American coronavirus: More people died in Alabama in 2020 than people born as Covid-19 deaths continue to rise in the United States

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“This final year, 2020, will be the first year we know in the history of our state where we have actually had more deaths than births,” Scott Harris, Alabama health official, said Friday during ‘a press briefing.

“Our state has literally shrunk,” he said.

Preliminary data shows 64,714 people died in Alabama in 2020 when there were 57,641 births, Harris said. In 2019, the state recorded 54,109 deaths and 58,615 births, according to the Department of Health.
According to state data, 7,182 people in Alabama died from Covid-19 in 2020 and the total number of Covid-19 deaths reached 13,209 on Saturday.

Even though more than half of the country is fully vaccinated, Covid-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations have increased in recent months – and it is not having an equal impact everywhere.

In Alabama, where 41% of people are fully vaccinated, according to data from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), officials said more hospital beds were recently available, although this was not not because people are recovering from the virus.

“It’s not because these patients are miraculously better and going home. It’s because they are dying,” said Dr Kierstin Kennedy, chief of hospital medicine at the University of Medicine. of Alabama.

Of Alabama’s 67 counties, 65 have a “high” level of coronavirus transmission, and two are at the “substantial” level, according to state data.

Kennedy noted that most of the vaccinated patients she has seen become extremely ill or die are older or have significant co-morbidities that negatively affect their immune systems.

“It’s not a wave of young people vaccinated who are six months away from their vaccines. It’s a wave of unvaccinated,” Kennedy said.

CDC study: unvaccinated people 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19
It’s a similar story in Mississippi, which now has the highest number of deaths per capita from Covid-19, overtaking New Jersey, which had long held the worst rate due to its massive outbreak at the start of the pandemic. Mississippi has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country with 42% of all residents fully vaccinated, behind the national average of around 54%, according to CDC data.

In Kentucky, nearly 85% of deaths from Covid-19 have occurred in partially or unvaccinated people, Governor Andy Beshear said Thursday. The partially vaccinated or unvaccinated also accounted for more than 87% of Covid-19 cases and around 92% of hospitalizations, he added.

The governor urged people to get vaccinated to protect themselves and others as well as to help the state’s economy recover.

“I hope you… hear very clearly that the first thing we can do to overcome this is get vaccinated. As a percentage, over 90% of the people who end up in hospital are not vaccinated. So how not? not overtake our hospitals? We get vaccinated.

Cases of Covid-19 in pregnant women are increasing

One of the groups of health experts urging to get vaccinated is that of pregnant people, among whom deaths from Covid-19 appear to have recently increased.

In Mississippi, at least eight pregnant people who were not fully vaccinated have died from Covid-19 since the end of July, according to Dr. Thomas Dobbs, chief medical officer of the state. One person was partially vaccinated and seven were not vaccinated at all.

Mississippi says Covid-19 deaths among pregnant women are on the rise - and it begs them to get vaccinated
A total of 15 pregnant people have died from Covid-19 in Mississippi, and authorities are analyzing information on 72 stillbirths that have affected pregnant people infected with Covid in the state, Dobbs said. This appears to be double the usual stillbirth rate.

“Please get the vaccine,” Dobbs said at one of two press conferences this month that addressed the subject. “You have to protect yourself, you have to protect your baby.”

In Alabama, at least seven pregnant people have died from Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to Harris, the public health official. The state also has an average of 23 pregnant people hospitalized with the virus over the past week, he said on Friday.

“Your OB / GYN is all about you and your baby’s health. And all that matters to them is a good outcome for you and the baby,” Kennedy said. “So if the obstetrician / gynecologist says you have to get the vaccine, you have to listen to him.”

The CDC reported that Covid-19 deaths among pregnant people in the United States appear to have increased in August and recommends that pregnant people receive the Covid-19 vaccine.
In the United States, about 25.1% of pregnant people between the ages of 18 and 49 had received at least one dose of a vaccine during pregnancy as of September 11, according to the latest data released by the CDC.
East Alabama Medical Center nurse Harvard Graham checks the fluids of a Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit Thursday, December 10, 2020 in Opelika, Alabama.

People quit their jobs due to vaccination mandates

The United States had vaccinated 54.5% of its total population as of Saturday, according to CDC data. And as some institutions, including health facilities, enforce vaccine requirements, there has been some setback.

At least 125 part-time employees of the Indiana University health care system have lost their jobs for failing to comply with vaccination requirements, spokesman Berkley Rios told CNN on Friday.

More than half of Americans support vaccination mandates for workplaces, classrooms and sporting events

“Indiana University Health has put the safety and well-being of patients and team members at the forefront by requiring employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 1,” Rios said. “After a two-week unpaid suspension period ending September 14, a total of 125 employees, or the equivalent of 61 full-time employees, opted out of receiving the Covid-19 vaccine and left the organization.”

Rios added that the impact on staffing will be minimal as the healthcare system was already working to fill these positions.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, the state has reached the milestone of vaccinating 50% of eligible residents.

“Reaching this 50 percent target is a testament to the countless hours (Department of Health and Environmental Control) and partner staff devoted these life-saving doses to weapons,” said DHEC director Dr Edward Simmer.

Governor Henry McMaster added that the choice to receive the vaccine is a personal one.

“Two things are clear: The most effective way to protect ourselves against COVID-19 is to get vaccinated, and the vaccine is readily available in all parts of the state. If you decide to get the vaccine after a thorough review of all the facts, now is the time to do it, ”McMaster said.

CNN’s Liam Reilly, Andy Rose, Jason Hanna, Kay Jones, Melissa Alonso, Claudia Dominguez, Rebekah Riess and Gregory Lemos contributed to this report.

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