Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

Bark louder, little dog.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

“woke” is the new caravan.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday/Wednesday, August 25-26

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday/Wednesday, August 25-26

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Yes, I plan to give this story [caveat: IT’S A PRE-PRINT] its own post, later:

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. Six new cases. Five cases from local infection, all Malaysians and all in Kedah: three more cases from the Tawar cluster, which has now accounted for 73 cases so far; one case screened after presenting with severe acute respiratory infection; one case screened after presenting with symptoms. One imported case, a non-Malaysian, arriving from Singapore. The cumulative reported total is 9,291 cases.

    Seven more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 8,978 patients recovered — 96.6% of the cumulative reported total. Active and contagious cases currently being isolated/treated in hospital dipped to 188 patients; nine are in ICU, six of them on respirators.

    No new deaths since 31st July, matching Malaysia’s longest period without Covid-19 deaths since the outbreak began. The total remains at 125 deaths, 1.35% of the cumulative reported total and 1.37% of resolved cases.

  3. 3.

    Mary G

    Orange County has been off the state monitoring list for three days, as hospitalizations, number of new cases, and percent positive continue to go in the right direction. If we can get to 14, some limited reopening can happen. Not having school has made people be more serious, I think, though I haven’t seen anything about numbers.

  4. 4.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 0 new domestic asymptomatic case, for the 5th day in a row.

    In Ürumqi, there are currently 124 confirmed and 44 asymptomatic cases, with 4 cases in serious condition. 36 confirmed cases recovered yesterday and were released from hospitals, 5 asymptomatic cases were released from medical quarantine, 3 serious cases improved to moderate conditions. There are 3,024 close contacts remaining under quarantine and medical observation. 

    Voices of discontent is definitely rising within Xinjiang, with the authorities’ proclamation of “scientific COVID-19 prevention measures” becoming a joke among the local citizens. Even state media has had to acknowledge and express empathy toward the frustration of residents who have been under Wuhan style lock down for 40 days, despite very few new cases (all asymptomatic) for over a week, and all residents having tested negative on RT-PCR multiple times (those who have tested positive are hospitalized or under medical quarantine). The continued lock down of cities other than Ürumqi is even more difficult to justify.

    Western media have linked the draconian counter COVID-19 measures to the suppressive measures taken primarily against Uighurs. It is an understandable, but ultimately myopic, framing in my opinion. Every Ürumqi and Xinjiang resident is suffering from the restrictions, regardless the ethnicity. Han Chinese make up just over 50% of Xinjiang’s population, and 75% of Ürumqi’s population. The voices of dissatisfaction I am reading on Chinese social media, and being cited by western MSM, are all from Han Chinese residents. The massive overreaction, and the fact that the Ürumqi outbreak was slower to peak despite the massive overreaction, to me speaks of lower overall competence of the municipal and regional authorities, who are accustomed to having a free hand implementing excessive blanket policies combating forces deemed a threat by the CCP regime (basically very broad definition of religious extremism, separatism and militancy), and without even a little bit of transparency. They have applied the same principles to combating a public health challenge, and their authoritarian inclinations have never been challenged in the past. Authorities elsewhere in China, as well as the central authority in Beijing, are much more sensitive to the possibility of popular backlash in their policymaking.

    At Dalian in Liaoning Province, 4 cases are currently in the hospital. There are 173 close contacts remaining under quarantine.

    Yesterday, China reported 15 new imported confirmed cases, 14 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 5 confirmed cases (all previously asymptomatic), all Chinese nationals returning from Iraq; 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Singapore
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Kenya, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and the US; 4 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Singapore, Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo (Kinshasa)
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 6 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Russia
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from the Kenya
    • Shanghai Municipality – 4 confirmed cases, a Chinese national returning from the US, and 3 from Singapore
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the US
    • Kunming in Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Indonesia

    Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 24 new cases, all from local transmission, 10 of whom do not have clear source of transmission. Another 10 cases are preliminarily confirmed. The Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region government announced that distancing and restriction measures will start to be relaxed in phases. Dining in is allowed in restaurants and night markets until 9 PM, cinemas and beauty parlors and outdoor exercise areas will be allowed to open, and people do not have to mask when in open outdoor areas. I am rather skeptical about the decision to reopen cinemas and beauty parlors. 

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    Worldwide total reported cases currently hovering at 24 million.

    U.S. plus Brazil plus India together account for more than 50% of that number.

  7. 7.

    Caphilldcne

    I used to think DeWine (when he was a senator) was on the right wing fringe of his party. I just am agog by these Republican lunatics.

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    This whole mask-defiance thing infuriates me. It was stupid Trump telling his cultists they didn’t have to. And their toddler side, always on the ascendant, did the rest.

    All those deaths are on HIM, sure. But doing it now shows how deeply we have been bitten by the stupid.

  10. 10.

    Baud

    In the Western world, the US tops the list at 1290 deaths a day. Spain is in second place. At 52.

    The bodyguard of Western civilization indeed.

  11. 11.

    Chyron HR

    Anti-mask confrontations

    I’m old enough to remember when the president wore a mask and said it made him look like the Lone Ranger and the entire Republican party declared that mask-wearing was now manly and patriotic. What happened?

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    @Chyron HR:

    I’m old enough to remember when the president wore a mask and said it made him look like the Lone Ranger and the entire Republican party declared that mask-wearing was now manly and patriotic. What happened?

     
    The Base knew it was “forced to by the libs” and sure enough, he dropped the whole thing.

    These people have watched Faux News effortlessly pivot back and forth from contrary positions over decades. None of the concepts in their brains touch each other, like a series of sealed Tupperware containers.

  13. 13.

    Sab

    @WereBear: That advice that masks don’t help (February) has been permanently imprinted on some peoples brains. Last time I was at my work dropping stuff off (early June) there were still people running around maskless despite company mandate. Founding partner (in his eighties),  another partner (seventy), a sixtyish co-worker and the office manager.

    I still think Mike DeWine did wonders in Ohio by putting Dr Acton out front so early. I even forgive him for backing off later. He knows how nuts his Party is. He is balancing on a knife edge and knows it.

  14. 14.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 6 deaths reported last week where COVID-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, according to the National Records of Scotland, 4 deaths in care homes and 2 in hospital. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon confirms that in the past 24 hours two deaths were reported of patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 in the previous 28 days. These are the first such positive-test deaths reported in the daily figures since July 16.

    There were 67 new cases reported overnight, the test positivity rate is about 0.5%. Hospital patient numbers are up slightly.

    There has been an outbreak in Hawick in the Borders, seven linked cases have tested positive. Aberdeen’s lockdown has been lifted with no new cases overnight and hospitality businesses are opening up again. There are more reports of schoolkids across Scotland testing positive but it still seems their infections were acquired outside school. The special-needs school in Dundee that was closed last week now has 31 linked cases that have tested positive, mostly adults who worked at the school and their close contacts. The outbreak at the 2 Sisters food processing plant in Coupar Angus seems to be contained, only four new associated cases overnight and no tertiary spread outside the workers and their immediate contacts.

  15. 15.

    Kristine

    The writer of that long-term effects tweet should’ve fit in the bit that the patients  in question had been sick enough to be hospitalized. Their word choice makes it sound like 3/4 of all those who had the virus suffered long term effects. I know—for all we know, that may be the case, but we don’t know that yet.

  17. 17.

    Sloane Ranger

    The UK Coronavirus Dashboard suffered “technical difficulties” yesterday (3rd time in as many weeks) so here are yesterday’s figures from the UK (not counting Scotland which is ably covered by Robert Sneddon).

    There were 1184 new cases yesterday and 16 new deaths. 1065 of the new cases were in England, 47 in Northern Ireland and 28 in Wales. Cases seem to be holding steady nationally at around this level.

    The Dashboard shows all 16 deaths occurred in England so the 2 deaths RS reports in Scotland haven’t made the nationwide Dashboard yet.

    The North West remains the hardest hit region with 704.4 cases per 100,000 of the population. The national average for England is 503.3, Northern Ireland, 360.3 and Wales, 563.7.

  18. 18.

    Soprano2

    I read a WaPo article about that Biogen conference yesterday. They said we should be doing more tracing like that. It was fascinating, how they traced the spread from that conference.

    As far as the anti-maskers, they probably watch Fox News. This interview with Brian Stelter on “Fresh Air” yesterday is well worth a listen. npr.org/2020/08/25/905805029/hoax-traces-the-grotesque-feedback-loop-between-president-trump-and-fox… It’s terrifying to me that the president is taking advice from TV personalities, and TV personalities know that they can influence American policy by what they say on TV.

  20. 20.

    WereBear

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    @WereBear: the base eats up the anti mask thing because gives them an excuse to abuse retail workers.

     
    YES. In fact, this is one of the main reasons they agitated for things to OPEN UP.

    As someone who waited tables in the south, the after church lunch crowd was notorious for running a server ragged and leaving a tract for a tip. And I swear, they go shopping to abuse “the help.”

  21. 21.

    Kristine

    @WereBear: I know. But that’s not the point of that particular article. I read the tweet, thought oh shit, and dug deeper. With the firehose of info out there, how many people have time to do that.

    People who were not hospitalized, who were asymptomatic—those would be different studies with possibly different outcomes.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    I went to a popular local steakhouse today for a meal I rarely* treat myself to, a medium-rare T-bone. I had called ahead, but they told me I didn’t need a reservation. And sure enough, the lunchtime crowd consisted entirely of me. That can’t be good for an eatery’s business.

    Sigh. At least I was safe from infection.

    *Please to excuse pun

  23. 23.

    mrmoshpotato

    US Food and Drug Administration chief apologises for overstating benefits of plasma for treating coronavirus patients

    Oops!  Sorry about that!

    ?

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    @WereBear:

    Right now, we cannot know much about long Covid: the inescapabe truth is that it hasn’t afflicted us for long enough. The long term isn’t here yet. Medical science must wait at least a few years for a complete-enough picture of what happens to Covid-19 survivors.

  25. 25.

    mrmoshpotato

    Anti-mask confrontations have gotten so bad, the CDC says retailers should install panic buttons

    Boston Dynamics hasn’t created a bitchslap-a-plague-rat robot to deal with this idiotic problem?

  26. 26.

    holyrood

    @Robert Sneddon: Thank you for reporting on this. My son’s primary here in Edinburgh has sent repeated emails to parents to please please keep kids home if showing symptoms worded in a escalating exasperated manner that suggests we shall soon be hearing of positive covid at his school.

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    @Amir Khalid:

    I went to a popular local steakhouse today for a meal I rarely* treat myself to, a medium-rare T-bone. I had called ahead, but they told me I didn’t need a reservation. And sure enough, the lunchtime crowd consisted entirely of me. That can’t be good for an eatery’s business.

    So, how was the steak?

    ETA: Here in my Southern California city, a number of places have adapted to outdoor dining. One place, though, has its tables too close together. And walking by one evening, I noted two large parties at two tables. I hope no one catches anything, but it did not look good.

    A coffee shop I sometimes go to has good table separation, and small tables, all outside under umbrellas.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    @mrmoshpotato:

    The Trump administration has a habit of ignoring the experts and making bad bets on medical science re the pandemic, all because Trump himself desperately wants the Covid to go away NOW NOW NOW and not be a drag on his reelection campaign anymore.

  29. 29.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Soprano2:

    It’s terrifying to me that the president is taking advice from TV personalities, and TV personalities know that they can influence American policy by what they say on TV. 

    When a rage-filled, orange manbaby and his mobster crime family are in charge…

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    @Brachiator:

    The steak was pretty good, I had no regrets, but not great. Victoria Station has customer sign-in, either with the Government contact tracing app or sign-in sheet, as is mandatory these days. They also duct-tape a small “do not sit here” X on half the places at every table. Outdoor eating is simply not possible; there’s no place outside to set up tables.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @Amir Khalid: Then call it medium-term if you want to, but a study that shows 87 out of 100 people who had covid are still having problems today, many of them significant.

    Could those symptoms go poof in a month or in a year?  Maybe.  But based on what those symptoms are?  Doubtful.

  39. 39.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    Ah! I found a source for the story I’d heard – Digby blogged on it. 

    So the CDC is, in fact, trying to reduce case counts, undoubtedly because it pleases Trump.

    It seems to me, anyone exposed, who finds out about it more than 24 hours later, needs to be tested for contact tracing purposes. I could be wrong about “24 hours” – it could be more, since it can’t be transmitted until a person is shedding the virus, and that takes *some* time post-exposure.

    So it not only sounds like a Trump-play, it actively undermines prevention, which makes me quite certain it’s a Trump-or-lackey play.

    I would not feel badly to hear that a high ranking CDC official went to jail over this, *if* I’m correct about the need for contact tracing (and thus, correct that this guidance undermines the mission).

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    @LongHairedWeirdo:
    I’ve been increasingly suspicious today that the changes to the who-should-be-test CDC guidelines are about hiding the magnitude of school outbreaks, and also other workplace outbreaks, in the run-up to the election. The truth would eventually emerge but maybe post election, would be the GOP hope.
    If so, then it’s yet another case of mass murder by the GOP serial mass murderers. I’m not pro-death-penalty so winching them slowly into a wood chipper is right out, but permanent exile to an island might be appropriate.

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