Thanks for visiting my weekly COVID-19 update! Data sources used for this report appear at the bottom of the page.
Friday, February 3, 2023 – Here is this week’s COVID-19 update with the latest numbers, analysis, and links to useful news. Stay safe, take your Vitamin D, wear a good mask, get vaccinated, and don’t be a spreader 😷!
Related Links
Here are some related items you might find useful:
- Why I’m Taking Vitamin D in the Age of COVID-19
- Find a Test-to-Treat (with Paxlovid) location near you
- Find a vaccine or booster at vaccines.gov
- Order free COVID tests
- A timeline of events related to COVID-19 starting in December of 2019
Updated Numbers
Updated Charts
Interactive Maps
Observations on This Week’s Numbers
United States 🇺🇸
Infections and Positive Test Rates
- Weekly confirmed COVID infections in the US have been on a downward trend for six weeks.
- The test positivity rate remains above 15%, which implies there are lots of unrecorded infections.
- Confirmed COVID infections in the US are about about 40% below the level of January 1.
- The test positivity rate is now 18% lower than it was on January 1.
- Roughly one out of every 3 people in the United States has had a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Hospitalization and Deaths
- The number of people hospitalized EACH WEEK due to COVID peaked on January 3 and has fallen steadily since then. It has finally fallen below 30,000 people a week for the first time since November.
- The seven-day average for daily deaths is about 25% higher the level of January 1.
- The number of Americans killed by COVID has exceeded 3,000 a week for four weeks straight.
- The 30-day total for deaths in the US has been steadily increasing for EIGHT WEEKS.
- So far in 2023, the disease has killed 18,166 people in the United States. This time last year it had killed 71,234 people.
- In 2022, the disease killed 262,312 people in the United States. (For comparison, the total killed in 2021 was 470,997 people.)
- RIGHT NOW, the disease is killing about 3,450 people a week in the United States. That’s about one death every 3 minutes.
- Roughly one out of every 300 Americans has been killed by COVID-19.
NOTE: According to government statistics, over the past ten years, influenza has killed an average of 36,000 people a year. That equates to about 690 people a week. COVID is currently killing about FIVE TIMES as many people a week as the average flu season.
Georgia 🍑
Infections and Positive Test Rates
- Daily confirmed cases in Georgia are about 40% lower than the level on January 1.
- The test positivity rate in Georgia is about 50% lower than the level of January 1.
- Daily testing in Georgia is about 20% higher than the level of January 1.
- About one out of every 5 people in Georgia has had a confirmed case of COVID-19.
Hospitalizations and Deaths
- Daily hospitalizations in Georgia are about 45% lower than the level of January 1.
- Daily deaths in Georgia are 140% higher than the level of January 1.
- COVID deaths in Georgia have been climbing for FIVE weeks.
- The disease is killing about 18 people a day in Georgia.
- About one out of every 310 Georgians has DIED from this disease.
Useful News
Here are this week’s links:
Vaccines
- FDA Aims to Treat COVID-19 Vaccine Schedule Like the Flu
- When to receive next COVID-19 vaccine after bivalent booster
- FDA Advisory Committee Vote to Simplify COVID-19 Regimen
- The race to make a variant-proof COVID vaccine
- FDA experts are still puzzled over who should get which COVID shots and when
- Can ‘No-needle’ COVID-19 protection be achieved with inhaled aerosol vaccines?
Variants
- China is tracking ‘Orthrus’ – an emerging, more transmissible Covid variant
- CDC tracking new, potentially dangerous CH.1.1 COVID variant
- Orthrus, aka, CH.1.1: The highly transmissible COVID variant that US, China are tracking?
- Here’s why the newest subvariant could mean the pandemic isn’t really over
- Deer Could Be a Reservoir of Old Coronavirus Variants, Study Suggests
Testing, Treatment, Prevention, Vitamin D, Long COVID, and Other News
- Inflammation and Immunity Troubles Top Long COVID Suspect List
- The Final 97 Days of the COVID Emergency: What Changes on May 12
- Coronavirus Roundup: The Emergencies Declared Due to COVID-19 Will be Ending
- COVID-19’s Sobering Effect on Life Expectancy
- Ventilation – the secret weapon in the Covid battle
- FDA no longer requires positive COVID-19 test to prescribe Paxlovid, Lagevrio
- You No Longer Need a Positive COVID Test to Receive Paxlovid
- FDA axes requirement for positive Covid test before Paxlovid use
Georgia Pandemic News
- Mayor explains why Atlanta must sends millions of dollars in COVID-relief back to Washington
- Georgia Southern offers free COVID tests with new kiosk
- Georgia lawmakers could bar COVID-19 vaccine rules for good
California & San Diego Pandemic News
- COVID in California: Most virus deaths in older people, study confirms
- California Will End Its Covid State of Emergency in February
- San Diego’s COVID Hospitalizations Drop by 6 to 277 with 38 Patients in ICU
Last Week’s News
Here are last week’s news items:
Vaccines
- Updated Boosters Cut Risk of XBB Variant Infection by Nearly Half
- FDA panel takes bold step toward simplifying the COVID vaccines
- Updated Covid-19 boosters continue to offer substantial protection even against the rapidly spreading XBB.1.5 subvariant
- CDC Study Reports Bivalent Boosters Protect Against COVID-19 Variants
- The mRNA COVID-19 Boosters Protect Against XBB and XBB15
- FDA advisers back the same COVID vaccine for initial shots, boosters
- FDA vaccine advisers vote to harmonize COVID-19 vaccines in the US
- Change to Covid vaccine formulation signals start of FDA pivot in immunization strategy
Variants
- Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5 accounts for 61.3% of U.S. COVID cases – CDC
- What to know about COVID variant XBB.1.5 | Part 2
- XBB remains the dominant variant
Testing, Treatment, Prevention, Vitamin D, Long COVID, and Other News
- Roche launches new test to detect fast spreading Omicron sub-variant | Reuters
- Flu, Covid-19 and RSV are all trending down for the first time in months
- With rise of new coronavirus variants, FDA halts authorization of Evusheld
- FDA withdraws Covid antibody treatment Evusheld because it’s not effective against 93% of subvariants
- What Older Americans Need to Know About Taking Paxlovid
- CDC launches website to help consumers find free COVID-19 testing sites
- We are all playing Covid roulette. Without clean air, the next infection could permanently disable you
- Long Covid Is Keeping Significant Numbers of People Out of Work, Study Finds
- Long COVID: What Do the Latest Data Show?
- Researchers Discover Surprising Risks for COVID-19 Infection + Significant Protection From Vitamin D
Georgia Pandemic News
- Flu, COVID and RSV all declining now in Georgia
- What a new COVID vaccine strategy means for Georgians
- 24 hours in ER with sick mom gives insights on COVID, hospital strain
California & San Diego Pandemic News
- COVID in California: State moves past winter surge as cases plunge
- Federal judge blocks California COVID-19 misinformation law
- San Diego City Council votes to end COVID-19 state of emergency
- While San Diego’s COVID emergency is ending, pandemic still the reality | KPBS Public Media
- San Diego COVID emergency to end in Feb., vaccine mandate in March
Notes Regarding Data Sources
United States Data
Metrics for confirmed infections, deaths, and tests performed in the United States come from the CDC’s official COVID Data Tracker site.
Georgia Data
All tables and graphs appearing on this page for the State of Georgia use official data from the State of Georgia Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 Status Report.
Data Sources
United States Data
- The COVID Tracking Project (prior to March 7, 2021)
- CDC: COVID-19 Cases in U.S.
- CDC: COVID Data Tracker
- https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations
- CDC: United States Laboratory Testing
- United States Coronavirus – Worldometer
World Data
State of Georgia Data
- COVID-19 Daily Status Report | Georgia Department of Public Health
- COVID Vaccine | Georgia Department of Public Health
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Georgia