As of Sept. 10, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports: The current 7-day moving average of daily new U.S. COVID cases has decreased 12.7% compared with last week, but it is 99.3% higher compared to the value observed approximately a year ago.
The CDC reports that, although most people with COVID-19 recover within weeks of the onset of illness, post-COVID conditions can appear four or more weeks after first being infected — even in people who had no symptoms at all during their first four weeks of infection. These post-COVID conditions can include various combinations of difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, fatigue, cough, chest or stomach pain, headache, fast-beating heart or heart palpitations, pins and needles feeling, diarrhea, sleep problems, fever, dizziness on standing, mood changes, changes in smell or taste, and changes in period cycles.
The CDC urges: “To maximize protection from the Delta variant and prevent possibly spreading it to others, get vaccinated as soon as you can and wear a mask indoors in public if you are in an area of substantial or high transmission.”
President Joe Biden’s recent executive order requiring federal workers to become vaccinated applies to about 2.1 million government employees, but also to the many millions of employees of U.S. government contractors. There are exemptions for disabled persons and those who decline for religious reasons.
Further CDC resources are available at www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/.
According to a recent CDC study, the Delta variant can spread rapidly in schools when unvaccinated teachers and staff have close, indoor contact with unvaccinated children. Children are less affected by COVID-19 than adults, but they can still get sick from it and can spread it to others. Another recent CDC study shows that COVID-19 hospitalizations among children and adolescents is on the increase with the Delta variant.
Hemet Unified School District’s “Dashboard” reports three confirmed cases of COVID at Idyllwild School — three students and no staff members — while at Hemet High, 32 students and two staff members are reported as confirmed cases. Both schools’ figures represent about 1% of their student/staff populations. But the HUSD Dashboard also states: “Positive cases will appear on the Dashboard for 14 days from the date they are reported and then will be removed after the 14th day.” So, HUSD’s Dashboard does not report cumulative confirmed cases, only those confirmed during the previous two weeks.
As of Sept. 13, California reported 4,360,955 total confirmed cases of COVID, with 66,716 resulting deaths. That’s about 60,000 more cases than were reported last week.
As of Sept. 13, Riverside County reported a total of 337,332 confirmed COVID cases (4,728 more than last week) with 4,731 deaths (77 more than last week). The county now reports 576 hospitalized COVID patients, with 128 of them being in ICU. Riverside County still has 61 ICU beds available. According to CDC figures, 52.4% of the Riverside County population 12 years and over is now fully vaccinated.
Riverside County Public Health reports 140 total cases of COVID in the Idyllwild-Pine Cove community (11 more than last week), with 130 recovered and two deaths, leaving eight cases still active.