- New Cases: 551,918 (⬆︎ .66%)
- New Deaths: 8,296 (⬆︎ .46%)
USA
- New Cases: 232,227 (⬆︎ 1.15%)
- New Deaths: 2,107 (⬆︎ .60%)
The numbers always take a dip on weekends - especially on holiday weekends - and then they bounce back up through the week. We've seen a big bounce a coupla weeks after every holiday so far, and these particular holidays are throwing things more outa wack than usual.
Point being: the lows have been awfully high lately, and when the weekend lows are higher than most previous mid-week highs, we could be looking at a whole new set of big-ass problems.
Confusion and Shortages Impede Some U.S. Vaccination Campaigns
A crashed phone network in Houston. People waiting overnight in long lines in Florida. Older Tennesseans leaning on their walkers outside in the cold alongside a highway.
As distribution of Covid-19 vaccines begins to open up to wider segments of the United States population, there have been scenes of chaos across the country.
The initial vaccine deliveries were mostly for frontline medical workers and nursing home staff members and residents. But there was less of a clear consensus on how to distribute the second round of doses, and public health and elected officials had warned the process would become messier.
Those warnings appear to have been borne out, leaving the U.S. inoculation campaign behind schedule and raising fears about how quickly the country will be able to tame the epidemic.
In Puerto Rico, a shipment of vaccines did not arrive until the workers who would have administered them had left for the Christmas holiday. In California, where coronavirus cases are surging and hospitals are overstretched, doctors are worried about whether there will be enough staff members to both administer vaccines and tend to Covid-19 patients.
Many vaccination sites have operated smoothly since the first U.S. inoculation on Dec. 14, but as availability of vaccines broadened, logistical complications arose at some sites and yielded unnerving images.
In Tullahoma, Tenn., older people lined a sidewalk on Saturday as they waited to enter the Coffee County Health Department’s Tullahoma clinic, about 70 miles northwest of Chattanooga. Most of the people in line were wearing heavy coats or huddled under blankets.
A video of the scene posted to Facebook showed seniors leaning on walkers and canes and sitting on footstools and lawn chairs as they waited for the building to open. Vickie Rayfield Ham, who posted the video, wrote that she thought the distribution center would be a drive-through.
“Some of the elderly were having to walk down the road with their walkers to get to the end of the line, and people were flying by,” she told WTVC, a local television news station.
In a Facebook post that went up shortly before 10 a.m. local time, a couple of hours after Ms. Ham’s video, the city of Tullahoma said that all available doses had been administered for the day and that information about next week’s vaccination schedule would be released on Monday.
The opening day for Houston’s first free public Covid-19 vaccination clinic unleashed so much demand that the city health department’s phone system crashed, causing officials to scramble to move to on-site registration.
Vaccinations began in Houston soon after the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine started arriving at its hospitals on Dec. 14. On Saturday, the city opened a clinic at the Bayou City Event Center providing the Moderna vaccine to high-risk members of the public, saying it could accommodate 750 appointments a day.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said that the health department had received more than 250,000 calls.
“The system was literally overwhelmed,” he said during a news briefing on Saturday.
The clinic’s phone system was back up by the afternoon and as of 2 p.m. local time about 450 people had received a Covid-19 vaccine, Mr. Turner said.
Vaccine rollout sites in Florida continued to be overwhelmed in some places, with people waiting for hours overnight in hopes of getting the shot. The state had expanded its offering of vaccines to older members of the general public — in some cases, on a first-come, first-served basis.
Florida became one of the first states to open up vaccination to anyone older than 65, after Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Dec. 23.
Mina Bobel, 74, and her husband, Dave Bobel, lined up at 2 a.m. outside the Lakes Regional Library in Fort Myers, Fla., on Wednesday in hopes of getting vaccinated. They came prepared with snacks and water, and even took turns sleeping in the back of their S.U.V. There were about 300 people ahead of them in line, Ms. Bobel said, and most of them had come well equipped, too — with coats and blankets to keep warm.
“For us, it was an adventure,” Ms. Bobel said, adding that she was “giddy” when finally, around 10 a.m., she stepped up to get her first dose. “We feel really lucky.”
When she left, Ms. Bobel said, the line was even longer than when she arrived.
The top wellness topics of 2020 — coronavirus and fitness
1. Masks and covid-19
The face mask is the defining item of 2020. Early in the pandemic, when there was a shortage of N95 and surgical masks, articles about how to create homemade cloth masks, how to care for masks, including N95 masks that had to be reused, and whether it was advisable to use gaiters as masks were highly read and debated. We collected the best and most recent advice in an FAQ in late September, which is being kept updated. The article about how to treat maskne is also still relevant.
2. Mental health and covid-19
The global pandemic and the conditions it created has had almost as much of an impact on our mental health as on our physical health. Readers sought out stories to help them deal with anxiety (linked above), “toxic positivity,” seasonal depression, and the pressure to be productive. They also welcomed tips for building emotional resilience.
3. Covid-19 and surfaces
Whether to disinfect surfaces — and how to do so and how often — was a huge topic of conversation in the early months of the pandemic. But there’s no need to continue to quarantine mail or wipe down every item that enters the house, experts say. Research has shown that the risk of transmission from surfaces and objects is low, and that it’s best to focus on hand-washing, mask-wearing and social distancing.
4. Coronavirus symptoms
Deciding whether a cough or sneeze was a sign of the flu, covid-19 or allergies was at the top of readers’ minds this year. Early in the pandemic, our story about the difference between symptoms of the coronavirus and those of spring allergies (above), was highly read. More recent advice that covers the flu, can be found here.
5. Mouthwash and covid-19
Some research suggests that covid patients can reduce the possibility that they will spread the disease by using oral antiseptic rinses. Experts greeted the results with “cautious optimism,” but noted that the lab studies might not be replicated in real-world situations and that no one should be abandoning masks or using mouthwash to excess.
6. HIIT and belly fat
Readers remained concerned about other aspects of their health and wondered what science says about the ability of high intensity interval training to burn excess belly fat, which is the kind of fat that can increase your risk for conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.
7. Maintaining muscle
This story about regaining the loss of muscle that comes with aging also was welcomed by readers, many of whom gave their own recommendations in the comments.
8. Why you can’t boost your immune system to fight covid-19
Many food products and supplements claim to boost your immune system, which can be tempting to customers in fear of contracting a serious illness such as covid-19. But “boosting” your immune system isn’t really possible; your goal should be a normally functioning immune system that can effectively fight infection, not an overactive one, which could lead to an autoimmune disorder.
9. Checking into the hospital
After contracting the coronavirus, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said he checked himself into a hospital. Many readers were curious about whether folks can actually do that. (Short answer: no.)
10. Regaining your motivation to exercise
Exercise may have fallen by the wayside as Netflix binges and stress baking emerged as popular activities (and coping mechanisms) during the pandemic. But many readers know that staying active is important to keep immune systems in top shape and provides positive physical and mental health benefits, so they turned to this article for advice.
11. Dry hands and coronavirus
Early in the pandemic, we were washing our hands so often that they were chapping although it was springtime. Now, with winter here, it’s a good time to revisit this article about why keeping your hands moisturized is important as well.
12. Which doctor’s appointments to keep
Readers were interested in guidance about which appointments can be accommodated with telemedicine. Experts really wanted to get across the message that some appointments, such as cancer screening, blood tests, physical therapy appointments and dental checkups, should not be delayed too long. And don’t hesitate to go to an emergency room or urgent care clinic.
No comments:
Post a Comment