CLEVELAND, Ohio – From test distribution to the Air Force assisting Cleveland Clinic to Netflix shares dropping, here is our regular roundup of coronavirus facts, figures and numbers regarding Cleveland, Ohio, the United States and the world Jan. 15-21, 2022, followed by our quotes of the week:
Jan. 15
Bloomberg reports that Austria will fine those without vaccinations from mid-March. England will start giving boosters to those as young as 16, while Saudi Arabia will allow shots for children from the age of five.
Jan. 16
Ohio reports 26,117 cases, a high number due to a backlog of cases.
Jan. 17
Novak Djokovic returned to a hero’s welcome in Serbia after Australia deported the world men’s tennis No. 1 player for being unvaccinated against Covid, a stance jeopardizing his quest for a record 21st Grand Slam title. Many Australians had wanted him gone; Serbian supporters lauded him on arrival in Belgrade, Reuters reports. … CNN says early data from Israel suggests a fourth dose of Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna coronavirus vaccine can bring an increase in antibodies, but it still might not be enough to protect against breakthrough infections caused by omicron. … As a response to Covid, tickets for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing will not be sold to the public. Instead, they will be distributed by authorities, the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee says.
Jan. 18
Ohio reports 15,077 cases. … A day ahead of schedule, the https://www.covidtests.gov website where U.S. residents can order free at-home coronavirus tests from the federal government is accepting orders. The site is run in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service. The measure is part of President Joe Biden’s effort to distribute 500 million at-home rapid tests to the public. … The U.S. Department of Education has distributed all $122 billion in school Covid-relief funding from the American Rescue Plan to states, the Biden administration announces, a milestone as school districts continue to deal with omicron’s surge. … Reuters reports Hong Kong ordered a cull of 2,000 hamsters (above photo, bottom left) and warned pet owners not to kiss animals after a cluster of Covid cases was traced to a pet shop. The outbreak of delta-variant cases in humans linked to a shop worker prompted tests on hundreds of animals, with 11 showing up positive. An official said about 2,000 hamsters in 34 shops and storage facilities would be put down “humanely.” … Former Vogue magazine editor and fashion icon André Leon Talley (above photo, top right) dies after contracting Covid. He was 73.
Jan. 19
Ohio reports 20,483 new cases. Except for a handful of days, the number of new cases has stayed above 19,000 since late December. … A team of 20 Air Force medical personnel arrive at the Cleveland Clinic to assist with the health system’s coronavirus response. The group includes nurses, doctors and respiratory therapists. … According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 63% of the total U.S. population is fully vaccinated.
Jan. 20
Ohio reports 21,664 new cases. … Cincinnati Public Schools reports more than 1,300 new cases among students and staff this week. The latest weekly update shows 11 school districts reporting at least 300 combined cases (students and staff) and 17 reporting at least 200. In total, 55 districts reported at least 100 new cases. Nearly all the Northeast Ohio school districts fell out of the top 25. Highest in the area was Akron Public Schools, 26th in the state, with 87 student cases and 53 staff cases. … CNN, citing Johns Hopkins University figures, says more than a quarter of total Covid cases in the United States have been reported in the past month during the omicron surge. … The United States has recorded nearly 69 million total Covid cases, and nearly 18 million of them have been reported over the past month.
Jan. 21
Reuters reports “stay-at-home market darling” Netflix slumps in the market. The streaming service joins a broad decline in market value of other pandemic favorites as investors consider a hope for return to normalcy as countries gradually relax restrictions. The selloff began after Netflix and Peloton posted disappointing quarterly earnings. … Japan acts to contain a record surge in Covid cases with a return to restrictions, Reuters reports. The government empowered authorities in Tokyo and 12 other prefectures to implement measures as nationwide infections hit an all-time high of around 46,000 a day earlier.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro SanchezAP
Quotes of the week
• “I would hope that that’s the case.” – Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to a World Economic Forum. He was referring to whether the pandemic can move into a manageable, endemic stage of the coronavirus, although he said it is too early to declare. A disease that is endemic means it is a constant presence in a population but does not affect an alarmingly large number of people or disrupt society, as typically seen in a pandemic, CNN said.
• “It’s definitely trending in a good direction. We want to see this continue.” – John Palmer, director of public affairs for the Ohio Hospital Association. The omicron surge, which emerged in late December in Northeast Ohio, appears to be over. Wednesday, the number of patients hospitalized with Covid in Ohio decreased for the 10th consecutive day. In the 18 counties in the two hospital regions that include Cleveland and Akron, the number of Covid patients is down 24% in the last week, while dropping just 1% in the rest of the state. The decrease has even been stronger within the five-county region of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain and Ashtabula counties. There, numbers show a 36% dip from a peak of 1,754 patients on Jan. 5 to 1,124 this week.
• “What we are saying is that in the next few months and years, we are going to have to think, without hesitancy and according to what science tells us, how to manage the pandemic with different parameters.” – Spain’s center-left prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, who wants the European Union to consider changes now that the omicron surge has shown the disease is becoming less lethal. With one of Europe’s highest vaccination rates and its most pandemic-battered economies, the government hopes to treat the next infection surge not as an emergency but an illness that is here to stay.
We compile our coronavirus timeline from cleveland.com stories and wire reports. Each Saturday morning, we recap news and stats regarding the virus. Here is the previous coronavirus recap Jan. 8-14.
I am on cleveland.com’s life and culture team and cover food, beer, wine and sports-related topics. If you want to see my stories, here’s a directory on cleveland.com. Bill Wills of WTAM-1100 and I talk food and drink usually at 8:20 a.m. Thursday morning. Twitter: @mbona30.
