Featured photo by Sora Shimazaki at https://www.pexels.com
Written by Tanya Terry
COVID-19 cases are starting to creep up again overall across the nation, according to Diana Newhart at Made to Save, a national education and grassroots campaign with a stated mission to save lives.
In addition, the numbers may not be accurate because of people who are not testing or who are using at-home tests and not reporting their results, Newhart pointed out.
She also stated cases are being led by the Omicron BA.2 subvariant and possibly some additional subvariants of BA.2 in certain areas.
Although according to data provided by the CDC as of 8:43 p.m. April 21, deaths are trending down in the United States, COVID cases had risen to a 42,604 daily average nationwide.
At the time, 66% of the United States population was fully vaccinated. Newhart emphasized the vaccines have shown to be effective at preventing severe illness and death.
The number of those eligible to receive a booster dose who had received it was considerably lower, though-with 45.5% of these individuals being boosted. The number of those 18 and over who were eligible for boosters and had received them was still under 50%, at 49% nationwide.
“I know for a lot of people they feel like this is over, but it’s not in fact over,” Newhart expressed.
A federal mask mandate was recently extended through May 3, but was struck down by a federal judge on April 18, ending travel mask requirements. The judge expressed the CDC had exceeded its legal authority under the Public Health Services Act. On April 20, the Justice Department decided to appeal the ruling based on the CDC’s recommendation. In the meantime, the mask mandate is not being enforced, though there are places still enforcing this mask requirement. Due to the federal court decision and updated TSA policy, effective April 18, 2022, masks will no longer be required on MTA Flint buses or in MTA facilities. Travelers are urged to gain an understanding on what is going on in the areas they are traveling to in regards to mask regulations, though currently Genesee County is in a recovery phase.
Michigan as a whole on April 15 reported 31% increase from the previous week and 56% more than two weeks ago. Some Americans have expressed concern that they believe ending the travel mask requirement could have a negative impact on stopping the spread of COVID-19.
“Funding has been available for free tests, vaccines and treatments throughout the pandemic, but money has run out,” Newhart said. “The president had requested $22.5 billion from Congress to continue these efforts, but the Senate essentially said: ‘We’re not going to do that.’ They came up with a $10 billion option and it didn’t get passed…They will be back on Monday the 25 of April…”
On the other hand, Moderna recently announced clinical data on a bivalent vaccine, which has spike protein from the Alpha variant and also the original virus.
“The spike proteins from Alpha have some of the same changes from Omicron. So, they’ve seen some good additional coverage and additional protection from that vaccine. That data has not been made public yet. The FDA will take a look at it and let us know what the future holds with that.”
Dr. Meena Bewtra, MD, MPH, Phd-DFA said some people, especially within the older population, may have died at or around the time they got vaccinated. She stated this can also have nothing to do with the vaccine.
“There have been no, to the best of my knowledge-I may have escaped one or two people-no direct deaths from the vaccines,” said Bewtra.
On the other hand, Bewtra said individuals are 94% less likely to require a ventilator or die if they get COVID-19 if they are vaccinated and boosted (even without the second booster).
Her words were consistent with what was said by the CDC.
“Protection was highest in adults who received a third vaccine dose, reducing the risk for COVID-19-associated ventilation or death during the Omicron period by 94%,” stated a March 18 media release at https://www.cdc.gov/.
Bewtra said it is also substantially less likely that those who are vaccinated and boosted will get long COVID, which she said was “no joke.”
Bewtra said people die of the flu as well.
“Trust me, it’s an ugly death and I have seen it,” she said. “I have watched 19 year olds die from the flu. So, please get your flu shot. Please get your COVID boosters and COVID vaccines…Don’t make me see you in the hospital.”
