COVID stats update
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Pfizer has officially requested a emergency use authorization for its vaccine for 5 to 11 year olds, so approval of that is probably still a few weeks away (This all feels like bureaucratic kabuki to me; everybody knows an EUA for it is going to be issued, but I suppose The Process must be maintained).
Daily new infection rates in the US peaked at the beginning of September at about 167,000; they have now fallen to 100,000 (these are seven-day rolling averages).
Daily deaths peaked a couple of weeks later at around 1,925; they are now down to 1,500.
About 110,000 Americans have officially died of COVID since the beginning of July, which is the date I’m using for when the count going forward would have fallen to close to zero if vaccine uptake among adults was universal.
Despite all the right wing noise machine insanity, vaccination rates in the US are actually pretty encouraging, in particular among the geriatric population, where vaccination has become close to universal (94.6% of Americans 65 and older are at least partially vaccinated). The figure for the adult population as a whole (18+) now stands at 77.9%, which given the Standard Crazification Factor is actually pretty good — vial half full you might say.
There seems to be a lot of confusion out there regarding who exactly is eligible to receive booster shots, but there’s also a lot of indications that the regulations governing this are being applied quite loosely, which seems like a good thing given that there seems to be little or no scarcity issues at present in terms of getting boosters.
it’s frightening to consider where we would be without the vaccines. The current excess death total in the US since February of last year stands at about 890,000, and will certainly hit seven figures well before the end of the year. (Excess death totals have consistently run about 25% higher than official COVID death totals. The excess deaths consist of some to this point undetermined combination of undercounted COVID deaths, and deaths caused indirectly by COVID, such as for example the overloading of ICUs, people not seeking or being unable to seek medical care, depression/suicide etc.)