Ready For The Next Pandemic Wave?

Counties That Voted Heavily For Trump Are Unvaccinated

The pandemic is supposed to be disappearing, right? But it's not. Yesterday there were 13 countries that reported over 10,000 new cases and 9 with over 200 new deaths. These are the countries with the big number of new cases (and their deaths on Friday):

• USA +90,208 (987 new deaths)

• Germany +48,184 (228 new deaths)

• UK +40,375 (145 new deaths)

• Russia +40,123 (1,235 new deaths)

• Ukraine +24,058 (750 new deaths)

• Turkey +23,637 (217 new deaths)

• Netherlands +16,204 (32 new deaths)

• Brazil +14,424 (612 new deaths)

• Poland +12,971 (31 new deaths)

• India +11,850 (555 new deaths)

• Austria +11,798 (40 new deaths)

• Czechia +10,411 (65 new deaths)

• Belgium +10,396 (65 new deaths)

Some of these countries are reporting immense numbers when it comes to cases per million, Czechia-- early mask adapters-- worst of all:

• Czechia- 173,900 cases per million

• USA- 143,369 cases per million

North Dakota- 203,330 cases per million

Alaska-191,159 cases per million

Tennessee- 189,598 cases per million

Wyoming- 185,713 cases per million

South Dakota- 180,118 cases per million

Utah- 178,264 cases per million

South Carolina- 176,150 cases per million

• UK- 138,760 cases per million

• Netherlands- 132,035

• Belgium- 126,428 cases per million

• Austria- 103,008 cases per million

• Brazil- 102,232 cases per million

• Turkey- 97,738 cases per million

• Poland- 84,037 cases per million

• Ukraine- 73,304 cases per million

• Russia- 61,585 cases per million

• Germany- 59,111 cases per million

• India- 24,616 cases per million

I included the 7 American states-- unvaccinated Trump bastions-- that have worse rates of infection than even Czechia! Warning stay away from them-- and within a few days Florida is likely to be on that list (173,045 cases per million).

Earlier today, Jim Heintz, reporting for AP from Moscow, wrote that "Russia is reporting a new daily high number of COVID-19 deaths, while the the total number of coronavirus infections during the pandemic in the country has topped 9 million. The surge in daily deaths and infections that began in mid-September appeared to plateau over the past week, but the national coronavirus task force said Saturday that a record 1,241 people died from the virus over the past day, two more than the previous record reported on Wednesday. The task force said 39,256 new infections were recorded, bringing the country’s case total to 9.03 million."

The surge in infections and deaths comes amid low vaccination rates, lax public attitudes toward taking precautions and the government’s reluctance to toughen restrictions. Fewer than 40% of Russia’s nearly 146 million people have been fully vaccinated, even though the country approved a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine months before most of the world.

In total, the coronavirus task force has reported more than 254,000 deaths-- by far the highest death toll in Europe. Some experts believe the true figure is even higher. Reports by Russia’s statistical service, Rosstat, that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality: 462,000 people with COVID-19 died between April 2020 and September of this year.

About half the states' rates of infection are increasing and 11 states are seeing hospitalization rates increase as well, while deaths are already going up on 17 states. Epidemiologists looking at the new numbers-- and the low vaccination rates-- see a bad winter ahead. One, Ali Mokdad, told CNN that <>states such as Florida have a false sense of security<> because their numbers have gone down in recent weeks. "'Florida has a large population of the elderly, who went and got vaccinated. And the young people simply got infected. So the virus ran out of people to infect," he said. But he said immunity on both groups is waning. 'There will be a lot of winter travel to Florida,' he said. 'Infections will start all over again,' he predicted. 'We are so interconnected... Science is telling us we need three doses to be immune,' he said. 'We are losing our credibility as scientists unless you say it-- we need three doses to be protected.'"

Epidemiologists are blaming the unvaccinated and morons refusing to wear masks. Michael Osterholm, who heads the center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota "thinks boosting people will help-- but says it's far more important to get more people vaccinated in the first place. 'If we see upticks in L.A. or New York City, we could just as easily find ourselves back to where we were. At this point, there's no evidence of that happening,' he said in his podcast this week. 'But I must tell you that given the rates of vaccination... we surely could see major surges in both of those metropolitan areas where with the population density being what it is, could really, truly raise the number of national cases in short order,' he added. An estimated 60 million Americans remain unvaccinated. That's plenty of people who can help fuel new surges, Osterholm said. 'Overall, there's still a lot of human wood left for this coronavirus forest fire to burn,' he said. Even in states, cities and counties with high vaccination rates, enough people remain unvaccinated or undervaccinated to help keep the virus spreading. And if immunity is waning as quickly as some studies indicate it may be, Osterholm fears more breakthrough infections, even among the vaccinated. Osterholm is pessimistic about the coming weeks. 'That fact, combined with Delta, schools and upcoming holidays, has me skeptical that we won't be seeing new hotspots emerge in this country over the next several weeks and months. So where do I see us going? I think we will continue to see surges. They may not be nearly as high as the ones we've just had, but they will occur.'"

And plenty of states have such low vaccination levels that they're bonfires waiting to be ignited, Mokdad said.

"I mean, West Virginia [is] 41.1% fully vaccinated. So 60% of the population, at least, don't have immunity against infection," he said.

"So, what do you expect? We're going to have a surge. If you look at Montana, 51%. Wyoming, 44.6%. I mean, you could go on and on. There's so many states right now below 50. Louisiana, 48.1%. Alabama, 45.2%."

These same states, Mokdad and Osterholm both pointed out, have populations largely resistant to mask use, as well.

"Nobody is listening," Mokdad said morosely. He said he and fellow epidemiologists were discussing how they could bring attention to the dire situation.

"Some of us we were talking about going on a hunger strike. We are really frustrated. It's depressing that we know how protect our population and we are not doing it," he said.

Best advice: avoid counties with large numbers of Trump voters. These blood red counties are hellholes that should be avoided at all costs. Not a single one of them has a vaccination rate above 40% and not a single one of them has an average as high as their own state's vaccination rate. 9 of them have fewer than 20% of their populations vaccinated. Welcome to Trumpistan:

• Roberts Co, Texas- 96.2% Trump (29% fully vaccinated)

• Borden Co, Texas- 95.4% Trump (31% fully vaccinated)

• King Co, Texas- 95.0% Trump (17% fully vaccinated)

• Garfield Co, Montana- 94.0% Trump (18% fully vaccinated)

• Glasscock Co, Texas- 93.6% Trump (38% fully vaccinated)

• Grant Co, Nebraska- 93.3% Trump (18% fully vaccinated)

• Wallace Co, Kansas- 93.3% Trump (35% fully vaccinated)

• Armstrong Co, Texas- 93.1% Trump (34% fully vaccinated)

• Motley Co, Texas- 92.6% Trump (25% fully vaccinated)

• Wheeler Co, Texas- 92.4% Trump (37% fully vaccinated)

• Hayes Co, Nebraska- 92.2% Trump (22% fully vaccinated)

• Harding Co, South Dakota- 92.0% Trump (17% fully vaccinated)

• Cimarron Co, Oklahoma- 92.0% Trump (29% fully vaccinated)

• Sterling Co, Texas- 91.4% Trump (35% fully vaccinated)

• Arthur Co, Nebraska- 91.2% Trump (18% fully vaccinated)

• Shackleford Co, Texas- 91.1% Trump (33% fully vaccinated)

• McPherson Co, Nebraska- 91.1% Trump (13% fully vaccinated)

• Oldham Co, Texas- 90.9% Trump (33% fully vaccinated)

• Loving Co, Texas- 90.9% Trump (19% fully vaccinated)

• Cameron Parish, Louisiana- 90.7% Trump (17% fully vaccinated)

• Beaver Co, Oklahoma- 90.4% Trump (28% fully vaccinated)

• Jack Co, Texas- 90.4% Trump (36% fully vaccinated)

• Logan Co, Nebraska- 90.4% Trump (20% fully vaccinated)

• Hansford Co, Texas- 90.3% Trump (39% fully vaccinated)

• Winston Co, Alabama- 90.3% Trump (20% fully vaccinated)

• Brantley Co, Georgia- 90.2% Trump (18% fully vaccinated)

• Haakon Co, South Dakota- 90.2% Trump (38% fully vaccinated)

• Throckmorton Co, Texas- 90.2% Trump (39% fully vaccinated)

• Ellis Co, Oklahoma- 90.1% Trump (33% fully vaccinated)

• LaSalle Parish, Louisiana- 90.1% Trump (39% fully vaccinated)

• Dewey Co, Oklahoma- 90.0% Trump (24% fully vaccinated)