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When I was faster i was always behind.

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The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

How stupid are these people?

A tremendous foreign policy asset… to all of our adversaries.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Thursday/Friday, July 9-10

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Thursday/Friday, July 9-10

by | 37 Comments

This post is in: ,

First, the good news (if we can hold them to it):

Downhill from there…


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Data editor on the Houston Chronicle:

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    as officials went against accepted practice & “buffed the system”

    At least the system is all shiny now.

  2. 2.

    Brachiator

    Southern California continues to be a problem, especially Orange County, where many residents resisted wearing masks and engaged in risky behavior. From various reports:

    Coronavirus hospitalizations jump 97% in Orange County in less than a month

    The number of patients hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections reached new heights Thursday in Orange County — jumping 97% over the past three weeks — an indicator that health experts say makes it clear the virus is spreading more rapidly in the region.

    County health officials on Thursday reported that 691 patients were being hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infections. Seven days earlier, 556 people were hospitalized. A week prior there were 437 people in hospitals, and a week before that there were 351.

    The spike has prompted hospitals countywide to begin to prepare for a surge of sick patients, said Orange County Health Care Agency Director Dr. Clayton Chau….

    As of Wednesday, hospitals reported that 27 patients were from out of the county, including 18 patients from Imperial County whose hospital system has been overwhelmed amid the pandemic.

    The increase in hospitalizations comes as the number of new infections continues to rise in Orange County. On Thursday, health officials reported 1,292 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infections to 21,517. Officials also reported 26 fatalities, pushing the county’s death toll past 400.

    While those numbers help paint an overall picture of the virus’ toll on the region, Dr. Shruti Gohil, associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UC Irvine, has kept her eye trained specifically on hospitalization numbers, which experts say is a better indicator of severe cases in the community.

    “If you look at the number of people who are requiring hospitalization, it gives you a better sense of the tip of the iceberg,” Gohil said. “There’s a larger portion of the population under that tip that indicates widespread community transmission.”

    The number of people in intensive care units has also continued to climb steadily countywide, though not as quickly as overall hospitalizations. As of Thursday, 234 patients were being treated in intensive care units. Three weeks earlier there were 149 patients, according to county data.

    This is probably the result of an increase in infections among younger people who are less likely to end up severely ill and a sign that doctors have become better equipped to identify COVID-19 patients earlier and start caring for them more promptly, officials say.

    Gohil noted that Orange County’s increasing hospitalization numbers correlates directly with the loosening of stay-at-home restrictions that allowed indoor dining at restaurants to resume and bars to reopen last month.

    “If you look carefully, it’s right within that incubation period,” Gohil said. “In my mind, the restaurants and bars reopening really sent this psychological message that things were OK. People started going out more and it provided a more level playing field for this virus to infect people.”

    Last week, the county was forced to close bars, indoor dining at restaurants and a swath of other business sectors amid the uptick in infections and hospitalizations. The new rules, which were mandated by the state, will remain in place for at least two more weeks, officials have said.

    The surge in new cases and the recent rollback of business reopenings has prompted Supervisor Michelle Steel to repeatedly appeal to residents to wear a face covering when in public. Steel, along with other members of the county’s Board of Supervisors, had previously questioned the necessity of the county’s mask requirement….

    Other counties in Southern California are also seeing a sharp uptick in hospitalizations.

    In Los Angeles County, the number of patients with confirmed coronavirus infections jumped from 1,429 to 2,037 in the last three weeks, marking an increase of about 42%.

    “Our three-day average of people being hospitalized is now over 1,900 patients,” Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday. “This is more people hospitalized each day for COVID-19 than really at any other point in the pandemic.”

    Riverside County’s hospitalization numbers grew from 285 three weeks ago to 506 this week — an increase of about 77%. San Bernardino County saw an even sharper increase — roughly 119% — over the same time period.

    In the past two weeks, the state overall has seen a 44% increase in the number of COVID-19 patients who need hospital care.

    In response, hospitals are making adjustments to their operation plans by building up an inventory of personal protective equipment, testing supplies and cross-training staff members in preparation to care for more COVID positive patients, said Carmela Coyle, president of the California Hospital Assn.

    “We’re going to surge differently this time,” she said Wednesday. “We’ve learned a lot in the past four months. We know that we have different tools available to care for COVID-positive patients. We’ve got therapeutics like remdesivir and others that are actually shortening the stay of those patients. We are putting fewer of those patients on ventilators.”…

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    Trump complains to Hannity that the media reports on spiking coronavirus cases: “In most cases, they automatically cure. They automatically get better.”

    I know that Fox News will let Trump say anything, but reporters everywhere else should challenge him and ask him the source of his claims about the pandemic.

    While listening to the local radio news today, I noted again that Trump’s claims and predictions are treated as though they automatically have some validity and are equal in weight to the conclusions offered by the CDC and health officials.

    But Trump is obviously just pulling this stuff out of thin air. And there is no reason to indulge his dangerous delusions.

    ETA. Analogous nonsense is happening in the UK, where Boris Johnson is putting political considerations ahead of health and safety.

  4. 4.

    Sab

    My Ohio county has finally had mandatory masking imposed on us by the Governor’s people. We were working on it at the city and county level, but my reaction is ” thank you, finally.” Not a solution, but it should help a lot.

    We are in much worse shape than we were a month ago. And my extrovert inlaws and siblings have toxic levels of cabin fever.

  5. 5.

    Mary G

    The only bright spot today:

    New ABC/Ipsos poll:
    Only 33% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of coronavirus
    Only 32% approve of Trump’s handling of race relations

    In both cases, *two thirds* of Americans *disapprove*
    Trump’s magical lying powers are working wonders!t.co/dPzALaBrGx

    — Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 10, 2020

    Getting closer to the magic 27%!

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. 13 new cases, cumulative total 8,696 cases. Five cases from local infection. Three Malaysians, two in Sarawak screened after presenting with severe acute respiratory infection, two in in KL, one screened pre-surgery, one screened before returning to work; one non-Malaysian, an immigration detainee detected in a secondary screening ahead of deportation.

    Eight cases from imported infection. Six Malaysians returning from Indonesia (3), India, the UK, and Russia respectively; and two permanent residents returning from Indonesia and Pakistan respectively.

    12 more patients recovered and were discharged, total 8,515 patients recivered or 97.9% of the cumulative total. 64 active and contagious cases are in hospital for isolation/treatment; two are in ICU, both receiving respiratory assistance.

    No new deaths. This streak of 26 days without a Covid-19 death in Malaysia is twice as long as the previous such streak, which ran 13 days from 23 May to 4 June. Total deaths remain at 121, for an infection fatality rate of 1.39% and a case fatality rate of 1.40%.

  7. 7.

    low-tech cyclist

    The number of Covid-19 deaths per day is increasing again, after declining for over two months.  It was hard to be sure at first, given the more than normally erratic reporting of deaths over the recent holiday weekend.  But the 7-day average is all the way back up to where it was two and a half weeks ago – 625/day now v. 627/day on June 22, per Worldometer.

    At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a shit-ton of people are going to die of this thing between now and when President Biden is sworn in.

  8. 8.

    Brachiator

    California officials may be thinking about trying to use harsh measures to enforce compliance.

    In response to the rapid spread of the coronavirus, some Los Angeles County cities have announced plans to ticket people and businesses that disregard health orders such as mask mandates. Los Angeles and state officials are also considered ramped up enforcement efforts.

    There are even rumblings that a further lockdown might be in the works. This would be a mistake. Businesses are starting to comply. And they would be hurt by this snapping back and forth. And as a comment or notes, some people are getting cabin fever from self-isolation. But things are getting better. Here’s some of the good news.

    In mid-June, Los Angeles County public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer reported that half of LA’s bars and restaurants were not safely following health guidelines to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the county’s inspection team visited 1,101 restaurants and found improved results from the previous month, where restaurants and bars are taking the extra steps to follow county guidelines.

    In a county briefing yesterday, Dr. Ferrer shared inspections data from July 3 through July 5. LA County’s findings revealed the following:

    * 99 percent of restaurants followed the county order to provide outdoor dining, takeout, or delivery.
    * 99 percent of restaurants complied with the physical distancing requirements
    * 99 percent of customers wore face coverings
    * 82 percent of employees wore face coverings/shields
    * 82 percent of bars visited were closed, as were the eight breweries and wineries visited
    * Inspectors also visited 74 hotels where 97 percent complied with face coverings.

  9. 9.

    Patricia Kayden

    Guys, I know things are real fuckin’ bad, but never lose faith in the ability of Republicans to make ‘em even worse— Jason McGlothlen (@goddamnedfrank) July 10, 2020

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    @low-tech cyclist:

    At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a shit-ton of people are going to die of this thing between now and when President Biden is sworn in.

    Trump’s ego might not allow it and it might be against protocols and tradition, but if Biden wins, it would be great if a pandemic task force put together by the new administration could begin work in November. The situation might be too severe to wait until the inauguration.

  11. 11.

    terben

    From the Australian Dept of Health:

    ‘As at 3pm on 10 July 2020, a total of 9,359 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 106 deaths, and 7,626 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19.

    • Over the past week, there has been an average of 160 new cases reported each day. Of the newly reported cases, the majority have been from Victoria.
    • Following the peak of cases at the end of March, there have been a relatively low number of new cases reported daily between mid-April and early-June 2020. Cases have increased since mid-June however they remain below the March peak of daily cases.
    • Of cases with a reported place of acquisition, 53% have recent international travel history, including over 1,300 cases associated with cruise ships.
    • To date, over 2,970,000 tests have been conducted nationally. Of those tests conducted 0.3% have been positive.
    • On 3 July, 189 historic cases reported in crew members on board a ship were classified as Australian cases and included in New South Wales totals.’

    307 new cases today, 7 reclassified, for a net increase of 300. In Victoria there were 288 new cases.

    There has been a new case in the Northern Territory, the first for some time. This case was a US Marine who arrived a few days ago. He was tested when he arrived and was under quarantine when his test result became known. I’m not sure why troop rotations from the US were allowed or whether testing occurs before embarkation.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    @Brachiator:

    Here’s a question I wish some reporter would ask: “Mr President/Prime Minister, you are only a layman. Who are you to overrule America’s/Britain’s foremost experts on infectious disease and silence them?”

    Many an editor would call this question rude and inflammatory. But it really needs to be put to leaders like Trump and BoJo, and they should be pressed to give a proper answer.

  14. 14.

    Cermet

    @Brachiator: But it will be a paper tiger – zero legal authority nor any access/rights to the Gov. A good propaganda group but nothing else as long as the orange fart cloud runs things til Jan

  16. 16.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China did not reported any domestic cases (confirmed, suspect or asymptomatic). I cannot remember when was the last time of zero reported cases in the country, certainly before the recent Xinfadi outbreak starting from mid-Jun.

    There were 4 imported confirmed and 3 imported asymptomatic cases reported yesterday:

    Taiyuan in Shanxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Russia
    Shanghai – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese student returning from France
    Hohhot in Inner Mongolia – 1 confirmed case, origin not released
    Dalian in Liaoning Province – 1 confirmed and 3 asymptomatic cases, all Russia crew members off a container ship

    Hong Kong is experiencing a potentially very concerning outbreak. 42 cases yesterday, include 34 local transmission, and 5 of the 8 imported cases are from Kazakhstan. 38 total cases today, including 32 from local transmission. Transmission chains have not yet been identified in 2/3 of cases. There are clusters associated with taxis, bars, restaurants and residential compounds. We may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.

  18. 18.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    There are now severe consequences for food establishments that do not take physical distancing and other guidance seriously. The Hawai‘i Department of Health’s Food Safety Branch will begin to temporarily suspend the operations of restaurants, bars, and other food establishments that do not comply with physical distancing, wearing cloth face masks and other required guidance.
    [snip]
    If physical distancing and mask-wearing violations are verified by an inspector during a routine inspection or as a result of a complaint, the following enforcement protocol will be used to encourage compliance:

    1st Violation: The Department of Health will issue a written warning and educate the food establishment that it is in violation of the Department of Health’s guidance. The food establishment will be informed that a second violation will result in the issuance of a red placard for creating an imminent health hazard. Unlike the color-coded system for sanitation and safe food-handling compliance, there is no yellow placard.

    2nd Violation: The Department of Health will issue a red placard. This will result in immediate closure of the establishment and a news release will announce the red placard posting. The food establishment may request a reinspection and review to safely reinstate their operations. Source

  19. 19.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Cermet:

    @Brachiator: But it will be a paper tiger – zero legal authority nor any access/rights to the Gov. A good propaganda group but nothing else as long as the orange fart cloud runs things til Jan

    All too true, but if they get up to full speed with planning in Nov/Dec, they’ll be ready to hit the ground running on January 21 – and if any enabling legislation is needed, they can have it in Pelosi’s and Schumer’s hands in time for them to get it rolling on January 3.

    I’ve resigned myself to the unfortunate reality that everybody’s written off all the deaths between now and January, but at least the new Administration shouldn’t spend January and February still working out the details of how they’re going to use the Defense Production Act, for example.  They should have detailed plans ready to implement as soon as Biden’s hand is off the Bible.

  20. 20.

    low-tech cyclist

    @terben:

    I’m not sure why troop rotations from the US were allowed or whether testing occurs before embarkation.

    On whether American troops are tested for Covid-19 before shipping them overseas, my WAG would be “of course not.”  The Trump Administration isn’t going to worry about whether it’s going to infect some other part of the world, any more than it’s going to protect American lives here at home.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    As for schools here, it’s a mish-mosh of differing cross-your-fingers protocols.

    Principals at Hawaii’s 283 public schools are able to decide which instructional model works for their campuses: Face-to-face learning every day, a blended rotation, or a combination of the two.
    [snip]
    There are lingering concerns about whether the safety measures the [Department of Education] is taking are enough.

    The teachers union, for example, has questioned the Education Department’s social distancing guidelines, which call students to be 6 feet apart when facing each other but 3 when faced in the same direction. That concern led the board of education to defer action Thursday on an agreement with the Hawaii State Teachers Association to reopen schools.
    [snip]
    A survey of public school teachers found that most of their students didn’t regularly participate in distance learning. Regular participation among secondary school students was in the single digits in some areas.

    Public schools will reopen on Aug. 4. Source

  23. 23.

    Gvg

    I have been worried about all armed forces since this began. I just don’t see how our military can operate without spreading infection. Maybe nuke subs if they did pre testing, pre quarantine before a cruise. I guess all the rest of the world would have the same issue, but our military has so many active missions…

  24. 24.

    grandmaBear

    In Montgomery County, OH (Dayton) one of the guidelines for schools in the paper this morning is that ‘students or staff diagnosed as having COVID-19 must go three days with no fever before returning to school.” I wonder if anyone bothered to consult with doctors (or teachers and parents for that matter) about this. Three days – and nothing about testing negative.

  25. 25.

    TS (the original)

    @terben:

     I’m not sure why troop rotations from the US were allowed or whether testing occurs before embarkation.

    There is probably a loophole that lets them enter Australia (security/work/whatever). US people otherwise are not allowed into Australia at the minute. (I believe the rules are still returning citizens only)

    The figures from Melbourne are ghastly & of course some people left before the borders closed & NSW is getting more positive tests.

    Queensland opened its borders at 12 noon today  so the next 14 days are a waiting period. The scenes from the airports showed that social distancing was they last thing people were thinking about.

  26. 26.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The situation in Kazakhstan is rather bizarre. There are nearly 45K reported COVID-19 cases, but only 264 reported deaths from COVID-19. Possibly the Kazakh regime is taking a page out of Putin’s playbook of assigning deaths to other causes. There have been rumors that COVID-19 is not under control. Then the Chinese Embassy in Nur-Sultan (Kazakh capital, formerly Astana) releases an advisory in Chinese, advising Chinese expatriates and prospective visitors that there is an epidemic of pneumonia from unidentified causes in the country, likely even deadlier than COVID-19 (certainly higher than the reported CFR in Kazakhstan), aand that Chinese nationals have already perished from the disease in the country. The Chinese Embassy cites Kazakh new reports, that 27K persons have been diagnosed with community acquired pneumonia, supposedly testing negative for COVID-19. More then 1.7K people have perished so far, include nearly 700 in Jun.

    Now, it is very unlikely that there is a second viral pneumonia epidemic, with very similar symptoms as COVID-19 but deadlier, and not a reemergence of MERS. More likely the Kazakh regime has been underreport the numbers. The Chinese Embassy feels compelled to warn the Chinese expatriates of the danger (it would be raked over the coals if a number of Chinese expatriates gets sick or dies and the reports proliferate in Chinese social media). However, the Missions also wishes to avoid embarrassing the Kazakh regime, so they exclusive cite confused Kazakh new reports in the advisory. Kazakhstan is a critical partner for China’s Belt and Road initiative, a key supplier of natural gas, and the CCP regime needs Nur-Sultan to stay quiet (even voice support) for its harshly oppression of the Uighur and Kazakh (to a lesser extent) in Xinjiang.

    The fact that all 5 cases exported from Kazakhstan to Hong Kong are confirmed COVID-19 further reinforces that there not a second epidemic there. Neighboring Kirghizistan has also reported hundreds of community acquired pneumonia cases,  ow confirmed to be COVID-19.

  27. 27.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original): There is a rotating presence of 2500 US Marines based in Northern Territories (amounting to a permanent presence), per an defense agreement signed during the Obama era, part of his Asia Pacific Rebalancing strategy to check the rise of China. I do not believe Australia is in a position to halt such deployment.

  28. 28.

    Zinsky

    @YY_Sima Qian: I read about the new Kazakhstan deaths due to a “new pneumonia” on CNN this morning. VERY SCARY!  If this is another novel coronavirus or another type of airborne virus that causes sudden respiratory collapse, we could be rookie-dooed and tattooed as a species.

  30. 30.

    TS (the original)

    @YY_Sima Qian:

     I do not believe Australia is in a position to halt such deployment.

    I do not believe the current government wants to halt the deployment.  However, given that our borders are basically closed to all but returning citizens, I believe they should not allow new military into the country from the US.  Australia is a sovereign country, they can change an agreement with the US and the pandemic gives them good cause.

  31. 31.

    grandmaBear

    @Amir Khalid: according to Dr DIL the newspaper didn’t get it quite right. It’s 10 days plus the 3 days without a fever but even so, it sounds much too reckless for me. I live with son, DIL & 2 elementary age children, so it’s definitely something I’m following closely. I expect that schools will end up closing pretty quickly & going back to  full-time online.

  32. 32.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Zinsky: Yeah, my heart skipped a beat to. Kazakhstan is right next to China. The advisory caused a commotion on Chinese social media and digital media.

  33. 33.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original): I do not believe that Australianis even in the position to ask for a pause in deployment. The USMC deployment is supposed to be on a 6 months rotation. If Australia requests that the next contingent do not come, then either the current contingent has to extend their stay, or there would not be a USMC presence in Australia for a period of time. Depending on the fine print of the defense agreement, Australia may be obligated to host a continuous presence.

  35. 35.

    SW

    Career employees in the federal agencies are now convinced that Trump is a one term President and they aren’t afraid of him anymore.  They are all more than capable of riding out a six month lame duck and sabotaging any bullshit he might want to pull that they disagree with.  Their careers are no longer on the line and they are beginning to act accordingly.  Its all over for this bullshit as far as the inner working of the government is concerned.  The TV show shambles on.

  36. 36.

    Yutsano

    @YY_Sima Qian: I typed out a long comment then it disappeared on me. I just wanted to say the Marine commander was a freaking idiot for not testing his troops before they got on the plane. And Australia absolutely could have insisted that the new contingent isolate for 14 days before they got released on base. It’s not an American base. Australia still has control over who enters their borders here. Kind of a mess-up on both sides.

  37. 37.

    terben

    @Yutsano: Darwin Airport has a ‘Military’ side as well as a ‘Civilian’ side. I understand that the Marine contingent came through the Military side and went straight into quarantine for 14 days and were tested. One result has come back positive. I agree that not testing before departure was idiotic, if not predictable.

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