Notice the big empty space on the right? That's where @realDonaldTrump "works" the ropeline. The white line tells him how close he can get to the crowd and still be socially distant. The crowd, on the other hand … no such protections. The irony is thick in Trumpilvania pic.twitter.com/Nje8n9fwWb
— Greg Jenkins (@jenkinsgreg) September 13, 2020
CORONAVIRUS LATEST: https://t.co/UUzFQ0Gnns
• The World Health Organization has reported the highest single-day increase in COVID-19 infections worldwide since the pandemic began.
• Pandemic has killed more than 928,000 people across the globe.— ABC News (@ABC) September 15, 2020
The number of new U.S. coronavirus cases has dropped from its peak in late July. But hidden in that trend is a rise in daily cases in the Midwest — which has recently seen its highest level so far.https://t.co/4aSFaqDXMz
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 14, 2020
The official count, #COVID19 cases & deaths, USA.https://t.co/7lIYZMfmA3
??
Add the 44,066 excess mortality cases since January thought to be due to COVID and we are well over 200,000 deaths in America. pic.twitter.com/MuW6g9THOF— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) September 14, 2020
Seems like a precipitous decline just as Trump starts tweeting about the FDA "deep state" slowing a vaccine and the agency's Trump-appointed staff were forced out for giving misleading talking points on an experimental treatment https://t.co/AuchZ3qwrA
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) September 14, 2020
This is absolutely appalling. The Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at HHS is peddling conspiracy theories, actively undermining public health agencies within HHS, and stoking fears of an armed insurgency. https://t.co/9n8w9SAZFJ
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) September 14, 2020
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Note: For editing purposes, I’ve been separating these tweets into four loose categories: national, international, science/tech, and local. (The categories are marked out by rows of === double-dash widgets.) Realized I should probably explicate this, since some of the links that look like ‘science’ (e.g., China’s insistence that imported frozen fish carried the virus) are actually, IMO, political. I don’t have the expertise to judge whether frozen fish can spread contagion, but I *do* assume Chinese media wouldn’t keep bringing up the topic if it weren’t useful to the Chinese government’s management of the pandemic.
Six months after coronavirus was declared a pandemic, where are the global hotspots? https://t.co/djjcmC0IuU
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 14, 2020
Dr Mike Ryan on why we should prevent as many #COVID19 cases as possible.
"When we say that the vast majority of people have a mild illness and recover, that is true, but what we cannot say at the moment is what are the potential long-term impacts of having had that infection" pic.twitter.com/RQZdMopCjE
— Dr Zoë Hyde (@DrZoeHyde) September 14, 2020
Beijing has been in and out of lockdown as it looks to respond quickly to coronavirus outbreaks
What is life like in the Chinese capital’s ‘new normal’?https://t.co/7UqUfMK0Nc pic.twitter.com/unmZ10sAkY
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 14, 2020
Anti-maskers forced to dig graves for COVID-19 victims in Indonesia https://t.co/UEIyDVT9PL pic.twitter.com/kktQX5Srxj
— New York Post (@nypost) September 14, 2020
South Korea to secure coronavirus vaccines for 60% of population: PM Chung https://t.co/Z3ziZfw5dZ pic.twitter.com/b2nxs6IrvJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2020
Singapore starts distributing Bluetooth coronavirus contact-tracing tokens to its five million residents https://t.co/qZeXYIKFLU
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 14, 2020
India's tally of coronavirus infections nears 5 million https://t.co/AMi7BVoQW2 pic.twitter.com/Ar795A4jZ3
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2020
Coronavirus: India faces oxygen scarcity as cases surge https://t.co/NE6v1KQkSN
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 14, 2020
HUGE EXCESS DEATHS in Russia ??. 57,800 excess deaths between May and July—more than 3 times greater than official May-July #COVID19 death toll. The jump in Russian deaths illustrated the real toll from COVID-19, and that authorities had underreported. ? https://t.co/3UdsiAFrHx
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) September 14, 2020
?? Home Secretary @pritipatel said she would call the police if neighbours had a party because it was right to report people who might be spreading COVID-19 by disregarding new restrictions on gatherings of more than six people https://t.co/aBZ3pPKSF4
— Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) September 15, 2020
Covid-19 hospital beds 'close to saturation' in Marseille, France, after spike in cases https://t.co/PglP9nD1cm
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 14, 2020
More ‘politics masquerading as science’ disinformation *sigh*…
Tonight an odd research institute released a bizarre and unfounded preprint claiming an engineered origin to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Already downloaded 100K times, the paper was picked up by the NY Post. The research institute? Directed by Steve Bannon until his recent conviction. pic.twitter.com/btuK7Xt15T
— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) September 15, 2020
The institute is funded by Guo Wengui (below, with Rudy, of course). pic.twitter.com/UVJA5xqIB1
— Carl T. Bergstrom (@CT_Bergstrom) September 15, 2020
======
‘Everyone was left to guess what went wrong’: An open letter to AstraZeneca’s CEO on… https://t.co/PdQZx6unuA via @statnews
— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) September 14, 2020
Adding my voice here: the vaccine developers in this pandemic are going to have to break with traditional behavior in a big way. We need more information, out in public, because terrible trouble is on the way otherwise:https://t.co/RsdVXtR8BM
— Derek Lowe (@Dereklowe) September 14, 2020
China coronavirus vaccine may be ready for public in November: official https://t.co/xOUUG8WB5T pic.twitter.com/xvQwG8I1So
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 15, 2020
On the eve of @JoeBiden’s promised speech tomorrow on ensuring a universal safe and effective vaccine, please watch @UW biologist and @randomhouse author @CT_Bergstrom on @OpenMindTV discuss how we prevent a sham or show vaccine: https://t.co/hgTfNp7dsg
— Alexander Heffner (@heffnera) September 14, 2020
Redefining Covid19: Months after infection patients report breathing difficulty & excessive fatigue. British researchers studied 110 patients whose illnesses required hospital stays of ~5 days. 12 wks after discharge 74% still reported serious symptoms https://t.co/hZLQcljxYK pic.twitter.com/h5jQycx70E
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) September 14, 2020
Question: Do you think giving adults the measles, mumps & rubella vaccine will prevent SARSCoV2 infection? Researchers in St Louis think so & are launching a global study. Similar principle involved in studies underway asking same question about the TB vax https://t.co/s6wMywqey7 pic.twitter.com/8pVkNNQ12R
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) September 14, 2020
Molecular mechanism discovered elucidating how a #coronavirus hijacks a cell https://t.co/Sbzxa1Kbd5 via @physorg_com
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) September 14, 2020
I asked them that yesterday. It sounds like you got the vaccine candidate and not the placebo. BUT, health care workers successfully immunized might be protected ourselves … but we can be carriers. Right, Rich?@RichCondit @profvrr @michaelmina_lab @gorskon @DelthiaRicks https://t.co/h4uWZPvGtA
— Jay Gordon, MD, FAAP (@JayGordonMDFAAP) September 14, 2020
"Emergency use of the vaccine, which is still being tested, was granted after a set criteria & after it had been tested on 31,000 volunteers." UAE approves emergency use of Sinopharm's #Covid19 vaccine. Please define "set criteria." h/t @jwacarrollNZ https://t.co/92jqYOnjli
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) September 14, 2020
The replies to this tweet are actually quite entertaining:
If—like me—you went into lockdown on March 13 and have stayed home ever since: Congratulations! You’ve made it to Mars in a human-factors simulation of a “fast” 6-month free-return trajectory!
— Andrew Higgins (@A_J_Higgins) September 13, 2020
======
Through last Friday, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri and Iowa had added more recent cases per capita than all other states.
College outbreaks, a motorcycle rally and an outbreak at a jail have all contributed to the spikes.https://t.co/4aSFaqDXMz pic.twitter.com/NvPSgkh7N7
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 14, 2020
CDC says people with COVID-19 twice as likely to have eaten at a restaurant https://t.co/UoBTIHCdvw pic.twitter.com/qkl19q7edc
— The Hill (@thehill) September 15, 2020
Noticing a trend in AZ right now w/a lack of masks & folks forgoing COVID prevention – the mood that “we’re past this” is palpable & worrisome. We’re all tired but it’s so important to stay vigilant in COVID prevention, especially as bars/schools reopen.. & flu season approaches
— Dr. Saskia Popescu (@SaskiaPopescu) September 14, 2020
This isn’t actually aimed at millenials, of course; it’s aimed at ‘mask resistant’ Gen-Xers (Rudd’s 51)…
Certified young person Paul Rudd wants you to wear a mask. Listen up: pic.twitter.com/GTks5NUBmR
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) September 14, 2020
YY_Sima Qian
Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 0 new domestic asymptomatic case, 8 new imported confirmed cases and 9 imported asymptomatic cases:
* Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Mexico, 1 each from Nigeria and Argentina
* Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from Russia
* Shanghai Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Ukrainian nationals coming from the Ukraine (via the UK)
* Kunming in Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Indonesia
* Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the Ukraine
* Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Saudi Arabia (via Egypt); 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Egypt
* Chongqing Municipality – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Singapore
* Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines (via South Korea)
* Harbin in Heilongjiang Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese National returning from Japan
* Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Angola (via Lisbon)
* Rizhao Port in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Filipino crew member off a cargo ship
There are new developments within the past 24 hours at Ruili in Yunnan Province, on the border with Myanmar. Apparently the 2 imported confirmed cases reported there on 9/13 were smuggled across the border on 9/3. A mother, with 3 children and 2 nannies (one of whom is 16 years old). The mother and the 16 years old nanny are confirmed cases, no word yet on the rest of the family. The mother lost her sense of smell and taste on 9/10, and had the awareness to visit a hospital to get tested. The family had been out and about in Ruili between 9/3 and 9/10. The fact that they smuggled themselves into China explains why the imported cases did not go through the 14 days of mandatory quarantine and testing, and why the residential compound they lived in is under lock down.
So far, 190 close contacts have been traced, quarantined and tested. Of the 98 close contacts whose rest results are available, all are negative. All 619 households at the residential compound are being tested. 1185 individuals have results so far, all negative. Yesterday, Ruili government ordered the entire city of 200K into lock down (1 week to start) and immediately commenced 100% mass screening of residents. All residents are forbidden from exiting the city during the lock down period. All businesses except supermarkets, produce markets, and pharmacies are closed during the lock down (which suggests that at least 1 member of each household can exit the compound each day to purchase daily necessities). Public transportation is halted, all private vehicles and taxis are ordered off the road. A hospital in the city has been designated as COVID-19 only, and a team of 200 medical staff has been ordered to reinforce the city from Dali in northern part of the province. All of these actions seem to be overkill for a couple of cases, compared to how Shenzhen responded to a small cluster there last month, for example. However, I am sure the authorities are very concerned about the week between when the family entered China, and when they are tested and isolated. Furthermore, the family are probably not the only people who smuggled themselves across the border to avoid quarantines.
The southern part of the Yunnan Province border Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, in including the infamous Golden Triangle. The border region is entirely mountainous and hilly jungles, so fairly porous despite the efforts of the Chinese authorities. The residents across the border are often the same ethnic groups., sharing the same languages and cultures, and have intermarried for generations (especially with Myanmar). There is a great deal of cross-border commerce by small time traders, and a lot of Burmese laborers do manual work across the border in China. There have always been quite a bit of smuggling across the Sino-Burmese border: jade, heroin and people to China, arms and illicit cash to Myanmar (specifically the de facto autonomous ethnic regions and their militias in northeastern Myanmar). This year is a census year in China, but I am sure the Ruili government will take advantage of the lock down to do a thorough survey to uncover undocumented visitors in the area.
Today, Hong Kong reported 4 new cases, all imported. This is the first time Hong Kong has reported no new local transmission in a month.
OzarkHillbilly
Counting chickens before they’re hatched.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily numbers. 23 new cases. 13 cases from local infection, all in Sabah: 10 Malaysians, comprising eight cases from the new Pulau cluster, one from the Benteng Lahad Datu police lockup cluster, one hospital patient screened during referral to another hospital; three non-Malaysians, all from the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster.
10 imported cases. Five Malaysians, returning from Turkey, Qatar, the Philippines (two), and Morocco; five non-Malaysians, arriving from Hungary, the Philippines (two), Nigeria, and Bangladesh.
The cumulative reported total is 9,969 cases.
Six more patients recovered and were discharged from hospital, for a total of 9,209 patients recovered — 92.4% of the cumulative reported total. 632 ative and contagious cases are currently being isolated/treated in hospital; 14 are in ICU, four of them on respirators.
There are still no new deaths since 1st September, and the total remains at 128 deaths — 1.29% of the cumulative reported total, 1.37% of resolved cases.
Sabah has its state elections coming up. DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah advised Sabahans to observe all precautions when coming out to vote.
YY_Sima Qian
@OzarkHillbilly: Miles Guo is a cynical, sociopathic charlatan and fraudster. Here is a recent WaPo article that dives into his relationship with Steve Bannon. They really belong with each other.
The CCP regime relishes foes such as these.
NotMax
Eric Feigl-Ding sounds like a name Dickens came up with after too much peyote.
:)
Anecdotal: 100% properly worn mask compliance observed during the monthly hooping quest in town. It is, after all, the law.
OzarkHillbilly
@YY_Sima Qian: May they share a cell.
Chyron HR
Let me make sure I’ve got this right:
1) The ‘Rona is a man-made Chinese bioweapon with which the US was attacked.
2) ??????
3) Everything’s fine, please resume shopping, dining, and event attendance.
NotMax
Total reported cases worldwide poised to surpass 30,000,000 midweek.
TS (the original)
Trump talking about a vaccine being available before the election has reduced confidence in a vaccine world wide. I do wonder if he realises how much he has reduced the standing of the USA with other nations? I’ve never been agin vaccines – but I will be looking closely at any vaccine approved by the US this time around before agreeing to use same – even after trump is defeated. It takes much time to rebuild trust.
WereBear
Thank goodness we aren’t relying on corporate media to keep track of all this.
In fact, citizen media is forcing the corporate outlets to keep up. We have at least that much left to us.
Bobby Thomson
Wut up, my fellow kids?
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — Nicola Sturgeon confirms a further 267 people have tested positive for Covid-19, a test positivity rate of 3.6% of those newly tested yesterday. Delays in testing are being worked through so the low positive test number yesterday was, as predicted, anomolous. One death of someone confirmed to have COVID-19 has been reported.
The Scottish government is pressing the national authorities to up their game in terms of processing tests and laboratory capacity. There doesn’t seem to be many bottlenecks in terms of taking samples here in Scotland but processing and returning the results promptly is getting to be problematic, it seems.
Sloane Ranger
Yesterday’s figures from the rest of the UK.
There were 2621 new cases throughout the nation. This is a significant reduction from the 3000+ we have been getting over the past few days but it may be misleading, backlogs in test processing and delays in admin units due to weekend closures may be artificially deflating the figures. we’ll see what happens tomorrow.
Broken down by home nation, 2259 of the cases were in England, 109 in Northern Ireland and 183 in Wales. As usual, I defer to Robert Sneddon regarding Scotland.
There were 9 new deaths, 7 in England and 2 in Northern Ireland.
No updates available on hospitalisation and testing.
As Robert says, testing is becoming a major issue and Ministers are under pressure to get it sorted out. A new processing facility is due to be opened shortly but, as of now, tests are being sent out of the country to be processed. Somewhat ironic given the fun and games with the Internal Markets Bill!
mrmoshpotato
How nice of THEIR favorite President not caring how many of his cult get sick and die.
Robert Sneddon
One change in the reporting on COVID-19 in Scotland is the way the number of confirmed cases in hospital is determined. That previously counted anyone who was in hospital who had ever had a positive test regardless of their subsequent situation, longer-term treatments or collateral illnesses. Yesterday that number was 262 people hospitalised. Today the government is moving to a new definition where basically they only count people in hospital who have had a positive test within the past 28 days (i.e. if they came into hospital with or because of COVID-19 and survived, the disease has passed and they are presumed to no longer have COVID-19 although they may be suffering the after-effects). By this standard the number of active hospital cases of COVID-19 in Scotland is currently 48.
mrmoshpotato
@mrmoshpotato: Oops. Causing havoc with my new Twitter name for Dump.
mrmoshpotato
@Chyron HR: Yes. Especially point 2 there. Happy Tuesday. Your brain is working.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
ROFL, now they are giving each other fake degrees, they’ve gone creationist.
mrmoshpotato
He is a Soviet shitpile mobster conman. He. does. not. care.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, but because they all are barely inhabit Red States that’s collective population would be a smallish neighborhood in New York City the numbers are lower, suck on that you libertard math nerds.
The sun belt and Cal the numbers do seem to be drooping, so apparently mask use and testing can be quite effective.
YY_Sima Qian
China just announced that universities will not have the standard “Golden Week” holiday for the China National Day. It will be normal weekend recesses on the weekends and 1 day off on 10/1 for the National Day. The rest of the population gets 7 consecutive days off (though really only 3 extra days off, as 2 of the days off are exchanged with working days on weekends before and after). Not sure about K-12.
I am sure this decision is to prevent a mass migration of young potential asymptomatic or very mild cases traveling home or to tourist areas, potentially spreading the virus to every corner of the country. However, college and graduate students are really shafted by the risk mitigation measures to prevent an Autumn 2nd wave. They are confined to campuses, requiring permission from admin to exit, while the faculty and staff do not have such restrictions. They also just lost the “Golden Week”, though faculty and staff are equally affected, Too bad, we were hoping to spend a few days in the countryside…
PaulB
U.S. District Judge, William S. Stickman IV, appointed by Donald Trump, has ruled that Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf’s orders restricting mass gatherings and shutting down businesses are unconstitutional. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has previously upheld Wolf’s orders in response to a similar legal challenge.
Since this is in federal court, this one is going to the U.S. Supreme Court and it has the potential to affect all such orders nationwide. The ruling is available here. The judge has agreed that the orders violate the First Amendment, the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
PaulB
A Philadelphia Inquirer link with more info on the above. it looks as though the judge was basing his opinion on the perceived arbitrary nature of some of the orders:
Beth
@TS (the original): I will look to Dr. Fauci as a guide to whether a vaccine is safe or not. He appears incorruptible and expert in this area, so am going to follow his lead and guidance.
Uncle Cosmo
Cue mental image of Bruno Gans (RIP) in toothbrush mustache & combover shuffling around The Bunker muttering “Feigl-Ding! Feigl-Ding!”