Three-quarters of a million of our friends, family, neighbors and coworkers have died of COVID.
That is a mind-blowing number, made personal because all of us know of someone who died of the disease or has a family member that did.
Remember 9/11 killed about 3,000 of us.
Of course, the unvaccinated are dying at a far higher rate than the vaccinated, and the vaccine divide is becoming more partisan by the day. Unvaccinated English people were 47 times more likely to die of COVID than those who had been fully vaxxed for more than three weeks.
KFF’s survey reports the race/ethnicity vaccination gap has shrunk significantly, while the partisan divide has grown over time.
Today, the most significant factor determining vaccination status is political affiliation.
What’s sad beyond belief is this…
That said, 6 out of 10 of those who identify as leaning or Republican have received at least one dose.
Thanks to Broadspire’s Marc Cunningham for hosting me on the Beyond the Claim podcast; Marc and I spoke about the impact of COVID on workers’ comp, the need for deeper understanding of medical drivers, and what the future holds.
Advocate Healthcare Aurora’s Teresa Clarke took the stage in the second episode, and dove deeper into COVID and healthcare. Teresa manages AHA’s work comp program, and has been in the trenches since day one of the pandemic.
Hat tip to Broadspire’s Chris Stephenson for handling all the heavy lifting on the pod.
Two new medications show a lot of promise in treating COVID. And no, neither are Ivermectin.
Pfizer’s Paxlovid is in the Emergency Use Authorization process; the Federal government is expected to contracted to buy 10 million doses of the medication.
When given within three days of symptoms, Pfizer’s antiviral reduced the rate of death and hospitalization by 89 percent for those at high-risk of developing severe illness.
Merck’s drug “reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by nearly half among higher-risk people diagnosed with mild or moderate illness.”
What does this mean for you?
Get vaccinated, because you might die if you don’t.
More evidence of the GOP blatantly spreading misinformation and gaslighting of facts by anti-vaxxers, right-wing nationalists, states rights politicians, medical “influencers”, conspiracists, and so-called “patriots” of individual freedom over the health, safety, and welfare of the common good.
Hello Loren – and dire consequences for those that believe those statements.
be well – Joe
Joe, I’m not sure how much “Party identification includes independents that lean toward either party” impacted the numbers in Figure 1, but of the conservatives I know, all are double vaccinated and most have received their booster as well.
Thanks for the note Brad. Certainly a lot of self-identified conservatives are vaccinated; when you dig into the data (linked to the article in the post) there’s a bit of a dichotomy between more- and less-educated populations.
be well Joe