Wells Health Group - DC-based health policy consulting and government relations firm Specializing in CMS Reimbursement, FDA Market Access and CDC Guidance

COVID-19 Resource and Information Guide

2020 Year End COVID-19 Update

20.5M reported positive cases for the year with 11.0M reported cases in November and December
354.4K reported deaths for the year with 118.1K reported deaths in November and December
253.5M reported tests results on about 125M people with 109.4M reported tests in November and December
2 vaccines have been recently authorized under the FDA Emergency Use Authorization authority
4.4M does have been administered and 12M doses distributed

Stay up to date on the latest news regarding COVID-19

We all want to know how to keep ourselves and our families safe and healthy.
COVID-19 Resources can provide helpful information in these challenging pandemic times.
The following COVID-19 resources are provided so that you can access what’s important to you and your family. Testing, diagnosis, treatment and vaccinations for COVID-19 are all rapidly evolving.

Federal Government Websites
https://www.coronavirus.gov
https://www.cdc.gov
https://www.nih.gov
https://www.hhs.gov
https://www.fda.gov
https://www.cms.gov

Data and Trending Informational Websites
US Data
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

World Data
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

CDC Data Tracking and Demographics
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics

Track States’ Responses to Coronavirus – Provided by GovPredict

https://www.govpredict.com/corona-virus-resource-center

Federation of State Medical Boards
http://www.fsmb.org/
http://www.fsmb.org/opioids/

Testing

As the country moves forward to manage the November and December spike in positive cases on a state-by-state basis, COVID-19 testing has become the new reality in our every-day lives. As of the end of December 2020, almost 232 million test results have been reported on about 110 million people. At the same time COVID-19 testing and quarantine guidance will continue to be refined.

WHG would like to provide the information to help explain the differences between the two kinds of COVID-19 tests available today.

Per CDC Website - https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/testing.html

Two kinds of tests are available for COVID-19: : viral tests and antibody tests
A viral test tells you if you have a current infection.

Authorized assays for viral testing include those that detect SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid or antigen. Viral (nucleic acid or antigen) tests check samples from the respiratory system (such as nasal or oral swabs or saliva) to determine whether an infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is present. Viral tests are recommended to diagnose acute infection of both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, to guide contact tracing, treatment options, and isolation requirements Some tests are point-of-care tests, meaning results may be available at the testing site in less than an hour. Other tests must be sent to a laboratory, a process that may take at least 1-2 days.

An antibody test tells you if you had a previous infection

FDA has not authorized using antibody tests to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection, and CDC does not currently recommend using antibody testing as the sole basis for diagnosis of acute infection. In certain situations, serologic assays may be used to support clinical assessment of persons who present late in their illnesses when used in conjunction with viral detection tests. In addition, if a person is suspected to have a post-infectious syndrome caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection (e.g., Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children; MIS-C), serologic assays may be used.

Serologic assays for SARS-CoV-2 infection, are an important tool for surveillance and epidemiologic studies, such as understanding the transmission dynamic of the virus in the general population. Unlike direct viral detection methods, such as nucleic acid amplification or antigen detection tests that can detect acutely infected persons, antibody tests help determine whether the individual being tested was previously infected—even if that person never showed symptoms.

Vaccines

As of December 31 two vaccines have been recently authorized under the FDA Emergency Use Authorization authority with a few more in the pipeline.

As many as 4.4M COVID-19 vaccination doses have been administered. This is counted as a single vaccination dose, and does not measure the number of people vaccinated against the disease (which usually requires two doses 21 days apart).

12M doses have been distributed.

The CDC is working on COVID-19 vaccine priority groups and targeted supply chain distribution channels.

WHG COVID-19 Data Tracking and Trends

The charts below represent an eleven month analysis by WHG of The United States COVID-19 Data and Trends.
The Primary sources of the publicly available the data is from Worldometer, an independent reference website, link listed below and the CDC. WHG tracks the data daily and calculates the trends and charts in a format to help our family, friends and clients stay informed.
Worldometer's COVID-19 data is trusted and used by of dozens of news outlets including Johns Hopkins CSSE and The New York Times.
Source https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
The positive cases by age and the deaths by age data are direct downloads from the CDC website as of 1-16-2021.
Please note that not all state and local public health agencies and/or private testing labs track or report age data (age data represents ~71% of all reported positive cases). https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#demographics