This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for September 20th, 2021.

Many are trying to get religious exemptions from the vaccine right now. But religious leaders are saying, we don’t agree with you. Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said there’s no exemption for them for religious reasons. The Evangelical Lutheran Church said “there’s no evident basis for religious exemption.” The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York said any priest issuing an exemption letter would be “acting in contradiction” to statements from the Pope. The influential, politically involved Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist megachurch in Dallas said they “are not encouraging members to seek religious exemptions because there’s no credible religious argument against the vaccines. And the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also doesn’t provide religious exemptions for its members. 

Some good news around hospitalizations in some areas. The LA County Department of Public Health said they had a decrease of close to 100 people from last week’s hospitalization number. And in Florida they had 417 fewer patients from Saturday to Sunday. COVID patients are occupying 15.9% of inpatient beds.

A startling statistic out of Alabama. The state had more people die last year during the onset of the pandemic than were born. That means 2020 will be the first year in the history of the state with more deaths than births.

They really aren’t talked about much, the sufferers of long COVID. A study published in the CDC Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report showed about a third of COVID survivors still had health problems two months later. Long Covid can encompass a wide variety of symptoms and there’s not enough research on who might be more likely to suffer from it.

Comedian Chris Rock announced he tested positive for Covid-19. The 56-year-old, who was vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, wrote, “Trust me you don’t want this.”

In the United States cases were down 8%, deaths are up 29%, and hospitalizations are down 8% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since September 13.  

There are 9,705,031 active cases in the United States.

With not all states reporting daily numbers, the five states with the greatest increase in hospitalizations over 14 days are Vermont and Montana up 38%, Idaho and Ohio 33%, and West Virginia 31%.  

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Knox, KY. Russell, KY. Scott, TN. Andrews, TX. Rockcastle, KY. Lewis, WV. Powell, KY. Perry, KY. Whitley, KY. And Lincoln, MT. 

There have been at least 673,763 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 68.8%, Connecticut at 67.5%, and Maine at 67.2%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are West Virginia again unchanged at 40%, Wyoming at 40.4%, and Idaho at 40.5%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 54.2%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: India up 4%. Kosovo 3%. Australia 2%. And Argentina and Oceana 1%.  

Globally, cases were down 14% and deaths were down 10% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since August 27. 

There are 18,674,573 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 32,731. India 30,809. The U.K. 29,612. Turkey 26,398. And Russia 20,174.  

There have now been at least 4,691,081 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. 

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