The United States has now surpassed 40 million COVID-19 cases and is nearing 650,000 deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been 40,018,268 COVID-19 cases resulting in 649,319 deaths. This represents a mortality rate of 1.6%.
It took a week to go from 39 to 40 million cases. I suppose that's a bit of good news as it took 6 days to get from 38 to 39 million cases. But we have taken a big step backwards. On July 16th, the U.S. recorded its 34 millionth COVID-19 case. It had taken 58 days to record 1 million cases. This country has added 6 million new COVID-19 cases in 52 days.
We reached the 40 million case mark on Labor Day. Consider where we were on Labor Day 2020. The daily case rate is 316% higher with hospitalizations up 158% from last Labor Day and the daily death toll twice as high. A year ago, we didn't have vaccines. We do now and yet things are getting worse because a critical mass of Americans refuse to take a life saving vaccine but are willing to take a horse de-wormer because Fox News says so. No wonder healthcare workers feel burned out.
Although 54% of Americans are fully vaccinated it won't be enough as booster shots will be necessary. Pfizer patients can get their booster shot in two weeks from now while Moderna recipients will likely be able to get their booster shots starting next month with no word at present on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
Will a third Pfizer or Moderna shot (or a second J&J shot) be sufficient to prevent breakthrough COVID cases? Studies in Israel demonstrated a booster shot was effective in reducing hospitalization and death from the Delta variant. However, my guess is that the people hesitant to get a first or second shot won't take a third. In which case, it might not matter how many shots one gets so long as a critical mass of the population refuses to get vaccinated. So much for being pro-life.
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