Revitalize: Curated health care news on the impact of the vaccine in the U.S., UK, and Israel, what can go right and wrong in the next month, and finding out who is the first to party

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In Culver City and around America it is Spring Break. This year our school-aged kids are not saying goodbye to the classroom and taking the gerbils, rabbits, and other small teaching animals home. Rather it is the two-week break from Zoom learning at a time when some – thanks to the Vaccine rollout – are headed to grandma's and many are headed off for their first trip. Our editor and lead curator is about to escape to desert camping; therefore, to give her time away and to give your publisher a chance to meet pushed-back deadlines, we offer our fourth March Revitalize issue a couple of days days early.

As to data, we are going to take a look at some of the same key nations' data while offering a comparison to five days ago. And a very hopeful five days in the U.S., U.K., Israel, and Canada it was. Key reason: Vaccines in arms with all the vaccines most effective in preventing hospitalization and death, and, in may countries there is still masking and social distancing. Based on March data, The New York Times offered this summary in its March 22 “State of the Virus:”

“About 54,000 new cases are emerging each day, a number that has been basically flat for two weeks. Persistent outbreaks in the Northeast and Michigan have offset progress in other parts of the country.
For the first time since early October, fewer than 40,000 coronavirus patients are hospitalized nationwide.
Michigan is adding about twice as many cases a day as it was two weeks ago. Hospitalizations are also increasing. Infection levels remain extremely high around Port Huron and Cadillac.
New Jersey leads the country by a wide margin in recent cases per capita.
The country is averaging about 1,000 newly reported deaths a day, the fewest since November.
About 2.5 million people are receiving a vaccine each day. More states plan to allow all adults to get a shot in the coming weeks.”

As to the numbers:

On March 22, the U.S. numbers illustrate an approximate 50 percent decline in new cases and 38 percent decrease in deaths from five days ago. On March 16, there were 38,116 new cases with a total of 30,565,726 cases; on On March 22, there were 525 new deaths and the U.S. death total has reached 555,843; and we must, as Dr. Vin Gupta does, remind you that this is a death rate “that’s double any other nation.”

Comparative Covid-19 data for March 22, 2021:

The United Kingdom had 5,342 new cases (a 15 percent decrease in new cases since our reporting last week) and 4,301,925 total cases. There were 17 new deaths on March 22 (82 percent fewer deaths than five days ago), increasing the UK’s Covid death total to 126,172. As we state every week, the UK remains fifth (behind the U.S., India, Brazil, and Russia ) on the worldwide total cases list; yet the combined vaccination of over 35 percent of its population and continued lock down has had an impact far greater than all those countries.

I n Italy on March 22, there were 13,846 new cases and on that day Italy had 386 new deaths (an approximate 46 percent decrease in new cases and a 10 percent decrease in deaths from five days ago); there are to date 3,400,877 total cases and 105,328 total Covid-19 deaths .

In France on March 22, there were 15,792 new cases, (a 55 percent decrease over one week ago) with a total of 4,298,395 cases. There were 343 new deaths (55 percent decrease in new cases and a 22 percent increase in deaths from five days ago) with a total of 92,621 Covid-19 deaths in France.

In Germany on March 22, there were 8,251 new cases; there have been 2,678,251 total cases. There were 148 new deaths (75,418 total Covid-19 deaths in Germany). In comparison to data reported five days ago, Germany had an approximate 50 percent decrease in new cases and a 37 percent decrease in new deaths.

Canada, on March 22, is now 23rd on the worldwide total cases list. Canada had 2,821 new cases on March 16 (an increase of one case); 915,868 total cases. Canada had 24 new deaths, 33 percent fewer new deaths than last week for a total of 22,519 deaths.

In Israel, according to a March 3 Times of Israel report, “88 percent of Israelis aged 50 and over have been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19.” Israel had 2,821 new cases on March 22 (a decrease of 392 cases from March 18 data); 828,764 total cases. On March 22 Israel had 17 new deaths, five more than March 18, yet the seven day average is at 12 new deaths per day for a total of 6,109 deaths. Last week we posted and found ourselves promoting over the days following, The New York Times' The Daily podcast “Life after the vaccine in Israel,” and encourage you to listen or read it this week if you missed it.

So how good is the good news? And what do we have to worry about? This calls for one of our great explainers Dr. Vin Gupta a practicing ICU doctor in the University of Washington Hospitals and Affiliate Assistant Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). We often see him on NBC channels and elsewhere,; today please watch Dr. Gupta’s CNBC appearance where he explains which vaccine is better. An Israeli study showed that the Pfizer vaccine actually stops the spread of Covid. “People are saying, maybe I want the Pfizer vaccine instead of Johnson & Johnson or a different one,” Dr. Gupta said. “That’s the wrong way to think about it. Brand here doesn’t matter. Get the first vaccine available.”

For those that want to catch up on policy from your beach blanket (whether it is waterside or on a patch of park grass), please read about the friend to long-term care heading HHS from McKnight's, a poll showing low numbers of vaccinated health care workers from The Washington Post, and the current and recent past's articles on Covid science and national recovery all found on link to The New Yorker.

From Culver City and from the lost highways of California, this is Revitalize for March 23, 2021!

Revitalize: The week in health-care news you need

The New York Times

Fully vaccinated and time to party: If you are 70, older Americans still make up a majority of those who have been inoculated, and many are taking advantage and venturing out.

Times of Israel

Eighty eight of Israelis aged 50 and over have been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19. While serious cases are decreasing, downward trend in infections has halted, prompting officials to call into question further steps to reopen the economy.

The Daily

Life after the vaccine in Israel: Half the country has been inoculated, ushering in a normalcy largely defined by those excluded.

CNBC

"Brand doesn't matter; get the first vaccine available," according to Dr. Vin Gupta.

McKnight's

New HHS Secretary Becerra considered ‘friend of long-term care causes.’

The Washington Post

More than 4 in 10 health-care workers have not been vaccinated, Post-KFF poll finds

the lingering obstacles to vaccinating health-care workers foreshadows the challenge the United States will face as it attempts to get the vast majority of the population vaccinated.

The New Yorker

The Coronavirus Crisis: Coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak, from the science of testing, treatment, and vaccines to the impacts of isolating and social distancing.

Jerry Seelig, CEO

jerry@thepcos.com

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