Indications of the receding pandemic – COVID waning but not yet over – Evening statistics
It is interesting to see how much changes as a result of the passage of a few months. During the month of February I was eagerly on the lookout for the opportunity to receive one of the COVID vaccines and fretting that I might not get inoculated in time for the trip to California in June. Many people I know traveled miles away from their homes during that period to get vaccinated, in some cases even going out of state. And yesterday, a bare five months later, I went into the local supermarket and saw a poster urging customers to take advantage of the vaccines available at its pharmacy. No appointments were necessary, walk-ins were accepted without difficulty, and a 10% discount on any grocery purchases by the vaccine recipient was offered as an inducement for receiving getting the dose.
And in contrast to the deserted schoolyards that were a commonplace last year, today when I went past the local elementary school I saw and heard children playing joyously, the meadows ringing with their shouts and their laughter. The silent and empty yards that I remembered from less than half a year ago seemed like a bad dream.
But we are still far short of victory. Nearly one half-million new cases were diagnosed today worldwide, and the daily death toll is over 8,000. The complete global death toll is now over 4 million, or roughly one out of every 2,000. As far as pandemics go, it is not an especially large figure, but it is significant nonetheless. On the national level, there are areas here and there where the virus continues to expand. In Missouri, for example, new cases have increased by 46% in the past two weeks, and new hospital admissions have increased by 30%. Missouri has one of the lowest vaccination rates, with only 46% of residents who have received at least one dose and 40% who are fully vaccinated. In one hospital, 88% of those admitted to the ICU are on ventilators. “This is the absolute worst that I’ve ever seen it,” one of the nurses said. “These patients are a lot sicker, and a lot younger, than what we saw the last go around, so it’s just really sad to see. And a lot of the population is unvaccinated.”
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 186,801,504; # of deaths worldwide: 4,034,575; # of cases U.S.: 34,708,382; # of deaths; U.S.: 622,690.