This is Coronavirus 411, the latest COVID-19 info and new hotspots for September 17th, 2021.

Idaho public health leaders yesterday expanded health care rationing statewide. Individual hospital systems in Alaska and Montana have also implemented rationing policies. Increases in COVID-19 patients are exhausting medical resources so those resources are allocated to those most likely to survive.

A government watchdog says the Department of Homeland Security must improve its COVID-19 response at the U.S.-Mexico border. Customs and Border Patrol says they don’t have the resources to test symptomatic migrants and has been relying on local public health systems and nongovernmental organizations to handle things.

No, vaccine refusal is not just an American conservative thing. France's health minister said 3,000 health care workers across the country have been suspended without pay for refusing to get vaccinated. The deadline was September 15. France has recently seen mass demonstrations opposing the government's vaccine policies.

We’ll see if that also happens in Italy. A measure was approved yesterday that applies to all public and private-sector workers and will come into force Oct. 15 that deploys Green Pass requirements. Workers face fines of up to $1,700 and employers who don’t check their workers will also be fined. The new Green Pass mandate will affect about 18 million people. But Italy’s full vaccination rate is already a very high 75%.

It's one health condition causing another. A new study ties the pandemic to an “alarming” increase in obesity in U.S. children and teenagers. That speeds up a problem that was already happening, but now the increase is called profound. The sad irony being the pandemic seems to be increasing obesity, and in turn obesity puts people at risk for more severe cases of COVID.

In the United States cases were down 9%, deaths are up 29%, and hospitalizations are down 5% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending down since September 13.

There are 9,597,842 active cases in the United States.

With not all states reporting daily numbers, the five states with the greatest increase in hospitalizations over 14 days are Montana up 47%, Ohio 39%, West Virginia 31%, And Idaho and Alaska 29%.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Knox, KY. Monroe, KY. Powell, KY. Perry, KY. Rockcastle, KY. Russell, KY. Humboldt, NV. Wyoming, WV. Whitley, KY. And Lincoln, MT.

There have been at least 669,996 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont again unchanged at 68.7%, Connecticut unchanged at 67.3%, and Maine at 67.1%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are West Virginia unchanged at 40%, Wyoming at 40.3%, and Idaho at 40.4%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 54.1%.

The 5 countries with the largest recent 24-hour increase in the number of fully vaccinated people: Taiwan up 16%. Kosovo and Thailand 4%. And Africa and Nepal 3%.

Globally, cases were down 17% and deaths were down 9% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending down since August 27.

There are 18,671,978 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 151,142. India 34,649. Brazil 34,407. Turkey 28,118. And the U.K. 26,911.

There have now been at least 4,669,300 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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