[WBHG News 24 – Kirkland] – Since November 19, Houthi militants supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) have pirated, attempted to board, or fired missiles and drones at 17 cargo vessels, claiming the maritime disruption was in support of Hamas by targeting Israeli-owned ships and ships sailing to Israel. Over the weekend, the Houthis expanded the attacks to include vessels owned by the United States and the United Kingdom due to airstrikes on militant positions in northern Yemen.
An analysis of the cargo vessels that have been attacked shows that 35% have Israeli connections, and only one may have been en route to an Israeli port. Two of the six vessels with Israeli connections that were attacked were struck by Shahed-136 one-way drones likely launched from Iran.
Ships with Israeli Connections
Central Park – November 26, 2023
The Central Park is a tanker vessel that was en route from Morocco and sailing to India when it was boarded by Houthi militants in the Gulf of Aden. With assistance from the USS Mason, control of the vessel was restored, and the crew was freed. During the military operation, several antiship missiles were fired at the vessel. The Central Park continued to India without further incident. The ship is flagged in Liberia and owned by the United Kingdom company Zodiac Maritime. Israeli billionaire Idan Offer is a part-owner.
Chem Pluto – December 23, 2023
The Chem Pluto is a chemical tanker that was en route from Saudi Arabia to India and was hit by a Shahed-136 one-way drone likely launched from Iran. The ship’s crew was able to control the fire after the incident. The vessel is flagged in Liberia and owned by a Japanese company. The management company, Ace Quantum Chemical Tankers, is owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Offer.
CMA CGM Symi – November 25, 2023
The CMA CGM Symi is a container ship that departed the United Arab Emirates and was en route to China. The ship was struck by a drone, likely a Shahed-136 one-way UAV launched from Iran. The vessel received light damage to the stern and continued to Xiamen. The vessel is flagged in Malta and owned by a Japanese company. The management company, Ace Quantum Chemical Tankers, is owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Offer.
CMA CGM TAGE – January 3, 2024
The CMA CGM TAGE is a container ship that departed Singapore and was en route to Egypt. Houthi militants fired antiship missiles at the vessel, claiming it was sailing to “occupied Palestine.” The ship is flagged in Malta and owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping of Singapore, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Idan Offer.
Galaxy Leader – November 19, 2023
The Galaxy Leader is a roll-on roll-off automotive carrier that departed Turkey and was en route to Indonesia when it was boarded by Houthi militants and pirated. The ship is flagged in the Bahamas and owned by Nippon Yusen and Ray Shipping of Japan. Rami Unger of Israel is part owner.
Strinda – December 11, 2023
The Strinda is a chemical and oil tanker vessel that departed Malaysia with a destination of Italy via Suez in AIS. Houthi militants claim that the ship was sailing to Israel. Cached port records indicated the Strinda was scheduled to arrive in Haifa on January 4, which was deleted before the attack. An antiship cruise missile struck the vessel, causing a fire that was controlled by the crew. It reportedly was carrying a cargo of palm kernel oil. The ship is flagged in Norway and owned by a Norwegian company.
A map of the attacks by the Houthi rebels on commercial shipping off the coast of #Yemen.
Of note that the vast majority of incidents have occurred outside of Yemeni territorial waters, and many have taken place away from #Houthi controlled coasts.
The Al Jasrah is a container ship that departed Greece and was en route to Singapore. It was hit by a one-way drone, causing a significant fire. The ship is flagged in Liberia and owned by a Kuwaiti company.
Ardmore Encounter – December 13, 2023
The Ardmore Encounter is a tanker that departed India and was en route to Sweden via a port of call in the Netherlands. Two missiles were fired at the ship, and were intercepted by the U.S. Navy. The ship is flagged in the Marshall Islands and owned by a United Arab Emirates company. The vessel was previously owned by an Israeli investor, who sold their interest in June 2023.
Blaamanen – December 23, 2023
The Blaamanen is a crude oil tanker that departed Romania and was en route to India. Four drones that were launched at the ship were intercepted by the USS Laboon. The ship is flagged in Norway, owned by a Norwegian company, and management by a company in Singapore.
Gibraltar Eagle – January 15, 2024
The Gigraltar Eagle is a bulk carrier that was sailing from South Korea with a load of steel en route to Suez, Egypt. An antiship missile struck the vessel, damaging a cargo hold, but it did not start a fire. The ship is flagged in the Marshall Islands and owned by a United States company.
Khalissa – January 12, 2024
The oil tanker Khalissa was sailing from Russia with an unknown destination in AIS. Houthi rebels fired at least one antiship missile at the vessel, which hit the water approximately 400 meters away. The ship is flagged in Panama and was previously owned by a company in the United Kingdom. It is now part of the sanction-running Russian shadow fleet.
Maersk Gibraltar – December 14, 2023
The Maersk Gibraltar is a container ship that departed Oman and was en route to Saudi Arabia. Antiship missiles were fired at the vessel and missed. Houthi militants continued to threaten the vessel with further attacks if it did not sail to their port of control. The ship is flagged in Hong Kong and is owned by the Danish company Maersk.
MSC Clara – December 18, 2023
The MSC Clara is a container ship that departed Saudi Arabia and was en route to the United Arab Emirates. The ship reported seeing an explosion “nearby,” but was not damaged. The vessel is flagged in Panama and owned by a Swiss company.
Platinum III – December 15, 2023
The Platinum III is a container ship that departed Kenya and was en route to Saudi Arabia. An antiship missile hit it as it transited the Red Sea near Bab e-Mandeb and diverted to Djibouti. The vessel is flagged in Liberia and owned by a Swiss company.
Sai Baba – December 23, 2023
The Sai Baba is a crude oil tanker that departed from Russia with an unknown destination in AIS. Two antiship missiles were fired at the vessel and missed. The ship is part of the Russian sanction-running shadow fleet flagged in India and owned by a company or private interest in Gabon.
Swan Atlantic – December 18, 2023
The Swan Atlantic is a tanker ship that departed Saudi Arabia and was en route to Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, controlled by France. The vessel was hit by an antiship missile but continued to its destination. The ship is flagged in the Cayman Islands and owned by a Norwegian company.
[KIRKLAND, Wash.] – (MTN) Public health officials are scrambling to understand the seriousness of the Omicron Covid-19 variant as a growing list of nations report probable and confirmed cases.
First confirmed on November 11 among four people from Botswana who had returned from traveling to neighboring South Africa, new cases in the nation of 59 million have leaped from 356 on the 11th to 3,220 on Saturday. Test positivity also increased dramatically in the last 16 days climbing from 1.1% to 9.2%. Test positivity over 5% is an indicator of under testing and over 7% is a signal there is growing community transmission.
Confirmed COVID cases in South Africa from November 11 to November 27, Data from South Africa Ministry of Health COVID Daily Report Dashboard
On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) named the variant formerly known at B.1.1.529, Omicron, and labeled it a Variant of Concern (VOC). The variant has more than 50 mutations from the original COVID strain and shares many mutations with other VOCs. There are 32 mutations on the spike proteins, which can potentially impact transmissibility and increase the level of vaccine escape the Delta variant has.
Before the WHO met on Friday, new cases were confirmed in Israel, Belgium, and Hong Kong. By Saturday, Italy, England, Germany, and the Czech Republic have reported confirmed cases. Netherlands officials stopped two flights arriving from Johannesburg and retested more than 650 people for Covid-19, finding 61 new cases. The people who tested positive have been placed in isolation and their cases are being genetically sequenced to determine which variant they have.
On Friday evening all but two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant outside of the African continent were travel-related. One case in Belgium appears to have been caused by community spread. In Hong Kong, a person in a quarantine hotel became infected by another COVID positive occupant “across the hall.” The case detected in Belgium involves an unvaccinated individual while the Hong Kong case involves a person vaccinated in May or June.
Disinformation is spreading that cases are only among the vaccinated. South Africa had some early success in rolling out the COVID vaccine, but today only 24.11% of the population is fully vaccinated. Further misinformation that vaccines created the mutation isn’t supported or factual. Vaccines prevent mutations by reducing the number of people who can be infected and only 6% of all Africans are vaccinated against COVID. Because most recreational international travel requires a person to be fully vaccinated, travel-related cases are creating a short-term data fallacy.
Many nations including the United States and Canada have announced travel restrictions or bans to a varying list of six to ten countries in the southern part of Africa. Starting Sunday, air travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi will be restricted to US citizens and lawfully permanent residents. Delta and United Airlines have direct flights to South Africa from the United States.
A chorus of epidemiologists and health officials are calling the restrictions ineffective and politically motivated.
Based on the history of other variants it is likely Omicron was circulating before its November 9 detection. The United States relaxed air travel restrictions on November 8. There are no confirmed or suspected cases in North America, but infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters it is “possibly” already here.
One mutation is working in favor of public health and helping track the spread of the new variant. Omicron is missing a protein, and the absence can be detected by a PCR test. Genomic sequencing is still required for final confirmation, but the mutation makes probable cases easy to detect.
Pfizer and its Germany partner BioNTech as well as Moderna announced on Friday there were studying the efficacy of the currently available COVID vaccines and have plans to create an update if required. Both indicated research would take approximately two weeks and Pfizer stated a new vaccine could be available in 100 days, pending regulatory approval.
“From the beginning, we have said that as we seek to defeat the pandemic, it is imperative that we are proactive as the virus evolves,” said Moderna’s Chief Executive Officer Stéphane Bancel. “We have three lines of defense that we are advancing in parallel: we have already evaluated a higher dose booster of mRNA-1273, second, we are already studying two multi-valent booster candidates in the clinic that were designed to anticipate mutations such as those that have emerged in the Omicron variant and data is expected in the coming weeks, and third, we are rapidly advancing an Omicron-specific booster candidate.”
Doctors at UW Medicine in Seattle are studying the effectiveness of antiviral medications against the new strain. Dr. Deborah Fuller, speaking with local TV station KCPQ, did not specifically state if monoclonal antibodies such as Regeneron, molnupiravir by Merck, or Paxlovid by Pfizer were being studied.
Regeneron has been an effective early treatment for COVID and is credited with preventing as many as 10,000 hospitalizations in Florida. Some of the mutations indicate that Omicron may be able to resist or escape the drug. Molnupiravir is an antiviral developed in 2019 as a treatment for Influenza, Ebola, and other viral infections. Research showed the oral medication halved severe Covid-19 infections and deaths and is pending Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Paxlovid was developed as a therapeutic for Covid-19 and was 89% effective at preventing hospitalization. The antiviral is also an oral medication and is being reviewed by the FDA to receive a EUA.
Molnupiravir is an antiviral medication currently under evaluation by the FDA that has shown strong promise as a viable COVID treatment
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency on Friday evening ahead of any new case spikes. The declaration goes into effect on December 3 and will enable the state to increase hospital capacity and release funds to hire additional staff and medical supplies. When the United States State Department eased travel restrictions on November 8, New York City was the number one chosen destination for European travelers. Orlando and Phoenix were number two and three.
A lot more will be known in the next two to four weeks about Omicron. The three questions epidemiologists will be working to answer include does Omicron spread faster than Delta, can Omicron escape some of our therapies and public health measures, and if those sickened by the new variant suffer from equal, more severe, or more mild symptoms.
Public health officials recommend that getting vaccinated and getting your booster if you’re eligible, wearing masks, avoiding crowded indoor spaces, and deferring travel are the best lines of defense until more is known. People who feel sick should not dismiss their symptoms as a cold or flu and should test for COVID. A positive result with a home test should be followed up with a PCR test to confirm the results and help public health track which variants are spreading.
The Washington State Department of Health is closed from Thursday to Sunday for the Thanksgiving holiday and has not made any statement.
As of Saturday afternoon, the number of confirmed cases globally can be counted in the dozens – caution and not panic should be the word of the day.
[KIRKLAND, Wash.] – (MTN) World health officials are alarmed due to a new fast-spreading Covid-19 variant in South Africa causing the World Health Organization to hold an emergency meeting as Asian stock markets plunged and the Dow Jones futures dropped 735 points.
The new variant, so far identified as B.1.1.529 has not been named, but the WHO is expected to assign it a name today, likely the Nu variant.
The variant was first detected in Botswana but has quickly spread in South Africa and two travel-related cases have been confirmed in Hong Kong. Botswana officials stated the four detected cases are among fully vaccinated individuals. in South Africa, cases are increasing rapidly in Gauteng Province, home to Johannesburg and one of the largest air travel hubs on the continent. In the span of a week, new cases went from a cluster to growing so fast scientists believe it has achieved community spread.
Officials in the U.K. are taking no chances. Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that six African nations – South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini – have been placed on the red list, placing strict rules on air travel.
Starting on Friday, any non-UK and Irish residents will be banned from entering England if they have been in the red list countries in the last ten days. Beginning Sunday, British nationals who have been in those countries will be required to quarantine upon entry. Additionally, health officials in the UK are asking anyone who has traveled to the impacted regions to get a PCR test as soon as possible.
South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the travel restrictions “seems to have been rushed,” in a statement where he expressed concern over the impact on tourism and business.
Israel and Singapore joined the U.K. early on Friday and added Mozambique to their travel restriction lists.
New case rate growth is much faster than Delta, which indicates the potential for a very high R0, or “r-naught,” which is the measure of how transmissible a communicable disease is. In little more than two weeks, B.1.1.529 has grown to almost 90% of all detected cases in South Africa.
According to Johns Hopkins University, only 24.11% of South Africans are fully vaccinated which would aid a new variant to spread unchecked. Health officials in South Africa and with the WHO are concerned that the new variant is circulating more widely than current data suggests.
The B.1.1.529 has more than 50 mutations, which is significantly higher than any other viable variant previously seen. More than 30 of those alternations are changes to the spike protein, which is the mechanism that enables the SARS-CoV-2 virus to identify hosts cell and is the primary target of the body’s immune response.
B.1.1.529 has more than twice the number of mutations as the Delta variant
In a report published by the Journal Nature, Penny Moore, a virologist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, indicated that computer models suggest not only does B.1.1.529 have mutations that are already known to aid in evading an immune response from B cells but could fool the body’s T cells.
B cells do the yeoman’s work of fighting virus infections, but have a shorter memory and can be tricked by a smaller set of mutations. T cells are the second line of immune defense with better memory and capabilities to spot mutations. When T cells identify a threat that was initially missed, they summon B cells to aid in the response. This is how disease acquired and vaccine immune response works. If the new variant is capable of evading T cells then the benefits of vaccine immunity would be reduced and disease acquired immunity could be rendered ineffective.
Disease acquired and vaccine immunity works the same. Antibodies bind to the spike proteins preventing the virus from entering cells so it can replicate. If the antibodies can’t bind to spike mutations and the mutations still enable the SARS-CoV-2 virus to identify host cells, the virus can spread inside the body unchecked causing a Covid-19 infection.
Another challenge is if these findings are accurate – the new variant may be capable of outmaneuvering monoclonal antibodies – blunting a critical early treatment.
One mutation is helping scientists track the spread of the new variant. A specific mutation to the spike protein enables researchers to identify the variant through a standard PCR test instead of waiting for genomic sequencing.
Currently, there are more questions than answers. Researchers know the new variant is spreading rapidly in South Africa and causing a new surge. What is not known is if the rapid spread is being driven by a mostly unvaccinated population or because it is more transmissible. It also is not known if the new variant causes equal, more severe, or mild illness. There is no data about the capability the new antivirals Molnupiravir and Paxlovid could have in fighting B.1.1.529.
It is important to note that Beta, Gamma, and Mu were previous variants found to have high resistance to vaccine and disease acquired immunity but weren’t very transmissible. All three variants faded out because Delta was more contagious. In the simplest terms, Delta outbred the other variants. A key requirement for a new variant to spread rapidly would be the capability to outrun Delta.
Most important of all, there is no concrete scientific evidence that B1.1.529 is evading viral vector or mRNA-based vaccines. Previous variants have taken months to identify while this one was found, sequenced, and placed under investigation in a matter of days.
No cases have been detected in North America or any United States territories.
[OLYMPIA] – (MTN) California governor Gavin Newsom and Colorado governor Jared Polis issued directives last week instructing healthcare providers to allow booster shots to anyone 18 and older, breaking from federal guidelines and forging a different path from the Western States Pact.
In April 2020, California, Oregon, and Washington entered into an agreement that would align the COVID response between the three states. Two weeks later Nevada and Colorado joined the pact. A similar agreement was reached on the East Coast, including many New England and Mid-Atlantic states. The cooperative agreements were created to share research and education telecommunications networks and services to align the regional response.
The states have largely been in agreement for the last 19 months so the recent fracture on booster protocols is a new development. After Colorado announced their directive on Tuesday, Charlie Boisner, the COVID-19 Public Information Officer for the Washington State Department of Health, told Malcontent News in an e-mail, “DOH is following guidance from the FDA, CDC and Western States as to whom is eligible to receive a booster shot. Additional populations may be recommended to receive a booster as more data becomes available. Washington has no plans of implementing measures outside of current authorizations.”
In a follow-up after California announced they were also breaking from FDA and CDC guidance and issuing a directive for “boosters for all,” Boisner responded, “Washington has no plans of implementing measures outside of current authorizations.”
Several Western Washington hospitals are dealing with a significant number of breakthrough cases among staff that were vaccinated in January and February.
On Monday morning New Mexico, also dealing with a late fifth wave surge, and New York City issued directives to make Covid-19 booster shots eligible for anyone 18 and over who wants one.
Colorado is facing a late fifth wave, with hospitals operating at crisis standards of care and projections indicating the state will run out of hospital resources by Christmas. Cases are also up in California with the surges in both states largely driven by the unvaccinated. Within the data, there is growing evidence that vaccines and natural immunity are waning. Among the unvaccinated reinfections are increasing dramatically and among the vaccinated, breakthrough cases among those vaccinated more than six months ago are creeping upward.
Last week Dr. Anthony Fauci urged anyone eligible to receive a booster to get one as soon as possible.
Germany may serve as a warning for the United States and the impact from a confusing rollout of booster shots. Ranked 45th for vaccination rates, only 3% of the population has received a COVID booster shot. In the eastern parts of Germany where only 50% of the population is vaccinated, cases are raging again. The German government is planning to deploy 12,000 troops to assist overwhelmed hospitals. Historically, Europe has been a leading indicator of the next surge to hit the Americas.
Earlier this year Israel dealt with a surge of Delta cases when the nation was vaccinated at a similar level to the United States today. The nation implemented a booster program in early July and expanded it twice, making boosters available for everyone 12 and older on September 25. Case rates have returned to a normal level, despite ranking 47th in vaccination rate in the world, and only slightly ahead of the United States.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there continued to be a need to prioritize those who are currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster but added, “as you likely know, FDA is currently looking at the data for expanding boosters to all populations.”
Two different studies were released in October 2021, providing insight into how long natural and vaccine immunity last. Neither offer lifetime protection and lifetime protection was never promised. A growing list of studies indicates that natural and vaccine-based immunity wanes after five to seven months.
On October 1, a study on the durability of immunity against reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 was published in The Lancet. Researchers predicted that natural immunity began to fade after 142 to 185 days and natural immunity would disappear after 16 months, The study also stated that this would vary widely depending on age, overall health, genetics, and risk factors, and immunity could be as short as three months or as long as five years.
Before the first Covid-19 vaccines became publicly available, researchers and scientists were publicly stating that boosters would be likely and that testing programs would evaluate the effectiveness of future boosters. Those predictions came true.
Many people are eligible for booster shots today including 188 million American adults who are overweight with a BMI of 25 or higher.
[SEATTLE, Wash.] – (MTN) During a Facebook Live with Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (CA-D) on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci M.D., Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recommended Americans who are eligible to get a Covid-19 booster shot to get one as soon as possible due to waning immunity.
With concern growing about a sixth wave in states that finished beating back the Delta surge and states such as Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, and Vermont having a late fifth wave, questions about eligibility for boosters are growing.
Some states aren’t waiting for direction from the federal government. California Governor Gavin Newsom and California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly told state residents 18 and older they should “absolutely” sign up to get a COVID booster. On Thursday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis issued a directive that defies current federal guidance on Covid-19 booster shots, permitting all state residents 18 and older to get them.
During a White House briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said there continued to be a need to prioritize those who are currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster but added, “as you likely know, FDA is currently looking at the data for expanding boosters to all populations.”
Who is currently eligible for a Covid-19 booster
Eligibility depends on which vaccine you received and several other factors.
Janssen/Johnson & Johnson
If your initial vaccine was Janssen/Johnson & Johnson and you’re 18 or older, you are eligible for a booster 60 days after receiving your first dose. There are no limitations for age, comorbidities, living arrangements, or vocation.
The FDA has approved a mix-and-match approach, and you can receive a booster using the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or a second Johnson & Johnson dose.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a 1:500,000 chance of causing a rare condition called VITT. In the United States, there have been 47 reported cases and four deaths. If you were assigned female at birth and have a family history of blood clots or low platelets, or you are of childbearing age and using a hormone-based form of birth control, and you’re concerned about VITT, talk to your healthcare provider, OB/GYN, or fertility specialist.
If you’ve had a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the last 90 days and you were symptomatic, talk to your doctor or healthcare provider on whether you should wait to receive a booster.
BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna
Anyone 65 or older and received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine is eligible for a booster 180 days after their second dose. People 18 to 64 can qualify for a third dose if they have certain medical conditions, work in a high-risk environment, or live in an area where social distancing isn’t feasible.
Medical conditions that put you at risk for severe Covid-19
Chronic lung disease such as moderate to severe asthma, bronchiectasis, COPD including obstructive sleep apnea, fibrosis or prior lung damage due to scarring, injury, or prior disease, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary embolism or history of, or pulmonary hypertension or history of
Dementia or Alzheimer’s
Diabetes – Type 1 or Type 2
Down Syndrome
Heart disease such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, cardiomyopathies
HIV
Immunocompromised, auto-immune disease, taking immunosuppressants, or using drugs that suppress the immune system such as steroids both oral and topical
Mental health conditions including mood disorders, depression, and schizophrenia
Body Mass Index (BMI) over 25
Pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or sexually active and could get pregnant and would carry pregnancy to term
Sickle cell disease or Thalassemia
Smoking or vaping currently or in the past
Solid-organ or blood stem cell transplant
Stroke or cerebrovascular disease
Substance abuse past or present including alcohol, opiods, or cocaine
Tuberculosis
Living conditions
If you have any of these living arrangements, you qualify for a booster.
Long-term care facility
Homeless shelter – short or long term
Jail or prison inmate
Community living arrangements such as dormatories, halfway houses, group homes, or hostels
Live with a high-risk individual with a medical condtion listed above, or live in a multi-generational household, and you are the primary care provider
First responders such as healthcare workers, firefighters, police, or congregate care providers
Educational staff such as teachers, support staff, athletics staff, transportation, and daycare workers
Food and agriculture workers
Manufacturing workers
Correctional officers and employees who work in jails or prisons including healthcare, educators, and mental health providers
U.S. Postal Service workers
Public transit workers
Grocery store workers and other retail and service employees that have high contact with the public
There have been less than 1,000 mild to moderate myocarditis cases in the United States connected with receiving the mRNA Pfizer or Moderna vaccines. Most of these cases involved adolescents or young men. If you were assigned male at birth and have a history of heart disease, or are worried about myocarditis, talk to your healthcare provider to see if the Jassen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a better option.
Just like the J&J vaccine, If you’ve had a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the last 90 days and you were symptomatic, talk to your healthcare provider to determine if you should wait to receive a booster.
I thought the COVID vaccine was forever
The idea that the Covid-19 vaccine would be one and done is a creation of misinformation, misunderstanding, and poor reporting by some news outlets.
As the first COVID wave was winding down in the United States in May 2020, there were discussions about having “immunity passports.” People who had a confirmed Covid-19 case could be permitted to return to work and other activities based on the assumption they possessed natural immunity. Shortly after the discussions started, early evidence began to pile up that natural immunity was short-lived. The journal Nature Medicine shared a report on June 18 showing natural immunity started to fade after three months.
The closest claim that immunity from natural exposure or vaccination would last a lifetime came from former President Donald Trump in October 2020. Still, even then, he never made a complete claim of lifetime protection. On October 11, 2020 during an interview with Maria Bartiromo, Trump discussed his personal battle with Covid-19.
“It looks like I’m immune for, I don’t know, maybe a long time, maybe a short time,” he said. “It could be a lifetime. Nobody really knows, but I’m immune. So the President is in very good shape to fight the battles.”
As Trump was recovering from COVID and considering if he had “long time” immunity, there was more evidence that natural immunity started to fade after three months and a growing number of reinfection cases. For public health officials, an even bigger concern was many people who got reinfected suffered from more severe cases.
In December, when the first Covid-19 vaccines were about to become publicly available in the United States, the medical community was already cautioning the public it was unknown how long immunity would last.
In January 2021, Dr. Kristen Marks M.D., an infectious disease specialist at New York-Presbyterian, said, “We really don’t know whether you’re still immune a year after vaccination. Some of the clinical trials will study adding a booster in a year and comparing whether that’s better or if the immunity is just as good for two years with the two shots. That remains to be determined.”
Data from the United Kingdom and Israel have shown that all immunity wanes. Although cases grew dramatically in both countries, hospitalizations and fatalities did not match the winter 2020 surges. A vast majority of the hospitalized, critically ill, and deaths were among the unvaccinated. In Israel, an aggressive booster program ended their wave where new cases have drifted downward to early July levels.
How long does natural and vaccine based immunity last
Two different studies were released in October 2021, providing insight into how long natural and vaccine immunity last. Neither offer lifetime protection.
On October 1, a study on the durability of immunity against reinfection by SARS-CoV-2 was published in The Lancet. Researchers predicted that natural immunity had a half-life of 142 to 185 days. Half-life means how long does it take for half of the antibodies for a disease to disappear from a person’s blood serum. The study estimated that after 16 months, the average person would no longer have any natural immunity to Covid-19. However, the study also stated that this would vary widely depending on age, overall health, genetics, and risk factors. The half-life could be as short as 45 days or as long as 31 months.
Three days later, the Lancet published a study on vaccine-based immunity titled Effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine up to 6 months in a large integrated health system in the USA. That study indicated that immunity waned from 30% to 50% after five months depending on the mRNA vaccine administered, age, and Covid-19 variants. Simply put, vaccine immunity and natural immunity, when accounting for a range of factors, have similar half-lives.
The viral-vector vaccine from Johnson & Johnson has received less research and has been administered to approximately 15 million Americans. A third study indicated the J&J vaccine was the least effective of the three available options in the United States, particularly with the Delta variant.
Why aren’t the vaccines 100% effective
It is a common misconception that vaccines are 100% effective, especially in industrialized nations. Due to a combination of high vaccination rates for diseases such as measles, mumps, and polio, and enough immunized people to provide community immunity, it is easy to believe that vaccines are perfect and forever.
For example, polio still exists in several countries, and the U.S. Department of Defense and the CDC recommend a poliovirus booster for anyone traveling to those regions. Certain members of Generation X have been advised to get an updated MMR vaccination because data shows that protection from measles doesn’t last a lifetime. Even Ben Shapiro complained on Twitter in 2015 that his 13-month old son was exposed to pertussis and became severely ill.
When it comes to the COVID vaccines, no one in the medical community said any vaccines were 100% effective, and the data has always been publicly available.
In Phase 3 studies, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were 95% effective in the first few months after vaccination. Put simply, “If there were 100 people who would have gotten COVID, it prevented 95 of them from getting it, but it didn’t prevent all 100,” says Dr. Marks. “It definitely provides some protection, but it’s not perfect.”
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine reported a 72% efficacy rate in preventing moderate to severe disease from COVID-19 in the U.S. and was 85% effective in preventing severe disease.
The good news is that early data found that those who did contract COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine did not develop a severe form of the disease. “So even if it doesn’t completely prevent illness, the study data shows that it does reduce the severity,” Dr. Marks said. Ten months later, the early projections have largely come true.
In King County, Washington, 22% of all confirmed Covid-19 infections since January 17 have been breakthrough cases. Eleven percent of people hospitalized were vaccinated, and 15% died of Covid-19 related illness. When the total number of vaccinated versus unvaccinated residents is considered, the effectiveness of vaccines, even as the need for boosters is increasing, is evident.
Population
Confirmed Cases
Hospitalized
Deaths
Fully vaccinated
1.633M
20,252
433
115
Partial or unvaccinated
319K
71,857
3,373
667
349,000 King County residents are under 12 years old and were not vaccine eligible from January 7 to November 10
Unvaccinated King County residents were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized and 13 times more likely to die of Covid-19 from January 17 to November 3.
Additionally, a comparison of King County, Washington, and Dallas County, Texas, provides additional data on vaccination and public health programs’ impact. King County experienced the first superspreader event in February 2020, the first Covid-19 death, and had the first mass casualty situation at a hospital in the United States. A month later, Texas suffered its first Covid-19 death. Over the next 627 days, King County implemented some of the strictest COVID rules in the nation while Dallas County took a more open approach.
On November 1, Dallas County reported its 5,000 COVID-related death while King County reported 2,022. Simply put, 1 in every 530 residents of Dallas County has died of COVID since March 2020 versus 1 in every 1,137 residents in King County since February 2020.
Will we need to get boosters forever
To answer that question, we need to move away from facts and science and step into the arena of opinion. The short answer is, “maybe,” but it depends on the advancement of medical science, improvements in available vaccines, and our own behavior.
In the short term, the data is clear – peak immunity against current Covid-19 variants lasts 142 to 185 whether it is natural or vaccine-based. A regimen of booster shots will likely be needed every 6 to 12 months over the next few years.
Two antiviral drugs are currently being evaluated in the United States. Molnupiravir by Merck is reported to reduce hospitalizations and deaths by 50%, while Pfizer released a study on a medication they are developing that was 88% effective in early testing. Both drugs are oral and would be game-changers in the treatment of Covid-19.
Another way to get off the booster shot treadmill would be to reach 90% to 95% immunity, reducing the number of available hosts for Covid-19 to a level that the disease can’t widely spread in the population – so-called ‘herd immunity.” Given the resistance of 62 million Americans to get vaccinated, and almost half the world doesn’t have access to the COVID vaccine, that seems unlikely.
A third game-changer would be a new variant that emerges and is far more transmissible than the current dominant Delta strains but with significantly less severe symptoms. A version of Covid-19 that is closer to moderate Influenza in symptoms and lethality and is as contagious as measles would quickly infect the population, run out of hosts, and burn itself out while not overwhelming hospitals. This could also lead to “herd immunity.”
The final possibility is the vaccines themselves get better. The original Salk polio vaccine, authorized in 1955, was 50% effective at preventing infections but 90% effective at preventing hospitalizations. It wasn’t until 1962 when the Sabin oral vaccine replaced the Salk vaccine, that infections dropped 90% after a first dose and 99% after four doses.
If the Covid-19 vaccines follow a similar development path as other vaccines, a more effective version will likely be discovered in the future.
Why didn’t the United States approve boosters for all after the Biden Administration announced its intent
Over the summer, the Biden Administration and the World Health Organization (WHO), FDA, and CDC had a very public disagreement on who should get booster shots. President Biden wanted every adult to be eligible for a booster. The WHO objected, pointing out how some nations had no access to COVID vaccines while the United States was throwing out expired doses. The FDA and CDC also pushed back, arguing there wasn’t enough real-world data to support boosters for all.
While the debate raged, experts had a real-world case study unfolding on the other side of the world. Israeli officials started boosters for anyone over 60 on July 13 and three weeks later dropped the age to 40. On September 25, they dropped the age again to 12 and older. The program was highly effective at controlling deaths and hospitalizations, and when Israel is compared to the United Kingdom, the booster program implemented was an evident success.
On September 22, the FDA approved booster shots for recipients of the Pfizer vaccine, and on October 20 added the vaccine by Moderna. Eligibility was limited to people who were 65 or older or were 18 to 64 and worked or lived in places with a high risk of exposure or had a serious underlying medical condition that increased their chances of severe COVID. The FDA recommended a booster six months after receiving the second dose.
Also, on October 20, the FDA authorized boosters for anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As the Delta variant raged in the southeastern United States during the summer of 2021, it became evident the J&J vaccine offered less protection against hospitalization. Additionally, the viral-vector vaccines created by Astra Zeneca and developed in Russia and China were also low-performing. Anyone who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was advised to get a booster 60 days after the first dose.
Unfortunately, the ethical and trust concerns that tainted the debate in the United States have resulted in new COVID cases stuck on a high plateau for the last three weeks. New cases are rising in most states, and the pattern of Covid-19 infections looks eerily similar to the United Kingdom. A vast majority of hospitalized COVID patients continue to be unvaccinated.
The world needs to learn to live with Covid-19 and everyone will eventually have a date with the illness. The question is, will you be effectively vaccinated or not when it happens.
Knowledge is the best tool to fight against fear. A wise person chooses to be informed so they can make sound decisions. To join the fight against COVID misinformation, you can share this update through your social media platform of choice.
[KING COUNTY, Wash.] – (MTN) The most vaccinated county in Washington, San Juan, became the first county to see the number of new COVID cases drop into an acceptable range today. Across Washington, the number of new COVID cases and hospitalizations continues to decline.
The percentage of acute care patients treated for COVID dropped below 20% for the first time in weeks, adding more evidence that the fifth wave peaked.
Protesters plan to try and enter Swedish and Harborview Medical Center tomorrow as part of a protest against vaccine mandates for healthcare workers. A large anti-mandate protest is scheduled for Sunday in Olympia and includes speakers from The Post Millenial, Turning Point USA, and failed gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp.
Washington state will start disciplining doctors and nurses who spread COVID misinformation.
The CDC urges pregnant women to get vaccinated, reporting 97% of pregnant people hospitalized are unvaxxed. The deadline to get vaccinated to meet the Washington state employee mandate arrives on Sunday.
A new study out of the U.K. indicates 36% of people who have symptomatic cases of COVID become long haulers, in the most extensive study to date.
Alaska has two more hospitals move to crisis standards of care, Idaho continues the Hunger Games while Montana takes a bold new approach to its COVID problem – stop reporting data.
If Alaska were a country, it would have the highest COVID infection rate on the planet, and if Idaho were a country, it would have the highest COVID death rate on the planet.
In misinformation, we do a rerun to the questions, “what about Israel?”
Editor’s Note: A security upgrade took our site offline for a few hours last night. We apologize for any inconvenience. This was not related to any malicious activity but was required to fix a critical security flaw.
The first wave has ended in San Juan County, where 73.2% of the eligible population was vaccinated. The 7 day moving average for new cases dropped to 23.1 today, showing the archipelago has COVID under control.
New cases continued to drop statewide. In the South Central Hospital Region, which includes Benton, Franklin, Klickitat, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties, the 14 day moving average for new cases decreased to 742.9 per 100K. The Central Hospital Region, which represents King County, declined to 245.1.
Percent of Total Population Fully Vaccinated
Average 14-Day New Case Rate (unadjusted)
60.00% or above (3)
172.2 (down)
50.00% to 59.99% (12 counties)
509.3 (down)
40.00% to 49.99% (15 counties)
660.3 (down)
28.40% to 39.99% (9 counties)
724.7 (down)
14-Day New COVID Cases per 100K average by Vaccination Rate, Not Adjusted for Population
Through September 28, Washington’s statewide 14-day rolling average is 429.8 COVID cases per 100K, the lowest number since August 18. Counties in the 1,000.0 to 1,399.9 range include Lincoln (1,049.8)and Stevens (1,069.3), the least vaccinated county in Washington. Counties in the 800.0 to 999.9 per 100K range include Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Grays Harbor, and Okanogan.
New cases were down for all ages except 50 to 64 years old, which was statistically unchanged. Pediatric patients increased while geriatric patients decreased.
Age Group
7-Day Case Rate
7-Day Hospitalization Rate
Ages 0-11
194,8 (down)
0.7 (up)
Ages 12-19
213.0 (down)
1.7
Ages 20-34
200.7 (down)
5.6
Ages 35-49
201.5 (down)
9.9
Ages 50-64
142.8
15.0
Ages 65-79
102.5 (down)
18.5 (down)
Ages 80+
106.5 (down)
31.5 (down)
7-day case rate and 7-day hospitalization rate is per 100K within the age group – the target for 7-day case rate is <25.0, but there are other factors such as vaccination rates within the age groups, how many total tests within the 7-day period, and the positivity rate within each age group
The USA Today COVID Tracker reported 63 deaths on Tuesday, with data from the weekend included in the number. The state of Washington is not reporting the percentage of positive cases.
“We’re seeing some hopeful signs, and disease is still very, very high. Hospitalizations are still very, very high. Hospital admissions are still significantly higher than they were at the peak of the 3rd wave. And those are new admissions every day, and so that means occupancy is still very high. It continues to be high. And so, hospitals continue to they’re having to delay care for non-urgent procedures,” said Lacy Fehrenbach, Deputy Secretary for COVID-19 Response at the Washington State Department of Health.
Antivax protesters plan to enter Swedish and Harborview Medical Center tomorrow
At least one promoter of the Waking up Washington “Seattle March for Healthcare Workers Against COVID Mandates” is calling for marchers to enter Swedish and Harborview Medical Center to force people to “hear inconvenient truths.”
The march will start at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow, with protesters against vaccine mandates told to gather at Swedish before marching through Seattle to Harborview Medical Center.
On September 21, organizer Palmer Davis shared with her followers, “If our goal is to demand action from those inside the building, standing outside [emphasis hers] of it is kind of a waste of time.”
“What works is to get inside.” [emphasis hers]
“Face-to-face discussion forces people to hear inconvenient truths and answer inconvenient questions.”
Ms. Davis provided no additional specifics on what action could happen when they enter the hospitals, but she didn’t indicate they plan to disrupt patient care.
Available data doesn’t support large-scale resistance among the medical community over receiving the COVID vaccination. New York was the first to reach the deadline for a statewide mandate for healthcare workers. Over 92% of the state’s 692,326 impacted healthcare workers had received at least a first dose by Monday. More than 15,000 additional workers have told officials they will start their vaccination series.
Vaccination rates among patient-facing staff are even higher. The vaccination rate for nurses is estimated to exceed 97% and for doctors was almost 100%,
Large anti-vaccination protest planned in Olympia on Sunday
Local activists are planning a large anti-vaccination mandate rally at the Washington State Capitol on Sunday. Listed speakers include Ari Hoffman, writer at the Post Millenial, Katie Daviscourt of Turning Point USA, serial lawsuit filer Glen Morgan, Loren Culp, the former police chief of Republic, Washington State Representative Jim Walsh, and Winlock mayor Brandon Svenson.
“October 4s the deadline to receive the 2nd dose of the MRNA injection in order to be considered “fully vaccinated” by October 18 [sic] OctoOctober [sic] 3 thousands of State Workers and others from 1–4 p.m. as we stand united against this unreasonable and un-American mandate. Only by standing together do we have any hope of pressuring this Governor to reverse course. If he will not, then we must demand that our Representatives in the Legislature hold a special session to end this lawless and harmful action.”
The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1905 vaccination mandates at the municipal, county, and state levels are Constitutional. The court’s finding has been litigated dozens of times in the 116 years since, including August of this year. Several students at the University of Indiana filed a case with the Supreme Court over the university’s vaccine mandate. Justice Amy Coney-Barrett issued a ruling in favor of the school after determining it didn’t warrant an emergency hearing with the entire court.
About 1,700 state employees have had exemptions approved but could still lose their jobs if a non-public facing position can’t be found for them.
Washington doctors face discipline for spreading COVID misinformation
The Washington Medical Commission says practitioners who misrepresent prevention measures, including vaccines and mask-wearing or prescribe non-approved medications such as Ivermectin, will be subject to disciplinary action.
Patients concerned about a provider’s conduct can file a complaint with the commission.
Washington nurses will face the same action.
Travel Advisories
We recommend avoiding recreational travel to Spokane, Yakima, Klickitat, Benton, Franklin, and Walla Walla counties. If the number of new cases in the South Central Hospital Region continues to decline, we will likely lift our advisory for this region in the next 5 to 12 days. We strongly advise against all nonessential travel to Alaska, Idaho, and Montana. Hospital resources in these regions are constrained, and you may receive inadequate care if you experience a medical emergency.
Thank you
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Vaccination
CDC urges pregnant women to get vaccinated as deaths, premature births, and stillbirths rise among the unvaccinated
The CDC strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy. As of SeptemSeptember 27, more than 125,000 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in pregnant people, including more than 22,000 hospitalized cases and 161 deaths. The highest number of COVID-19-related deaths in pregnant people in a single month was reported in August 2021. Data from the COVID-19-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET) indicate almost 97% of pregnant people hospitalized (either for illness or for labor and delivery) with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were unvaccinated.
In addition to the risks of severe illness and death for pregnant and recently pregnant people, there is an increased risk for adverse pregnancy and neonatal outcomes, including preterm birth and admission of their babies to an ICU. Other negative consequences, such as stillbirth, have been reported. Despite the known risks of COVID-19, as of SeptemSeptember 18, 31.0% of pregnant people were fully vaccinated before or during their pregnancy.
Although the absolute risk is low, compared with non-pregnant symptomatic people, symptomatic pregnant people have more than a two-fold increased risk of requiring ICU admission, invasive ventilation, ECMO, and a 70% increased risk of death.
Deadline for single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine and second dose for Pfizer and Moderna vaccine looms for state workers
Thousands of state workers have until Sunday to receive their second Pfizer or Moderna dose or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Over 68% of state workers have reported they are fully vaccinated, and data from companies, schools, and other states such as Hawaii and New York, indicated that final acceptance would exceed 95%.
Multiple unions have reached agreements at a municipal, county, or state level, to extend the deadline past October 18 for individuals who received at least their first dose. Additionally, workers with denied exemptions requests will be given extra time.
Pfizer vaccine booster shots are now available
Booster shots for eligible individuals are now available statewide. Individuals who received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine more than 6 months ago, are 65 or older, or are immunocompromised can receive their third dose immediately.
In the Kirland-Bellevue-Woodinville area, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, Bartell’s, and QFC are offering booster shots. Additionally, the third dose is available at the CVS located within the Target store at 17,700 NE 76th Street in Redmond.
Most locations require an appointment, which can be scheduled online.
King County, Washington is reporting over 86.2% of age eligible residents are vaccinated with at least one dose. The highest rates of positivity are in areas with low vaccination rates statewide. The FDA has provided full approval of the Pfizer vaccine for anyone 16 and over and EUA approval for the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.
COVID vaccines are free for anyone over 12 years old, and no appointment is necessary at most locations. Lyft and Hopelink provide free transportation, and KinderCare, the Learning Care Group, and the YMCA offer free childcare during vaccination appointments or recuperation.
According to the DoH COVID Dashboard, 19.5% of all acute care patients hospitalized in Washington have COVID. This is the first time the Washington state hospital system is not under “severe stress” in weeks. ICUs are at 89.3% of capacity statewide, with 30.5% of ICU patients fighting COVID. Although these numbers are very encouraging, thousands of vital surgeries and other medical procedures have been delayed for months. Some hospitals are starting to do elective procedures again, which will continue to keep ICU beds full.
The 7-day rolling average hospital admission rate for new COVID patients dropped to 137. The Department of Health reported 1,267 COVID patients statewide on SeptemSeptember 2897 on ventilators.
Hospitals in Eastern and Southwest Washington remain very strained due to low vaccination rates and, to a far lesser extent, out-of-state transfer patients.
– Alcott Elementary (1*) – Barton Elementary (1*) – Dickinson/Explorer Elementary (2*) – Ella Baker Elementary (3*) – Eastlake High (1*) – Evergreen Middle School (1*) – Franklin Elementary (2*) – Finn Hill Middle School (1* – see below) – ICS (1*) – Inglewood Middle School (2*) – Juanita Elementary (1*) – Kamiakin Middle School (3*) – Keller Elementary (2*) – Kirkland Middle School (1*) – Lake Washington High (1*) – Lakeview Elementary (3*) – Muir Elementary (1*) – Redmond Middle School (1*) – Redmond High School (1*) – Renaissance Middle School (1*) – Rush Elementary (2*)
See notes below
Northshore
RED
– Arrowhead Elementary (16) – Canyon Creek Elementary (25) – Canyon Park Middle School (11**) – Cottage Lake Elementary (13) – Crystal Springs Elementary (52**) – East Ridge Elementary (21) – Fernwood Elementary (13**) – Frank Love Elementary (25) – Hollywood Hills Elementary (26) – Inglemoor High School (8) – Innovation Lab High School (11) – Kenmore Elementary (12) – Kenmore Middle School (50**) – Kokanee Elementary (62) – Leota Middle School (5) – Lockwood Elementary (31) – Maywood Hills Elementary (21**) – Moorlands Elementary (51) – North Creek High School (26**) – Northshore Middle School (13**) – Ruby Bridges Elementary (9) – Secondary Academy for Success (12) – Shelton View Elementary (18**) – Skyview Middle School (75**) – Sunrise Elementary (21) – Timbercrest Middle School (46) – Wellington Elementary (77) – Westhill Elementary (30) – Woodin Elementary (17**) – Woodinville High School (19) – Woodmoor Elementary (21**)
– Bothell High School (13*/121)
Local Districts Scorecard – * indicates positive cases only ** indicates 5 or more confirmed positive cases
We redefined the school district statuses. Information for classroom and building closures has been a challenge to obtain, both for closures and reopening. We are adopting moving any school with more than 10 active COVID cases reported into the red, and we’ve adjusted the third column to reflect this change.
Bellevue School District went back to status yellow, with 10 confirmed COVID cases between students and staff in the district.
We received a confirmed parent report of one new COVID case at Finn Hill Middle School with 52 students moved to quarantine. Because Lake Washington doesn’t update its dashboard daily, we are adding this as a footnote.
Kirkland-Bellevue-Woodinville
No update
National Round-Up
Johns Hopkins University Cumulative Case Tracker is reporting 111,162 new cases and 2,543 deaths nationwide. COVID-related hospitalizations have declined to 79,000. The Pacific Northwest and Appalachia have become the new COVID hotspots, while Alabama leads the nation in per capita COVID deaths.
Dwindling COVID data is hampering efforts to track and report the real situation
“The fact that they created it, the infrastructure sits there, they put resources towards it, and then they decided not to make it sustainable is really concerning and just disheartening,” says Lauren Gardner, an associate professor of engineering at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s like they started going down the right path and then pulled back.”
By the first week of June, 24 U.S. states reported cases and deaths less than seven times a week, and four states reported only one to three times a week, according to JHU. More states followed suit, even as cases began to rise again due to the Delta variant. Currently, 36 states have pulled back from daily reporting, and seven of them are reporting only three times a week or less, including hard-hit Florida, which is reporting weekly.
New study finds 36% of people who had COVID are long haulers
The study, led by University of Oxford scientists in the United Kingdom, searched anonymized data from millions of electronic health records, primarily in the United States, to identify a study group of 273,618 patients with COVID-19 and 114,449 patients with influenza as a control.
Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. made the crisis care decision as many of the hospitals that typically take patient transfers in Anchorage and elsewhere continue to operate at capacity, officials said Wednesday. Hospitals in outlying areas already say they have to treat more challenging patients in-house because they can’t move them out for higher levels of care.
Dr. John Cullen described the likelihood of a much higher mortality rate “similar to a battlefield scenario” until COVID-19 cases start to drop to the Valdez City Council.
Alaska has 207 COVID patients hospitalized and 22 ICU beds available statewide – both numbers are an improvement from yesterday. Of the 106 patients in the ICU, a staggering 84 are on ventilators.
More than 300 Alaska doctors and other medical professionals, who are frustrated about inaction and incivility around COVID-19, signed an open letter this week asking people to think of what’s best for their fellow Alaskans and consider getting vaccinated.
The letter signers also say they stand in solidarity with their colleagues who spoke at an Anchorage Assembly meeting earlier this month after their impassioned testimony was met with jeers and denials.
Robin Ninefeldt told Alaska Public Media, “I personally know a young gentleman who lost his life because the health aide clinic ran out of a supply of oxygen. That’s a reality. And when I talk with my colleagues who are in the ICU, you’re dealing with the people doing your very best to keep them alive through supportive therapies, watching them pass away, watching families literally erupt into screams in tears because it is tragic to have someone taken from you so quickly.”
Idaho
Boise State University has provided insight into how much impact “crisis standards of care” are having in Idaho. At the start of the surge tearing through the state, 4.04% of residents who became infected with COVID died. This is well above the region and national average and exacerbated by distrust in the medical community, uninsured residents, and significant comorbidities in the state. Today, the rate is over 9% – if Idaho were a country, it would rival Peru.
That backlog not only limits the accuracy of reported COVID-19 cases in real-time but also limits local public health districts in their ability to contact trace properly. According to local health districts, this backlog of cases has developed due to a lack of necessary staffing to process cases in real-time. However, hiring more staff hasn’t been easy.
“There is a stigma against public health across much of Idaho, including our district, which makes it so people don’t want to work for public health simply because they don’t want to face the harassment public health workers are facing right now,” said Brianna Bodily, public information officer for South Central Public Health District.
“I want to remind everybody the monoclonal antibody treatment is a second to people getting vaccinated. We’ve got to get our numbers down.”
“Compared to the vaccines we’ve had before, there’s been more follow up on this vaccine than anything in history,” Gov. Little said.
Hospital officials describe border communities, like Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, as the ‘stopgap’ for ineffective Covid practices in Idaho, which Gov. Inslee mentioned during his trip to Spokane.
As nurses and doctors fought to keep a critically ill woman alive at St. Luke’s McCall Medical Center, which has just 15 beds, someone was busy painting swastikas outside. The staff is now demoralized and fearful.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Paddy Kinney, a physician and the on-duty hospitalist that night. “The timing of it was tough. Anytime you leave the hospital after you’ve worked all night trying to save somebody and you go home to your family, it’s hard to leave the hospital. You’re wondering if you could have done more or if that person is going to ultimately survive the night.
“But then to leave and be faced with that on your way out the door was really heartbreaking for people.”
“It’s disheartening to hear that our healthcare workers went from feeling like heroes to feeling at risk,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW) Director Dave Jeppesen told reporters Tuesday.
Kootenai Health, in northern Idaho, increased security after people got into disputes with staff over masking requirements and staged protests outside the hospital. “I mean, we had a protest outside the hospital against masks and vaccines a couple of weeks ago that the patients that were dying of COVID inside could see,” Kootenai Health chief of staff Dr. Robert Scoggins said. “I think that was awful.”
Dr. Ryan Cole, who heads the public health efforts in Ada County, was blasted for making false claims that the COVID vaccine caused a twentyfold increase in cancer rates.
Cole claimed that he saw an uptick in cancers in vaccinated people, such as a “20 times increase in endometrial cancer”. However, he offered nothing in the way of data to support his claim, meaning that viewers only have his word for it.
Public health authorities haven’t reported a sudden cancer surge since the COVID-19 vaccination campaign began in the U.S. in December 2020. Furthermore, the spike that Cole alleged to be occurring would also have been observed worldwide if it were true. Yet, no reports have been corroborating Cole’s claim that people are now developing cancer at record rates.
The number of children and teens in Idaho hospitals for COVID-19 at the end of this summer was five times higher than what hospitals were seeing in June, according to data presented Wednesday afternoon in a briefing with doctors representing Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke’s, and Primary Health.
The number of hospitalized infants and children younger than five years old was ten times higher during the last week of August compared to June.
“That’s a scary figure,” said Dr. David Peterman, CEO of Primary Health Medical Group, who’s also a pediatrician.
Bethann Kierczak, 37, faces charges of theft or embezzlement related to a healthcare benefit program and theft of government property.
The complaint alleges that starting as early as May, the registered nurse distributed and sold real COVID-19 cards that had either been stolen or embezzled from a Veterans Affairs hospital. For the cards to look even more authentic, Kierczak used stolen or embezzled vaccine lot numbers for the cards, prosecutors say. Kierczak is accused of using Facebook’s Messenger feature to connect with potential buyers and sell the cards for between $150 and $200 each.
Montana
It continues to be very challenging to get meaningful information out of the state of Montana, beyond multiple hospitals operating at crisis standards of care or right to the line. The state reported more than 1,300 new cases but provided no information on total hospitalizations, ICU capacity, or the number of people on ventilators.
New Hampshire
Governor Chris Sununu condemned the actions of protesters that caused the postponement of Wednesday’s Executive Council. The protesters, part of an escalating COVID protest movement, were opposed to a state contract to expand vaccination efforts. The protesters’ yelling and threats led several state health department employees to leave the meeting under police escort.
“We will not allow our state employees to be put in harm’s way for simply doing their jobs,” Sununu said, echoing a statement he released earlier in the day. “That is not what New Hampshire is about.”
In a tweet posted shortly before 7 p.m. E.T., the production stated, “Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected with the company of Aladdin at The New Amsterdam Theatre. Because the wellness and safety of our guests, casts, and crew are our top priority, tonight’s performance, Wednesday, September 29 has been canceled.”
North Carolina
3 Doors Down have begun canceling concerts on their ongoing The Better Life 20th anniversary U.S. tour that will require all artists, crew, and attendees to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or a recent negative COVID test. Two shows have been canceled so far.
Those concerts were originally scheduled for October 7 at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, N.C., and October 9 at Cadence Bank Amphitheatre in Atlanta.
Teresa Makenzie Sperry, a student at Hillpoint Elementary School, was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Kings Daughters in Norfolk and died after her heart failed, her mother, Nicole Sperry, wrote.
Misinformation
“Look at Israel.” This is a common refrain from people who claim that vaccinations don’t work. They cite Israel’s high vaccination rate and the hospitalization rate among the vaccinated population. We wrote about the data fallacy when looking at percentages for new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths when evaluating vaccination performance. Let’s pull these claims apart.
Israel is highly vaccinated. In April 2021, that statement is correct. Israel was the global leader in vaccination. By the time Delta surged in Israel, the nation had dropped to 32nd place. Today Israel is tied with Saudia Arabia and Germany in 21st place, with 67% of the population with at least one dose, narrowly ahead of the United States and behind Sweden. Globally, there are 17 nations with a vaccination rate of 70% or higher.
The United Arab Emirates, where 84% of the population is fully vaccinated, has a population similar to Michigan. The Middle East nation is reporting under 300 new COVID cases a day. The country never had a significant Delta surge.
For our analysis, we went straight to the source – The Israel Ministry of Health COVID website and its COVID Control Panel.
Israel vaccination rate from JuJune 30o September 232021
The first graphic shows the vaccination rate in Israel stalled out and barely changed over three months. The booster shot program started on JuJuly 302021, and about half of the previously vaccinated residents had received the first dose by the end of September.
Severely ill patients over 60 years old by immunization status previous 90 days
The next chart shows the impact of the Delta wave as it rolled through Israel. The number of severely ill patients, defined differently than the United States, rises quickly among the unvaccinated, representing only 33% to 36% of the population, depending on the time within the surge.
The number of severely ill patients also increases at just 25% of the peak level among the unvaccinated, despite representing 64% to 67% of the population. Finally, the number of severely ill patients over the last 3 months is negligible among residents who received a booster shot.
We know that most breakthrough cases are among people over 65 years old. Israeli doctors found the same situation.
The majority of these patients received two vaccine doses at least five months ago, are over the age of 60, and have chronic illnesses known to exacerbate a coronavirus infection. They range from diabetes to heart disease and lung ailments, as well as cancers and inflammatory diseases that are treated with immune-system suppressing drugs, according to Reuters interviews with 11 doctors, health specialists, and officials.
Deaths by immunization status in Israel, last 90 days, under 60 years old
What about those under 60 years old? The overall rate of death among those under 60 is almost negligible. Unvaccinated residents have a slightly higher occurrence versus those who receive two doses. Once again, the unvaccinated group represents a much smaller number of people, about 3.3 million, versus the vaccinated group of 6.5 million. There is one more thing in this graph, in the last 90 days, the total number of deaths among residents under 60 who received a booster shot is 3.
Current hospitalizations “seriously” ill patients in Israel by age and vaccination status
The last chart shows the current situation among “seriously ill” patients in Israel. The majority of the 660 hospitalized patients are under 70 years old, and a vast majority are unvaccinated. It isn’t until you get to 80 and above that, the number of breakthrough cases comes close to the number of unvaccinated patients.
Of the 660 seriously ill patients, 285 are in the ICU, and 227 are on respirators, and the chart above shows, a vast majority are unvaccinated.
The argument that the vaccine didn’t work in Israel is a data fallacy. The vaccine is highly effective at preventing severe COVID and death, even when facing the Delta variant and an aged population. In the last 90 days, based on data from Israel, only 3 people who received booster shots died from COVID.
Journalists, activists, and researchers defending the First Amendment
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