U.S.                                                                  California

                                   CASES                 DEATHS                                     CASES                        DEATHS       

December 2020     19,111,443            341,149                                   2,120,610                        24,241

2021   Timeline

January                  26,185,362              441,319                                  3,310,949                       40,702

February                 28,602,101              513,137                                   3,563,578                      51,953

March                    30,459,874              552,072                                   3,668,277                      59,240

April                        32,225,012              574,280                                   3,742 115                      62,078

May                        33,261,284              594,468                                   3,789,227                      63,247

UPDATED WEEKLY - Last updated on 27 June, 2021 7:30 pm PST, John Hopkins Corona Virus Dashboard and Worldometer

Cases Worldwide

                               John Hopkins                                                       Worldometer

• TOTAL CASES      - 181,038,754                            TOTAL CASES        -   181,861,268

Recovered       -                                                  Recovered           -   166,373,962

• TOTAL DEATHS    -     3,921,974                            TOTAL DEATHS       -       3,938,817

POPULATION - is 332,918,463 as of 27 June, 7:30 pm PST, based on Census U.S. and World Population Clock.

Cases in the U.S.

• TOTAL CASES      -   33,624,871                      TOTAL CASES         -     34,494,677

Recovered       -                                              Recovered         -     28,927,335

• TOTAL DEATHS    -        603,966                      TOTAL DEATHS       -          619,424

Cases in California

• TOTAL CASES       -   3,814,890                      TOTAL CASES         -        3,816,358

Recovered        -                                            Recovered         -        2,072,518

• TOTAL DEATHS      -       63,569                     TOTAL DEATHS       -              63,588

2021 unemployment numbers are hovering around 5.8%  as of May 2021.      

06/27/2021                   Cases (WHO)                     Deaths (WHO)                Recovered (WHO)

• Texas**             -   2,995,247                               52,516                           2,891,298
• Florida**           -   2,367,296                               37,772                           2,179,663
• New York          -   2,170,601                              53,985                           1,924,767
• Illinois                -   1,390,432                               25,637                           1,349,251
• Pennsylvania* -   1,216,085                               27,763                           1,174,960
• Georgia**        -   1,133,291                              21,393                           1,043,707
• Ohio                 -   1,110,700                              20,281                           1,083,027
• N. Carolina**  -    1,012,343                              13,412                              992,097
• Arizona **       -       893,147                              17,913                              863,176
• Tennessee**   -      866,738                              12,550                               852,413

*correction

          **reporting information is limited, reduced testing and increased cases

  
United States progress                                       Updated as of 27 June 2021, 7:30 pm

• Doses Distributed                                                 379,248,700               
• Doses Administered                                            320,687,205                84%
• 1st dose administered                                        178,331,677                54%
• 2nd dose administered                                      151,252,034                46%
• Total population                                                  332,918,463 

State  Progress                                                      Updated as of 27 June 2021, 7:30 pm

   .                                                             1^st dose               2^nd dose           % fully Vaccinated      

• California                                   23,892,051          19,213,533                     48
• Vermont                                         457,658               403,019                      64
• Connecticut                               2,365,490             2,115,931                     59
• New York                                  11,540,775            10,245,202                    52   
• Pennsylvania                             7,965,701              6,256,420                     48
• Florida                                      11,351,820              9,545,070                     44 
• Alaska                                           351,550                 307,246                     41       
• Texas                                        13,788,548            11,625,904                     40  
• Georgia                                     4,513,062              3,762,566                     35   
• Tennessee*                                2,809,106             2,370,814                      34 
• Alabama                                  1,928,656              1,574,676                      32
• Mississippi**                               1,063,172                 868,653                      29

*    Correction

**  Last on vaccine tracker

• https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/
• https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/us-states
• https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states/
• https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
• https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/us-states
• https://usafacts.org/visualizations/weekly-unemployment-claims/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ND-Jobs&msclkid=b11efd9b16dc12762fd79d422c12da27

JUNE BLOG

CORONA UPDATE

While a COVID-19 vaccine is available for adults, the kid version is still in clinical trials. But do children really need one?  In short, yes.  Children under 21 make up 25% of the U.S. population.  If many of them get a vaccine, the chance of herd immunity goes up.  If enough people are resistant to the cause of a disease, such as a virus or bacteria, it has no one to infect.

Vaccine Trials for Children. 

The FDA granted emergency use authorization for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for ages 16 and older.  The Moderna and Janssen vaccines are for ages 18 and older.  The vaccines still mainly target adults, but some states also prioritize older children with intellectual, developmental disabilities or other medical conditions.

Pfizer finished a clinical trial for children 12-15 years old and will soon start trials for younger ages.   Moderna recently began vaccine studies for children 6 months to 11 years old and another for ages 12 to 17.   Johnson & Johnson plans to start similar trials soon.

COVID-19 Vaccines for Children and Teens

Fewer children have been infected with COVID-19 compared to adults, but children can:

• Be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19
• Get sick from COVID-19
• Spread COVID-19 to others.

The CDC recommends teens 12 years and older should get a COVID-19 vaccination to help protect against the virus.  Widespread vaccination is a critical tool to help stop the pandemic.  

Children, ages 12 through 15, given the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19  vaccine had side effects similar to those experienced by the 16 and older age group.   The side effects typically lasted 1 to 3 days.  Other side effects were injection site pain after the second dose of the vaccine.  However, some had no side effects.

Possible side effects

Your child may have some side effects, which are normal signs that their body is building protection. 

On the arm where they get the shot:

• Pain
• Redness
• Swelling

Throughout the rest of your body:

• Tiredness
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Chills
• Fever
• Nausea

Are there any children who shouldn't get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine?

There is no vaccine available to children younger than age 12.  Clinical trials involving younger children are in progress.   The vaccine shouldn’t be given to a child with a known history of a severe allergic reaction to any of its ingredients.   If, this is the case, your child might be able to get another COVID-19 vaccine in the future.

Get a COVID-19 vaccine for your child as soon as you can.

• COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.
• COVID-19 vaccines have been used under the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history, which includes studies in adolescents.

• Your child will need a second shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine 3 weeks after their first shot.
• Your child can’t get COVID-19 from any COVID-19 vaccine, including the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

MYOCARDITIS IN CHILDREN.  How Does Myocarditis Affect the Heart?

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle or myocardium that affects the heart's electrical system by reducing the heart's ability to pump, causing rapid or abnormal heart rhythms or arrhythmias.

A viral infection usually causes myocarditis, but it can also result from a reaction to a drug or be part of a more general inflammatory condition.  Signs and symptoms include chest pain, fatigue, shortness of breath and arrhythmias.  Severe myocarditis weakens your heart causing the rest of your body to not get enough blood!  Clots can form in your heart, leading to a stroke or heart attack.”  The National Organization for Rare Disorders tells us that “In a majority of cases, the symptoms of myocarditis are preceded a few days to weeks by a flu-like illness.”

One feature that distinguishes myocarditis from other causes of heart failure is it often follows an upper respiratory or gastrointestinal infection and is due to a specific immune response against the heart itself.”

Who Is Most Susceptible to Myocarditis?

The National Organization for Rare Disorders indicates it is “most frequently diagnosed in younger adults between the ages of 20 and 40 years.  Children seem to have a more severe presentation than adults with a greater proportion requiring temporary mechanical circulatory support.  Men are generally more frequently affected than women, possibly due to effects of testosterone on the immune reaction to infection.

The relative frequency of more common age-related cardiovascular diseases such as coronary artery disease may lead to under diagnosis in the elderly.  Certain forms of myocarditis, such as cardiac sarcoidosis, are more common in black than white persons in the U.S.  However, most forms of myocarditis have no known ethnic predisposition.”

The heart is predominantly made out of muscle.  Messing with your heart muscles can impair your heart’s blood pumping action and even eventually lead to heart failure.  Inflammation can interfere with the electrical system that maintains this pumping action, leading to abnormal heart rhythms, otherwise known as arrhythmias.

MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES.  WHAT IS A MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY?

Your body naturally makes antibodies to fight infection.  However, the body may not have antibodies designed to recognize a new virus like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, are made in a laboratory to fight a particular infection.  In this case, SARS-CoV-2 is given to patients directly with an infusion.  

mAb treatment for COVID-19 is different from a vaccine.  A vaccine triggers the body’s natural immune response, but can take weeks to develop enough antibodies and prevent some kinds of infection.  Some vaccines for COVID-19 require two shots, so your body can develop its own immune response to the disease.  But if you already have the virus, mAb treatment gives your body the antibodies it needs to protect itself.

WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM TREATMENT (INFUSION)?

mAb treatment happens at an infusion center because the treatment is given through an intravenous (IV) infusion.  Depending on the mAb treatment you receive, the process takes 2 to 3 hours.  First, medical staff conducts a screening, then start an IV which delivers the mAbs to your body in just over an hour.  Afterward, medical staff will have you stay at the infusion center for another hour to ensure you aren’t having an allergic reaction or other side effects. Reactions are rare, but the staff must observe you, then you’ll be released to go home.

It’s important to know that even if you start feeling better, you could still spread the virus for a while.  You’ll need to isolate yourself until:

• 10 days have passed since your first symptoms of COVID-19
• You haven’t had a fever in at least 24 hours,
• Your other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving

IMPORTANT: Follow your healthcare provider’s instructions. Your personal health history may require you to meet additional conditions. Also, if you start to feel worse, don’t hesitate to seek medical care.

CAN ANTIBODY TREATMENT MAKE ME SICK?

Antibody treatments don’t contain live SARS-CoV-2, so there’s no risk you’ll get COVID-19 from mAb treatment.  However, antibody treatment may have side effects:

• Allergic reactions can happen during and after an antibody infusion.  Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following signs and symptoms of allergic reactions: 

1. fever;
2. chills;
3. nausea;
4. headache;
5. shortness of breath;
6. low blood pressure;
7. wheezing;
8. swelling of your lips, face, or throat;
9. rash, including hives;
10. itching;
11. muscle aches;
12. dizziness

• An infusion of any medicine may cause brief pain, bleeding, bruising of the skin, soreness, swelling, and possible infection at the infusion site.

These are not all the possible side effects of antibody treatment. Serious and unexpected side effects may happen. Some possible risks from antibody treatment are:

• It may interfere with your body's ability to fight off a future infection of SARS-CoV-2.
• It may reduce your body’s immune response to a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.

mAb treatments for COVID-19, like other treatments authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, are still being studied, so it's possible that we don’t know all the risks yet.  

WHAT IF I DON’T QUALIFY FOR MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY TREATMENT?

Your healthcare provider may decide you don’t qualify for mAb treatment.  You may not meet all of the eligibility criteria, or you may have an underlying health condition that disqualifies you for mAb treatment.

Don’t give up, there could be another options.  You may be able to join a clinical trial for COVID-19. Participants in these clinical trials may receive new drugs or other treatments, so scientists can evaluate how well the treatments work.  Thousands of participants in clinical trials have helped with the discovery of new treatments for COVID-19 are needed to ensure treatments work for people across age, gender, race, and ethnicity.

Stay safe.  Mask.  Social distance.  Frequent hand washing.  Avoid crowds.

ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL

• https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations/adolescents.html
• https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/covid-19-vaccines-kids-what-to-know#1
• https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/the-safety-and-efficacy-of-covid-19-vaccines-for-children/
• https://www.healthstream.com/resources/blog/blog/2020/10/20/what-is-myocarditis-and-how-is-it-linked-to-covid-19
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/04/27/are-rare-cases-of-myocarditis-linked-to-pfizer-moderna-covid-19-vaccines/?sh=736b08d27442
• https://combatcovid.hhs.gov/i-have-covid-19-now/monoclonal-antibodies-high-risk-covid-19-positive-patients