Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Fear and negativity are contagious, but so is courage!

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Stay strong, because they are weak.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

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

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The revolution will be supervised.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Be a wild strawberry.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Thursday/Friday, August 20-21

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update: Thursday/Friday, August 20-21

by | 26 Comments

This post is in: , ,


======

======

… The Illinois protocol has one key element that makes it uniquely suited for large-scale adoption, said Paul Hergenrother, a chemistry professor who helped to develop the test. “We inactivate the virus without opening any tubes. The samples are immediately inactivated at 95 C for 30 minutes. That makes it very safe for the workers in the diagnostic lab,” he said…

======

Reader Interactions

26Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers, not quite as good as yesterday’s but still decent. Nine new cases. Five cases from local infection: four Malaysians, three from the Tawar cluster in Kedah, one from a new cluster in KL; one non-Malaysian, detected in screening ahead of return to their home country. Four imported cases, all non-Malaysians, arriving from  the Philippines, Austria, India, and Indonesia. Cumulative reported total 9,249 cases.

    13 more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 8,945 patients recovered — 96.7% of the cumulative reported total. Active and contagious cases currently being isolated/treated patients dropped again to 179 patients; seven are in ICU, of whom four are on respirators.

    Still no new deaths since 31st July, and the total remains at 125 deaths — 1.35% of the cumulative reported total, 1.38% of resolved cases.

  2. 2.

    Spanky

    Just to be clear, asshat Bill Cassidy is an MD, not from MD (aka Maryland). He seems to have arizz from the bayous of LA. No, not Los Angeles.

  3. 3.

    satby

    Takes a while to read all the links ?, but all the promising news on rapid testing and potential vaccines is a bit comforting.

    Getting people to wear effective masks is still such a huge issue though. Around here, those stupid plastic half shields worn upside down over the mouth and barely covering the nose is what the mask resentfuls have switched to. They’re worse than useless, and I just wish that the local government would start imposing fines and shutting places down. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s been 6 months since we first had to quarantine, and that’s long enough for people to have gotten with the program.

  5. 5.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China once again reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, none at Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region, the 3rd day in a row there has been no new cases from the city.
    In Ürumqi, there has been a total of 1,064 cases since the start of the outbreak. 20 cases currently in serious condition. There are currently 274 total confirmed and 93 asymptomatic cases at Ürumqi. 28 confirmed cases recovered yesterday and were released from hospitals, 12 asymptomatic cases were released from medical quarantine, 2 critical and 2 serious cases improved to moderate conditions. There are 5,932 close contacts remain under quarantine and medical observation.
    At Dalian in Liaoning Province, 3 confirmed case recovered and were released from hospital. 11 cases are currently in the hospital, and 2 asymptomatic cases remain under medical quarantine. There are 740 individuals remaining under quarantine
    Shanwei in Guangdong Province reported a new domestic asymptomatic case, a close contact of the previously reporter cases, already under quarantine. There are 311 individuals under quarantine as close contacts.
    Yesterday, China reported 22 new imported confirmed cases, 22 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 11 confirmed cases, 6 Chinese nationals and a British national returning from the UK, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Ethiopia, and a Chinese National returning from Brazil, via Amsterdam
    • Tianjin Municipality – 6 confirmed cases, 4 Chinese construction workers returning Singapore, and 2 from the Philippines; 8 asymptomatic cases; all Chinese construction workers returning from Singapore
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 2 confirmed cases, both Chinese national returning from the Philippines (previously symptomatic); 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese National returning from Russia
    • Jinan in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Kazakhstan
    • Wuxi in Jiangsu Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines
    • Xichang in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Russian national coming from Moscow (previously asymptomatic)
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 11 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Madagascar
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Spain, via Yekaterinburg
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines

    Today, Hong Kong reported 27 new cases, 18 from local transmission, 7 of whom do not have clear source of transmission.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Hawaiian Airlines is further enhancing its health measures throughout its system by requiring travelers two years of age and older to wear face coverings at check-in, boarding and during the flight. Face coverings with mesh, sheer material or equipped with valves will be rejected. Travelers unable to wear face coverings due to a medical condition or disability will have to go through a new health screening at the airport.

    Hawaiian’s face mask requirement has been in place since May 8. […] A plastic face shield may be worn in addition to a mask, but not in lieu of one.

    [Those] unable to wear a face mask or covering due to a medical condition or disability must now undergo a personal medical assessment at the airport to be cleared to board​. Guests requesting an exemption should arrive at the airport early as the assessment may take up to one hour. Source

  7. 7.

    satby

    @NotMax: Good policy, because most of the people claiming “health issues” are lying. And if they’re telling the truth and their health issues are that bad, they probably shouldn’t even be out anyway because their risk is too high.

  8. 8.

    TS (the original)

    Victoria (Australia)’s daily coronavirus count has fallen below 200 for the first time in five weeks ….. The state has recorded 179 new coronavirus cases — its lowest daily total since July 13. A further nine Victorians with COVID-19 have died, taking the state’s pandemic death toll to 385.

    The city of Melbourne has been under a stage 4 lockdown with an 8pm curfew & mask mandate. It is good to see a positive outcome emerging.

    Most of the deaths are still in aged care homes.

  9. 9.

    JeanneT

    Resource sharing: I have heard some women are not able tolerate wearing a mask because of PTSD after being raped.  I’ve been encouraging those survivors I have contact with to try working on that issue now because COVID’s not going away anytime soon; not being able to mask either puts survivors of sexual violence at higher risk for the virus or condemns them to isolate for the next year or more.   A British group has published a small list of suggestions that might help survivors take back their ability to mask:  osarcc.org.uk/coping-with-a-face-covering-as-a-survivor-of-sexual-violence/

  10. 10.

    JAFD

    Ms. Laurie,

    I’ve come to depend on reading tihs summary every morning.  Want to thank you for your work, hope that soon it will not be necessary.

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    @satby: Good policy, because most of the people claiming “health issues” are lying.

     
    That’s my take. I know breathing through a mask is warm and humid, but it was worse when I lived in Florida.

    What kind of condition makes Florida impossible to breathe in? And if so, should you be RISKING a respiratory illness that smothers you to death?

  13. 13.

    gkoutnik

    Went to Lowe’s last night to get a new refrigerator, because when you need a new refrigerator (in the summer, ) you need a new refrigerator.

    Lots of employees there – all had masks but all but two were wearing them below their noses.  Luckily, the guy we spent an hour with picking out our new refrigerator was one of the two.  Wouldn’t have stayed if that wasn’t so.

  14. 14.

    WereBear

    @gkoutnik: A recent quick visit from my traveling aunt (she will appear on the way back for a longer visit) revealed that NY is doing the BEST about masking right.

    I think our stats are proof of that.

  15. 15.

    YY_Sima Qian

    It should not have been a surprise that with the COVID-19 prevalence So high in mos rod the Us, sampling pooling would prove fruitless. Simple junior high math would have shown that. I think only the Northeastern states have low enough prevalence to make it worthwhile.

    I am also not sure why they are looking blood samples (presumably for antibody tests), rather than swab samples for RT-PCR.

  16. 16.

    Sloane Ranger

    Today’s UK figures won’t be published until after 4pm local time so just to give an update on travel issues, UK has taken Portugal off the list of countries where you’re required to quarantine for 14 days when you arrive/return but Croatia, Austria and Trinidad and Tobago have been added wef tomorrow. Usual whining from those affected despite regular Government warnings that this might happen.

    In other news, UK Government seems to have been taken by surprise by the fact that the moratorium on evictions, which they imposed, ends on Sunday.  They are scrambling to find a solution to what is a complex issue. Could have used the last five months to consider this at leisure.

  17. 17.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 71 new cases reported overnight, still no new deaths of confirmed cases reported. The test positivity rate remains around 1%, hospitalisations and intensive-care numbers are stable.

    The Coupar Angus outbreak at the “2 Sisters” food packaging plant near Perth has now resulted in a total of 68 confirmed cases and the Scottish government is recommending all workers and their families, including children self-isolate until the end of the month. This outbreak is being handled differently from the Aberdeen outbreak which rated a city-wide lockdown, possibly because the factory was one central location that the disease spread out from whereas the Aberdeen case was due to a few infected people travelling through the city’s pubs and clubs and spreading the disease as they went.

  18. 18.

    Robert Sneddon

    @YY_Sima Qian: A number of countries are carrying out random baseline antibody testing of sample populations to try and determine the real levels of COVID-19 antibody prevalence in their citizens rather than working only with the reported cases where people have been sick enough to require treatment or have had positive RT-PCR tests showing they have sub-symptomatic active viral infections.

  20. 20.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Robert Sneddon: Yeah, different regions in China have reportedly done the same, but the results from these seroprevalence studies have not been published. I do not know why, perhaps the CCP regime wants to avoid the embarrassment of the antibody survey indicating a much higher infection rate than the reported case count, especially in Wuhan. It is a universal problem, and data showing the infected cases is 5x (for argument’s sake) the reported cases does not really detract from the overall excellent job Chinese national and regional authorities have done in COVID-19 response since the end of Jan. The fact that many cases and deaths were missed until mid-Feb, due to limited testing resources, is acknowledged by officials and medical experts (when asked), but regime seems to prefer that no one dwells in the subject.

    In any case, I am not sure sample pooling is appropriate for seroprevalence surveys. The RT-PCR test is so sensitive (assuming adequate quantity of viral particles in the swabbed areas and proper swabbing) that even if the sample is diluted by 5 or 10X, the test will still produce a positive result. I don’t think that is the case with antibody tests.

  21. 21.

    The Pale Scot

    Trump administration bars FDA from regulating some laboratory tests, including for coronavirus. Some public health experts worry defective tests could flood the market

    Ouuu… Business opportunity. I can whip up a test in my kitchen, then it’s all about marketing.

     

    Covindo, it lures in the Coronavirus with electrolytes. Covindo, it’s got what the virus craves.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    Good news, I suppose, about the reporting being transferred back to the CDC, but will the interim data also be transferred?  That would likely mean a revision in the numbers for the period when it was being handled differently.

    I’m saying that not because I think the numbers were being fudged (though that seems likely), but out of experience with data preparation and management. Two different systems almost never have identical behavior, and particularly if there’s been no effort to make sure they do.

  24. 24.

    VOR

    @JeanneT: A woman I knew in high school but hadn’t seen in a couple decades friended me on Facebook. She kept posting things like the Plandemic video, or things which cast doubt on whether COVID even existed. Finally last week she posted, claiming wearing a mask triggered her asthma. I said to myself, I’m done, and blocked all her posts.

  25. 25.

    West of the Cascades

    The messaging from Heather Long – “28 million Americans were receiving UI benefits at start of August –when Congress let the $600/week aid expire” – is infuriating … “Congress” did not let the supplemental UI benefit expire, the Republican Senate and the Republican President let the benefit expire.

  26. 26.

    Sloane Ranger

    British Government figures now in for today.

    190, 434 tests were processed of which 1033 were positive. 908 of these cases were in England, 34 in Wales and 20 in Northern Ireland. Robert Sneddon has already reported on Scotland.

    There were 2 new deaths, both in England.

    Due to increased spread, restrictions have been tightened in Oldham, Pendle and Blackburn, Lancashire with separate households forbidden to meet together in any setting. In addition, Birmingham, in the Midlands, has been added to the Watchlist.

Comments are closed.