CDC Director Mandy Cohen endorsed the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ (ACIP) recommendation for adults ages 65 years and older to receive an additional updated 2023-2024 COVID-19 vaccine dose. The recommendation acknowledges the increased risk of severe disease from COVID-19 in older adults, along with the currently available data on vaccine effectiveness.

People who are immunocompromised were already eligible for additional doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Adults 65 years and older are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, with more than half of COVID-19 hospitalizations during October 2023 to December 2023 occurring in this age group.

As I referenced in a post a couple of days ago,
as of mid-February, more than 21,000 people were hospitalized with Covid, and there had been roughly 10,000 Covid-related deaths in 2024.

From the New York Times, Your 2024 Guide to Covid Symptoms and Treatment

The most common Covid symptoms haven’t changed much since the start of the pandemic...fatigue, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, headache, body aches and cough. Less common symptoms include pink eye, or experience gastrointestinal issues, like nausea, vomiting and diarrhea... Less common as well are the loss of taste and smell.

...as of mid-February, more than 21,000 people were hospitalized with Covid, and there had been roughly 10,000 Covid-related deaths in 2024.
...
The antiviral pill Paxlovid is very effective against severe Covid, reducing the risk of death by 73 percent if taken within the first five days of an infection, according to a preliminary study conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Experts urged people who are high-risk to contact their doctors about getting a prescription as soon as they have symptoms or test positive.

In Knox County, cases are up, hospitalizations are up. There have been 48 deaths reported since 4/29/2023.

The Tennessee Dept. Of Health has some County data. Additional data can be found by browsing through the CDEP/Novel Coronavirus/Epidemiology and Surveillance Data links.

The CDC has quite a bit of data for the nation, state, and county.

The CDC Nursing Home data appears to be up-to-date. Select the Visualize Data option. Tennessee doesn't rank to well with vaccinations at nursing homes for residents or employees.

New York Times- Track Covid-19 in the U.S.

Seems like everyone I speak with knows someone with Covid-19.

Flu and RSV numbers have been pretty high as well.

Biden-Harris Administration Awards $600 Million to Bolster US Manufacturing of COVID-19 Tests and Announces the Re-Opening of COVIDTests.gov

Beginning September 25, every U.S. household can again place an order to receive four more free COVID-19 rapid tests delivered directly to their home.

Before You Throw Out "Expired" Tests: Check to see if your COVID-19 tests' expiration dates have been extended.

The new COVID-19 vaccines are now available.

We dropped by Walgreens in Alcoa and received the last two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine available at that location. Hopefully they'll get more soon but they would not commit as to when more vaccines would be available.

I've seen articles saying people were not rushing out to get the new COVID-19 vaccine. Appears not to be the case in Alcoa.

on Monday, Aug. 21 the [Nashville] mayoral candidate and at least eight other [Nashville] council members tested positive for the [Covid-19] virus.

A Hollywood studio has instituted a mask mandate for its employees in light of the current COVID wave. Lionsgate sent an email to staff asking them to mask up on certain floors of its Santa Monica office after several employees caught the virus. The studio is also asking employees to conduct self-screening before coming to the office.

Morris Brown College in Atlanta starts classes requiring students and staff to wear masks for the next 14 days. "Other precautionary measures include: temperature checks upon campus arrival, social distancing and contact tracing. Morris Brown College does have a vaccine requirement for students with religious and medical exemptions allowed."

Be careful out there.

CMS is still tracking COVID-19 data reported by nursing homes.

Tennessee is in the bottom 5 of U.S. states "percentage of current residents up to date with COVID-19 Vaccines per Facility."

Tennessee is in the bottom 3 of U.S. states "percentage of current staff up to date with COVID-19 Vaccines per Facility."

A perfect example of the idiocracy we must suffer.

From the Brevard County Republican Executive Committee (BREC),

"Whereas We the People of the State of Florida were told that COVID-19 presented a grave danger to ourselves, our families, and our communities. We were then subsequently told to and in many cases mandated to take the experimental COVID-19 injections for the following reasons: That it would prevent transmission and thus stop the spread of COVID-19. That doing so would protect our families, ourselves, and the public. Doing so would allow us to keep our jobs and/or benefits to be able to support our families. By doing so we were doing our patriotic duty for our country, state, and communities. We didn’t have a choice because of President Biden’s COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates. Whereas strong and credible evidence has recently been revealed that COVID-19 and COVID-19 injections are biological and technological weapons..."

The BREC proposal passed in a landslide vote.

"Members of the Brevard County leadership committee adopted a resolution, calling on the governor to make the COVID-19 vaccines illegal. Other GOP chapters in Seminole, Lake, St. John's, Santa Rosa, Hillsborough and Lee Counties have passed similar resolutions."

Healthcare providers in Florida must be cringing by hearing what some of their patients believe annd want to push on society.

May 11, 2023, marks the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency declaration. After this date, CDC’s authorizations to collect certain types of public health data will expire.

Most tools, like vaccines, treatments, and testing, will remain available.

Access to COVID-19 vaccines will generally not be affected for now. Insurance providers will no longer be required to waive costs or provide free COVID-19 tests, thus COVID-19 at-home tests may not be covered by insurance.

Treatments will remain available.
Medication to prevent severe COVID-19, such as Paxlovid, will remain available for free while supplies last. After that, the price will be determined by the medication manufacturer and your health insurance coverage.

All hospitals are required to report data through the end of April 2024. These data will shift from daily to weekly reporting shortly after May 11.

COVID-19 deaths will remain, but the source of data has changed.

Emergency department patient visits with diagnosed COVID-19 will continue to be posted on a weekly basis.

COVID-19 test positivity will remain, but the source of data has changed.

Wastewater surveillance and genomic surveillance will remain in place.

Count of COVID-19 vaccines administered will remain for jurisdictions who continue to submit data, but frequency will change, monthly instead of weekly.

Data added:
Percentage of COVID-19 associated deaths each week.

Data removed:
COVID-19 case and death data are no longer highlighted on COVID Data Tracker.
National, county-level test positivity data from COVID-19 Electronic Reporting (CELR) are no longer available.
The V-safe tracking system for health check-ins after vaccination health check-ins is ending.

U.S. Sen. Blackburn, TN, pushes constantly to fight the drug crisis at the border, which she blames on Pres. Biden.

When has she tried to help control the pandemic crisis? How often has she pushed for vaccines? How often has she fought to help the local health departments with the COVID 19 pandemic?

According to Blackburn 107,000 people died of drug overdoses from August 2021 to August 2022. This is a very sad situation that needs our continued attention.

Over 406,000 people died from COVID 19 from August 2021 to August 2022. Nearly 100,000 people have died from COVID 19 in the past 8 months, August 2022 to April 2023. Data from the CDC COVID Data Tracker.

Where is her concern when people shun viable vaccines? Where is her concern when people shun wearing masks?

It has been 3 years since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic changed our lives. Many of us are still changed and many may never be the same.

Some of the results can be based on where you live and your political beliefs. In fact, political beliefs are still influencing some people on how they want to respond to pandemics.

Currently ongoing in Sarasota, FL, their are right wing MAGAs trying to punish a hospital for treating COVID patients with respect, good medical methods, and science.

"Some people insinuated Sarasota's public hospital prescribed certain medications for "kickbacks" from the pharmaceutical companies."Others touted "alternative treatments" for COVID like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Both have been deemed at best ineffective in COVID treatment by medical studies." ... "Michael Flynn, former national security advisor to President Donald Trump and now a Sarasota County resident..."

Tennessee is 7th highest in deaths per 100,000 residents from COVID-19.

If many of you remember, when the pandemic first started, we went through lots of iterations of safety practices to prevent getting COVID-19, e.g disinfecting groceries, leaving mail outside for a few days, stopping paper newspapers, discontinuing any gatherings. The Washington Post has a piece where they interviewed some medical experts to see how they are handling their response to COVID-19 today. Most of them still mask when in public. The majority now eat in at restaurants, but several would prefer patio dining. Several ask for testing if having visitors. Vaccinations are critical to overcoming the pandemic and leading a normal life. "Does life feel back to normal for you?" "Covid has changed what normal is."

Does life feel back to normal for you? Not for me. I don't know if it ever will. One reason, I am over 65. The majority of deaths are of the over 65.

From Maryville Daily Times,

"Alcoa City Schools will be closed Monday, Feb. 6, and Tuesday, Feb. 7, because of teacher illnesses. Director of Alcoa City Schools Becky Stone told The Daily Times that there were 24 teacher absences Friday; 14 went unfilled. Those absences mostly stem from COVID-19 and stomach illnesses."

As reported on April 20, 2020, in a Trump press conference,

"I see the disinfectant knocks it out in a minute.
One minute.
And, is there a way we can do something like that?
By injection inside or... or almost a cleaning.
You see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs.
So it would be interesting to check that.
So that you are going to have to use medical doctors.
But it sounds interesting to me."

There are still people that support the previous president.
There are still people campaigning for those that support the previous president.

How can anyone vote for Burchett and any of these people that continue to support the previous president?

In a study through October, 2021, they found that counties with a Republican majority had more deaths.

"Indeed, his paper found that the partisan gap in the deaths widened between April and December 2021, after all adults became eligible for Covid vaccines. Excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 153% higher among Republicans than Democrats during that time, the paper showed."
...
"But the June study suggested that Covid vaccine uptake explained just 10% of the partisan gap in the deaths. Those researchers suggested that compliance with other public health measures such as mask use and social distancing was a significant factor."

Freedom! Freedom to die? But, also freedom to put the rest of us in danger. Sort of like gun freedoms. It's not safe for society.

The new Covid-19 booster targets "the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus."

"Almost 68 percent of the U.S. population is considered fully vaccinated with two jabs."

"Data from the CDC shows that unvaccinated adults 50 and older have a 14 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who have received the vaccine and two or more booster shots. Those in the same age range with only one booster were still three times more at risk."

"Seventy-five percent of COVID-19 deaths have been senior citizens, 65 years of age and older."

The new Covid-19 booster is available at local pharmacies. It is currently free. Some people are getting it at the same time they get their annual flu shot. Both Pfizer and Moderna Covid-19 boosters are available. However, both may not be available at every pharmacy. In our area one pharmacy had the Pfizer Covid-19 booster and another pharmacy five miles away had the Moderna booster.

Do it out of respect for your older family and friends.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is killing off old people.

As of 8/13/2022, there have been 1,461 COVID-19 deaths in Knox County, TN. Of those 1,461 COVID-19 deaths, 750 (51.3%) have been our eldest citizens, 75 and older. Seventy-five percent of those COVID-19 deaths have been senior citizens, 65 years of age and older.

Nationwide there have been 1,040,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Of those 1,040,000 COVID-19 deaths, 808,780 (77.8%) have been senior citizens, 65 years of age and older.

It seems there are a lot of people who don't care. Do those people who won't wear masks, won't isolate, won't get vaccinated not care about the affect their actions are having on the elderly?

Is it a feature or a bug? COVID-19 is killing off older people. Thus, they will not be a burden to society, will not need Medicare and/or Social Security. Oh well, Republicans want to get rid of Medicare and/or Social Security anyway.

The CDC is continuously monitoring Covid-19 community spread across the country.

Currently 25% of counties in Tennessee have a high level of Covid-19 community spread. In addition, nearly 40 % of counties in Tennessee have a medium level of Covid-19 community spread.

New COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population is at 7.8.

% Staffed inpatient beds in use by patients with confirmed COVID-19 is at 2.8%.

Be careful out there.

From WATE,

"The Knox County Health Department is asking people to take precautions after noticing an upward trend of COVID cases. Health officials say the number of cases has been slowly going up for the past couple of months."

KCHD is "reminding people to social distance when possible, wash their hands often and mask up when needed." They "expect to see the higher numbers continue, they have hope that it will end soon."

KCHD also mentioned case numbers could be higher since many people are probably using at-home tests that do not get counted.

Finally, KCHD "suggests getting vaccinated against COVID if you have not done so." Only 58% of Knox County residents over 18 are vaccinated with 2 doses. Only 27% of those residents hsve received a coronavirus booster.

Covid-19 drugs, Covid-19, Covid drugs, Coronavirus drugs

From the Mayo Clinic, 2-2022:

Some of the treatments authorized by the FDA:

"The FDA has authorized for emergency use a drug called Paxlovid... Paxlovid is authorized to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in people age 12 and older who are at higher risk of serious illness. "
...
"The FDA has authorized for emergency use another drug called molnupiravir to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults who are at higher risk of serious illness and not able to take other treatments."

Immune-based therapy... "Researchers study immune-based therapies, including convalescent plasma, mesenchymal stem cells and monoclonal antibodies. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins created in a lab that can help the immune system fight off viruses."

Some monoclonal antibodies cannot treat COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant and some can.

"To be most effective, these medications need to be given soon after COVID-19 symptoms start and before hospitalization."
...
Convalescent plasma is blood donated by people who've recovered from COVID-19. Convalescent plasma with high antibodies may be used to treat some hospitalized people with COVID-19 who are either early in their illness or have weakened immune systems.

...
Monoclonal antibody... "The FDA has authorized for emergency use the monoclonal antibody combination of tixagevimab and cilgavimab (Evusheld) to prevent COVID-19 in some people with weakened immune systems or a history of severe reactions to a COVID-19 vaccine."

Via TPM, Vanderbilt has studied hospitalization numbers and other COVID trends in Tennessee. The study is here (note: PDF). However the nut graf is below:

Hospitals that predominantly serve patients from areas without masking requirements (the <25% group) continue to see the highest rate of growth in hospitalizations. As the percentage of patients residing in mask-requirement counties increases, the growth curve “flattens,” indicating much lower growth in hospitalizations.

The graph is pretty striking. Here's a direct link since it seems pretty large to try to include:

https://cdn.talkingpointsmemo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screen-Shot-2020-10-27-at-4.31.37-PM-804x1256.png