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Comparative Covid-19 data for May 11, 2021, all of our reported countries except India are having decreased or stable case rates, hospitalization, and death tolls as illustrated in their daily and 14-day average case and death rates. Following the new cases/deaths data we offer a table illustrating vaccination rates for the countries we have been following along with some interesting findings on countries who are progressing rapidly in vaccination as well as the relatively low rates for New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan who have done the best at pandemic management. In future issues we will continue to monitor vaccination rates and its impact on each country and worldwide.


And let us stay with data accuracy before we turn to the vaccination progress table; we link to StatNews’ report: “A new analysis of the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic suggests 6.9 million people worldwide have died from the disease, more than twice as many people as has been officially reported.”
Before we review all the great articles and podcasts this week, we want to remind you that the Revitalize crew will be taking to Zoom this coming Monday, May 17, at 5.30 PDT with a great panel. Register for "Covid Diaries Part One: Lessons from the California Trenches of a Global Health Care Crisis." 

We start with the jab, and those who got and will get it and those who say they will not. Like the cartoon character with an angel on one shoulder and devil on the other, this getting-jabbed-or-not section offers a look at the choices made by the angels and the devils. We start with angels in the Slate story "We need a leader to show us what vaccinated life can be like" that tells us, “I know just the guy ... Secretary Pete Buttigieg could be a champion of life post-vaccine.” The Devil is Senator Ron Johnson whose anti-vax efforts and the facts that elude him is found in The Washington Post’s "Ron Johnson’s unscientific use of vaccine and death data." 

We turn to folks out of the DC beltway to The New York Times' The Daily podcast "Rural Tennessee’s vaccine hesitaters" that tell us in a must-listen that “White Republican evangelical Christians remain disproportionately mistrustful about coronavirus inoculations. Here’s what that looks like in one community.” As we were going to publish, The New York Times posted "Ohio Lottery will give five people $1 million each to get vaccinated." This brilliant (being serious here) innovation was done “to bolster slumping demand for the vaccine, the state will use federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for a weekly lottery beginning May 26.” Ohio!

With the last guy out of the White House, we find ourselves enjoying fact-based debates by credible journalists and scientists that both engage us and allow us to say to others and ourselves: “we have returned to a public discourse on issues where both sides are right and so we should discuss this further." To start, we have from The New York Times' The Daily, "Why herd immunity is slipping away" that presents one side: “Achieving widespread resistance to the coronavirus has long been a North Star for exiting the pandemic. Some experts now believe the U.S. may never get there.” And to both rebut and complement that we have the great Los Angeles Times Columnist and historian Michael Hiltzik, whose column "Stop fretting about 'herd immunity' — we're close, if not already there" makes a clear argument that: “Experts think we have warped expectations of what it means for society to be immune from Covid-19.” Supporting Hiltzik and making us Californians most happy is the article from the Los Angeles Times "L.A. County expected to hit COVID-19 herd immunity by end of July," which states: “Experts had previously expressed concern that waning demand and uneven vaccination rates could make it hard to reach the herd immunity goal, when about 80 percent of the population is vaccinated.”

Before we hand this issue over to our cultural-arts critics, we return to the section labeled in the April 29 issue as “reporting on home and community health as a key stop on the long-term care return to normal path.” The New York Times article "Covid forces families to rethink nursing home care” starts us out; then to Skilled Nursing News for its always great industry reporting that tells us that SNF's "Continue to battle depressed referrals as hospital inpatient volumes recover."

Fareed Zakariah, in his weekly Washington Post opinion offers us that “The pandemic has led to innovation. It’s a reason for optimism.” (Watch his Sunday CNN show GPS.) Michael Lewis’s new book "Premonition" is being reviewed extensively and he is and will continue to be on our favorite podcasts. The book is in your local bookstore (or those national outlets, if you must) and tablet; our choice of Podcast is Ezra Klien’s interview.

From our on-the-deck office (where the fully vaccinated team can meet when the spiraling reopening does not require our full attention), across the U.S., and the world, this is Revitalize for May 13, 2021. (And remember on Zoom this Monday at 5.30 from the Village Well – Covid Diaries.)
Revitalize: The week in health-care news you need
New analysis finds global Covid death toll is double official estimates. A new analysis of the toll of the Covid-19 pandemic suggests 6.9 million people worldwide have died from the disease, more than twice as many people as has been officially reported.

We need a leader to show us what vaccinated life can be like. I know just the guy.

Ron Johnson’s unscientific use of vaccine and death data.

Rural Tennessee’s vaccine hesitators. White Republican evangelical Christians remain disproportionately mistrustful about coronavirus inoculations.

Ohio Lottery will give five people $1 Million each to get vaccinated. To bolster slumping demand for the vaccine, the state will use federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for a weekly lottery beginning May 26.

Why herd immunity is slipping away. Achieving widespread resistance to the coronavirus has long been a North Star for exiting the pandemic. Some experts now believe the U.S. may never get there.

Stop fretting about 'herd immunity' – we're close, if not already there.

L.A. County expected to hit Covid-19 herd immunity by end of July. Experts had previously expressed concern that waning demand and uneven vaccination rates could make it hard to reach that goal, when about 80 percent of the population is vaccinated.

for the May 17
"Covid Diaries Community Conversation" at the Village Well
via Zoom here.


Covid forces families to rethink nursing home care. Even with vaccines, many are weighing how to manage at-home care for those who can no longer live independently.

Occupancy recovery in skilled nursing facilities will depend on a variety of factors: COVID-19 vaccination uptake among staff and residents, visitation policies of nursing homes, the willingness of family members to place their loved ones in the SNF setting, and acute care return to normal.

The pandemic has led to innovation.
Jerry Seelig, CEO
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