Case counts and hospitalizations continue to decline in Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and New York. Every other region in the US is seeing a rise in hospitalizations, particularly Alabama and Louisiana, where hospitalizations have risen by 70 percent. Some experts have suggested that counting covid patients in an ICU is a better gauge of covid's magnitude given that hospitalization counts include patients admitted because of covid and those admitted who are then discovered to have covid. There are currently about 3,000 patients in ICUs, some 11 percent of all hospitalized patients with covid. This is actually the lowest rate since September 2020 and has held steady since May. The covid situation should improve over the summer but most sources expect it to worsen come fall and winter.
The US wasted over 82.1 million covid vaccine doses between December 2020 and May 2022, 11 percent of the total doses distributed. CVS and Walmart together are responsible for over 25 percent of the doses thrown away. Health Mart, DaVita, Rite Aid, Publix, and Costco got rid of over 25 percent of the doses they received. Two states, Oklahoma and Alaska tossed over 25 percent of the doses they received. Part of that was due to the distribution pattern. Because doses were distributed in standard quantities, more doses than needed were sent to many remote areas. Some doses expired; others were spoiled by power outages or improper storage. Because the vaccines come in multidose vials, any doses left unused in open vials at the end of a day were discarded. CDC guidance advised that vaccinations be prioritized even if it meant opening a new vial for one shot. Four states were not included in the analysis: Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, and Oregon. It sounds bad, but the overall amount of waste is not out of line with WHO estimates for large vaccination campaigns.
The FDA has yet to authorize administration of the Novavax vaccine. Besides the vaccine, approval is needed for the manufacturing process. Novavax has had issues with this over the past two years. The US Department of Health and Human Services is said to want there to be a second non-mRNA vaccine available, meaning that the FDA likely won't delay their approval processes.
Finally, China is holding college-entrance exams or gaokao. These determine the under two percent of candidates who can enroll in the top universities. Students who have covid or who are close contacts of people with covid will test in isolation or hospital rooms. I guess that because the percentage of students "promoted" is so small, they can't just get rid of the tests for a year or two as US universities have done with the SAT and ACT. In fact, the pandemic has influenced some universities into making those tests optional or not considering them at all.
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