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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Healthy and in their 30s, Christina and Josh Tidmore figured they were low-risk for COVID-19. With conflicting viewpoints about whether to get vaccinated against the virus filling their social media feeds and social circles, they decided to wait. On July 20, Josh came home from work with a slight cough initially thought to be sinus trouble. On Aug. 11, he died of COVID-19 at a north Alabama hospital as Christina Tidmore witnessed a doctor and her team frantically try to resuscitate her husband. “She would say, ’I need a pulse. ’I would hear, ‘no pulse,’ “Christina...

Five states broke records for the average number of daily new Covid cases over the weekend as the delta variant strains hospital systems across the U.S. and forces many states to reinstate public health restrictions. The states with higher vaccination rates are seeing fewer Covid patients take up hospital beds. Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Oregon and Mississippi all reached new peaks in their seven-day average of new cases per day as of Sunday, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. On a per capita basis, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida are suffering from the three worst outbreaks...

The US remains among nations with the highest rate of new Covid-19 cases, driven mostly by a surge in the South, where many states are lagging in getting people vaccinated against the coronavirus. "This is starting to look really ominous in the South. ... If you look at rates of transmission in Florida and Louisiana, they're actually probably the highest in the world," Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Friday. On a state-by-state comparison, Louisiana has the highest rate of new cases per capita,...

The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States crossed 100,000 new confirmed daily infections Saturday, a milestone last exceeded during the winter surge and driven by the highly transmissible delta variant and low vaccination rates in the South. It took the U.S. about nine months to cross 100,000 average daily cases in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January. Cases bottomed out in June, averaging about 11,000 per day, but six weeks later the number is 107,143. Hospitalizations and deaths are also increasing, though all are still below peaks seen early this year before vaccines became widely available. More...

Daily Covid-19 cases in the US moved above 100,000 a day for the first time since February, higher than the levels of last summer when vaccines were not available, and came as health officials sounded alarm over lagging rates of vaccination driving the surge of the infectious Delta variant. The seven-day average of hospital admissions has also increased more than 40% from the week before, with health workers describing frustration and exhaustion as hospitals in Covid hotspots were again overwhelmed with patients, almost 20 months into the pandemic in the US. “As we look at our hospitalizations and as we...

Dr. Fauci fears a variant worse than Delta is on the horizon because of unvaccinated Americans. Fauci told McClatchy on Wednesday that the country could be “in trouble” going into the fall season unless more Americans get vaccinated for Covid. A new variant may challenge the effectiveness of the Covid vaccine, according to Fauci. “What we’re seeing, because of this increase in transmissibility, and because we have about 93 million people in this country who are eligible to get vaccinated who don’t get vaccinated — that you have a significant pool of vulnerable people,” Fauci told McClatchy’s DC bureau.

The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the US has surged more than 300 percent in the past three weeks — with hotspot states including Florida and Louisiana seeing major spikes in infections and hospitalizations. The country notched a daily seven-day rolling average of 79,951 new cases Sunday, or a 312 percent jump over the 19,400 rolling-average figure three weeks ago, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Most of the new infections appear to be in unvaccinated people, as so-called breakthrough cases in people who are inoculated are not common. Research shows the vast majority of breakthrough...

State data shows there are only 13 intensive care unit beds available in the 11-county Austin region. That means more than 98% of all ICU beds in the area are currently occupied... On Thursday, more than 6,300 new confirmed cases were reported in the state. With the increased transmissibility of the delta variant, hospitals in the area say the surge in cases is “putting extraordinary pressure on [their] hospitals, emergency departments and healthcare professionals.”

BRETT GIROIR: Anyone who’s not vaccinated and who did not have COVID previously, the Delta variant is so contagious that you’re going to get it. It is just a matter of time. If you have prior immunity you do have some protection, but more and more data are telling us that that protection is not so good against Delta. Remember, you can get the Flu every year. It’s not because your immunity isn’t good. It’s because the Flu changes and Delta is really a new strain that is different than everything we’ve seen. So, I am really concerned that natural...

A major Texas hospital system has reported its first case of the lambda COVID-19 variant, as the state reels from the rampant delta variant. Houston Methodist Hospital, which operates eight hospitals in its network, said the first lambda case was confirmed Monday.

With vaccination rates still not at the threshold needed to stop the spread of Covid-19, most Americans who are unprotected will likely contract the rapidly spreading Delta variant, one expert said. "And for most people who get this Delta variant, it's going to be the most serious virus that they get in their lifetime in terms of the risk of putting them in the hospital," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration during the Trump administration, told CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.

I have been working from home since Feb 2020 in Wa state. In my job role there is no reason for me to be in office since all assembly labor has been transferred out of state. Now they are forcing us to attend in person for a minimum of 3 days a week. The DOH website states that covid is mutating into different variants and the vaccines in some cases less effective. This excerpted directly from DOH Wa, "The detection of these COVID-19 variants in our state reminds us that this pandemic is not over. Now that these variants have...

As the highly transmissible delta Covid variant continues to spread rapidly across the United States and elsewhere around the world, scientists and other health experts are warning that indoor mask mandates and other public health measures will likely make a return in the U.S. this fall. The country, which just celebrated the Fourth of July with some of its first large gatherings in more than a year, is headed toward a "dangerous" fall season when delta is expected to cause another surge in new coronavirus cases, health experts say. Already the dominant variant in the U.S., delta will hit the...

A startling new surge in cases suggests that Delta is established in Louisiana and the previously beaten-back virus is once again on the rise... Over the last week, cases have increased by 3,360, the biggest spike since March 4, the tail-end of the winter surge. Cases have more than doubled over the last 14 days, likely an effect of the more contagious Delta variant making its way into unvaccinated hosts. Delta is now the dominant strain in the U.S., making up 52% of new cases. In Louisiana and neighboring states, it is responsible for up 59% of new cases. With...

With new mutations discovered every few weeks, many scientists now predict that Covid will continue circulating around the world for at least the next two to three years, requiring nations to reinstitute public health measures on an ad hoc basis for the foreseeable future

(CNN)Twenty four states have seen an uptick of at least 10% in Covid-19 cases over the past week as health experts and the federal government keep pressing for more people to get vaccinated. The rapid spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus has only ratcheted up the pressure. We should think about the Delta variant as the 2020 version of Covid-19 on steroids," Andy Slavitt, a former senior adviser to Joe Biden's Covid Response Team, told CNN on Wednesday. "It's twice as infectious. Fortunately, unlike 2020, we actually have a tool that stops the Delta variant in its tracks:...

Dozens of children and adults have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a Texas church camp. Three tested positive for the highly contagious delta variant. Fifty-seven adults and youths from Galveston County tested positive, including six patients who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19, said Dr. Philip Keiser, the county’s local health authority. More than 90 others, including some from outside the county, have reported positive test results to Galveston County health officials, he said. More than 450 adults and grade-six-to-12 youths attended the camp organized near Giddings, Texas

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Weekly jobless claims have jumped back over the 400,000 mark. Why is anybody surprised? "Claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week, climbing past the psychologically important 400,000 mark as the jobs market showed signs of more weakness. Weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 402,000," and this is gonna end up being 410 or 412 thousand by the time they revise this next week. " Applications had been below 400,000 for three straight weeks." Can you imagine...? This is on CNBC, but it's actually AP, but "the psychologically important 400,000"? Stop and...

Britain's banks have been told to prepare for the end of the Eurozone, it emerged today. City regulator the Financial Services Authority has told banks to ready themselves for armageddon by running "stress tests" on their balance sheets. FSA chief Hector Sants met the heads of Barclays, Satander, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS last week. News of the shock warning came as the world's biggest central banks today launched a desperate bid to save the global economy by flooding markets with cheaper cash.

Bird flu virus shows signs of evading newest drug By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent 1 hour, 22 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The feared avian influenza virus is showing signs it can evade the drug considered the first line of defense against bird flu, researchers They found so-called resistant strains in a Vietnamese girl who recovered from a bird flu infection after being treated with Tamiflu. They also found evidence she was directly infected by her brother and not by chickens, a rare case of human-to-human transmission of the virus. When bacteria and viruses develop resistance to a...