Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

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

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

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

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

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

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

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

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

He really is that stupid.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday/Thursday, September 23-24

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday/Thursday, September 23-24

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Coincidentally, looks like the Kremlin may be writing Trump off as a sunk cost…

… The WHO rejected Trump’s remarks.

“No one gov’t controls us,” its communications director, Gabby Stern tweeted, adding: “On Jan. 14 our #COVID19 technical lead told media of the potential for human-to-human transmission. Since February, our experts have publicly discussed transmission by people without symptoms or prior to symptoms.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the General Assembly the WHO should be strengthened to coordinate the global response to the pandemic and proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation…


Elsewhere, Repub vs. Democratic statements:


Big talk from a small man. Anyone thinks Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and/or Moderna are gonna risk their reputation on Trump’s say-so, I am the wallet inspector and I need to inspect your wallet now:

… Responding to a question about reports that FDA plans to issue guidance on emergency use authorization (EUA) of COVID-19 vaccines that could require two months of safety data, Trump said the White House will have the final word on approval criteria.

Guidance on vaccine authorization “has to be approved by the White House,” Trump said. He expressed skepticism about any steps that may delay authorization and cast aspersions on the integrity of FDA staff. “We may or may not approve that. That sounds like a political move because when you have Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, these great companies coming up with the vaccines and they’ve done testing and everything else, I’m saying why would they have to be adding great length to the process?”

He added that “ultimately the White House has to approve it and maybe we will and maybe we won’t.”

Trump’s statements come as HHS is trying to contain criticism of a decision by HHS Secretary Alex Azar to revoke the authority of agency heads to sign rules. Current and former HHS officials have said the step is a troubling centralization of power, while HHS maintains that concerns are misplaced (see “HHS Statement Jeopardizes Litigation”).

The President said he has “tremendous trust in these massive companies that are so brilliantly organized in terms of what they’ve been doing with the [COVID-19 vaccine] tests.” He added that the U.S. government is incapable of conducting large-scale trials, and that it is assisting companies that are conducting the trials.

In fact, NIH is conducting many of the COVID-19 vaccine Phase III trials…

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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    prostratedragon

    Wow, thanks for the wealth of links.

    I think Putin loves a vacuum –so long as he thinks he can fill it. One of the many services that one provides him.

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 0 new domestic asymptomatic case, 7 new imported confirmed cases and 20 imported asymptomatic cases:

    * Dalian in Liaoning Province – 2 confirmed and 2 asymptomatic cases, all Filipino crew members nationals off a cargo ship
    * Shanghai Municipality- 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Hong Kong and Singapore
    * Nanjing in Jiangsu Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Italy
    * Nanning in Guangxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from overseas, no further information released
    * Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 confirmed case,
    * Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Iran and 1 from the Philippines
    * Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Japan
    * Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Singapore
    * Xiamen in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the US and Argentina
    * Qingdao in Shandong Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    * Kunming in Yunnan Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Uzbekistan
    * Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    * Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    * Harbin in Heilongjiang Province – 1 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from Japan

    Today, Hong Kong reported 7 new cases, 3 from local transmission, all has clear sources of transmission identified.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Approximately 32 million reported cases worldwide.

    U.S. plus India plus Brazil account for 54% of those.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    “You’re a lying sack of shit, Rand Paul, and you’ve repeatedly been a lying sack of shit in the past.”

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily CoviD-19 numbers. 71 new cases, for a cumulative reported total of 10,576 cases.

    69 new cases from local infection. 43 Malaysians: 37 cases in Sabah, comprising 32 from the Bangau-Bangau cluster, one from the Benteng Lahad Datu police lockup cluster, one screened on admission to hospital, one symptomatic person, one screened before a medical procedure, and one screened on referral to hospital; four cases in Kedah, all from the Sungai cluster; and two in Selangor, both with a recent history of travel to Semporna, Sabah. 26 non-Malaysians, all in Sabah: 15 from the Bangau-Bangau cluster, 10 from the Laut cluster, and one screened on referral to hospital.

    Two imported cases, both non-Malaysians: one arriving from Singapore, one from Indonesia.

    64 more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 9,666 patients recovered — 91.40% of the cumulative reported total. 777 active and contagious cases are currently being isolated/treated in hospital; six are in ICU, two of them on respirators.

    No new deaths were reported today, and the total stands at 133 deaths — 1.26% of the cumulative reported total, 1.36% of resolved cases.

  6. 6.

    TS (the original)

    I do not even recognize myself any more. When I saw that Gov Parson had coronavirus, my only thought was – has he been with trump recently.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I read that and thought, “I’m on statins for high blood pressure… Is that good? Bad? Both?” I just keep figuring that if I get it, I’m dead.

  9. 9.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m going for it is good

     

    eta We’ve decided to replace our HVAC even though people keep saying not to do it until it goes. The current unit is at least 25 years old and we’re tired of worrying about it and really want the outside unit moved out from under our screened porch.

  10. 10.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Perusing Chinese media and social media, reaction to Trump’s fulmination at the UN General Assembly has been relatively understated (as with the recent assaults on Chinese technology firms like TikTok, WeChat, SMIC and Huawei), and largely ignored as the desperate flailing of a failing leader, emblematic of the desperate flailing of a declining superpower. There are plenty of opportunities to ramp up anti-Americanism, but the CCP regime and its propaganda apparatus has not yet chosen to seize them. Perhaps they want to preserve the opportunity to stabilize the relationship with an incoming Biden administration.

    Instead, the propaganda narrative is one that China must make tremendous effort to reduce dependence on US technology (such as on semiconductors and aviation) and financial infrastructure (SWIFT and access to USD), and it is recognized that it will be an endeavor comparable to the Long March or “Two Bombs and One Star” (short for the 60s effort to build atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb and satellite, equivalent to citing the Moonshot in Chinese policy and popular discourse) and will be years and decades in duration. The Trump years and its incoherent and highly volatile China policy has been a Sputnik moment for China. Yes, reducing dependence on and vulnerability to foreign technology has been a long term objective, formalized in the Made in China 2025 Initiative, it is now greatly accelerated and with strong consensus even in the Chinese corporate sector (the effort previously was a more state driven). Even if the Trump administration walks back from its most aggressive threats and grant export licenses to supply American components to Chinese companies, or if the Biden administration steers a saner course, there is no going back. China and Chinese companies will still source from the US, but it will attempt to avoid situations where US technology and products is irreplaceable. I see American companies losing market share first to European/Japanese/South Korean/Taiwanese competitors, then to Chinese competition, first in the Chinese market and then globally.

    The US-China trade war and the supply chain disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened sense of vulnerability to concentration of global supply chain from and through China, as well. There will be efforts at diversifying from China to reduce exposure. However, the immediately fallout from the pandemic so far has paradoxically strengthened China’s (and E/SE Asia’s more broadly) position as a reliable platform for global supply chain as well as a reliable consumer market, with the generally rapid and effective (to date) responses to COVID-19 in the region, which make possible “V” shaped economic recoveries.

    Seeing the miserable US response to COVID-19, where Trump and there Republicans are both the cause and symptoms of larger and deeper pathologies in the polity, I am rather pessimistic about Climate Change (even with an expected Biden administration), another dire challenge without identifiable foes. It will cause tremendous disruption and dislocation in the coming decades, I expect some countries will adjust and respond better than others, just like with COVID-19…

  11. 11.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Glad to see China relaxing restrictions on foreign visitors a bit. Unfortunately, the current relaxation does not apply to my parents, as they hold multi-entry visas for family reunions, not residence permits. In any case, COVD-19 is pretty low where they live in Upstate NY, and I do not want to risk them flying.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: We’ve decided to replace our HVAC even though people keep saying not to do it until it goes.

    Good move. The people saying that are thinking only about milking the most one can out of the current system and delaying the cost of a new one. If you know it’s gonna go and go soon, why wait until you need it the most? (pro tip: It won’t break during the winter, only in the summer when heat and humidity are at their highest) (Duuuuhhhh…) Plus the new unit will be far more efficient than the old one.

  14. 14.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: That is our thinking. The screened porch didn’t exist when we bought the house and the thing is really loud so it makes it near impossible to sit out there when it’s on. We’ve saved up for it so it makes sense to do it while we are at the beach!

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Trump’s UN speech inflicted damage on America, and that’s not even a surprise any more. The content of the speech was no surprise, either; it’s the same ignorant, hateful nonsense he’s been spouting all along. I’m not altogether surprised that people in China are tuning him  out.

  17. 17.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Amir Khalid: Yes, but while Trump is an incompetent idiot, there are people around him who could do a lot of damage. The time from now until Jan. 20, 2020 is a period of great danger, both domestically in the US, and internationally, and especially between the US and China.

  19. 19.

    Baud

     

    @satby:

    Most Juicers are worse people (I was already bad.) But mamy other people are better because they aren’t tolerating the kind of bullshit they tolerated in 2016.  I’ll take our current culture over what we saw in 2016.

  20. 20.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    That’s good news about the finding on stations. The Japanese also just approved Avigan because they found it shortened the course of the disease. It’s a drug in the same class as Remdesivir but available in an oral dosage. Approval took so long because they’ve had so few cases in Japan. I’d say lucky then but it’s not luck.

    A couple of other potential treatments I haven’t heard anything about in a couple months are monoclonal antibodies and the British had a small trial of an inhaled form of interferon beta that showed a lot of promise. Wondering if anyone knows whether those trials are showing efficacy?

  26. 26.

    rjnerd

    So Gov Parson is now on his way to his Herman Cain Medal. All he needs is the posthumous part.

    My thought go to the innocents he has infected.

  28. 28.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @prostratedragon: I think Putin loves a vacuum –so long as he thinks he can fill it. One of the many services that one provides him.

    Putin has a more serious issues with Belarusse were the population hates Putin’s pet dictator so much they are rioting, then again so or we.

  29. 29.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So as of today for Alameda County California, 20,838 infected and 395 dead, that gives a death rate of  1.8%

  30. 30.

    VOR

    @frosty: I replaced my furnace about 6 years ago with a new, high efficiency model. One of the options available was a UV filtration system which puts UV lights in the airflow path right after the regular filter. It wasn’t a lot of money. I had no idea if it would do much, but I figured it wouldn’t do any harm – just light, no chemicals. The salesrep had never sold this option before. I wonder if sales are up due to COVID.

  31. 31.

    Sloane Ranger

    Hi from the UK. Here are yesterday’s figures.

    There were 6178 new cases (a massive increase from Tuesday’s figure of 4926, which was in turn a 1000 cases more than Monday 20th September). Broken down by nation, 5083 new cases were in England, 220 in Northern Ireland,486 in Scotland and 389 in Wales. The increase is spread across all the nations. We are not far off our highest recorded number of 6201 on 1st May.

    There were 37 new deaths, 33 in England, 2 in Scotland and 2 in Wales.

    Testing – 218,360 tests were processed yesterday out of a capacity of 258,877. Test processing times continue to get longer with only 28% being processed within 24 hours. This is down from 33% last week and 66% the week before (last 2 figures rounded down).

    Hospitalisations – The last figures available are from Monday, where 275 people were admitted in England, 59 in Wales, 0 in Northern Ireland. Scottish figures unavailable. Total hospitalised as of the same date were 1261 in England, 36 in Northern Ireland, 73 in Scotland and 99 in Wales. Number on ventilators were 154 in England, 3 in Northern Ireland, 8 in Scotland and 16 in Wales. Numbers are increasing in all categories.

    In more general news, the new NHS (England) track and trace app has been launched to the general public today. Being a socially responsible person I have downloaded it onto my phone. It is an improvement over the failed earlier version, which apparently chewed up the phone battery, but still has a number of weaknesses. It apparently cannot be downloaded onto older phones (particularly I-phones), people are complaining that few businesses are displaying a QR code to sign in on and there’s no option allowing you to sign out, plus guidance on self isolating if you get an alert that someone you’ve been in contact with has tested positive is confusing and contradictory. Sounds about right for this government.

    The Government has also announced measures to continue to support people and businesses through the pandemic. These are less generous than previously, concentrate on “sustainable jobs” and require recipients to do a minimum number of hours work to qualify. Opposition parties are giving cautious support to the principle, while teasing out the issues with the substance.

    That’s all Folks.

  32. 32.

    lowtechcyclist

    President Trump used the U.N. General Assembly to attack China’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it must be held accountable for having ‘unleashed this plague onto the world’

    So once again, he’s saying China attacked us, and he decided that, rather than organizing and leading a national defense, it was up to the states to decide whether or how to defend their residents, while actively interfering with and discouraging them from doing so. And the entire Republican Party was totally on board with that approach.

    There ought to be more than a few campaign ads in that.

  33. 33.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @lowtechcyclist: I would prefer campaign strategies do not legitimize the framing of COVID-19 as invasion launched by China. There is enough Sinophobia already, and the bilateral relations is fragile enough already. The intent may be irony, but some people may not read it that way. A better one may be contrast his bombastic China bashing with recordings of Woodward interviews. I think in one of them he actually told Woodward that he just got off the phone with President Xi, and understood that COVID-19 is highly contagious and deadly, but he downplays it to the public to reduce panic.

  34. 34.

    Jay Noble

    Putin . . . proposed a high-level conference on vaccine cooperation…

    This set off some alarms for me. Is Putin’s vaccine failing? High-level conference – people he can compromise or poison? Vaccine cooperation – he’ll steal everything in sight?

  35. 35.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Jay Noble: There is nothing to steal. Everybody working anywhere in the world on vaccines is publishing everything they know and learn after verifying it’s as accurate as they can determine. Sure, some Americans might think there’s money to be made out of this and play dog-in-the-manger but the rest of us are not so greedy.

     

    The Russian Sputnik vaccine is a two-shot combination treatment based on tweaking a couple of other proven vaccines. It’s probably not that useful in fighting COVID-19 since it’s not been tuned to create immunity specifically to the SARS-CoV-2 virus but it’s likely to be safe to use. Probably. Like everyone else the Russians want a more effective vaccine for the future since COVID-19 isn’t going away so they’re co-operating with everyone else.

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