Hotdogs, a measles record, and fall COVID shots?
CDC was off on Eating Lots of Ultra-processed Food Day aka Fourth of July, so there was no report on COVID data Friday. And although CDC posted measles data on Wednesday, here are last night’s updated data from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security showing:
US measles record broken with 1277 confirmed cases, the highest since the disease was considered eliminated at the end of the last century. If cases continue for another 6 months, the US will lose its eradicated status.
Although the original West Texas outbreak has slowed to 753 total cases with just 2 active counties now, there are 37 additional cases in 19 counties elsewhere in the state (TX DSHS). New states continue to join the Union of the Unvaccinated with North Carolina as the 37th and Wyoming the 38th (Johns Hopkins). Separate outbreaks of at least 3 cases, often caused by unvaccinated international travelers returning home or visiting, have risen to 27 nationwide (CDC). The free states for now are AL, CT, DE, ID, MA, ME, MS, NH, NV, SC, WI, and WV.
Our northern and southern neighbors have even bigger burdens with measles. With 3526 confirmed cases in Canada, most are in two provinces, Ontario (2216 with 1 death) and Alberta (1065) (Johns Hopkins). At the southern border, the state of Chihuahua has 2597 cases with 9 deaths (CIDRAP at U of MN).
Vaccines
• No decision on COVID vaccines until August or September? CDC has posted a to-be-determined ACIP meeting for this time period without indicating a topic. So with this radical transparency of the not-so-new public health regime, still undetermined are:
✓ what vaccines targeting which virus(es) are the manufacturers preparing?
✓ who will be eligible to get them?
✓ when will they be available?
✓ will insurance provide full coverage?
That’s a lot of questions waiting for timely answers. Stay tuned.
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