Plus, drug prices are up 5x over the 1980s.

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** States have slowed COVID-19 reporting
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The Delta variant underscores how this pandemic is not over, but several states have reduced the frequency with which they report. USAFacts has a list of states ([link removed]) that have stopped or slowed weekday COVID-19 reporting this spring and summer.
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* Nebraska stopped reporting cases and deaths around the time Governor Pete Ricketts declared the end of the COVID-19 state emergency on June 28.

* Florida also discontinued its dashboard at the end of June. It now publishes a weekly PDF, but the information is uneven: cases are by county, but reported cumulative deaths are for the state overall.

* South Dakota is reporting once a week. Alaska reduced reporting to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

* Though 26 states are no longer under a state of emergency, many report COVID-19 data every weekday. However, most discontinued weekend reporting. Thirty-seven states didn’t report on Saturday, July 24, and 41 states didn’t report on Sunday, July 25.

Data lapses could make it difficult for citizens and policymakers to understand how lifted restrictions, vaccinations, and masks are affecting this new phase of the virus.

Is your state on the list? Read more about COVID-19 data reporting here ([link removed]) , and be sure to check out USAFacts’ ongoing COVID-19 metrics ([link removed]) .

More young people are vaccinated as teen cases rise

The Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for people ages 12 to 15 in May. Since then, millions of young people have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but they’re more vaccinated in some states than others. See the map of vaccinations ([link removed]) for teenagers here ([link removed]) , plus data including:
* As of July 28, 10.3 million people ages 12 to 17 received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot. That’s 41% of adolescents nationwide.

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* Massachusetts has an overall vaccination rate of 72% and leads the nation in adolescent vaccinations at 63%.

* People aged 12 to 17 account for 8% of the US population and 6% of the COVID-19 cases for which Centers for Disease Control has age data. Out of 501,773 deaths with age data, 224 were in this age group.

* At present, the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are not available to people younger than 18.

Which state trails in vaccinating adolescents? Get the information at USAFacts ([link removed]) .

Medications are more expensive. But by how much?

Drug prices were five times greater ([link removed]) in 2020 than in 1984, a rise three times greater than the inflation rate for all other goods. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States and cardiovascular drugs have climbed steeply in particular. Read on to learn more about the climb over the decades.
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* In general, a medication priced at $100 in 1984 would cost $500 for a drug treating the same condition in 2020.

* Cardiovascular drug prices grew the most over the past 20 years. A heart disease drug costing $100 in 2000 would cost about $1,300 in 2020, according to BLS data. Cardiovascular drugs are 25% of the top 200 drugs prescribed in the US.

* Medicare and Medicaid do not have the ability to negotiate drug prices. Other government plans, including those run by Veteran’s Affairs and the Defense Department, can negotiate prices like private insurance companies.

How are drug prices determined? Get the answers here ([link removed]) .

Fast Company Best Workplace for Innovators Award
Fast Company ranked USAFacts #14 on its 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators list ([link removed]) . This award celebrates companies that empower employees at all levels to improve processes, create new products, or invent ways of doing business. From COVID-19 to being the most comprehensive source of government data, we're dedicated to helping Americans focus on the facts.
One last fact
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Fourteen states and Washington, DC have paid sick leave policies ([link removed]) for workers, each with a different set of requirements. Visit USAFacts to learn more about policies in each state.

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