U.S. to Extend Covid Public Health Emergency, Congress to Hold Hearings on Pandemic Aid Fraud, and Today’s Statistics
Broadway’s ‘Ragtime’ One-Night Reunion to Take Place 35 Months After Pandemic-Induced Cancellation
Photo caption: The Old Senate Chamber in the Capitol
Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,027th day of the pandemic.
In news we cover today, the Biden administration will renew the Covid-19 public health emergency twice more, Congress will hold hearings on pandemic fraud, and the monkeypox public health emergency has come to an end.
UNITED STATES
The Biden administration announced on Monday that it will renew the Covid-19 public health emergency, which has been in place since January 2020, twice more and then allow it to end on May 11, 2023. Since it was first declared under the Trump administration, it has been renewed 12 times under two separate administrations.
A new report indicates that $5.4 billion in coronavirus aid may have gone to companies using suspect Social Security numbers. The findings from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, the nation’s top pandemic watchdog, come as House Republicans plan to hold their first hearing this week on pandemic-related fraud.
Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee is set to hold a hearing about pandemic-era fraud. It is believed that billions were fraudulently stolen from pandemic relief programs.
A new data analysis shows an excess of deaths in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, from heart disease. The deaths, which came from heart attack and heart failure months after the patient had contracted Covid, shows how the virus can impact the heart and how cardiac problems can occur months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Finally, the New York City Department of Health said that vaccinations among children in the 19 to 35 months age group dropped to 59.2% last summer and fall, compared to 64.5% during the same period in 2021.
OTHER HEALTHCARE NEWS
The public health emergency in the United States for the monkeypox or mpox outbreak that began last year ends on February 1 as the number of reported cases continuing to dwindle.
ENTERTAINMENT
In what may be one of the longest pandemic-induced hiatuses for a Broadway or off-Broadway show, the Broadway reunion concert of the original cast of “Ragtime” – originally scheduled for April 27, 2020, will take place 35 months later on March 27, 2023.
The event will see all living principal cast members of the Ahrens and Flaherty musical reunite, including Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Peter Friedman. Kelli O’Hara will substitute for the late Marin Mazzie as Mother.
Based on the novel of the same name by E.L. Doctorow, “Ragtime” has a score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty and a book by Terrence McNally. All proceeds from the one-night only event, which was sold out already in 2020, will go to benefit the Actors Fund, which offers programs that include emergency financial assistance, workshops, support groups, and mental health resources.
TODAY’S STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Wednesday, February 1.
As of Wednesday morning, the world has recorded 675.3 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.2 million cases, and 6.76 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 647.7 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.2 million.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Wednesday at press time is 20,871,206, a decrease of 18,000. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 20,829,181, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 42,025, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.
The United States reported 31,067 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday for the previous day, compared to 30,449 on Tuesday, 4,424 on Monday, 2,200 on Sunday, 14,171 on Saturday, 31,731 on Friday, and 113,283 on Thursday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The 7-day incidence rate is now 39,207. Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.
The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 45,236, a figure down 23% over the past 14 days, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources. The average daily death toll over the same period is 488, a decrease of 9% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 31,955 , a decrease of 22%. In addition, the number of patients in ICUs was 4,018, a decrease of 23% and the test positivity rate is now 11%, a 7% decrease.
In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Wednesday, recorded 104.2 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.13 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.7 million, and a reported death toll of 530,740.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 39.5 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 37.8 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 697,074, has recorded 36.8 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are Japan, with 32.6 million cases, South Korea, with 30.2 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with over 25.4 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.3 million, and Russia, with over 21.9 million.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of the past Thursday, 268.9 million people in the United States – or 81% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 69.2%, or 229.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 668.8 million. Breaking this down further, 91.9% of the population over the age of 18 – or 237.4 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 78.9% of the same group – or 203.7 million people – is fully vaccinated. In addition, 18.8% of the same population, or over 48.6 million people, has already received an updated or bivalent booster dose of vaccine.
Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Thursdays by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency’s website said.
Some 69.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Wednesday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.26 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 1.24 million doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 26.4% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)