This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots… Just the facts… for January 15th, 2021.

About 17.3 million doses of vaccines have been distributed in the U.S., but only about 6 million people have gotten the first dose. West Virginia has the largest portion of its population vaccinated at 5.16%. At the other end of the spectrum, Mississippi has the lowest at 1.24%, closely followed by Alabama and Georgia at 1.28% each.

A rapid expansion of vaccinations to senior citizens is good news, right? But it’s also led to bottlenecks, system crashes, and anger. Mississippi's Health Department stopped taking new appointments the same day it started because of a “monumental surge” in requests. South Carolina ran out of appointment slots within hours. And phone lines are jammed beyond capacity in Georgia.

Microsoft, Oracle and healthcare companies Cigna and Mayo Clinic are part of a coalition pushing for digital records of those who get vaccinated. It’s called the Vaccination Credential Initiative and the idea is to let people get encrypted digital copies of their immunization records stored in a digital wallet of their choice. No smartphone? You’d get a paper QR code.

A mutated strain of the coronavirus thought to have originated in the United States has been discovered in Ohio. It appears to have become the dominant version of the virus spreading in Columbus. More study is needed but infectious disease experts expected more emerging new strains.

In Britain, critics are outraged at the altering of rules to allow coronavirus patients who’ve completed 14 days isolation without showing symptoms to move right into care homes from hospitals without being re-tested. It’s believed these individuals do not pose an infection risk.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Morgan, KY. Forest, PA. Jasper, TX. Barbour, WV. Tyler, TX. Henderson, TX. Montour, PA. Kinney, TX. Carter, OK. And Stonewall, TX.

There are now 9,338,297 active cases in the United States. The current Top 10 states by number of active cases: California, Florida, New York, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Missouri, Maryland, and Colorado.

The five states with the highest risk levels and most daily new cases per capita over 7 days are Arizona, Oklahoma, California, Rhode Island, and Utah.

The infection reproduction rate is currently highest in Washington, Georgia, Wyoming, Arizona, and Arkansas. The states with the lowest reproduction rate are South Dakota, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Dakota, and Indiana.

There’ve been a total 388,529 deaths in the US reported as COVID-related, with a current national fatality rate of 1.68%.

The states with the most new deaths reported as COVID-related: California 639. Texas 415. Pennsylvania 288. New York 264. Florida 217. Alabama 185. Arizona 182. Michigan 175. Georgia 172. And Illinois 107.

Globally, there are 24,717,818 active cases.

There were 751,664 new cases around the world in the last 24 hours against a high of 785,681 January 8th.

The five countries with the most new cases: the United States 230,457. Brazil 68,656. The U.K. 48,682. Spain 35,878. And Russia 24,763.

There have now been 1,993,146 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide. Up 28% over 14 days.

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