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Health

Unvaccinated Covid-19 patients are filling up hospitals, putting the care of others at risk, doctors say

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“None of these patients thought they would get the virus, but the Delta variant has proven to be so highly contagious that even the young and the healthy, including pregnant patients, are now starting to fill up our hospitals,” said Dr. Neil Finkler, chief clinical officer for AdventHealth Central Florida.

More than 90% of the hospitalized Covid-19 patients are unvaccinated, he said.

In Austin, Texas, “Our ICU capacity is reaching a critical point where the level of risk to the entire community has significantly increased, and not just to those who are needing treatment for COVID,” Austin-Travis County Health Authority Dr. Desmar Walkes said in a statement.

“If we fail to come together as a community now, we jeopardize the lives of loved ones who might need critical care.”

In Mississippi, Covid-19 hospitalizations have increased significantly — including among younger patients, State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said. All 88 beds in the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s intensive care unit had filled up by Friday, according to data from the state’s health department.

And in Louisiana, “We’re becoming victims of the unvaccinated,” said Dr. Christopher Thomas, critical care physician at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

“We currently are overwhelming our bed capacity. We’re creating burnout for our teams. And honestly, we’re beginning to impact the rest of the health care for the community.”

At the Louisiana hospital, 97% of Covid-19 patients in the ICU were unvaccinated, Thomas said. As of Friday, the average age of Covid-19 patients in the ICU was 48.

“That means there are children — with parents — who are now in the hospital,” he said.

With only 49.6% of Americans fully vaccinated as of Sunday, more businesses and cities such as Birmingham, New Orleans and Louisville are issuing mask mandates to fight the Delta variant.
The Delta strain is several times more contagious than the original strain of novel coronavirus and appears to cause more severe disease, according to an internal presentation from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Given higher transmissibility and current vaccine coverage, universal masking is essential to reduce transmission of the Delta variant,” the internal CDC documents said.

Unvaccinated people are causing tougher mask guidance

Many of those who don’t want to wear masks or get vaccinated are prolonging the pandemic, doctors say.

“We know that the vast majority of the spread is still by unvaccinated people. And I think that that is the part that’s been lost in the messaging from the CDC,” said Dr. Leana Wen, visiting professor at George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health.

“The problem is not with the vaccinated. The problem remains with the unvaccinated. And the way that we can get out of this pandemic is to increase vaccination rates,” she said.

“So the CDC should actually be saying, ‘Look, the reason we’re doing indoor mandates is because the unvaccinated cannot be trusted to put on masks. That’s why the vaccinated also have to be putting on masks.'”

Confusion about he new mask guidance, explained

Many Americans were surprised to hear the CDC’s updated guidance saying everyone — even fully vaccinated people — should wear face masks indoors in areas of high or substantial transmission.

To be clear: “It’s mostly about protecting the unvaccinated. That’s where the real serious risks of illness are,” said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.

Those who are vaccinated are less likely to get infected, Collins said. When breakthrough infections do happen in vaccinated people, they usually lead to mild or no symptoms at all.

But vaccinated people who get breakthrough infections might be able to spread Covid-19 as easily as unvaccinated people, according to the CDC.

“High viral loads suggest an increased risk of transmission and raised concern that, unlike with other variants, vaccinated people infected with Delta can transmit the virus,” CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Friday.

That finding “was a pivotal discovery leading to CDC’s updated mask recommendation,” Walensky said.

But Collins said it’s critical to emphasize how much more danger unvaccinated people are in, compared to vaccinated people. He said those who are not vaccinated:

— Are three times more likely to get infected.

— Are eight times more likely to get symptoms when infected.

— Are 25 times more likely to be hospitalized with Covid-19.

“If anybody’s listening who’s been on the fence, it’s a tipping point now,” Collins said. “Let’s try to get everybody out there and start to be a part of the winning team.”

In some places, vaccinations are picking up

As more Americans become educated about the Delta variant, vaccinations are increasing.

According to CDC data, 816,023 doses were administered Saturday — the fifth straight day the agency recorded more than 700,000 shots in arms. The 7-day average of administered doses is 662,529 per day, the highest average since July 7.

Overall, 49.6% of the US population — 168.4 million people — are fully vaccinated. Of those 12 and older, 58.1% are fully vaccinated.

Nationwide, the rate of vaccinations this past week is up more than 25% compared to three weeks ago.

In Alabama and Arkansas, which both have about 35% of residents fully vaccinated, the rates of new doses given have doubled compared to three weeks ago.

Ohio has had “a significant increase” in vaccination rates, particularly in rural areas, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Sunday.

“I think … the fear of the Delta variant is certainly one of the causes,” DeWine said.

He said the state is now focusing on outreach efforts to the “under-vaccinated” Medicaid population through incentives like $100 cash awards for getting the vaccinated.

DeWine also credited the state’s “Vax-a-Million” program for boosting vaccinations.

“We think well over 100,000 extra people were vaccinated, at a minimum, because of that,” DeWine said. “It was very, very successful.”

But “the game is still with getting people vaccinated,” he said. “We have room to grow.”

CNN’s Dakin Andone, Nadia Kounang, Deidre McPhillips, Lauren Mascarenhas, Jen Christensen, Melissa Alonso, and Raja Razek contributed to this report.

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Science

Russian Space Agency Proposes Putting a Nuclear Power Station on Mars

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Tech

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Engineers say the power plant can be delivered to the Red Planet using the Zeus – a prospective Russian nuclear-powered space tug design expected to begin flight-testing in 2030.

Specialists from the Arsenal Design Bureau – a St. Petersburg-based subsidiary of Russia’s Roscosmos space agency specialising in the production of spacecraft, satellites, and other space technologies – have proposed the creation of a nuclear power plant for a future Russian Mars base.

Sputnik was able to familiarise itself with the proposal – which recommends using technologies developed for the Zeus interplanetary space tug for a stationary nuclear reactor for the Martian surface as well.

Under Arsenal’s proposal, the reactor would be delivered to Red Planet aboard the Zeus, and floated down to its surface using a parachute system. After landing, the power plant would be activated to provide energy to a prospective Russian martian base.

On top of that, engineers say that if the Zeus were to be deployed at the Lagrange point between the Sun and Mars (i.e. the point in space where gravitational forces of these bodies are equally strong), its onboard communications sensors and transmitters could serve as a “high-speed channel for the transmission of information to Earth from the surface of Mars and from spacecraft orbiting the planet.”

Earlier, Sputnik reported that the Zeus project’s proposed megawatt-class electric propulsion system would allow it to disable the control systems of adversarial spacecraft using an electromagnetic impulse, and even allow it to fire laser beams.

Designers at the Moscow-based Keldysh Research Centre have also suggested the spacecraft class can be used as a component in Russia’s air defence network  – detecting targets from orbit and relaying this information to ground-based missile systems.

Russia has been working on the creation of an interplanetary spacecraft with a nuclear power plant since 2010. In 2019, a concept for the space tug was presented for the first time at the MAKS International Aviation and Space Show outside Moscow, with a more detailed presentation given at the ARMY-2020 forum.

Last December, Roscosmos signed a $56.5 million contract with the Arsenal Design Bureau for experimental design work for the Zeus. This work is expected to be completed by 2024, with flight testing hopefully starting in 2030.

In June, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said that in addition to Mars, Zeus tugs could be sent to other planets, including Venus, and even travel beyond our solar system, where they can search for alien life.

Roscosmos has announced a series of ambitious plans in recent years, including the construction of the first Russian-only space station since the deorbiting of Mir in 2001, and plans for a series of manned and unmanned missions to the Moon and even a possible Moon base. Russia’s space programme has faced two major problems, however: a lack of sufficient funding to realise some of its ambitious projects, and the concentration of funds and other resources for arguably questionable purposes – such as the ongoing construction of a 250,000 square metre office centre next to the legendary Khrunichev space rocket factory in Moscow.

Despite a long list of space firsts (including first satellite, first man and woman in space, first space station, first Moon and Mars landing, etc.) Russia spent just $3.58 billion on its space programme in 2020, just $260 million more than Japan, and less than France ($4.04 billion), China ($8.85 billion) and the United States ($47.69 billion). These and other factors have left the country which once enjoyed the status of a space pioneer looking on as China’s space agency and NASA show off the latest images and footage of their rovers roaming around on the Martian surface.



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Health

Latest COVID-19 wave putting younger people in hospital, Kent County health leader says

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GRAND RAPIDS, MI — The latest surge in coronavirus cases is putting younger people in the hospital compared to a previous surge last fall.

The average age of hospitalized COVID-19 patients at Spectrum Health hospitals is now 60, down from 73 during the last surge in November, according to Spectrum Health West Michigan President Darryl Elmouchi.

Elmouchi and other Spectrum Health leaders talked about their coronavirus concerns, as well as broadening vaccine eligibility, during a Zoom press conference Tuesday, March 30.

The discussion came not long after organizers of the West Michigan Vaccine clinic announced Tuesday they were immediately expanding vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older.

“As we’re seeing younger people being hospitalized, we recognize as does the state that the more vaccine we get into younger folks the better sooner,” Elmouchis said.

He also said health leaders just wanted to simplify the process and rules.

Elmouchi and other health officials say they’re concerned the latest increase in COVID-19 cases will become another wave, particularly as more contagious variant strains become more prevalent.

Spectrum Health hospitals now have 139 inpatients with COVID-19, up from 52 about two weeks ago. The intensive care unit admissions have doubled in four days.

Elmouchi said it’s believed the average age of inpatients is now younger because more people in their 70s and older have received the vaccine.

At Spectrum Health hospitals, the number of COVID-19 inpatients older than 70 has declined by about 40 percent from the last coronavirus surge. By contrast, the number of inpatients younger than 40 has increased by 54 percent.

The latest data on the percentage of positive coronavirus cases in Kent County, compared to all tests given, shows a rate of 11.3 percent as a seven-day average. Elmouchi said the figure has been as high as 16 percent for a given day in Spectrum Health’s in-system testing.

“It’s definitely a younger demographic in the hospital, definitely a lot of positivity and a lot of concern that what we’re seeing now feels strangely reminiscent to what we saw a few short months ago,” Elmouchi said.

Health officials reiterated the importance of getting the vaccine.

“What we care about the most is that shots are in arms,” said Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Spectrum Health. “And so it doesn’t matter where you get you’re shot, your vaccine. It’s just important that we’re all collaborating to help our community.”

While the West Michigan Vaccine Clinic was able to vaccinate more than 12,500 people in 12 hours on Monday — believed to be a one-day national record for clinic’s it’s size — the availability of vaccine is still sporadic.

Jon Ashford, CEO at Spectrum Health United and Kelsey hospitals, said the hospital system has “not seen the stability in the amount of doses that we’re receiving, but we are optimistic we will continue to see the volume we had this week.”

More from MLive

Michigan reports 5,177 new coronavirus cases, 48 deaths Tuesday, March 30

Michigan surpasses 4M COVID-19 vaccine doses administered

Spectrum Health tightening visitor restrictions amid rise in COVID-19 cases

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US

Putting ‘cologne on Jim Crow’: Georgia GOP lawmakers drive toward new voting restrictions

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Crucial action comes this week. The state’s GOP-controlled General Assembly has only five legislative workdays left on its calendar before it adjourns March 31. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate say they plan to finalize changes to election bills in the days ahead.

An omnibus bill that a key House committee is expected to take up Monday would impose identification requirements for absentee voting, limit the use of ballot drop boxes and disqualify most provisional ballots cast outside of voters’ home precincts. It also would make it a misdemeanor to provide food or soft drinks to voters as they wait in line.

Of particular concern to voting rights activists in the state: Measures that strip authority from the elected secretary of state and grant state officials broad rights, including the ability to replace local elections officials.

“We are facing an emergency,” Hillary Holley, organizing director of Fair Fight Action, told CNN.

Despite last-minute alterations to the package to preserve more weekend early voting, “this bill continues to be nothing but voter suppression,” said Cliff Albright, the co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. “The recent changes are nothing more than putting a little makeup and cologne on Jim Crow.”

His group plans a rally Monday at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Atlanta to pressure businesses to oppose the package, part of a planned week of action.

High stakes

Georgia, a battleground state, sits at the forefront of efforts in Republican-controlled legislatures around the country to impose tough, new restrictions on voting. The proposed voting limits in Georgia arrive ahead of high-stakes gubernatorial and US Senate races next year.

A February tally by the liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice tracked bills that would restrict voting in 43 states. More states have joined the list since then, with new bills landing recently in North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Republican lawmakers in the state have cast their efforts as needed to shore up a system battered by allegations of fraud. A preamble to the House bill said it was designed “to address the lack of elector confidence in the election system on all sides of the political spectrum” and promote “uniformity in voting.”

Former President Donald Trump and his allies have stoked false claims that he lost the election because of fraud. There’s no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the election outcome in Georgia or elsewhere. President Joe Biden’s nearly 12,000-vote victory in the state was reaffirmed in three separate counts of the ballots.

Voting rights activists say the measures under consideration would restrict ballot access for wide swaths of Georgia’s increasingly diverse population.

Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, said ID requirements for obtaining absentee ballots, would harm older voters, those who are low-income, and college students because they are all less likely to have driver’s licenses or other forms of required identification, such as passports or a state or federal photo identification card.

Georgia currently uses signature matching in absentee voting, which Republican lawmakers argue is an unreliable way to verify voters’ identities. A signature-match audit in Cobb County, Georgia, following last November’s general election, found “no fraudulent absentee ballots with a 99% confidence threshold,” according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

The Georgia House bill would require voters to provide their driver’s license numbers or state ID numbers and other identifying information, such as their date of birth, on the ballots.

Georgia Republicans “are saying that voting should be for the 1% and … for the privileged,” Dennis told CNN.

Last-minute changes

In recent days, lawmakers in Georgia backed down on a provision that critics say would have unfairly targeted Black voters. Republicans now say they plan to preserve Sunday early voting as part of the omnibus voting package that the House committee will take up this week. The change under discussion would specifically allow Georgians to cast ballots on two Sundays during the state’s early voting window. A previous bill sought to allow only one optional day of Sunday voting.

Voting rights activists had criticized that limit as attacking “Souls to the Polls” — programs that help drive turnout among Black churchgoers, a key Democratic constituency. And a CNN analysis of voting patterns in November’s general election found the measure eliminated days when a disproportionate number of Black voters had cast their ballots.
Republican Rep. Barry Fleming, the architect of the voting restrictions moving through the Georgia House, also has indicated that efforts to repeal no-excuse absentee voting are now dead. His package does not include the repeal passed by the Georgia Senate earlier this month. A record 1.3 million Georgians voted by mail in last November’s general election.

Fleming’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment. At a meeting last month, Fleming said the bills aim to address the “controversy” surrounding recent elections.

“If you have been following at all the issue of elections in Georgia, you know that there has been controversy regarding our election system. And I believe the goal of our process here should be an attempt to restore the confidence of our public in our election system,” Fleming said on February 18 as his committee began its work.

Georgia Republican Sen. Max Burns, who chairs the panel handling election bills in the Senate, has crafted a companion bill, the text of which was released Friday afternoon. His committee is scheduled to take it up Monday with a vote coming as early as Tuesday, Burns told CNN.

In a meeting Wednesday, Burns said his version “would address some of the issues and some of the challenges that we have.” He did not respond to a request for comment over the weekend.

New powers

Both measures give state lawmakers more authority over elections.

A provision in the House bill boots the elected secretary of state as the chairman of the state elections board. The General Assembly would choose the new chairman, giving lawmakers three out of five board appointments.

The current Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger drew the former President’s ire last year when he rebuffed Trump’s false claims that widespread voter fraud in the state contributed to his defeat. (Trump’s entreaty to Raffensperger to “find” votes is now the subject of a Fulton County, Georgia, investigation.)

The House package also would grant the state elections board the right to suspend both local election superintendents and local boards of election and appoint a new official to step in as a temporary superintendent.

Voting rights activists say that bucks the tradition of local control and could lead to a scenario in which state officials swoop in to prevent a county from certifying its election results.

In his bid to overturn his loss, Trump targeted not only election officials, but also reached out to members of an obscure election board in Wayne County, Michigan, charged with certifying Biden’s win in the Detroit area.

“Imagine if they had this power in the last election,” Albright said of the new authority the Georgia package contemplates. “It’s the provision that can trump every other one in this bill.”

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Sports

Golfer Michelle Wie West slams Rudy Giuliani for lewd comments about her putting stance

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Pro golfer Michelle Wie West blasted Rudy Giulani on Friday night over lewd comments he made about her on Steve Bannon’s podcast, “War Room.” The former New York City mayor had shared a story on Thursday about Rush Limbaugh, who died earlier that day, in which he and the late rightwing talk show host caught glimpses of Wie’s underwear while golfing.

Wie, who has won 5 LPGA titles, called the story “highly inappropriate” in a note shared on Twitter. “What this person should have remembered from that day was the fact that I shot 64 and beat every male golfer in the field leading our team to victory,” she wrote. “I shudder thinking he was smiling to my face and complimenting my game while objectifying me and referencing my ‘panties’ behind my back all day.” 

According to Giuliani, during a charity tournament where amateurs paid to play with pro golfers, his and Limbaugh’s group — which also included Roger Ailes and Cigar Aficionado publisher Marvin Shanken — was paired with Wie. Giuliani asked Bannon if he could share a “funny story,” and launched into the anecdote, in which he says he and Limbaugh were trying to avoid the paparazzi trailing them, before realizing that they weren’t the focus. 

“On the green is Michelle Wie, and she is getting ready to putt,” Giuliani said “Now, Michelle Wie is gorgeous. She’s 6 feet. And she has a strange putting stance. She bends all the way over and her panties show. And the press was going crazy. …They were trying to take pictures of her panties. I said ‘[Rush], it’s not me, it’s not you, it’s her panties.'”

He ended the story with, “Is that okay to tell that joke? I’m not sure.” 

Bannon replied, “We already told it, so I don’t know.”

While Wie’s note didn’t directly name Giuliani, she confirmed that she’d led the group to victory. She also addressed his comments on her stance, saying, “My putting stance six years ago was designed to improve my putting stats (I ended up winning the US Open that year), NOT as an invitation to look up my skirt!”

She added, “What should be discussed is the elite skill level that women play at, not what we wear or look like.”

Twitter users lauded her response, which also sparked a discussion about misogyny and sexism in sports. 

Coaches and parents of young female golfers weighed in as well, sharing some of the experiences they’ve seen in the sport.

There were also criticisms of sports maker Nike for female golfers’ outfits. 

The United States Golfing Association also got involved, sharing Wie’s Tweet with the comment: “Sexism has no place in golf or life. We are always in your corner, @MichelleWieWest.”

Wie has been on hiatus from the tour circuit recently, after giving birth to her daughter last June. 



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Entertainment

Dolly Parton rejects proposed statue of her at Tennessee Capitol: “I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time”

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Dolly Parton has turned down yet another accolade offered to her — this time, from her home state of Tennessee. In a statement, Parton said she asked lawmakers not to consider a bill that would allow a statue of her to be built on the grounds of the state’s Capitol. This comes just weeks after the country superstar revealed that she turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom, twice.

“I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol grounds,” Parton’s statement, shared on her social media pages, reads. “I am honored and humbled by their intention but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration.”

The bill, introduced by State Representative John Mark Windle, was passed by a state House committee February 9. However, if Parton has her way, it won’t go any further.

“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” Parton’s statement continued. “I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.”

The bill’s introduction comes after an online petition was created last year to urge the Tennessee State House to replace Confederate statues in the state with statues of Parton. “Aside from her beautiful music, which has touched the hearts and lives of millions of Americans, Dolly Parton’s philanthropic heart has unquestionably changed the world for the better,” the petition reads.

Parton created The Dollywood Foundation in 1988, which focuses on literacy and education in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee. And her giving has recently gone global. In November, it was revealed that she helped fund research for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna.

The music icon and philanthropist made a $1 million contribution toward coronavirus research efforts at Vanderbilt University in April.

While Parton has done a lot for her home state — and the world — she has remained humble and has turned down accolades for her work. 

During an interview with NBC’s “Today” earlier this month, Parton revealed she was offered the Presidential Medial of Freedom by the Trump administration twice. “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill. Then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID.” 

“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” she said, adding that she’s not even sure if she deserves it. 

Parton concluded her statement about the Tennessee statue by saying she will “continue to try to do good work to make this great state proud.” 



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Entertainment

Dolly Parton rejects proposed statue of her at Tennessee Capitol: “I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time”

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Dolly Parton has turned down yet another accolade offered to her — this time, from her home state of Tennessee. In a statement, Parton said she asked lawmakers not to consider a bill that would allow a statue of her to be built on the grounds of the state’s Capitol. This comes just weeks after the country superstar revealed that she turned down the Presidential Medal of Freedom, twice.

“I want to thank the Tennessee legislature for their consideration of a bill to erect a statue of me on the Capitol grounds,” Parton’s statement, shared on her social media pages, reads. “I am honored and humbled by their intention but I have asked the leaders of the state legislature to remove the bill from any and all consideration.”

The bill, introduced by State Representative John Mark Windle, was passed by a state House committee February 9. However, if Parton has her way, it won’t go any further.

“Given all that is going on in the world, I don’t think putting me on a pedestal is appropriate at this time,” Parton’s statement continued. “I hope, though, that somewhere down the road several years from now or perhaps after I’m gone if you still feel I deserve it, then I’m certain I will stand proud in our great State Capitol as a grateful Tennessean.”

The bill’s introduction comes after an online petition was created last year to urge the Tennessee State House to replace Confederate statues in the state with statues of Parton. “Aside from her beautiful music, which has touched the hearts and lives of millions of Americans, Dolly Parton’s philanthropic heart has unquestionably changed the world for the better,” the petition reads.

Parton created The Dollywood Foundation in 1988, which focuses on literacy and education in her home county of Sevier County, Tennessee. And her giving has recently gone global. In November, it was revealed that she helped fund research for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Moderna.

The music icon and philanthropist made a $1 million contribution toward coronavirus research efforts at Vanderbilt University in April.

While Parton has done a lot for her home state — and the world — she has remained humble and has turned down accolades for her work. 

During an interview with NBC’s “Today” earlier this month, Parton revealed she was offered the Presidential Medial of Freedom by the Trump administration twice. “I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill. Then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the COVID.” 

“Now I feel like if I take it, I’ll be doing politics, so I’m not sure,” she said, adding that she’s not even sure if she deserves it. 

Parton concluded her statement about the Tennessee statue by saying she will “continue to try to do good work to make this great state proud.” 



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Technology

Acer Swift 5 (late 2020) review: putting the ‘ultra’ in ‘ultraportable’

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If you need a laptop that’s not just light, but among the lightest of the light, you’re looking for the 14-inch Acer Swift 5. At just 2.31 pounds, it’s one of those devices that messes with your mind. When I pick it up, I feel like I must be holding a hollow chassis. When I put it in my backpack, I spend the day worrying that I might have left it at home.

Sure, there are lighter laptops out there — Asus’ Expertbook B9450, LG’s Gram 13, Acer’s Swift 7, Samsung’s Galaxy Book S, and Dynabook’s Portege X30L-G all weigh a bit less — but some of these models are either significantly more expensive than the Swift 5 or a step down in performance. If you’re looking for a real-deal processor for a mainstream consumer audience, the Swift 5 is about the lightest you can go.

The model I tested, priced at $1,299.99, is a solid all-arounder without too much to criticize and not too much to gush about. Its standout feature is its weight and the performance-per-pound that it offers. Of course, for many students, remote workers, and frequent travelers, that could justifiably be a deciding factor.

Acer calls the color “a nourishing, plant-based hue.”

Acer Swift 5 design

The first thing you may notice when looking at this Swift 5 is its unusual color. Our unit is a dark bluish-green hue called “mist green,” a new shade for the Swift line. Acer says it’s meant to convey a “restful, balanced lifestyle”; while I’m not sure I quite see that, I do appreciate that it’s slightly different from the infinite black and gray laptops you’ll see out there.

The unique finish also includes a new “silver-ion antimicrobial agent,” which Acer says will help to kill lingering bacteria. I’m not sure how many people are catching diseases from their laptops to begin with, but I suppose it can’t hurt.

The screen bezels have shrunk from last year’s Swift 5 design, giving the display a more modern appearance. In particular, a large bottom bezel that used to hold a flashy Acer logo is gone. (That logo is now at the top of the keyboard deck.) Last year’s model had an 86.4 percent screen-to-body ratio, while this year’s clocks in at 90 percent. The screen is also brighter than its predecessor’s (321 nits as tested, to last year’s 300 nits) with great colors and contrast, though its 16:9 aspect ratio is a bit cramped.

The Swift also provides good connectivity for such a thin device (it’s just 0.59 inches thick). You get one USB 3.2 Gen 2 (supporting Thunderbolt 4, DisplayPort, and charging), two USB 3.2 Gen 1, one HDMI 2.0, one combination audio jack, and Acer’s AC port. It would be nice to have an SD slot or a second USB-C, but that’s a passing grade.

Elsewhere, the Swift 5 provides a smooth and accurate touchpad as well as a solid keyboard with comfortable keys. I hit my standard typing speeds and didn’t make a single error on my usual typing test, which has never happened to me before. For authentication, there’s a reliable and fast fingerprint reader below the arrow keys.

The only real downside of the Swift’s thin and light build is that it feels a tad flimsy. There is a bit of flex in the screen and some very noticeable flex in the keyboard. I wouldn’t say it all feels cheap — the build is clearly a step up from budget fare like the Swift 3 — but it will feel and look plasticky next to more expensive ultraportables like the Dell XPS 13.

Acer says the webcam supports super high dynamic range imaging (SHDR).

Thunderbolt 4 ports are still compatible with previous Thunderbolt products.

The keyboard is backlit, too!

Acer Swift 5 performance

The biggest news about this new Swift 5 is its brand-new Tiger Lake processor, the quad-core Core i7-1165G7. With this chip come a number of new features, including Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6, and Iris Xe integrated graphics.

The Swift is also certified through Evo, Intel’s verification program for Tiger Lake systems. To earn an Evo badge, a laptop has to provide a variety of benefits like one-second wake time, nine hours of battery life with real-world use, and reliable performance. Not every Evo-certified system I’ve tested has hit those marks in my testing, but the Swift 5 certainly came close.

In addition to the processor, the $1,299.99 system includes 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. There’s also a $999.99 base model available, including a Core i5-1135G7 (also with Xe graphics), 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Either of these models is a fine purchase, but folks who don’t need their Swift to do anything graphically intensive should probably be just fine with the $999 configuration. Reviews have shown that the Core i5-1135G7 often matches and sometimes outperforms the Core i7-1165G7 in CPU-intensive tasks. Some other excellent laptops with similar portability benefits also fall between the $999 and the $1,299 price points, making the $1,299 model a somewhat harder sell. Asus’ 2.49-pound, 0.54-inch ZenBook 14 with equivalent specs is just $1,099.

You’re not compromising horsepower for this form factor. The Swift 5 is the fastest Tiger Lake laptop I’ve reviewed so far (apart from a very high-clocked reference design), though it’s not quite on the level of some recent AMD Ryzen products. I certainly never noticed any slowdowns or errors in my day-to-day work. And while this isn’t a laptop you’d buy for gaming, Iris Xe graphics are good enough to run some lighter fare.

The bottom of the chassis got warm during an intense day of Chrome multitasking, downloading and updating, photo editing, Zoom calls, Spotify streaming, and Netflix watching, but it was never uncomfortable to touch. I often heard the fans while the Swift was in Performance Mode, as well as a very occasional coil whine, but swapping to Silent Mode eliminated both of those. (You can easily toggle between cooling profiles with Fn+F.)

The viewing angle is up to 179 degrees.

And battery life was a pleasant surprise. I averaged eight hours and five minutes of continuous multitasking (around 200 nits of brightness) on this version — a big step up from the six hours I got out of last year’s Swift 5. Battery life also improved significantly after I got rid of some programs that came loaded onto this machine, including ExpressVPN, Amazon (which is pinned to the taskbar), and Norton. It only takes a few minutes to dump all of these programs, but considering that this laptop costs over $1,000, it’s still frustrating that Acer is loading it with budget crapware.

The final thing I’ll discuss is videoconferencing software since that’s important functionality for many mobile professionals. The results here are mixed. The good news is that the Swift 5 now supports AI-enhanced background noise suppression and Wi-Fi 6. Those are difficult to test, but I did do a number of Zoom calls on the Swift 5, and nobody had trouble hearing me.

In less-good news, the 720p webcam is fairly grainy. (It’s not good enough to support Windows Hello.) The dual stereo speakers also deliver some of the weakest audio I’ve heard from a laptop — bass in music was quite thin. The Swift does come loaded with DTS Audio Processing, which allows you to swap between preset profiles for music, movies, and games, and to tweak equalizer settings yourself. There’s no profile specific to videoconferencing.

The Swift 5 includes dual copper heat pipes, and a fold-under hinge provides extra airflow.

Inside its thin and light exterior, the 2021 Acer Swift 5 is a midrange laptop through and through. There are compromises but no disasters. Most aspects of it (the keyboard, the touchpad, the screen, the connectivity, the battery life) are just fine. Others (the webcam, the audio, the bloatware) are underwhelming but serviceable.

If these factors are what you care most about, you can get similar quality for less money in Acer’s Swift 3 or Aspire 5, Asus’ ZenBook 14, HP’s Envy x360 13, and plenty of more affordable machines. If you’re paying a premium for this Swift 5 configuration, you’re paying for the exceptionally lightweight build. The portable chassis — and the power Acer has packed into that portable chassis — is where the Swift 5 is at the top of its class.

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