This is Covid 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants, and new hotspots for January 21st, 2022.

Spain is planning a different approach to future surges of infection. It won’t be treated as an emergency, it’ll be seen as an illness that’s here to stay. Portugal and Britain are taking similar steps. “Learning to live with the vaccine” used to be a philosophy attacked as anti-science and irresponsible government, but the tune is changing. The World Health Organization actually has no criteria for declaring COVID an endemic disease.

Here’s another thing that used to be attacked with regularity that now people are seeing differently, the idea of immunity of natural infection. California and New York health officials say those who were infected were better protected against the Delta variant than those who were vaccinated alone. The results do not apply to Omicron and the advice is still to get fully vaccinated.

After two months, attempts in the U.S. to get children age 5-11 vaccinated hasn’t been going well. The number of first doses remains far below its early peak. There was a slight uptick in December, but then the number dropped again. Only 18.8% of kids in that age group are fully vaccinated.

With hospitals packed and stressed, when should you go there and when should you not add to the problem? Health experts say if you just have a cough, sore throat, fever, muscle aches — and you can keep fluids down and breathe okay, stay home, and treat it as you would a bad cold. If you’re short of breath during exertion, have severe chest pain or swelling of a limb, head to the ER. They add it’s very handy to have a fingertip pulse oximeter at home so you can check your blood oxygen levels.

The virus is horrible, but we continue to be our own worst enemy. An American Airlines flight took off from Miami, headed for London. But a woman in her 40’s refused to wear a mask as required. The airline wasn’t kidding about that rule, so it turned around and was back on the ground in Miami 90 minutes later. 128 other passengers paid the price for the woman’s behavior, and now she’s on the airline’s no-fly list.

In the United States, cases were up 29%, deaths are up 48%, and hospitalizations are up 42% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since January 14.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Alaska, Michigan, Tennessee, New York, and Maryland.

There are now 25,613,160 active cases in the United States.

The five areas with the greatest increase in hospitalizations per capita: Alabama 114%. Puerto Rico 111%. California 101%. The U.S. Virgin Islands 100%. And Mississippi 94%.

The top 10 areas with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: West Feliciana, LA. Waukesha, WI. Uvalde, TX. Newberry, SC. Dane, WI. Teton, WY. Douglas, IL. Brown, WI. Tom Green, TX. And Kodiak Island Borough, AK.

There have been at least 860,146 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 78.9%, Rhode Island at 78.1%, and Maine at 77%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Wyoming at 48.5%, Alabama at 48.9%, and Mississippi at 49.6%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 63.1%.

Globally, cases were up 55% and deaths up 20% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending flat since January 17.

There are now over 61 million active cases around the world, at 61,143,321.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 692,320. France 425,183. India 344,859. Italy 188,797. And Brazil 168,060.

There have been 5,573,134 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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