Kermit the Frog (pictured here with Rick Lyon) would not be amused.
Good day. This is Jonathan Spira, director of research at the Center for Long Covid Research, reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 1,423rd day of the pandemic.
FLORIDA GRAND JURY INVESTIGATING VACCINES AND VACCINE MAKERS CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
A Florida grand jury is singing the Rolling Stones’ song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” after finding out that the vaccine community didn’t watch episode 4406 of Sesame Street, which ran in season 44. In that particular episode, Big Bird and the Anything Muppet’s sing about cooperation, but he wasn’t dealing with partisan politics.
The first interim report from the grand jury, which was empaneled to investigate the development , distribution, and efficacy of coronavirus vaccines, has reportedly not gotten the cooperation it sought, the panel said in a 33-page interim report released Friday.
The grand jury was convened by Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis issued a petition calling to impanel the grand jury in late 2022, saying it would “be in the public interest to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate criminal or wrongful activity in Florida relating to the development, promotion and distribution” of coronavirus vaccines.
No federal agency involved in the rollout of the coronavirus vaccines offered testimony or information, the grand jury report stated. The panel had no legal authority to compel testimony or subpoena information.
Some witnesses told the grand jury that “professional or personal consequences” might arise from their cooperation with the investigation, while others were skeptical of the “fairness” of the investigation, the report read.
“Unfortunately, not all our investigative efforts have been met with fulsome cooperation,” the report states. “Some prospective witnesses have elected not to testify, often citing potential professional or personal consequences arising from their involvement with the Statewide Grand Jury process.”
The panel did not, however, lack a sense of self-awareness.
“Occasionally, prospective witnesses have raised concerns about the underlying fairness of this Body,” the report, which was signed by Juror Nr. 5 as well as various state officials, read.
The report also suggested that lockdowns, masks and social distancing were not effective tools to combat the spread of SARS-CoV-2, even though this was outside of its purview. Over 100,000 Floridians have died from the virus since March 2020.
A wise old bird once told me, and I believe it’s true,
he said the world’s full of different birds with different points of view.
But sometimes there’s a job so big, if we want to get it done,
we’ve got to bring those birds together and all work as one.
And that’s cooperation.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Now here are the daily statistics for Friday, February 2.
As of Friday morning, the world has recorded 702.69 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.07 million in the last 24 hours, and 6.98 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 673.55 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, a figure that is virtually unchanged in the past 24 hours.
The reader should note that infrequent reporting from some sources may appear as spikes in new case figures or death tolls as well as the occasional downward or upward adjustment as corrections to case figures warrant.
Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Friday at press time is 22,156,745, an increase of 76,000 in the past 24 hours. Out of that figure, 99.8%, or 22,120,485, are considered mild, and 0.2%, or 36,260, are listed as critical. The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 16 months.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has, as of Friday, recorded 110.85 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.2 million. India has the world’s second highest number of officially recorded cases, 45.03 million, and a reported death toll of 533,451.
The newest data from Russia’s Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July 2022, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world’s second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States. Rosstat last reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July 2022, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.
Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 40.14 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 38.81 million total cases.
Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 709,407, has recorded 38.34 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.
The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 34.57 million cases, as number six; Japan, with 33.8 million cases placing it in the number seven slot; and Italy, with 26.71 million, as number eight, as well as the United Kingdom, with 24.89 million, and Russia, with 23.88 million, as nine and ten respectively.
CURRENT U.S. COVID STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
In the United States, in the week ending January 27, 2022, the test positivity rate was, based on data released on February 2, 2024 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was 6.3%, and the trend in test positivity is -4.6% in the most recent week. Meanwhile, the percentage of emergency department visits that were diagnosed as SARS-CoV-2 was 2%, and the trend in emergency department visits is -11%.
The number of people admitted to hospital in the United States due to SARS-CoV-2 in the same 7-day period was 22,636, a figure that is down 10.9% over the past 7-day period. Meanwhile, the percentage of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 was 3.6%, a figure is virtually unchanged over the past week.
VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT
Some 70.6% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Friday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information. So far, 13.57 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 32,903 doses are now administered each day.
Meanwhile, only 32.7% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.
Only a handful of the world’s poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.
In addition, with the beginning of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, 2023, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines in any significant number.
Anna Breuer contributed reporting to this story.
The Coronavirus Daily News Brief is a publication of the Center for Long Covid Research. www.longcov.org
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