US virus cases nearly triple in two weeks amid misinformation

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MISSION, Kansas (AP) – Cases of COVID-19 have nearly tripled in the United States over the course of two weeks amid an onslaught of misinformation about vaccines that is overwhelming hospitals, overwhelming doctors and pushing clergy into battle.

“Our staff is frustrated,” said Chad Nielsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville, a Florida hospital that canceled elective surgeries and procedures after the number of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients on the two campuses jumped to 134. from a low of 16 in mid-May.

“They’re tired. They think this is déjà vu all over again, and there’s some anger because we know this is a largely preventable situation, and people aren’t benefiting from the vaccine.”

Across the United States, the seven-day rolling average of daily new cases over the past two weeks rose to more than 37,000 on Tuesday, from less than 13,700 on July 6, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Health officials blame the delta variant and slow vaccination rates. Only 56.2% of Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Louisiana, health officials reported 5,388 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday — the third highest daily number since the pandemic began in early 2020. The number of hospitalizations for the disease rose to 844 cases statewide, an increase of more than 600 since mid-June. . New Orleans leaders have urged people to resume wearing masks indoors.

Utah has reported 295 people hospitalized with the virus, the highest number since February. The state has averaged about 622 confirmed cases per day over the past week, about three times the infection rate at its lowest point in early June. Health data shows that the mutation is almost entirely associated with unvaccinated people.

“It’s like seeing a car wreck before it happens,” said Dr. James Williams, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Texas Tech University, who recently began treating more COVID-19 patients. “None of us want to go through this again.”

He said the patients are younger – many of them in their 20s, 30s and 40s – and significantly less immunized.

As pastor of one of Missouri’s largest churches, Jeremy Johnson has heard reasons why congregants don’t want a COVID-19 vaccine. He wants them to know that not only is it a good idea to receive a vaccination, it is what the Bible urges.

“I think there’s a huge scare effect,” said Johnson, whose Springfield church has a campus in Nixa and another about to open in Republic. “A fear of trusting something other than the Bible, and a fear of trusting something apart from a political party they would be more comfortable following. A fear of trusting science. We hear the following: ‘I trust God and not science.’ But the truth is science and God is not a thing. You have to choose between it.”

Many churches in southwest Missouri, such as the Johnson Society of North Point Church of God Association, now host vaccination clinics. Meanwhile, about 200 church leaders signed a statement urging Christians to get vaccinated, and on Wednesday announced a follow-up public service campaign.

Opposition to vaccination is particularly strong among white evangelical Protestants, who make up more than a third of Missouri’s population, according to a 2019 report by the Pew Research Center.

“We have found the faith community to be very influential, very trustworthy, and that to me is one of the answers to how to raise your vaccination rates,” said Springfield Mayor Ken McClure.

The two hospitals in his city are teeming with patients, reaching record and near-record epidemic levels. Steve Edwards, CEO of CoxHealth in Springfield, tweeted that the hospital had brought in 175 ambulatory nurses and another 46 were due to arrive by Monday.

“Grateful for the help,” Edwards wrote, previously tweeting that anyone spreading misinformation about the vaccine should “shut up.”

Jacob Burmod, a 40-year-old artist in Kansas City, Missouri, said his mother has been promoting vaccine conspiracy theories even though her husband — his stepfather Burmod — is hospitalized on a ventilator in Springfield.

“It’s really sad, and it’s really frustrating,” he said.

Bermod remembers how his mother got sick recently and “He was trying to tell me the vaccinated people made her sick, and it wasn’t until COVID. I just shut it down. I said, ‘Mom, I can’t talk to you about conspiracy theories now….You need to go to hospital. I was about to die.”

His mother, who is in her 70s, has since recovered.

In New York City, workers at city-run hospitals and health clinics will be required to get vaccinated or take weekly checks, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday as officials battle a spike in COVID-19 cases.

De Blasio’s order will not apply to teachers, police officers and other city employees, but it is part of the city’s intense focus on vaccinations amid an increase in delta variant infections.

The number of vaccine doses administered daily in the city has fallen to less than 18,000, down from a peak of more than 100,000 in early April. System head Dr. Mitchell Katz said about 65% of all adults have been fully vaccinated, compared to about 60% of public hospital system employees.

Meanwhile, the number of cases in the city has been on the rise for weeks, and health officials say the variant makes up about 7 out of every 10 cases they chain.

“We have to deal with it aggressively. And in the end, there’s also something called personal responsibility,” de Blasio said, urging vaccinated people to raise the issue with unvaccinated relatives and “stand up to them.”

Back in Louisiana, New Orleans officials have issued new guidelines on indoor masks, hoping to avoid the kind of virus-related shutdowns that devastated the city’s tourism economy in 2020. Latoya Mayor Cantrell has stopped ordering masks. She said counseling “puts the responsibility on the individuals themselves”.

The announcement came as the city’s seven-day average of new cases rose to 117, the highest level since early February. It had fallen to level eight in mid-June.

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Salter reported from St. Louis.

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