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We start as always with The New York Times State of the Virus updated for Aug. 10:
  • The Delta variant continues to drive case and death numbers up across the country. Daily caseloads have increased tenfold since late June. Death reports, which can lag well behind case data, have doubled. More coronavirus patients are hospitalized than at any point since February.
  • Florida, Louisiana, and Hawaii are reporting their highest daily caseloads of the pandemic. The situation is especially dire in Louisiana and Florida, which have the country’s worst hospitalization rates.
  • The vaccines approved in the United States are effective against Delta, especially in preventing severe illness and death. The pace of vaccination has increased slowly in recent weeks as more employers and colleges have announced vaccine requirements.
  • Southern states, many with vaccination rates well below the national average, have seen explosive case growth. Mississippi, which was adding fewer than 200 cases a day at the start of July, is now averaging more than 2,000 infections daily.
  • Coronavirus testing has increased by about 50 percent nationwide over the last two weeks, meaning a higher percentage of total infections are likely being recorded as new cases.
  • The vast majority of Americans live in areas where transmission levels are high enough that federal officials recommend indoor masking regardless of vaccination status. With a few exceptions, state officials have mostly stopped short of issuing new mask mandates.
  • New case reports are leveling off or dropping in areas of Missouri, Nevada and Arkansas that were among the first to experience a major summer outbreak.
  • Case rates in much of the Upper Midwest and Northeast, though increasing sharply, remain far lower than in Southern hotspots.
  • More employers are requiring that all their employees be vaccinated, and many colleges are mandating the shots for students. About half of all United States residents, and about 61 percent of adults, are fully vaccinated.

On August 10, 2021 in the U.S., the seven-day daily average number of new cases was 118,067 the 14-day change in cases was an increase of 86 percent with 36,152,620 total cases. On Aug. 10 in the U.S., the seven-day daily average number of new deaths was 608, the 14-day change in new deaths was an increase of 102 percent, and the U.S. death total has reached 618,363. We once again ask you to use the link to The New York Times Covid Map to view the hard hit states 

In Canada on Aug. 10, 2021, the seven-day daily average number of new cases was 1,395, the 14-day change in cases increased 163 percent with a total of 1,451,040 cases. On Aug. 10 in Canada, the seven-day average of new deaths was 9, the 14-day change in new deaths increased 29 percent and the Canadian death total has reached 26,635. 

This week's issue offers comparative data for the U.K., France, Italy, and Spain. France has in place and Italy is starting a comprehensive vaccine mandate. Go to The New York Times International Covid Maps’ page for country data.

In the United Kingdom on Aug. 10, 2021, the 7-day daily average number of new cases was 26,674, the 14-day change in cases was a decrease of 14 percent with a total of 6,117,540 cases. On Aug. 10 in the U.K., the seven-day average of new deaths was 89, the 14-day change in new deaths increase 30 percent, and the U.K. death total reached 130,503.
In France, the seven-day daily average number of new cases was 23,447; the 14-day change in cases was an increase of 20 percent with a total of 6,470,288 cases. On Aug. 10 in France, the seven day average of new deaths was 56, the 14-day change in new deaths increased 132 percent, and the French death total reached 112,575.  

In Italy, the seven-day daily average number of new cases was 6,124, the 14-day change in cases was an increase of 34 percent with a total of 4,406,241 cases. On Aug. 10 in Italy, the seven-day average of new deaths was 23, the 14-day change in new deaths was an increase of 42, and the Italian death total has reached 128,273.

In Spain, the seven-day daily average number of new cases was 13,163, the 14-day change in cases decreased 33 percent with a total of 4,643,450 cases. On Aug. 10 in Spain, the seven-day average of new deaths was 65, the 14-day change in new deaths increased 159 percent, and the Spanish death total has reached 82,222.

Two weeks post our last edition, we are still asking the same question: When are we getting out of the pandemic with the multiple how-bad-is (fill in the blank) follow-up questions? Two weeks ago we offered great podcasts from Andy Slavitt In the Bubble and The New York Times The Daily, and that received positive reviews and reports from some of a small lowering of the anxiety level.

This week, we ask you to read or skim the grim reporting on the Covid surge among the unvaccinated and children followed by a trio of articles on the in-place vaccine mandates (NYC and France) and the new U.S. Military mandate. 

We then offer first reporting on the Senate bill to enhance Medicaid funding, establish staffing minimums, and other programs and resources that many of our readers have called for over the past few years. In closing we offer the you two of our most trusted sources (Ezra Klein from The New York Times and Slate) and their two great podcasts that will answer questions and lower for those in vaccinated America their anxiety.

From NBC News is the most important and unnecessarily tragic story of “Unvaccinated adults are bringing Covid home to their kids. Pediatricians are overwhelmed.”  
 
We then turn to three looks at Vaccine Mandates. The first is The New York Times: "N.Y.C. will require workers and customers show proof of at least one dose for indoor dining and other activities." First major city in the U.S. with the mandate of: “If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s time.” The U.S. military will mandate and we link to the Associated Press for "Covid vaccines to be required for military under new US plan." As we reported last issue, France is the first country outside of Israel with a vaccine mandate for most social and commercial settings, on Monday The Washington Post reported and we link to "Despite weeks of protests, France implements health pass at cafes and train stations with little drama."
 
Next, let us share the news of more money to skilled nursing with a focus on staffing. Skilled Nursing News offers "U.S. Senate introduces bill to enhance Medicaid funding, establish staffing minimums" and reports that “Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) introduced the bill. Staffing improvements are at the core of the legislation, which would allocate $50 million for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to conduct studies every five years to determine minimum staffing levels and staff-to-resident ratios, beginning in 2022.”

We conclude with the two great explainer-Podcasts in the order of their posting. We first go to Oakland for Ezra Klein’s "The good and bad news about the Delta variant." Dr. Céline Gounder, an epidemiologist at N.Y.U. medical school, a CNN medical analyst and host of the Covid podcast “Epidemic.” As an incentive to you I quote Klein who tells us that “I’m not sure if this conversation will make you feel better about the war we’re now in. But it will, if nothing else, make it much, much clearer.” Last yet not least is: "Newsflash: Coronavirus Ain’t Going Nowhere," which first appeared in Slate’s online daily news and politics newsletter. Reading that article led us and hopefully you to great companion podcast from What next/Daily News and Analysis" that tells us the tale of “A doctor in the middle of the Florida surge.”
 
From Culver City and the wilds of Upstate New York, with support from newsrooms and podcasters on both Coasts and in Paris, this is Revitalize for Aug. 12, 2021:
Revitalize: The week in health-care news you need
Unvaccinated adults are bringing Covid home to their kids. Pediatricians are overwhelmed.

N.Y.C. will require workers and customers show proof of at least one dose for indoor dining and other activities. “If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “It’s time.”

Covid vaccines to be required for military under new US plan.

Despite weeks of protests, France implements health pass at cafes and train stations with little drama.
After weeks of protests, France saw relatively little drama on Monday as it expanded its national experiment with coronavirus mandates and began to require that people show a health pass to sit at cafes, eat at restaurants, board long-distance trains and access many other venues.

U.S. Senate introduces bill to enhance Medicaid funding, establish staffing minimums.
The good and bad news about the Delta variant. What do we actually know about Delta? If you’re vaccinated, is it more or less likely to kill you than the flu? Is it more serious for children? Are we re-masking to protect the unvaccinated, or is this also for the vaccinated? What are the risks of long Covid for the vaccinated? Dr. Céline Gounder has answers. Gounder is an epidemiologist at N.Y.U. medical school, a CNN medical analyst and host of the Covid podcast “Epidemic.”

Newsflash: "Coronavirus ain’t going nowhere.” (The article from slate with a transcript of the podcast or listen to the podcast.) 

A doctor in the middle of the Florida surge.
Jerry Seelig, CEO
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