More than 80% of Americans 16 and older have some level of immunity against the coronavirus, mostly through vaccination, a survey of blood donations indicates.
The survey, led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also indicates that about twice as many people have been infected with the virus as have been officially counted. More than 39 million Americans have been diagnosed with coronavirus infection since the pandemic started in 2020.
The team, led by the CDC’s Dr. Jefferson Jones, set out to determine how close the US might be to some kind of herd immunity — although they do not claim to have any kind of handle on that yet.
They worked with 17 blood collection organizations working in all 50 states plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico to test blood covering 74% of the population. In the end, they tested about 1.4 million samples.
In July 2020, before any vaccine was available, 3.5% of samples carried antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. That rose to 11.5% by December, they reported in the medical journal JAMA. By May, 83.3% of samples had antibodies to the virus, most of them from vaccination.
And while in July 2020, blood surveillance indicated the US was only counting one infection out of every three true infections, that fell to one in two a year later.
This was all pre-Delta, the researchers caution. Plus, they didn’t measure the other part of the human response — one involving cells known as T-cells — and one that might induce broader immunity. But knowing who has antibodies can help inform public health efforts.
“Several large studies have shown that among individuals who are seropositive from prior SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 incidence is reduced by 80% to 95%, similar to vaccine efficacy estimates,” they noted.
“The study will continue until at least December 2021, and results will be made available on the CDC’s website,” they wrote.
Covid-19 hospitalizations remain high, but there are signs of improvement, HHS data show
Covid-19 hospitalizations in the United States have been rising steadily since early July, but are starting to show signs of improvement, data from the US Department of Health and Human Services shows.
Total hospitalizations nearly tripled in July and doubled again in August, according to HHS data, and for the past eight Sundays, total hospitalizations were an average of 25% higher than the week before.
But over the past seven days, total hospitalizations in the US grew by only 2%. In fact, there were 134 fewer new admissions during the week of August 24 than there were during the previous week.
Together, Covid-19 hospitalizations in Florida and Texas account for nearly 30% of current hospitalizations across the country. Hospitalizations in Florida have declined 11% over the past week, and hospitalizations in Texas have steadied, contributing heavily to improvements in national trends.
But hospitalizations remain perilously high; there are currently 102,804 people hospitalized for Covid-19 in the United States, 72% of the way to the peak from mid-January, according to HHS data. Overall, hospitals across the country are nearly three-quarters full and ICUs are about 80% fully.
At least nine states have had record high hospitalizations in recent days, reaching peaks higher than any other point during the pandemic, including Georgia and Tennessee, where hospitalizations continue to rise. Most of these states have fully vaccinated a smaller share of their residents than the US overall. In Georgia and Tennessee, about 42% of the population is fully vaccinated, compared to about 53% of the US population overall, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than 500,000 children tested positive for Covid-19 in 3 weeks
More than 500,000 children tested positive for Covid-19 in the US from August 5 to August 26, according to state data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics. At least 203,962 of those cases were reported in the week of August 19 to August 26; In late June, one weekly reported number was just shy of 8,500.
With concerns building over safely allowing children to return to in-person learning at schools, health experts agree that mask mandates are an effective tool in stemming infections.
The virus is raging in all these children who are unvaccinated, which is why in schools mask mandates are so important,” CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner told Jake Tapper last week, pointing out that inoculation rates are also low among adolescents who are eligible. “They have no other protection. They’re literally sitting ducks.”
More states and school districts across the country are imposing mask and vaccine mandates, while others are working to limit Covid-19 exposure among the unvaccinated. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday plans to implement mandatory weekly Covid-19 testing for state school staff who are not vaccinated.
“We all need to remain vigilant to protect each other – and that means coming in to get your shot and booster shot, wearing masks in indoor spaces, and exercising basic safety measures that we are all familiar with by now,” Hochul said.
For teens ages 12 and up attending classes, it remains imperative for them to receive vaccinations to help curb the spread of Covid-19, officials say. And vaccine mandates, while unpopular to some, may be a necessary step.
“I believe that mandating vaccines for children to appear in school is a good idea,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN this week, noting that this would not be a radical idea to impose.
“This is not something new. We have mandates in many places in schools, particularly public schools, that if in fact you want a child to come in — we’ve done this for decades and decades requiring (vaccines for) polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis,” Fauci said. “So this would not be something new, requiring vaccinations for children to come to school.”
