Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

“woke” is the new caravan.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Let’s finish the job.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

The willow is too close to the house.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

“They not like us!” (that’s for sure!)

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Wednesday / Thursday, May 6-7

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Wednesday / Thursday, May 6-7

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40Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers: 39 new cases, of which 38 are from local infection and one is a Malaysian repatriated from abroad; total 6,467 cases. 74 recoveries; total 4,776, 73.9% of all cases. No deaths, total still 107; case fatality rate 2.19%. 1,584 active cases, 19 of them in ICU, 8 of those on respiratory aid. No alarming developments, just steady progress.

    DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, responding to a reporter’s question, says an exit strategy is being worked on, but it’s too soon to begin implementing it. For now, we must maintain our discipline and learn to live with the new normal.

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Obviously easier to do in a place like that with low population density and minimal mass transit ridership, but America should at least try.

    Sarcasm much Matthew?

  3. 3.

    WereBear

    In the US, our new normal is the funhouse of broken mirrors Republicans want us to crawl through. The only thing we can rely upon is that nothing will go the way they claim it will.

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    I thought I saw that the Murderer-in-Chief now appears to be adopting the “the death toll numbers are Fake News! It’s actually a lot less” (owing to his magnificence, no doubt) lie. Is that an accurate depiction by me? Or am I just (incorrectly) conflating a bunch of disparate memes/memories?

  5. 5.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly: Good sarcasm.  I initially thought he was an idiot.

    America should at least try.

    The only way America can “try” anything worthwhile is by electing Democrats to Congress and the White House. Otherwise, save your breadth for the ventilators.

  11. 11.

    Xentik

    Looking at the statistics for the past few days, I find it somewhat reassuring to see Russia and Brazil now competing for who can produce the most new cases in a day. It’s a reminder that COVID *does not care* if you pretend it doesn’t exist or claim that it’s a hoax. Red states are about to learn that lesson as well, though it’s a shame that the people who will bear the brunt of it aren’t the ones who deserve to.

    On a happier note: Monks covering Bob Marley

  13. 13.

    satby

    Good morning all. I’ve been up since 4 and now thinking about going back to bed. Possibly just staying there until 2021. Someone wake me around January. Unless Biden doesn’t win, then just let me sleep.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    from the Guardian:

    “It’s painful to understand how badly we’ve messed up the process of developing rapid tests in large numbers,” said Redlener. “We aren’t even close, less than 2% of the population has been tested, we don’t even know the prevalence of the virus.

    “There’s been nothing like the misinformation and incompetence we’ve seen around Covid-19 in American history. Colleagues of mine overseas are in disbelief. I never thought I would long for the days of Richard Nixon, but here we are. It’s frightening,” he added.

  16. 16.

    New Deal democrat

    Five GOP governors, four of whom never locked down their States, authored an editorial yesterday about how they had found the right way to beat the virus.

    Right now one of them, Nebraska, has soared to the 4th highest per capita rate of infections for all 50 States and DC. A second, Iowa, is #9.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby: Charlie’s horses came for a long visit at 2 and have returned several times. I’m not gonna last long either.

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    In a Molly Jong-Fast tweet-thread (which she kicked off with “Out: Pro-life  In: Pro-choice”), which was aimed at the “Let’s kill grandma so we can get our nails done” crowd, one of the suggestions to get the RWMFs to stop being pro-death was to call it “4000th week abortion.” I thought that was a nice touch.

    Then there’s the sheriff in some county in Washington who is disobeying Inslee’s lock-down orders by claiming that closing death-stick stores violates the Second Amendment. I had forgotten that the 2A says “the right to keep, bear, and buy arms at retail shall not be infringed,” so I’m grateful that his civil disobedience jogged my memory.

    As Cole says: these fucking people.

    PS: To be clear: I’m not including the originator of the “4000th week” quip in that group, just the RWMFs in the pro-granny-murder group.

  19. 19.

    terben

    From the Australian Dept of Health:

    As at 3:00pm on 7 May 2020, a total of 6,896 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 97 deaths and 6,035 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19.

    Over the past week, there has been an average of 20 new cases reported each day. Of the newly reported cases, the majority have been from Victoria.

    There is a relatively equal ratio of male-to-female cases across most age groups.

    Of cases with a reported place of acquisition, 63% have recent international travel history, including over 1,200 cases associated with cruise ships.

    The overall proportion of cases under investigation in each state and territory is relatively low, indicating that public health actions, including case identification and contact tracing, is occurring in a timely manner.

    To date, over 722,500 tests have been conducted nationally. Of those tests conducted 1.0% have been positive.

    In my state, after 14 days with no new cases, there was a single case recorded today. A man who returned from overseas on March 20, tested negative and self-isolated for two weeks. Early on in that time, he developed mild symptoms (he lost his sense of taste and smell) which did not meet the current threshold for testing. He eventually came for testing on May 5 after the criteria were changed and was found to be positive. One possible explanation that have read is that patients who have recovered and subsequently test positive again are shedding “virus litter”—inactive debris of viral cells—from the lungs. Curious indeed.

  22. 22.

    Rusty

    @OzarkHillbilly: See my link above.  Trump and all the executives had testing before the photo op. Sending a message that it’s ok to not wear a mask, while protecting themselves.  There is no bottom to these people.

  23. 23.

    Barbara

    If you read the Reuters piece on UK care homes, you will be crying by the end.

    The Guardian article has a map that is a stunning visual on the current trends in the US.

  25. 25.

    Skepticat

    @OzarkHillbilly: Live and Let Die… I want to shake the hand of the factory worker who put that on

    I understand that this is just one of tRump’s favorite campaign songs, and as this was nothing more than a campaign rally, he had his playlist blasted the whole time.

  26. 26.

    VOR

    @SFAW: I don’t think Trump has actually said that publicly yet, but there has been reports he is privately saying COVID-19 deaths are exaggerated. It seems to be an article of faith on the Right that  those darn doctors and coroners are purposefully claiming COVID as the cause of death no matter what. You see, they are all trying to run up the score to make Trump look bad. The CDC is in on it too so the Deep State argle bargle.

    This theory is being spread by the likes of Russia Today, InfoWars, and QAnon. Probably Breitbart too. Laura Ingraham has done shows on it.

  27. 27.

    Jay Noble

    @OzarkHillbilly: My sarcasm meter must be broke cuz the first thing I did was run to google

    Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, and has a population density of 17,311 people per square mile (6,659 people per square kilometer), which ranks between 2nd and 3rd in the world for population density

  28. 28.

    SFAW

    @VOR:

    I saw (a week or so ago) that some Alex-jones-types were claiming that NYC was moving various dead bodies from hospital to hospital, and then photographing those bodies in the different venues, to make it look like there were more deaths than there actually were.

    “Sick motherfuckers” is too kind for those sick motherfuckers.

  29. 29.

    arrieve

    Here in Pandemic Central (NYC), where the curve is slowly but surely flattening, we finally have testing on demand available at the walk-in urgent care clinics. I got the antibody test on Saturday; it was negative. I know there are issues with false positives, and so a positive test would not have been any kind of “Get Out of Your Apartment Free” card, but it might have made me a little less paranoid. I had a dry cough, and I lost my sense of smell for a couple days before that was reported as a Covid symptom, so I thought I might have been one of the lucky ones who got a mild case.

    On the other hand, a negative test means that what I’m doing is working and I should just keep it up.

  31. 31.

    VOR

    @SFAW: Everyone knows Donald Trump is the best, most competent President the world has ever seen, so it is simply unpossible the death toll could be that high. He closed our border with China, you know. Noted medical authority Rush Limbaugh said it was just the flu, NBD. Those dead people are crisis actors and it’s all a conspiracy by doctors and Blue state governors to deny us OUR FREEDOMS.

    They are all in, totally invested in this worldview and I don’t know what it would take to shake it. Talk of injecting bleach wasn’t enough.

  34. 34.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Obviously easier to do in a place like that with low population density and minimal mass transit ridership, but America should at least try

    Hong Kong? That sarcasm? ….I mean it might but these days with so much stupid out there.

  35. 35.

    Barney

    @Barbara: This is the bit from Reuters that describes what someone deserves prosecution for:

    According to several care home managers, a key route for infection was opened up by an NHS decision taken in mid-March, as Britain geared up for the pandemic, to transfer 15,000 patients out of hospitals and back into the community, including an unspecified number of patients to care homes. These were not only patients from general wards. They included some who had tested positive for COVID-19, but were judged better cared for outside hospital.
    In a plan issued by the NHS on March 17, care homes were exhorted to assist with national priorities. “Timely discharge is important for individuals so they can recuperate in a setting appropriate for rehabilitation and recovery – and the NHS also needs to discharge people in order to maintain capacity for acutely ill patients,” the plan said.
     A Department of Health guidance note dated April 2 and published online further stated that “negative tests are not required prior to transfers / admissions into the care home.”

    “This is why you need centralized quarantine” applies even more to this.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    RE: Oh, easier to do in a place like that with low population density and minimal mass transit ridership, but America should at least try.

    Sarcasm much Matthew?

    That stood out for me, as well. Deeply bitter sarcasm. The Twitter comments got it right away. Liked one comment, “we’re Texans. We’re very dense.”

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    @New Deal democrat:

    Five GOP governors, four of whom never locked down their States, authored an editorial yesterday about how they had found the right way to beat the virus.

    It is sad to see how these dopes think that blind conservative willpower can overcome reality.

    This is even worse than blind religious faith.

    But I guess they also worship a new deity, The Economy.

  38. 38.

    chopper

    the serology data is heartening, but i want to know how many ‘most people’ refers to when it comes to producing neutralizing antibodies and, more importantly, what the risks are among those that produce non-neutralizing antibodies for antibody-dependent enhancement after subsequent exposure. i know other coronas like MERS and, to a lesser degree, SARS are both associated with this effect.

  39. 39.

    West of the Cascades

    Taiwan – population: 23.8 million; number of Covid-19 cases: 440; deaths: 6

    United States – population: 328.2 million; number of Covid-19 cases: 1,231,992; deaths: 73,573

    New York – population: 19.5 million; number of Covid-19 cases: 323 ,978; deaths: 25,623

    What the Trump administration allowed to happen, and often exacerbated, by its utter failure to respond to and contain the coronavirus will go down as one of the historic failures of governance, and it continues to roll out in slow motion in real time.

    It makes sense that Taiwan can reopen a version of its national passtime, but completely insane for the United States to be even thinking about doing the same until some semblance of effective response is present in this country. There seems to be little hope of that happening until early next year, and then only if Trump is disposed of.

  40. 40.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: I heard this from a friend of mine (retired prof) who lives in Forest Hills. He’s a normally-sane coupon-clipping Republican but he believes this. I told him it sounded like a whackaloon conspiracy theory to me. Still does.

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