What is the percentage of deaths among vaccinated people according to the CDC?
The CDC is warning of a "pandemic of the unvaccinated," as hospital covid-19 wards are swamped with unvaccinated patients.
The CDC said 99.99% of people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have not had a breakthrough case that resulted in hospitalization or death. As of 26 July, there were 6,587 known breakthrough cases, according to the CDC. A breakthrough case is where someone, who was previously fully vaccinated, catches and spreads a disease due to the effectiveness of the vaccine eroding over time.
The main reason for rising hospitalizations is the Delta variant. The variant has a high viral load, meaning the speed the variant reproduces in the body is very quick, and people can become infected with a shorter contact time. It is estimated that the viral load of Delta is 1260 times more than variants from the beginning of the pandemic. The CDC notes that Delta is twice as contagious as the Alpha variant first sequenced in the UK, which was itself twice as infectious as the original covid-19 strain. There were more than 51,000 new cases on August 8.
How many people are hospitalized with covid-19?
Hospitalizations are at a six-month high and rose by 40% from last week, to a seven-day average of 7,707. Hospitalizations are at their highest since February, and it is the steepest rise since November 2020. What is particularly worrying is no one had been vaccinated in 2020 but even with the rollout of the vaccine program cases are steeply rising again. This doesn't mean the vaccines don't work, it simply means not enough people are vaccinated. The link between cases and hospitalizations has not been broken.
How many Americans are vaccinated?
More than 166 million Americans have been fully vaccinated, with another 29 million having only their first dose. Full vaccinations represent 50.2% of the total population. However, this number lags behind many other countries including Canada (62.1%), Spain (60%), Israel (59.6%) and the UK (59%). What is also dangerous for the US is the percentage of older people unvaccinated, typically most at risk from the virus. According to the Mayo Clinic, not even 80% of over 75s are fully vaccinated, and 67.8% of 50-64 year-olds are fully jabbed.
What do experts say is the largest factor for hospital admissions?
Experts are agreed that the most common denominator for hospital admissions is being unvaccinated. The states with the lowest levels of vaccination are experiencing the biggest spikes in both cases and deaths. For example, Florida is seeing record levels of covid-19 with the number of new cases on Friday at 23,903, the highest during the whole pandemic. The state also has 13,793 covid-19 patients in hospitals and about 50% of the population fully vaccinated. Other states such as Louisiana have 90% of all hospitalizations caused by covid-19. Only 37% of residents are fully vaccinated.