This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for June 23rd, 2021.

More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused the vaccine have been fired or have resigned. This after a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by an employee against the system about their vaccine requirement. The judge said any claims that the vaccines are experimental or dangerous are false.

The Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services reports that deaths among Medicare patients in nursing homes soared 32% last year. About 40% of Medicare recipients in nursing homes had or likely had COVID-19 in 2020. A Harvard health policy professor said, “We knew this was going to be bad, but I don't think even those of us who work in this area thought it was going to be this bad.”

Canada will start relaxing its quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated U.S. residents July 5. Those regulations have been in place for 15 months. But it’s still only for authorized travel. Nonessential travel is still prohibited even though the northern US has a partial vaccination rate over 70% — similar to Canada’s, and Canada’s vaccination program is much slower than the United States’.

Researchers in England are trying to find out if the flu shot and a Covid vaccine can be given at the same time. If so, that could save resources for healthcare providers and make things more convenient for consumers. Flu cases were basically non-existent last winter but it’s assumed with restrictions being lifted, a resurgence of flu viruses can be expected.

We’ve heard about various groups who are most reluctant to get vaccinated but one group leads the way in vaccine acceptance. Doctors. A survey by the American Medical Association shows 96% of practicing physicians have been fully vaccinated. And of the 4% who aren’t yet, only 1.8% plan on never getting the vaccine.

In the United States cases were down 21%, deaths are down 20%, and hospitalizations are down 22% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending flat since June 18.

There are now under 5 million active cases in the United States, at 4,994,794.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Hutchinson, TX. Reeves, TX. Hockley, TX. Gray, TX. Lamb, TX. Linn, MO. Torrance, NM. Clay, NC. Moffat, CO. And Stone, AR.

There have been 602,455 deaths in U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: Michigan 36. Colorado 32. California 20. New York 15. Washington and Idaho 14. Ohio 13. Florida 10. And North Carolina and Virginia 9.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s had at least one dose: Vermont at 73.2%, Massachusetts at 69.6%, and Hawaii at 69.1%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Mississippi unchanged at 35.4%, Louisiana unchanged at 37.5%, and Wyoming unchanged at 38.6%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 45.2%.

The top 3 vaccinating countries by total vaccinations per capita are Gibralter, the United Arab Emirates, and Malta. The bottom 3 vaccinating countries are Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burkina Faso.

Globally, cases were down 14% and deaths down 17% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since June 12.

There are now 11,345,221 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: Brazil 86,833. India 54,393. Colombia 28,616. Argentina 21,387. And Russia 16,715.

There have now been 3,880,341 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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