With cases swelling in 49 states and hospitalizations on the rise, the U.S. is seeing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” in parts of the country where inoculation rates are low, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The governor of Louisiana, one of the least-vaccinated states, said it was time to “run, not walk” to get a shot.
U.S. President Joe Biden signaled progress toward lifting a ban on travel from Europe, raising hopes for a reopening of the almost $40 billion North Atlantic air corridor 16 months after the pandemic grounded flights.
The U.K. held out the prospect of restoring some restrictions amid a surge in new cases, just three days before it plans to drop all remaining social distancing rules. Indonesia’s daily case count has passed Brazil’s to become the worst in the world.
Key Developments:
New Jersey Spread Rises (2:42 p.m. NY)
New Jersey’s transmission rate hit 1.24, highest since the week of the Thanksgiving holiday in November, when the state was deep into a second wave. Hospital patient counts, meanwhile, have remained steady for a month, at just over 300 per day.
A transmission rate above 1 indicates that Covid-19 is spreading. On Nov. 23, when New Jersey reported a 1.27 rate, the state had 2,785 hospitalizations and 48 deaths. The state health department reported 516 cases, the most since May 21, and two new lab-confirmed deaths.
The fast-spreading delta variant has accounted for 41% of New Jersey cases in the past four weeks, state data show. Almost 5 million residents, more than half the state’s population, has been fully vaccinated.
Canada Joins Vaccine Sweepstakes (2:20 p.m. NY)
Quebec, the Canadian province that suffered the most deaths from Covid-19, is resorting to cash and scholarships to boost its vaccination rates and weather the rise of variants.
After endorsing the idea of vaccine passports last week, the provincial government is going for a reward approach that has been used in the U.S. and elsewhere. Authorities said Friday they’re launching a lottery for vaccinated residents next month with C$2 million ($1.6 million) worth of prizes, including C$400,000 in scholarships for kids from 12 to 18. One or two jabs will be required, depending on the draw.
“We’re doing all this to avoid hospitalizations if cases start going up in the fall,” Health Minister Christian Dube said during a news conference.
Illinois’s Weekly Cases Jump 51% (2:15 p.m. NY)
Illinois’s Covid-19 cases jumped 51% in the past week, according to data from the state’s department of public health.
The state added 4,449 new confirmed and probable cases, up from 2,945 a week earlier. Weekly deaths climbed to 62 from 53. At least one vaccine dose has been given to 73% of Illinois adults and more than 57% are fully vaccinated, the department said Friday.
France Cases Highest Since May (1:56 p.m. NY)
France reported the highest increase in daily infections since May 28 with 10,908 new cases. The amount is nearly twice as much as the seven-day average but is just a fraction of this year’s peak in early April with 84,999 cases. France registered on Friday 22 additional coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, bringing the official toll to 111,451.
New Cases Rise in 49 States, CDC Says (1:40 p.m. NY)
New infections increased in every U.S. state except Michigan during the week through Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Florida led increases among “high transmission” states with a 109% jump, followed by Arkansas, Nevada and Missouri.
Jacksonville, Florida, and Las Vegas recorded the highest positive-test ratios among urban areas with more than 1 million inhabitants during the week through Monday. Hospital admissions for Covid-19 increased 54% in Jacksonville, with Miami, Orlando, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, reporting rises of 53%.
Austin, Texas, Nashville, Tennessee, and Milwaukee led major metro areas with an increasing Covid burden as measured by the upward curve in new cases, according to the CDC report published Friday.
CDC Sees ‘Pandemic of the Unvaccinated’ (1:09 p.m. NY)
With deaths and hospitalizations from Covid-19 on the rise, the U.S. is seeing a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” in parts of the country where inoculation rates are low, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
While Covid cases have fallen dramatically since the introduction of vaccines, the seven-day average of new infections is now up 70% from the previous week, with 26,300 new infections a day, CDC Chief Rochelle Walensky said at a White House briefing on Friday. The agency’s biggest concern given the falling pace of shots is that the agency will continue to see preventable cases, hospitalizations and deaths, she said.
Just four states accounted for 40% of Covid cases in the past week, said Jeffrey Zients, President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 response coordinator, with 1 in 5 cases occurring in Florida alone. The 7-day average of hospital admissions nationwide rose 36% to 2,790 while daily deaths jumped 26% to 211 per day.
Louisiana Governor Says ‘Run’ to Get Vaccine (12:41 p.m. NY)
Governor John Bel Edwards said Louisianans need to “run, not walk” to get vaccinated as the delta variant has pushed cases up almost 200% over last two weeks. He also said the state was in a “fourth surge.”
“Our hospitals are again stretched thin with limited staff capacity, and the vast majority of Covid patients are not yet fully vaccinated against the illness,” the Democratic governor said in a statement.
Louisiana has one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the U.S., with 39.5% of the population having received at least one dose compared with the national average of 55.8%, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. Only Alabama and Mississippi are lower.
Pfizer Expects Priority Review (12:13 p.m. NY)
Pfizer Inc. said its vaccine was granted priority review by U.S. regulators, putting it on track for a potential full approval by early next year.
The drugmaker and its German partner BioNTech SE said in a statement Friday that the Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether to approve the shot for use in people 16 and older by January 2022.
A full approval for the Pfizer vaccine could help bolster the flagging U.S. vaccination effort. Some people who have been reluctant to get a shot have said they are unwilling to get an experimental medication.
Delta Set to Become Dominant in Italy (11:10 a.m. NY)
The delta variant is expected to become dominant in Italy in the next few weeks, Silvio Brusaferro, president of the country’s public health institute, said in a press conference on Friday. “The general scenario, in terms of transmission of the infection, is worsening,” he said. “So the priority now is to have as many people as possible fully vaccinated.”
As of July 9, the delta variant made up almost 28% of samples tested.
APEC Looks to Boost Virus Coordination (11:06 a.m. NY)
Global leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping held a virtual APEC meeting Friday to discuss how the world could best emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, even as nations continue to grapple with a deadly resurgence of virus cases.
Leaders discussed ways to speed the flow of vaccines across borders and whether vaccine passports or quarantine bubbles could ease transit between nations, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whose country is chairing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation this year, told reporters.
Countries are concerned “this pandemic has a while to run,” Ardern said.
Biden Hints at Lifting of Europe Travel Ban (10:50 a.m. NY)
U.S. President Joe Biden signaled progress toward lifting a ban on travel from Europe, raising hopes for a reopening of the almost $40 billion North Atlantic air corridor 16 months after flights were grounded by Covid-19.
Shares of Air France-KLM, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and IAG SA gained in Europe after Biden said his Covid-19 advisers are weighing when to lift the prohibitions, while U.S. airline stocks also rose in pre-market trading. German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the issue in a White House meeting on Thursday.
“It’s in process now,” Biden said at a news conference with Merkel following their meeting.
Trudeau Plans for Reopening (8:02 a.m. NY)
Justin Trudeau laid out a timeline for reopening Canada’s border to U.S. and overseas travelers after months of resisting calls for a clear plan from business groups and his political rivals.
The country will be able to welcome fully-vaccinated travelers from the U.S. as early as mid-August, and from all other countries by September, if “the current positive path of vaccination rate and public health conditions continue,” the prime minister’s office said Thursday night in a summary of his meeting with provincial leaders.
U.S. Sends Vaccines to Africa (8 a.m. NY)
About 25 million vaccine doses donated by the U.S. are set to be delivered to dozens of African nations in the coming weeks as the continent copes with a severe wave of infections.
The first shipments -- almost 1 million doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine -- will be sent to Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Ethiopia within days, health officials said in a joint statement Friday.
Indonesia’s New Cases Pass Brazil (5:58 p.m. HK)
Indonesia’s daily case count has passed Brazil’s to become the worst in the world, hitting a record 56,757 on Thursday as the highly contagious delta variant rampages through the nation.
Infections topped 40,000 for five straight days through Friday, a striking increase from less than 10,000 a month ago, and as many as 1,205 people died from the disease in the last 24 hours. The grim tally comes after Indonesia this week surpassed the numbers in India, where daily cases have dropped from a peak of over 400,000 in May. Brazil’s new infections fell below 53,000 on Thursday.
Virus Hotspot
Indonesia infections overtake Brazil's as delta variant spreads
Source: Johns Hopkins University
Singapore Shuts Nightlife Venues (5:45 p.m. HK)
Singapore will temporarily close hundreds of nightlife venues and re-enforce stricter measures for dining-in just days after relaxing them, amid a surge in daily cases linked to a karaoke cluster, ministers said at a briefing Friday.
The country will impose different restrictions on the local population based on their vaccination status, according to details released at a multi-ministry task force briefing on Friday, while warning that further restrictions may be necessary if daily cases continue to surge.
U.K. Warns Over Restoring Restrictions (2:56 p.m. HK)
The U.K. held out the prospect of restoring some restrictions amid a surge in new cases, just three days before it plans to drop all remaining social distancing rules.
“Of course if we get into a situation where it’s unacceptable and we do need to put back further restrictions, then that of course is something the government will look at,” Lucy Frazer, a government minister, told Sky News on Friday.
— With assistance by Ian Fisher, Thomas Kutty Abraham, Niluksi Koswanage, James Paton, Flavia Rotondi, Gaspard Sebag, Shruti Singh, Sandrine Rastello, and Elise Young
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