This is Coronavirus 411, the latest on Omicron and other COVID variants and new hotspots for December 7th, 2021.

The Mayor of New York City announced that all private employers, big and small, must now require their workers to get vaccinated, the most sweeping mandate of any big city or state in the U.S. And you must get the injection, there is no testing alternative. That will add about 184,000 businesses, including mom and pops, to those placed under previous mandates,

The European Union's drugs agency recommended approval of an anti-inflammatory medicine to treat adults hospitalized with severe COVID. Now it has to be confirmed by the EU executive commission. The drug is RoActemra from Roche, currently used to treat arthritis. It works by tamping down the protein interleukin-6, often found in excess in COVID patients.

In Spain, Christmas festivities at one hospital are suspected of infecting dozens of hospital staff. 170 people attended the Christmas dinner in a restaurant last weekend. And afterwards, 68 staff, including ICU nurses and doctors, tested positive. All took antigen tests before the event and were negative, and all of the infected staff were fully vaccinated.

As always, there’s not nearly as much of a war on COVID going on as there is a war on travel. The CDC has put five places in Europe on its list of "very high" travel risk destinations, including one of the very biggest for tourism, France. Also included on the list were Cyprus, Liechtenstein, and Portugal.

So will New Yorkers be mad about these new business vaccine mandates? Not if this Morning Consult poll is to be believed. It shows broad approval by Americans for strict measures to control COVID, as long it doesn’t cause businesses and services to shut down. The most commonly supported measures are better ventilation and enforcing social distancing. But masking and vaccine mandates also get the support of a comfortable majority, as in almost 70%.

In the United States cases were up 19%, deaths are up 5%, and hospitalizations are up 18% over 14 days. The 7-day average of new cases has been trending up since November 29.

The five states that had the most daily deaths per 100,000 are Wyoming, Montana, Kentucky, Michigan, and West Virginia.

There are 9,666,139 active cases in the United States.

The five states with the greatest increase in hospitalizations per capita: Delaware 63%, Connecticut 61%, Rhode Island 56%, Indiana 50%, and Massachusetts 48%.

The top 10 counties with the highest number of recent cases per capita according to The New York Times: Allen, KS. Bennington, VT. Koochiching, MN. Sullivan, NH. Jackson, IA. Benton, MN. Waseca, MN. Mille Lacs, MN. St. Clair, MI. And Socorro, NM.

There have been at least 789,742 deaths in the U.S. recorded as Covid-related.

The top 3 vaccinating states by percentage of population that’s been fully vaccinated: Vermont at 73.8%, Rhode Island at 73.5%, and Maine unchanged at 72.9%. The bottom 3 vaccinating states are Wyoming unchanged at 46%, Alabama at 46.5%, and Mississippi unchanged at 47.1%. The percentage of the U.S. that’s been fully vaccinated is 59.9%.

Globally, cases were up 15% and deaths were up 3% over 14 days, with the 7-day average trending up since October 15.

There are 21,181,006 active cases around the world.

The five countries with the most new cases: The United States 88,380. The U.K. 51,459. Germany 39,330. Russia 32,136. And Hungary 22,699.

There have been at least 5,262,134 deaths reported as Covid-related worldwide.

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