Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

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

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

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

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

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

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

This blog will pay for itself.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

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

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

Books are my comfort food!

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday-Sunday, August 29/30

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday-Sunday, August 29/30

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82Comments

  1. 1.

    opiejeanne

    Saturday the Seattle Times announced that Washington state is no longer announcing the Covid-19 death counts on the weekends. They are still announcing the new cases, but no new deaths.
    I can’t think why they would stop this part of the reporting.

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    From your BBC link above about the enormous German protests:

    The protests have also gained support from Robert F Kennedy Jr. The anti-vaccination campaigner, also the son of assassinated US Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy and nephew of assassinated US President John F Kennedy, is at the demonstrations in Berlin.

    Mr Kennedy told the crowd at the Victory Column that his uncle had famously addressed Berlin in 1963 to counter totalitarianism and that “today Berlin is again the front against totalitarianism”, warning of a surveillance state and the power of 5G phone networks.

    Photos shared online also showed flags and slogans linked to the conspiracy theory QAnon. The wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory says that US President Donald Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media, among other claims.

    Disheartening to see so many crazy people in the world. I assume Russia is pushing this crap over there too.

    Orange County pretty much the same. Good, but not great by international standards. Seven days until we are off the CA watch list and can loosen up a bit.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. 17 new cases. Two cases from local infection, both Malaysians: one in Kedah from a new cluster, the Telaga cluster; one in Selangor from a new shipboard cluster on the MV Glen. 15 imported cases: 11 Malaysians, returning from India (nine) and Saudi Arabia (two) ; four non-Malaysians, arriving from India (three) and Japan (one, from the Seri Alam shipboard cluster). The cumulative reported total is 9,334 cases.

    10 more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 9,048 patients recovered — 96.9% of the cumulative reported total. Active and contagious cases currently being isolated/treated in hospital rose again to 160 patients; seven are in ICU, five of them on respirators.

    One new death in Kedah, the first since 31st July, for a total of 126 deaths — 1.35% of the cumulative reported total, 1.37% of resolved cases.

  5. 5.

    WereBear

    To me, the anti-vaxxing movement is an expression of anti-science given form. My grandparents remembered losing friends and classmates. Helen Keller lived until 1968. Polio is still living memory.

    The one doctor who started this wave lost his license because he falsified the data. For profit. Oh, and throw in autism prejudice, where kids get fed bleach.

    It’s just proudly screaming to go back to the Dark Ages. I do not see the appeal.

  6. 6.

    Robert Sneddon

    @opiejeanne: In the UK, weekend reporting of COVID-19 cases is incomplete and inaccurate as many small health centre and hospital offices that deal with collating the information are closed or understaffed on Saturday and Sunday. That’s why you’ll see regular dips in numbers of cases and deaths each weekend on the day-by-day charts, usually followed by a big rise on Tuesday as Monday’s numbers include the catch-up cases from Saturday and Sunday.

     

    Generally look at the 7-day rolling average to get an idea of what’s happening in a given locale as this smooths out the weekend dip.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @opiejeanne:They probably found that they weren’t getting accurate numbers from overworked/understaffed hospitals over wkends and decided accuracy was more important than a day or 2 delay.

    We’re all a little paranoid at this point due to the amount of fuckery trump and his acolytes engage in, and that’s a rather mundane theory for why. Explanations for the inexplicable usually are mundane.

    ETA @Robert Sneddon: beat me to it by this much

  8. 8.

    Brutusettu

    @WereBear:

    learning is hard.

    Drug companies aren’t exactly known for not putting profits 1st.

    Some people just seem credulous and incredulous at the same time, cons starting with saying something else is a con can always get marks.

  9. 9.

    Chyron HR

    Germany coronavirus: ‘Anti-corona’ protest in Berlin draws thousands

    I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t think you can “protest” a virus.

    Thousands march against coronavirus restrictions in Germany’s capital

    Oh, you meant PRO-Corona protests.

  11. 11.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 0 new domestic asymptomatic case, for the 8th day in a row.

    At Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region, there are currently 62 confirmed and 25 asymptomatic cases, with no cases in serious condition. 12 confirmed cases recovered yesterday and were discharged from hospitals, 5 asymptomatic cases were released from medical quarantine. There are 1,150 close contacts remaining under quarantine and medical observation.

    All districts and counties in the city have been redesigned as Low Risk, all residential compounds and villages that did not have cases have exited total downs to partial lock downs. Each household is issued a pass to enter and exit the compound/village. Vehicles can exit on alternating days. Residents can only travel within the home district/county. Residents of compounds and villages with past cases can roam free within the compound/village, but cannot venture outside. So it is still a phased relaxation, and the measures are still much more restrictive than the Low Risk status would demand.

    Yesterday, China reported 9 new imported confirmed cases, 4 imported asymptomatic cases:

    * Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, 1 Taiwanese resident coming from Taipei, and 2 Russian nationals coming from Moscow
    * Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 2 confirmed and 1 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria
    * Xiamen in Fujian Province – 2 confirmed and 1 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese national returning from the Philippines
    * Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the US
    * Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed cases, a Chinese national returning from Côte d’Ivoire
    * Chongqing Municipality – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Singapore

    Today, Hong Kong reported 15 new cases, 10 from local transmission, 5 of whom do not have clear source of transmission.

  12. 12.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @opiejeanne: I think that’s a case of just people taking the weekend off now. Washington’s numbers have been pretty low for a while.

  13. 13.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Why do leading MSM media report only confirmed case counts from China. While Chinese heath authorities separate the symptomatic and asymptomatic cases in their data dumps, both numbers are clearly stated from the reports at every level of governments. How hard is it for an intern to quickly add the confirmed and asymptomatic cases together to produce numbers that would align with the definitions in the rest of the world? This would prevent misleading headlines about no local transmission in China for 12 days, when there were asymptomatic cases reported 8 days ago. Of course, they would need to account for new confirmed cases that were previously identified as asymptomatic, to avoid double counting.

  14. 14.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    One number we are fast approaching is passing Italy on the deaths per million.

    As of today Italy deaths per million 584

    The United States deaths per million 564

    So way to go conservatives.

  19. 19.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rikyrah: That’s one thing that amazes me, things like Florida; that’s the whole “well it’s just a little flue, ignore it and it will go away” and here is it six months later and still making a mess of the place.  The whole herd immunity argument were get it over with in a couple of months is an utter failure.

  20. 20.

    gkoutnik

    Hey! Our little upstate SUNY campus is #1! We’re the best! The best at spreading the virus, that is. More cases up the hill from us than at any other SUNY campus – and the students have been here less than two weeks. Numbers are only in the dozens (again, multiple sources provide different numbers), not anything like the big universities, but still – percent positives, once they do the math, should be similar.
    SUNY Chancellor came down from Albany and offered any help necessary, which, I think, means “Ms. first-year College President, I’ll see you in my office…” She also rejected help from the city as planning went on this summer. We can find so many ways to screw up!
    Meanwhile, we hunker down.

  21. 21.

    Phylllis

    In my district, there’s a small subset of employees and/or spouses, who are continuing to travel for non-essential activities to participate in virus-risky activities. And bringing the virus back. One employee and her daughter are halfway through their isolation period caused by her husband traveling to Tennessee on a hunting trip.

    Another employee is attending an out-of-town wedding this weekend. “Oh yeah, everyone will wear masks, blah blah blah.” Why go for the whole weekend then? Why not just drive up for the wedding and return home? Because you’re gonna be partying all weekend, that’s why.

    And at least two other employees are planning beach weekends for Labor Day. I can control my behavior and who I’m around or not around when I’m not at work. It’s the other thoughtless jackasses that are putting me and my husband at risk.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    A co-worker’s son is on the football team at UNC. They were put in a bubble when training began in early summer, and it worked perfectly fine. I think I heard they’ve shut it down along with the rest of the school. I can’t imagine how disappointed they must be.

  23. 23.

    Sloane Ranger

    The UK Government’s Dashboard is now working so here are yesterday’s figures.

    There were 1,108 new cases reported (rolling 7 day average 1,164.3). Broken down by Home Nation we have 891 in England; 89 in Northern Ireland; 88 in Scotland (previously reported by Robert Sneddon) and 40 in Wales. We seem to be holding steady. The R number is between 0.9 and 1 so that makes sense.

    Schools are due to open in England over the next few days so we’ll see what happens. The UK Government advice (which only affects England due to devolution) keeps changing, which is driving everyone involved in trying to re-open safely round the bend and has caused a senior Tory back-bencher to openly criticise the Government as lacking a strategy and just reacting. It is no surprise that, as previously reported here, Labour has drawn equal in the polls.

    Deaths – there have been a total of 12, all in England.

    Please note the warning that, as admin offices are closed/understaffed during the weekend, there will be a spike, probably on Wednesday, as Monday is a Bank Holiday.

  24. 24.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @gkoutnik: And just which “little upstate SUNY campus” are you referencing? Please tell us you’re not one of the sadistic geographic paranoids (“I am here but fuck if I’ll tell you where that is if you don’t already know”) found in great profusion on this blog? (NB I live in Baltimore City and have never been shy of admitting it – & I have a college buddy on the faculty at SUNY Binghamton, IOW “reason to know.”)

  25. 25.

    Catherine D.

    Aaaand Cornell has reported its first COVID-19 cluster in students. Classes haven’t started yet. Imagine my shocked face …

  26. 26.

    arrieve

    @gkoutnik: I didn’t realize any SUNY campuses were open. This was my first week in a master’s program at CUNY in NYC, and everything is remote. It’s weird enough being back in school after a decades-long absence but having to navigate all of the online learning apps and portals, each with their own passwords, is a pain. And I am so very sick of seeing my own face on Zoom.

    But I would drop out before I would sit in an actual classroom right now, and our numbers in NYC continue to be very good. Even with all the daily evidence of human stupidity on display, I’m still flummoxed by all the people who don’t understand that you have to first control the virus, then reopen schools and businesses. Thinking you can do the reverse is just wishful thinking at best, criminal negligence at worst.

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WereBear: The thing is, Trump is working hard to erode our trust in public-health authorities by corrupting them, and that kind of institutional mistrust feeds into this.

    If Trump announces right before Election Day that a miracle vaccine is going to be distributed immediately, and Redfield puts the CDC’s rubber stamp on it, will you trust them? Without outside corroboration, I won’t. But is that being anti-vax?

  29. 29.

    Caravelle

    Sorry for the irrelevancy, but TIL South African states/regions/provinces/what are they constitute a bingo card. (also a very interesting pattern between names of presumably African origin and English-language names, the latter which show a fascinating lack of imagination (cannot speak to the former for reasons I will assume you can guess from the fact I don’t know what South Africa’s subdivisions are called and had never seen a map showing them before)).

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @Matt McIrvin:

    If Trump announces right before Election Day that a miracle vaccine is going to be distributed immediately, and Redfield puts the CDC’s rubber stamp on it, will you trust them? Without outside corroboration, I won’t. But is that being anti-vax?

     
    Of course not. That’s not being anti-vax, who rejects all vaccines. That’s being sensible about Trump. I reject all Trumps.

  31. 31.

    Eunicecycle

    @Matt McIrvin: I have already decided I will not take any vaccine for coronavirus approved by this administration. I have taken many other vaccines, including the flu. I will take the flu vaccine this year since I don’t see it being politicized. So I don’t consider myself anti vax, and I don’t think you should either.

  32. 32.

    Miss Bianca

    @Phylllis: Hey, I’ll see you and match you: in our county, the chairman of the Board of Health is hosting a wedding for his youngest son up at one of our local mountain resort eateries. 175 people, no masks. Yep.

    I hate that fucker, btw.

  33. 33.

    Phylllis

    @Miss Bianca: I happy to hate him as well on your behalf.

    I’m really sad and sooo angry this morning. I learned yesterday that a colleague in an upstate district died Friday night from COVID. He was so dear and funny, and it’s just gutted me this weekend.

  36. 36.

    StringOnAStick

    People of all ages are growing more careless from what I’m seeing locally.  There’s pretty much 100% mask compliance at the places I shop here on the West side of Denver, but outdoor activities are becoming “let your careless freak flag fly” events.

    I SUP for exercise at a local lake, staying away from anyone, get in, paddle and get out. Yesterday for the first time this summer the shore was packed with large groups, all under their shade structures, seated closely, no masks and partying hard, including people from their 30’s to well into their 70’s.  The shore was so tightly occupied by various unrelated groups that just finding a place to exit the lake with enough social distance was very tricky.  Maybe the first hint of fall this week triggered an exodus to the lake for one last hurrah.  This is the first time this season that I’ve seen so much just blatant disregard for distancing, and to see it in people in older to senior age groups is shocking.  

    Without leadership reinforcing the need to stick with the protocol, apparently this is as long as people will follow inconvenient guidelines.  Our governor has been great and in general our infection rates have stayed low since March, but the federal and FOX news response (or lack thereof, other than lies and Dear Leader propaganda) is telling people it’s all no big deal, go party and forget this unpleasantness.

  39. 39.

    debbie

    @StringOnAStick:

    Careless or forgetful? Yesterday, I drove across town to turn in a leased car and didn’t realize until I was almost there that I’d forgotten to bring a mask. It was too far away to turn back, plus I had no knowledge of the area or how to go any way but forward. I assumed the dealer might have disposable masks, but they had nothing. I kept a safe distance from everyone, used my own pen, etc., but I’m still kicking myself this morning.

  40. 40.

    Emma from FL

    This is going to sound unhinged, but, hey. Does it ever feel to you that this is Nature clearing the board a little? Just… thinning the herd or something?

    Humanity seems to go in cycles of disease — mortality — panic — progress.

    No, it’s not history. It’s not even logical. But I’m exhausted from waking up to bad news, and my mind is reaching for order, no matter how crazy.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    @debbie:

    You forgot your mask that one time. You will have decided that you will make damn sure you don’t forget it again. That’s all you can do. There’s no point in beating yourself up about it.

  42. 42.

    artem1s

    @Amir Khalid:

    I purchased about a half a dozen cloth masks a few weeks ago and now carry one in my purse, glove box, and have others stashed around the house in convenient places.  I just decided I needed to think about it the way I think about my keys or glasses.  Might as well make it part of the routine cause this is going to be the new normal for another year at least.

  44. 44.

    catclub

    @Matt McIrvin: If Trump announces right before Election Day that a miracle vaccine is going to be distributed immediately,

     

    IF?  When. I consider Trump doing that a moral certainty.

  45. 45.

    Emma from FL

    @debbie: It happens. I nearly got into an Uber car on Thursday without a mask. Thank God they send mask messages. My solution is similar to yours; have extra ones in the purse and my work backpack.

    One thing I found that seems to make a difference for me is that my sister, who loves making stuff, is making masks for us. We also buy ones if we like them. I now have a wardrobe for my face!

    Another one is that my father inherited a godawful ceramic replica of a warrior on a horse (middle east, not NA) and it sits on a small sideboard by the front door. The night before I have  scheduled trip, I hang a mask on him. Visual reminder and I managed to forget on Thursday!

    None of us are used to this. We will make mistakes. Go easy on yourself.

  46. 46.

    Amir Khalid

    @Sloane Ranger:

    I’m not saying this to gloat. But I honestly wonder how come Britain can’t get this right, when Malaysia’s Ministry of Health provides complete national Covid-19 statistics seven days a week as a matter of course.

  48. 48.

    debbie

    @Emma from FL:

    That’s what killed me. I’ve kept a few paper masks in the glove compartment, but I took them out when I emptied my car before turning it in.

    I’ve begun setting up visual cues for a few things to make sure I don’t forget to do them. I can see a day when there will be a long row of post-its lined up alongside my back door. ??‍♀️

  49. 49.

    Emma from FL

    @debbie: I got a magnetic board for my fridge. I’m thinking of a hanging mini-blackboard for my front door. Whatever help us deal with it is good. This is no time to play memory games, considering how our minds like to trick us.

  50. 50.

    Cameron

    Since March, the only time I leave my apartment without a mask is when I go for my morning walk at 6.  I live in Old Fart Development Land, which means there are yooge parking areas that I can go through for several miles without crossing a street.  It’s easy to keep 10-15 feet from the few people I see then.  Otherwise, mask goes on before I go outside.

  51. 51.

    gkoutnik

    @Uncle Cosmo: 
    Sorry – I’m relatively new to commenting with any regularity here, and I note that most commenters are a bit coy about their location. I live just down the hill from SUNY Oneonta.

  53. 53.

    Miss Bianca

    @Phylllis:  So sorry to hear it – my condolences.

    It’s times like these that I find myself channeling my inner Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman: “The right people never get hurt.”

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie:  I forgot my mask one time, but I was only 10 miles away so I was able to turn around.

    Now I keep two masks in my car at all times.  I do two because I occasionally forget to bring a mask back out to my car after an outing where I have used the mask and washed it.

    So even if I forget to bring it out, there’s always still one in the car.

  55. 55.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Matt McIrvin: f Trump announces right before Election Day that a miracle vaccine is going to be distributed immediately, and Redfield puts the CDC’s rubber stamp on it, will you trust them?

    How did that work out for Putin? Of course Trump’s idiot base will line up because Navarro says it’s good and economist know better than epidemiologist when it comes to disease but the rest of the population won’t.  Look Trump’s Herd Immunity slacker solution to virus; in theory Covid is so contagious it should infect 100% of a population in yet even in the Redeset of the Red states it hasn’t happened because people have an instinctive fear for disease like they do fire.

  57. 57.

    Another Scott

    Thread:

    1. Terrific piece on how @WHO was overcome by #Covid19, by @betswrites & @drewfhinshaw. WHO has taken a boatload of criticism for its handling of the pandemic. This piece explains why it acts the way it does: WHO is what countries want it to be. https://t.co/s1yX5JBrlw

    — Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) August 29, 2020

    “Working as designed.”

    Which, of course, means that it can and should be designed to work better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    Bill Arnold

    @arrieve:
    I know someone who just started freshman(woman) year at SUNY Plattsburgh, far upstate (Northeast) New York (some signs have French below the English). Community spread in the surrounding county is low, and I drove through the campus last weekend and even outdoors, mask discipline was close to 100 percent (like 98-99 percent). Students have been made to understand that they and their suitemates will be quarantined if any suitemate is infected, and that the campus will close if community spread starts.
    We’ll see how that discipline is maintained when ethyl alcohol is involved. (Drinking age is 21.)
    Mask discipline in NY State has been very good in indoor public places in my experience, albeit mainly in a few counties that were hard-hit early. Large private summer parties are distressing and probably facilitating a lot of new cases; neighbors just last night had a 50 person party. There were tents outside, but the people count outside was never even equal to the number of cars.

  60. 60.

    debbie

    @WaterGirl:

    Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too. They all had cloth masks, but few were wearing them correctly. This is Ohio we’re talking about…

  61. 61.

    Bill Arnold

    @Bill Arnold:
    By the way, the State of Vermont has a nice clickable map of the Northeast (and some mid-Atlantic) by county, of active infections per million. Basically there are quarantine or testing rules for visiting Vermont if your source county’s active infection level is too high. (Testing and quarantine can be done before travel.) It”s a handy map (seems to be updated once per week).
    https://accd.vermont.gov/covid-19/restart/cross-state-travel

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Eunicecycle: Well, if Trump is reelected or (“reelected”) we might have to ride out the rest of this pandemic under his stupid strongman regime. Under those circumstances we might not have much of a choice if we have any vaccine at all. I think the key thing is to seek independent corroboration from people more trustworthy than Trump appointees and those under their thumb.

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    We got a shipment of new filters for the trusty 3M industrial respirator, as well as a new medium facemask that takes these filters, for wife to wear should she need to be out of the hermitage.

    The filters are good for n100 for particulates, also works in environments with a wide variety of hazardous industrial gases — I once had an old suburban with the motor running on 6 or 7 of the V8 cylinders, spitting blue smoke on my feet while I loaded my haul of groceries into the back of the suv. I could tell the mask was working well, as I couldn’t smell the vile blue smoke at all. Which was reassuring, to say the least.

    I’m glad this equipment is available again, finally. In the beginning it was not available. The filters from new are rated to last 40 hours depending upon the environment, and in my usage they appear to last even longer than that. Eventually, of course, you have to pull hard to get a good chest full of air, and that’s time to replace with new ones, after 3 or 4 weeks of weekly trips into town.

    I also have a 12-pack of disposable masks on the console of the car for a quick in and out somewhere, as opposed to a 90 minute trip into a big box store.

  65. 65.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Emma from FL:

    This is going to sound unhinged, but, hey. Does it ever feel to you that this is Nature clearing the board a little? Just… thinning the herd or something?

    I understand the feeling, but it’s important to remember that Nature doesn’t have anything particular in mind. The whole thing is running blind in its weird ramshackle way. (And even as a herd-thinner it’s not that effective, since the actual fatality rate is fairly low and it mostly kills people way past prime reproductive age.)

    I remind myself sometimes that if this particular plague hit 300 years ago, people might not even notice it was happening against the general background of stuff that made people get sick and die all the time. Granddad just died of pneumonia? Yeah, that’s a thing that happens. I suppose what separates us from conservatives is that they take that as a signal to act as if there’s nothing wrong with it.

  68. 68.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @gkoutnik: Many thanks. I had actually heard of Oneonta before, but never got there & had no idea they had a SUNY campus.

    My one very tenuous connection: In 1966 the Red Sox moved a very minor league (New York-Penn League – they called it “A” ball but it was really a D-league) farm team there, which 2 years later became the Oneonta Yankees & stuck around in that form for quite a while. (You could look it up.)

    My cousin’s first stop in professional baseball (which eventually took him to the majors) was with that franchise while it was still in Wellsville NY (a town even smaller than Oneonta!) & the first time I ever saw him play was when our family drove up to watch him for a week. (Also the last time I ever saw his father, my uncle, in town for the same reason – & who died of a massive heart attack the following autumn.)

    Like I said, very tenuous… Thanks again.

  70. 70.

    Emma from FL

    @Matt McIrvin:  I know all that. Three years of intensive history education plus daily reading helps kick facts into your brain. It’s just despair talking. and as Joe @66 says, paranoia. I do have a narrow but deep river of that.

  71. 71.

    Chief Oshkosh

    A persistent RW meme are the Swedish numbers. Does anyone have a reality-based analysis of how they are faring?

  73. 73.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Chief Oshkosh: My general impression, from a combination of stats sites and people in Sweden talking about the situation, is: (1) Sweden isn’t doing well by Nordic standards, but is doing better than a lot of places in America; but (2) the claim that they’re just letting it ride and acting like US MAGA fools is a dirty lie–they’re just not locking down as hard as their neighbors; and (3) Sweden has a lot of characteristics that distinguish its plans from anything the US could successfully try. Universal comprehensive health coverage, generous sick leave, a generally more prosocial attitude on the part of the public, etc.

    However, I also detect a certain amount of Swedish nationalism coloring things in the stuff some Swedish people say about it. But their eagerness to insist that US conservatives are painting a false picture is notable.

  74. 74.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: I say something when I see people in stores – especially employees – without their nose being covered.

    I feel like we need to call people out when they aren’t following the mask rules.

  76. 76.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Amir Khalid: You’re not gloating.

    In the UK, weekends are sacred and are not to be interfered with for any reason unless you are a front line emergency services worker or a shop assistant (shop workers because weekends are sacred to the God of shopping for everyone not a shop assistant).

    Also, having administrators coming in at weekends involves paying them time and a half (Saturdays) or double time (Sundays).

    As I’m on, I’ll take this opportunity to give you all today’s figures.

    There were 1,715 new cases, which is a big jump and worrying in light of the weekend delay issue. They are broken down as England 1,487; Northern Ireland 49; Scotland 123 and Wales 56.

    The rate per 100,000 of the population is,

    England 513.4

    Northern Ireland 379.5

    Scotland 371.9

    Wales 570.1.

    Only 1 death reported. It occurred in England.

  77. 77.

    WhatsMyNym

    @rikyrah:

     

    Germany- a country

    Has fewer cases than several states of the United States

    They closed their borders.
    If they had been forced to keep their borders open to the rest of the EU…just look at the numbers for Italy, Spain, France, and so on.
    Many Asian countries did much better in responding.

  78. 78.

    cain

    @StringOnAStick:

    I’m waiting for after labor day to enjoy my summer – eg camping and the like because it’s just nuts now. Once the kids are in school – at least then I can go try to get a few weekends in before the rains come.

  79. 79.

    gkoutnik

    @Uncle Cosmo: I watched the OYanks play many times, in the only pro stadium in the country that does not serve alcohol (“That double will earn him a sub at the Hometown Deli!”).  The Yanks pulled out a few years ago; we got a Detriot farm team for a short period, and now it’s pretty much college guys playing summer ball.  Still a great evening.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    Coming late to the thread. A good article on Sweden and the failure of herd immunity.

     

    ETA: In the US, Labor Day is coming up. I hope people will be suitably careful.

  81. 81.

    joel hanes

    @Emma from FL:

    “Nature” has no intentions.

    Concentrated monocultures are vulnerable to epidemic infection.  This is true of bananas, corn, rabbits, livestock confinement, and human beings.

  82. 82.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Brachiator: The thing that adds additional complexity to the story is that Sweden’s horrific failure is a situation that in the US would be considered fantastically successful. We’re just doing so much worse.

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