Unvaccinated 29 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19, CDC study says
24 August 2021
Infection and hospitalization rates in late July were five and 29 times higher respectively among unvaccinated people in Los Angeles County than the fully vaccinated, according to a new report out Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why it matters: Hospitals and state health officials have been warning that the spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations mostly comprises of unvaccinated adults.
The big picture: Still, the data, which shows one-fourth of L.A. infections were from vaccinations, coincides with another CDC report out Tuesday that also shows the waning vaccine effectiveness against the Delta variant.
- CDC looked at a cohort of frontline health care workers and vaccine effectiveness had gone down to 66%, independent of time since vaccination.
- Last week, the agency released initial reports on vaccine effectiveness including one on adults in New York with vaccine effectiveness declined from about 92% in early May to nearly 80% by late July.
Between the lines: The two datasets out Tuesday add to the emerging evidence that protection from COVID-19 shots decreases over time.
By the numbers: Among the 43,127 COVID infections in Los Angeles County, between May 1 and July 25, about 25% were fully vaccinated, about 3% were partially vaccinated and about 71% were unvaccinated, the report shows.
Fully vaccinated people with COVID-19 were also less likely to be hospitalized than unvaccinated people.
- About 3% of vaccinated people were hospitalized, .5% were in an ICU and .2% needed a ventilator.
- Among the unvaccinated, nearly 8% were hospitalized, 1.5% were in an ICU and .5% on a ventilator.
The bottom line: The vaccine still protects the majority of people from severe illness and that breakthrough cases among the vaccinated are still rare.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.