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Below is an excerpt from a complimentary research note written by our Healthcare Team of Tom Tobin, William McMahon, and Justin Venneri. We are pleased to announce our new Sector Pro Product Health Care Pro. Click HERE to learn more. |
We continue to monitor the trend in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, as well as the number of vaccine doses administered for clues on how the #reopening is going.
As of this moment, the CDC’s data on cumulative laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations has yet to be updated for the prior week (it stood at 295.8 per 100,000 population through 12/12 (up from 278.7/100k in the week prior’s update)), and the vaccine data is updated as of 12/26 (see below).
Meanwhile, the headlines, especially out of hotspots like California, remain concerning.
As hospitals adjust and postpone services/surgeries of all kinds through early-to-mid-January, as many have across the country, the procedure backlog grows, which will likely provide a tailwind for some of our favorite Position Monitor companies like AMN in 2021. A delay in the reopening could cause a timing issue for others. This slide from JNJ’s 3Q20 earnings presentation is worth 1,000 words:
Regarding the pace of vaccinations, as of 12/21/20 the CDC reported just over 614k doses administered. We’re up to 1.95MM as of 12/26 (9am).
The pace is falling short of the 20MM by year’s end and the 10MM per week for the initial phase of deployment.
That said, it is the Holiday season, so we’ll have to see if the pace can accelerate. The bulk of the high-risk population can be covered with 140MM doses, or enough to vaccinate 70MM people. Following the CDC's reporting on how many doses and vaccinations have been deployed will tell us how close we are to a true #reopening.
