Breaking: Biden is announcing a COVID task force, which will be chaired by 3 scientists: former Surgeon General @vivek_murthy, former FDA Commissioner @DavidAKesslerMD and @Yale epidemiologist Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.https://t.co/HTh2nLYrso
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) November 7, 2020
Job 1 for the new Biden administration: the #Covid19 pandemic. So. Much. Work. To. Be. Done.
It's already started, @levfacher reports. https://t.co/Lxt9SzIEEN— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) November 7, 2020
Our daily update is published. States reported 1.5 million tests and 128k cases, making today the fourth day in a row the US broke its case count record. There are 56k people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. The death toll was 1,097. pic.twitter.com/pethO2jvr8
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 8, 2020
U.S. reports 130,000 new coronavirus cases, fourth straight daily record https://t.co/ICB4H9MAos pic.twitter.com/ru4HS9BhUO
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 8, 2020
Our second Biden story today: A lot of public health experts are thrilled he won, but absolutely terrified of what the next 10 weeks look like under a lame-duck administration that continues to downplay Covid-19 amid nationwide spikeshttps://t.co/rXqOwSZYxL via @statnews
— Lev Facher (@levfacher) November 7, 2020
BIDEN "I'm going to shut down the virus, not the country. If you have a reproduction rate in a community that's above a certain level, everybody says, slow up. More social distancing. Do not open bars and do not open gymnasiums. Do not open until you get this under more control.”
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) November 7, 2020
US now has 100,000+ new coronavirus cases every day and the spread is exponential.#WearAMask because your life, or the life of someone you love, depends on it.
— COVID19 (@V2019N) November 7, 2020
Dr. Fauci says the country needs to make an "abrupt change" in its public health practices and behaviors as the holiday season nears. https://t.co/R83tI1sEkF
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 7, 2020
Despite a record number of COVID-19 tests today, for the 2nd day in a row, the positive rate continues to rise to 7.3%, suggesting that the larger number of tests is not the main reason for the larger number of new cases. pic.twitter.com/JL6gT2IDvl
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 8, 2020
Ah yes, that social trust, just cratering, all by itself. https://t.co/SpA7fjN7lt
— Fred Remembers (@LesserFrederick) November 7, 2020
No. They’ll start doing that immediately
— Austin Gobbleson (@osutein) November 7, 2020
======
Australia's COVID-19 hotspot relaxes curbs after 9th day with zero cases https://t.co/ASBH5plrqY pic.twitter.com/uqSpP3d4RV
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 8, 2020
You can only get a COVID home test if you’re creditworthy becausehttps://t.co/BN8CtMJ4J9 have outsourced identity checks to a credit scoring agency. Not DVLA, HMRC, electoral roll, Registrar, NHS patient number, passport office, National Insurance number. @BBCNews story in link https://t.co/7YN7O1dR2B
— Paul Ko Ferrigno (@PaulKoFerrigno) November 7, 2020
Portugal imposes local night-time curfews as COVID-19 cases hit record https://t.co/yMoXhrbV7Q pic.twitter.com/1is6otNcig
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 8, 2020
Russia confirmed 20,396 Covid-19 cases and 364 deaths Saturday, bringing its official number of cases to 1,753,836https://t.co/o3SgHQ4plc
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) November 7, 2020
As the second record-breaking wave of the coronavirus pandemic rips through Russian regions, horror stories such as bodies wrapped in black plastic filling hospitals and patients dying due to oxygen shortages have been reported across the nationhttps://t.co/KXy1f87O4k
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) November 7, 2020
Asia Today: India has reported 45,674 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, with the capital coping with a sharp surge of nearly 7,000 cases a day this week. India’s tally of confirmed cases has exceeded 8.5 million. https://t.co/lOSFb7T21I
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 8, 2020
India daily coronavirus cases run at nearly half September peak https://t.co/YxooAiBeY4 pic.twitter.com/xeVT5NSOj1
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 8, 2020
======
Even if you're asymptomatic, #COVID19 can harm your heart, study shows – here's what student athletes need to know https://t.co/vGimocvIs1 via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) November 8, 2020
Minks carry the Cluster 5 #coronavirus mutation. Denmark says the mutated virus in minks has infected 12 people. 6 countries have reported it. Scientists say it doesn't cause severe human infection. Copenhagen warns it could threaten vaccine effectiveness https://t.co/JMp1NCxdvt pic.twitter.com/TeUNvWpkKG
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) November 8, 2020
Ebola's 'emergency' vaccines provide an ethical blueprint for #COVID19 response https://t.co/UqgmuxNdIF via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) November 7, 2020
======
Texas becomes first U.S. state to exceed 1 million coronavirus cases https://t.co/BylnXXZlgt pic.twitter.com/53aVgSGFZu
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 8, 2020
Per capita case and death rates in the Dakotas are at levels not seen anywhere during the global pandemic. And rising. pic.twitter.com/dIqE1lQ5Fx
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) November 7, 2020
North Dakota and South Dakota have the nation’s worst rate of coronavirus deaths per capita in the last 30 days. Hundreds more people in the Dakotas have died in recent weeks than during any other time of the pandemic. https://t.co/k5eg4hGVqX
— The Associated Press (@AP) November 8, 2020
BREAKING: Minneapolis-St Paul hospitals. ICU capacity is effectively maxed out at 98% in Twin Cities, and 92% statewide. MN is having bad #COVID19 surge—11th worst in the Us, with ND and SD having even worse. https://t.co/zzVIl1MyM7
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 8, 2020
2,038 new #COVID19 infections in MA yesterday; haven't seen daily # this high since Spring. Time to act is NOW-masks, distance, avoid crowds, follow new stay at home 10PM-5AM to keep schools, economy open #WeAreID @IDSAInfo @TuftsMedicalCtr @DrJeanneM @McQHoya81 @RWalensky https://t.co/ZADDYkgDcU
— Helen Boucher (@hboucher3) November 7, 2020
NotMax
Increasing again, 17 is now the new number of countries with reported cumulative cases of 500k or more.
U.S. ~10,002k
India ~8508k
Brazil ~5654k
Russia ~1774k
France ~1749k
Spain ~1329k
Argentina ~1237k
U.K. ~1173k
Colombia ~1136k
Mexico ~962k
Peru ~920k
Italy ~902k
South Africa ~736k
Iran ~673k
Germany ~661k
Poland ~546k
Chile ~520k
.
JPL
Finally a president who wants to govern.
Baud
@NotMax:
I was afraid India would overtake us. Thanks, Trump!
YY_Sima Qian
Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases and 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases (both are traced close contacts already under quarantine), both at Shufu County in Kashgar Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region. 1 serious case improved to moderate, 12 cases recovered and 14 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are now 62 confirmed cases (including 6 in serious condition), all in Kashgar, and 315 asymptomatic cases in Xinjiang (294 in Kashgar and 21 in Kizilsu).
Today, Tianjin Municipality reporter a dock worker working in cold chain logistics has tested positive, currently asymptomatic. Taiyuan in Shanxi Province reported a batch of frozen meat tested positive for live virus, and the batch was imported at Tianjin. The information prompted Tianjin Port authorities to test the environment and workers in the impacted area. Samples from the door handles of the cold warehouse also produced positive results.
Yesterday, China reported 28 new imported confirmed cases and 35 imported asymptomatic cases and 4 imported suspect cases:
Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 10 new cases, 7 imported cases (from France, Serbia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Kenya), 3 local cases( all without source of infection identified).
NeenerNeener
211 new cases here yesterday in my county in Western Upstate NY. Ugh.
Brachiator
The BBC program More or Less, about statistics in media and the world, recently had presented an interesting program about measuring Covid-19 fatalities.
One tidbit about how different countries may have varying rates because of their population profiles led me to a letter from medical researchers, Unpacking the low number of Cases in Africa.
One of their tentative observations:
The data suggest that people over age 65 have a higher risk of dying from Covid-19.
So, for example, Nigeria has a population of 200 million, but and has documented 1,155 deaths from the pandemic. But here, only 2.7 percent of the population is age 65 or older.
By contrast, Italy has a population of 60 million, but 23 percent is age 65 or older, among the world’s oldest. The number of recorded deaths is 41,063.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. The Ministry of Health reports 852 new cases today, for a cumulative reported total of 40,209 cases. It also reports four new deaths for a total of 286 deaths — 0.71% of the cumulative reported total, 1.00% of resolved cases.
Meanwhile, 825 more patients recovered and were discharged today, for a total of 28,234 patients recovered — 70.27% of the cumulative reported total.
Two new clusters were identified today: Ikhtisas in Selangor, Kelantan and Negeri Sembilan; and Berendam in Melaka.
839 new cases today are from local infection. Sabah has the most new cases, with 524: 89 in existing clusters, 338 close-contact screenings, and 97 other screenings. Selangor has 136 cases: 44 in older clusters, one in Ikhtisas cluster, 44 close-contact screenings, and 47 other screenings. KL has 11 cases: one in an existing cluster, six close-contact screenings, and four other screenings. Labuan has 23 cases: two in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and 20 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan has 104 cases: 86 in older clusters, seven in Ikhtisas cluster, eight close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Perak has seven cases, all in existing clusters. Sarawak has two cases, both detected in other screenings. Penang has 18 cases: 17 in existing clusters, and one close-contact screening. Kedah has three cases: two in existing clusters, and one other screening. Johore has one case, detected in other screening. Terengganu has one case, in an existing cluster. Kelantan has two cases, both detected in other screenings And Melaka has five cases: three in Berendam cluster, and two close-contact screenings.
Perlis and Pahang reported no new cases today.
13 new cases are imported. 12 were reported in Selangor, and one in Labuan. No country-of-departure details were reported.
11,689 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 94 are in ICU, of whom 32 are on ventilators.
The four deaths reported today are a 66-year-old man in Sabah with heart disease; an 81-year-old woman in Sabah with hypertension and breast cancer; a 62-year-old man in Selangor; and a 62-year-old woman in Penang with diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease.
Other news: Minister of Education Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin has announced the closure of all public schools — including in the four states not under the conditional movement control orders taking effect tomorrow — to the end of the current school year on 17th December. However, he said, instruction will continue via Home-Based Learning (i.e. the Internet) or by distribution of hard-copy lesson materials for children who lack sufficient Internet access.The 2021 school year is still scheduled to begin on 20th January.
Nationwide public exams are postponed to next February or March, Dr Mohd Radzi said. But university students taking international exams will be allowed to return to campus to sit for them.
Tony Jay
The world-beating incompetence and venality of the UK’s Tory Governnent never ceases to not surprise me. It’s who they are and who they were, and they’ll get away with it as long as the British Media remains firmly in the hands of five very rich bodies who want a Government that will help them stay that way.
It’s depressing. Thankfully this week has given me hope that the wider global tides – might – be changing.
Anecdote time. On Friday the wonderful Ms Jay and I decided to take advantage of the mass-testing pilot scheme being launched in Liverpool to confirm our non-plagued status. She’s been basically couch-bound for weeks with what the doctors are saying is some kind of post-viral fatigue, but despite the battery of blood tests finding nothing (honestly, it’s been like the first two thirds of an episode of House) she decided a bit more non-Covid confirmation would be dandy. Meanwhile I’ve been fine, but given I’d have to go with her to act as human walking-stick anyway I thought I might as well.
She booked our appointments for Midday on Friday at the nearest testing site about ten minutes drive away. But when we reached it there was already a queue of dozens snaking around the carpark, mostly elderly but still quite mixed. Turns out there – were – no appointments, the whole thing was strictly walk-in on a first come/first served basis, and it was just that the doors were opening at Midday.
Annoying, yes, but the British are psychologically attuned to queuing in a grumpy manner so we just put it down to the predictable teething-pains of a badly organised shambles (Tory Britain, natch) and waited.
And waited.
After an hour a soldier came out and announced they were having a bit of a problem registering people, so they were going to hand out little registration cards with the testing website on so people could do the initial sign-up themselves on their phones. Unfortunately sign-up required a barcode number that was nowhere to be found on the ‘affix barcode here’ part of the card, so that was fuck-all use.
After another hour, during which a total of ten people had been allowed in, two nurses came out with handfuls of barcode stickers for people to affix to their cards. Oh joy! We were able to complete our registrations while waiting, though quite a few other people had trouble getting it to work and the numerous elderly people without smartphones were SOOL.
At this point the line actually started moving and we were soon inside. The most infuriating thing was that from breaching the threshold it took less than five minutes.
“Registered?”
“Yes”
“Go over there.”
“Here’s your test kit, go over there”
“Got your kit?”
“Yes”
“Know what to do?”
“Is it the step-by-step stuff on that prominently displayed poster in the booth?”
“It is. Let me know when you’re done”
GAG. OUCH. GAG. POKE. GAG.
“Done!”
“Give it to him, exit’s over there”
“Oh, okay, bye then”
Makes me wonder what in the everliving funk was the reason for the two-hour hold-up. All I can imagine was someone inside being an utter jobsworth and refusing to let the staff expidite the sluggish registration process because “We have to control the data entry ourselves or heads will roll” right up until frustrated staff gave them an ultimatum “Let us use common sense or you go out there and tell those people why they’ll be queuing for the rest of their lives.”
Anyway. All negative, test results and review of the crash testing system. This is what happens when people who frankly don’t give a shit dump huge responsibilities onto the shoulders of people who do care without giving them time to prepare.
Whine over.
egorelick
Someone should document and write a long article on the rate of infection in the Trump/Pence campaign vs the rate of infection in the Biden/Harris campaign. It would show that simple, basic stuff works.
Amir Khalid
@egorelick:
i don’t know. The Biden campaign would probably be able to provide any information required by such an inquiry. The Trump campaign, probably not.
Amir Khalid
Odd that the AP tweet on its story about the situation in New Delhi is accompanied by a photo of a mural in Malaysia. But if anyone’s curious, the guy in the suit is DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Ohio Mom
I got tons of vacarious pleasure yesterday watching the impromptu rallies and parades— especially those in Philadelphia, which apparently has a knack for this sort of thing (maybe it’s a result of their Mummer tradition?).
And I swooned watching the Biden/Harris speech, including all the camera pans of the audience celebrating. So much happiness!
But I also cringed, afraid that we have just witnessed an incredibly large collection of super spreader events.
I saw that most people were wearing their masks correctly but people were crowded together for hours, many of them shouting and singing. I guess we will soon be learning the limits of masks.
Hoping/happy to be wrong.
WereBear
Since Casa WereBear is able to adapt to changing conditions, we are upgrading our comfy fabric masks with another layer, since I got us one with the ability to put a paper filter in them. So we’ll have the best of both worlds.
Also, Pro-Tip: I carry an extra one in my purse, and put an extra mask, that fits Mr WereBear, in the glove compartment. A mask that doesn’t constantly annoy is essential for getting through this thing, and extras mean we don’t have to go back for one before we venture out.
Wag
Am I evil, or just hoping for well deserved divine retribution, for dreaming that the rapidly rising death rate from Covid in Russia leads to Putin being kicked out of office?
Matt McIrvin
The Republican politicians and pundits are going to be torn: if they start taking COVID seriously they can blame it on Biden, but the MAGA base who are still loyal to whatever idea came out of Trump’s bathouse of a brain will not take that sitting down.
WereBear
@Ohio Mom: I reminded myself that the BLM protests were not as contagious as scientists had feared.
It was Sturgis which blatantly asked for trouble, and got it.
So there can be differences.
raven
@WereBear: I keep going back and forth on how important it is to use a new disposable mask or wash a washable time every time I wear one (I keep some in my various vehicles and often reuse)?
OzarkHillbilly
@Wag: The only way Putin is getting kicked out of office because of Covid is if catches a fatal dose. My fingers are crossed.
Bluegirlfromwyo
@Ohio Mom: After this summer’s protests, I’m not that worried but I did spend way too much time yesterday yelling “It’s not a chin diaper” at the TV.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Even odder that the caption refers to the carefully-painted mural as “graffiti.”
Sloane Ranger
Yesterday in the UK there were 24,957 new cases, about 1500 more than the day before. The trendline remains stable at a high level. Cases by home nation were,
England – 21,875 (up @1500)
Northern Ireland – 528 (down @70)
Scotland – 1596 (up @500)
Wales – 958 (down down @400).
Deaths – There were 413 new deaths yesterday and 1126 deaths with COVID on the death certificate during the week ending 23 October. Yesterday’s new deaths occurred as follows, 328 in England, 14 in Northern Ireland, 39 in Scotland and 32 in Wales. Regretfully, but not unexpectedly, deaths during the 7 days ending on 31 October are up a whopping 28.9% from the previous 7 days.
Testing – 344,045 tests were processed out of a capacity of 530,112. I note Tony Jay’s comments about his experiences, which, to be honest, sound like the usual cock up at which we British excel.
Hospitalisations – 12,949 people were in hospital as of Thursday, 5th November and 1185 were on ventilators on Friday, 6th November.10,344 of the people in hospital were in England, 407 in Northern Ireland, 1252 were in Scotland and 946 were in Wales. Welsh hospitalisations are trending up, Scottish and English hospitalisations are levelling off and Northern Irish hospitalisations have been trending down over the past few days.
RSA
@egorelick:
I think it could show that, a year or two from now. But part of the challenge of convincing people of the seriousness of COVID is that infection is invisible, delayed, and probabilistic. The Dakotas are in terrible shape today in part (in large part?) because of the Sturgis rally three months ago. And their governors still resist basic public health safety measures! It makes me sad and a little angry.
TS (the original)
@Amir Khalid:
I always find it scary when I read a news item that I know the back story for – and find out it bears little resemblance to the truth. When I used to work in government, it was a very regular occurrence.
Quinerly
@Ohio Mom: I’m very, very worried. Been afraid to point out to anyone.
YY_Sima Qian
@TS (the original): I often have that feeling when reading stories about China in western MSM, as well as stories about the US in Chinese press (state propaganda or somewhat more independent social media), really makes me wonder how much I should trust either’s coverage of the rest of the world.
Wag
@Ohio Mom: Take solace in the examples from recent history. BLM protests went on for hours, day after day, but were uniformly masked. The CDC never released a report about s super spreader event linked to the protests, and f there would have been any way to use COVID to discredit the BLM protests, there is no doubt in my mind that the trump administration would have used it both to discredit the movement, and to discredit the utility of masks.
On the other hand, look to the Dakotas, and the super spreader event in Sturgis, as well as Trump’s own rallies. No masks anywhere, and now the northern plains leads the country in the recent outbreak.
In my professional opinion as an academic physician, I am cautiously optimistic that yesterday’s celebrations will not lead to worsening outbreaks.
YY_Sima Qian
Update from the situation in Tianjin Municipality. The previously asymptomatic case reported early this morning has not been clinically diagnosed as a moderate case. The case lives in the same dormitory as 8 other colleagues, who commute to and from work together in the same vehicle. The 8 colleagues are now under quarantine, but have tested negative so far. The authorities will conduct mass screening of all cold chain logistics workers the Binhai New Area, where the new port is located.
The batch of contaminated product is a shipment of frozen pork knuckles from Germany, which has been distributed to Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Dezhou in Shandong Province and Baoding in Hebei Province. In Dezhou, the local authorities have identified 23 close contacts of the batch of contaminated product in question, as well as 67 Tier 2 close contacts, all of whom are under quarantine and have so far tested negative. 131 environmental samples have been collected and tested, of which 9 produced positive results. Taiyuan and Baoding are taking similar actions, all human and environmental samples have tested negative so far.
mrmoshpotato
LOL! Oh BoJo, you dumbfuck.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@mrmoshpotato: as some point these idiots are going to get in their heads that poor spread this thing too.
Uncle Cosmo
We’ll have one of those in just 73 days. Ten and a half weeks.
Until then we’re stuck with Lame Duck à l’Orange.
Hey, look at the bright side – maybe Trumplthinskin will be too obsessed with doomed litigation trying to hang onto his job to destroy too much of what’s left of the federal gummint. Y’think mebbe?
(Yeah, neither do I.)
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
Late-arriving data: the 13 imported cases reported today involve eight Malaysians and five non-Malaysians, arriving from Indonesia (three), Saudi Arabia (three), Nepal (two), Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, Turkey, and South Korea.
Uncle Cosmo
Add the GOP’s complaint that one William Jefferson Clinton never told the truth when a lie would do**, to the demonstrable fact that for the Thugs accusation is always confession. Result: Even if they could retrieve the information they would lie about it.
** This may go as far back as FDR; most political vituperation directed at Democrats usually does – “nothing new under the sun.”
Fair Economist
@Tony Jay: There was a recent report that COVID is driving antiphospholipid antibodies (normally pretty rare) and this may be the cause of the clotting problems and even some long COVID issues. You could try getting a rheumatologist to test your wife for those.
laura
@Amir Khalid: thank you for pointing out the mural that includes Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah. I appreciate your daily reports and he seems to be such a capable individual. He’s also got such an elegant name – I look forward to your reports that include him. the number of cases have climbed, it must be extremely concerning, but with good testing and tracing, not an out of control situation. I’m looking forward to the USA getting an effective team in place and working to a plan. Flobablob on the other hand lacks any indicia of competence or elegance. Apologies to Sloane Ranger, Tony Jay and Robert Sneddon up in Scotland.
Fair Economist
@YY_Sima Qian: I sure as heck wouldn’t trust official Chinese sources on anything, and US MSM is thoroughly biased and selective in favor of its conservative owners. They are bad for US news and worse for foreign.
Ohio Mom
Like I said, hoping and happy to be wrong.
We now have hooks by the door to the garage holding cloth masks and a basket nearby in which to drop used masks upon returning home; a new, extra lingerie bag for laundering them; and a baggie full of new disposable masks in each car for when we forget our cloth masks.
My Hanukkah gift lists includes funny masks for everyone. Except my humorless MIL, she’s getting one in her favorite color combo, a blue and white floral design.
Kay
Mayor of Detroit.
Ask the Trumpsters why they aren’t accusing suburban voters of fraud. Trump lost a lot in those places. Yet all we hear about are Detroit and Philadelphia. Why is that?
Was there a huge voter fraud ring in Grosse Pointe? There had to have been! Thousands more Biden votes there.
YY_Sima Qian
@Fair Economist: Unfortunately, Anglosphere and Chinese media are the most convenient means for me to be informed about the world. I imagine it is even worse for people who are mono-lingual. At least Chinese media’s propaganda motive and editorial slant are pretty obvious, they are generally unable or unconcerned about hiding it. Western MSMs are generally much more adept at concealing the biases.
Kay
This isn’t just Trump. Republicans have been doing this for 20 years.
The voter fraud accusations never made any sense. They don’t now, they didn’t when Karl Rove was making them, it has to stop.
We have SO MUCH data on elections. All of this is easily available. Yet. Still. Republicans are once again being taken seriously when they make ludicrous claims. Stop coddling them. End this lie.
Bill Arnold
@Ohio Mom:
All celebrations I saw were outside. So it was outside (dilution, perhaps 90 percent risk reduction) plus near-universal masks, perhaps another 90 percent. 0.1*0.1 = 0.01, 100x risk reduction. (made-up numbers adjustable.) Unless people brought their parties back indoors and took off their masks, which some probably did.
Tony Jay
@Fair Economist:
Very late, but thanks. I’ll tell her about that.
LongHairedWeirdo
There’s something especially infuriating about people saying this – or, feeling the need to say it.
And part of me wonders if just saying it is having the self-reinforcing effect we’ve seen discussed – where providing evidence against stupidity (aka “conspiracy theories”) actually reaffirms it to the listener/reader. “Hah! They’re still arguing with Dear Leader, proving that they know Dear Leader is right!”
Maybe it would be better to just say “we’ve had a record number of new cases; and it took fewer tests to find each new case.”