The Indiana Hospital Association on Tuesday said the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is putting a strain on the health care system. It said the situation could be avoided if Hoosiers would just get vaccinated.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the U.S. economy has been permanently changed by the COVID pandemic and it is important that the central bank adapt to those changes.
In recent days, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines have reported that the increase in coronavirus infections has caused a slump in bookings beyond the usual slowdown that occurs near the end of each summer.
The payments will continue because the state must give recipients a 30-day notice that they will stop, which extends past the scheduled Sept. 6 end of the federal pandemic unemployment programs, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development said.
Cybersecurity company UpGuard Inc. told IBJ that it was trying to help the Indiana Department of Health by notifying it of “leaked” data and “securing the information.”
The state reported 2,726 new cases of COVID-19, the second-highest number of new cases since Jan. 23.
The data included names, addresses, email addresses, gender identification, ethnicity and race information, and dates of birth. The state said no medical information was accessed.
U.S. experts are expected to recommend COVID-19 vaccine boosters for all Americans, regardless of age, to ensure lasting protection against the coronavirus as the delta variant spreads across the country.
As COVID-19 surged last year, governments worldwide touted the hope of “herd immunity,” a promised land where the virus stopped spreading exponentially because enough people were protected against it. That’s now looking like a fantasy.
The state reported 1,902 new cases of COVID-19, the highest number in a Monday report since Jan. 25, when 2,210 cases were reported.
On July 26, at least 10 hospitals across the Indianapolis area issued messages to ambulance drivers that their emergency rooms needed to limit incoming patients. Please try to find another destination, hospitals said. This is an extreme example of a phenomenon that has become much more common in recent months—ambulance diversions.
Federal health officials have been actively looking at whether extra shots for the vaccinated may be needed as early as this fall, reviewing national case numbers “almost daily” as well as the situation in other countries.
Data on the the age and demographics of victims during the delta surge is still limited, but hospitals in virus hotspots say they are clearly seeing more admissions and deaths among people under the age of 65.
The state said more than 3 million Hoosiers had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday at 5 a.m. More than 3 million had received the first dose of a two-dose vaccination.
The vaccination news comes as the nation continues to experience an increase in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Ninety percent of U.S. counties are now experiencing substantial or high transmission of the virus.
President Joe Biden stepped up his battle over drug costs on Thursday, calling on Congress to pass legislation that would let Medicare negotiate directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers and penalize drugmakers that increase prices faster than inflation.
The late-night announcement by the Food and Drug Administration applies to several million Americans who are especially vulnerable because of organ transplants, certain cancers or other disorders.
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s action came in response to an emergency request from eight students, and it marked the first time the high court has weighed in on a vaccine mandate.
The mandate covers about 15,400 Lilly employees in numerous states and Puerto Rico, including about 11,000 in Indiana.
Marion County reported 417 new COVID-19 cases, the most in the county since Jan. 22.
