A Look at COVID-19 in January

USA VIEW ✦ During January, Covid-19 cases and deaths continued to surge in the United States and in Arizona. U.S. cases passed 25 million, and deaths passed 400,000. (More than 2 million have died worldwide.) In early January, the country set a record GLOBE-MIAMI VIEW of 1.7 million new cases in one week and another record for number of people in the hospital – 132,000 on January 6. In January the country also set new records for daily deaths and hit an all-time high of 4,409 deaths in one day on January 20. We’ve now lost one out of every 700 Americans to Covid-19. ✦ Los Angeles became a severe hotspot at the beginning of 2021. L.A. County alone lost 6,411 people to Covid in the month of January, for a total of more than 17,000 deaths. ✦ By early February, the third surge had begun to ease across the country, with cases, hospitalization numbers and deaths all dropping. By press time, February 12, there had been more than 27 million cases in the United States and 465,568 deaths attributed to Covid. ✦ The B.1.1.7 variant, which had emerged in September in the U.K., began to spread more rapidly around the world. That variant is concerning because it transmits much more easily and could lead to new surges. Variants also emerged in Brazil and South Africa. As a result of these new variants, Moderna and Pfizer had to reformulate their vaccines, creating “booster” shots to ensure the vaccines would be effective. Health officials began to suggest that the Covid vaccine might have to become a regular event, similar to our annual flu shots.

✦ Newly inaugurated President Joe Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion package to provide economic relief and stimulus as well as Covid testing and vaccination. The package would provide $1,400 direct payments to Americans and help deliver on Biden’s campaign promise to reach 100 million vaccinations within his first 100 days. Democrats hoped to get the package passed by using budget reconciliation, which would avoid the possibility of it being filibustered.

✦ Economic numbers released for 2020 showed that the U.S. economy shrank by 3.5% in 2020, which made it the worst year for the economy since World War II.

✦ On his second day in office, Biden signed more than 10 executive orders related to the pandemic. He ordered federal agencies to use the Defense Production Act to support manufacturing of PPE, test kits, and vaccination supplies. He also imposed masking and testing requirements for travel. And he ordered the creation of an online dashboard to disseminate data, ordered FEMA to create 100 vaccination sites within 30 days, and formed a Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force.

ARIZONA VIEW ✦ During January, Arizona had one of the highest infection rates, per capita, in the world. The state closed out the month with 13,120 total Covid-related deaths. As of January 12, there were only 145 IC beds available across the entire state, out of 1,797. About two-thirds of Arizona’s ICU beds were being used for patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Between 5% and 10% of the population of USA VIEW Arizona had active cases of Covid going on at the same time. On January 13, hospital leaders warned that if trends continued, they might have to implement a triage system to prioritize care. The limiting resource was staff, not beds or equipment. ✦ About 142 Arizonans died every day in January as a result of Covid. That was almost double the daily deaths in December (75) and almost six times the daily deaths in November (24).

~ Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General

✦ Despite Trump’s promise of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of 2020, by eleven days into January, still only 9 million people – 2% of the U.S. population – had received their first jab. On the 12th of January, the Trump administration promised to release additional doses of vaccine, but a few days later it was revealed that there were actually no vaccine reserves left to distribute.

✦ Toward the end of the month, Joe Biden announced plans to purchase an additional 200 million doses, total, of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, over and above the 400 million he had already ordered – for a total of 600 million doses expected to be available by summer. ✦ At press time on February 12, the state of Arizona is currently operating two large-scale vaccination sites. The one at State Farm Stadium in Glendale is open 24 hours, and the one at Phoenix Municipal Stadium is open daytime hours. Appointments for both sites can be made via the Arizona Department of Health Services website (https://podvaccine. azdhs.gov) or by calling 844-542-8201. These sites are prioritizing people 65 years of age and older, K-12 teachers, child care providers and members of law enforcement. However, by the first week of February, many Arizonans were expressing frustration with the appointment process, experiencing problems with the website or inability to get through on the phone number.

✦ By press time on February 12, there had been 6,245 total cases in Gila County and 203 deaths in the county attributed to Covid. According to the County, 143 deaths were non-tribal and 60 were tribal. Of the non-tribal deaths, 38 were in Globe, 86 were in Payson, 6 in Miami, 5 in Tonto Basin, two each in Pine and Strawberry, and one each in Hayden, Star Valley, Winkelman, and Young. By age group, 86 deaths were among 75+ years old, 33 deaths among 65-74 years old, 17 deaths among 55-64 years old, four deaths among 45-54 years old, two deaths among 35-44 years old, and one of a young person between 11 and 19 years old.

✦ Total non-tribal case numbers by zip code were: 85192, 149 cases; 85501, 1,295 cases; 85135, 52 cases; 85539, 356 cases; 85541, 1,681 cases; 85542, 642 cases; 85544, 176 cases; 85545, 19 cases; 85550, 2,022 cases; 85553, 102 cases; 85554, 15 cases.

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