omicron numbers mean what we think they mean?" will help you understand the current moment in Pandemic. He reports that “Covid’s winter surge holds a deeper lesson about the perils of interpreting data without a full appreciation of the context.”

Now to the data: On Jan. 11, 2022 in the U.S., the seven-day daily average number of new cases is 756,752, which is a 14-day increase of 38 percent, with a total of 67,705,330 cases. The seven-day daily average number of new hospitalizations was 156,894; the 14-day change in hospitalization was an increase of 81 percent. On Jan. 5, 2022 in the U.S., the seven-day daily average number of new deaths was 1,889, the 14-day change in new deaths was an increase of 43 percent, and the U.S. death total has reached 853,740. There has been no significant in increase in U.S. vaccination with 72 percent of the U.S. population over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated, 85 percent have had one jab, 95 percent of the population who are over 65 have had at least one jab.  

Skim or dive deeper through the links to the U.S. and select European data:

  • An average of 28,754 cases per day were reported in Canada in the last week. Cases have decreased by 37 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 253 percent.
  • An average of 95,244 cases per day were reported in United Kingdom in the last week. Cases have decreased by 49 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 107 percent.
  • An average of 229,108 cases per day were reported in France in the last week. Cases have increased by 27 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 15 percent.
  • An average of 177,652 cases per day were reported in Italy in the last week. Cases have increased by 53 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 108 percent.
  • An average of 132,390 cases per day were reported in Spain in the last week. Cases have increased by 23 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 105 percent.
  • An average of 75,947 cases per day were reported in Germany in the last week. Cases have increased by 103 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have decreased by 30 percent.
  • An average of 4,350 cases per day were reported in South Africa in the last week. Cases have decreased by 48 percent from the average two weeks ago. Deaths have increased by 54 percent.
 
The Boston Globe offers us "After a rough first year, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tries to correct course."

A key factor in Dr. Walensky’s frustrations is resistance to Vaccinations; most of the newsletter is on that topic and we start this section with the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the vaccination mandate in health care settings. Alex Zorn’s Skilled Nursing News article "CMS sets March 15 vaccine deadline for Health Care Workers in 24 states after SCOTUS decision," reports “With the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ vaccine mandate back on across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week, nursing home workers in 24 states will have until March 15 to be fully vaccinated, according to new guidance released Friday.” 

Mandates are working as Axios reports and offers us links to other reporting in "Army disciplines nearly 3,000 soldiers for refusing Covid vaccine; please note that the Army has a 98 percent vax rate." On the not great side, we have from WEBMD "Almost all teens in ICU with Covid were unvaccinated: Study." 

We look again at the European and other countries’ frustration with anti vaxxers. As reported in The Atlantic “As patience with the pandemic wanes, leaders in widely vaccinated democracies are deploying a new political strategy.” Please link to "The silent, vaccinated, impatient majority."

This past Saturday we were watching, as we do most Saturday mornings, Smerconish on CNN. You can via our link watch his segment titled "There are entire websites devoted to mocking public anti-vaccine and anti-mandate advocates who then die of Covid. Horrible, yes. But is it morally defensible?" Smerconish segment has a great interview with Michael Hiltzik, whose LA Times’  "Mocking anti-vaxxers’ Covid deaths is ghoulish, yes—but may be necessary," is often cited and we link.
 
We go oldies but goodies in offering two podcasts that offer experts that we have heard from throughout the pandemic and who remain experts that must be heard now. First, Ezra Klein’s Podcast brings back Zeynep Tufekci who “is a sociologist and New York Times Opinion columnist who does a better job than almost anyone at assessing the pandemic at a systems level.” On the Podcast she tells us that “To solve a public-health crisis, it’s not enough to get the science right. There are also challenges with supply chains, infrastructure, research production, mass communication, political trust and institutional inertia.” Secondly some read pre-pandemic and then when Covid-19 hit many of us turned to John M. Barry, distinguished scholar at Tulane University's book "The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History," about the Spanish flu of 1918-1919. Professor Barry is featured on The Weeds in a must listen episode: What the deadliest pandemic in history can tell us about Covid-19.

From your editors in Culver City and reporters and podcasts from all over the world, this is Revitalize for January 20, 2022:
Revitalize: The week in health-care news you need
Do the Omicron numbers mean what we think they mean? Covids winter surge holds a deeper lesson about the perils of interpreting data without a full appreciation of the context.

After a rough first year, CDC director Rochelle Walensky tries to correct course.

CMS sets March 15 vaccine deadline for health care workers in 24 states after SCOTUS decision. With the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ vaccine mandate back on across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week, nursing home workers in 24 states will have until March 15 to be fully vaccinated, according to new guidance released Friday.

Army disciplines nearly 3,000 soldiers for refusing COVID vaccine.
Yet 98 percent vaxxed.

WEBMD
Almost all teens in ICU with Covid were unvaccinated: Study.

The silent, vaccinated, impatient majority. As patience with the pandemic wanes, leaders in widely vaccinated democracies are deploying a new political strategy.
 
There are entire websites devoted mocking public anti-vaccine and anti-mandate advocates who then die of Covid. Horrible, yes. But is it morally defensible? 
Michael Hiltzik: Death and the anti-vaxxer.

The pandemic lessons we clearly haven’t learned. I remember thinking, as Covid ravaged the country in December 2020, that at least the holidays the next year would be better. There would be more vaccines, more treatments, more immunity. Instead, we got Omicron and a confusing new phase of the pandemic. What do you do with a variant that is both monstrously more infectious and somewhat milder? What do you say about another year when we didn’t have enough tests, enough ventilation or the best guidance on masks? And how do you handle the fracturing politics of a changing pandemic in an exhausted country? I’ve found Tufekci’s ability to balance the epidemiological data and the sociological realities uniquely helpful across the pandemic, and you can hear why in this conversation.

What the deadliest pandemic in history can tell us about Covid-19. Dylan talks to John M. Barry, distinguished scholar at Tulane University and author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, about the Spanish flu of 1918-1919, its parallels to Covid-19, and what that pandemic’s end tells us about how this one might end.
Jerry Seelig, CEO
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