Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oppose, oppose, oppose. do not congratulate. this is not business as usual.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Everybody saw this coming.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Celebrate the fucking wins.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday/Saturday, Nov. 20-21

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday/Saturday, Nov. 20-21

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Science confirms all predictions:

… About one-third of [Minnesota] counties ended up having at least one coronavirus case that was tied to August’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, investigators reported in a study mainly conducted by Minnesota health officials and published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Minnesota officials counted 86 cases that they said were related to the rally — 51 people who went to Sturgis and 35 who came into contact with those people later. Most did not suffer serious illnesses, but four were hospitalized and one died.

“These findings highlight the far-reaching effects that gatherings in one area might have on another area,” the study authors wrote. “The motorcycle rally was held in a neighboring state that did not have policies regarding event size and mask use, underscoring the implications of policies within and across jurisdictions.”…

The NYTimes op-ed page contributors continue to be absolutely terrible:

… I wouldn’t be going to Thanksgiving to see a family member dying of cancer. Mine is a more mundane desire — to see my folks in person in a year we’ve spent mostly apart, and to accommodate their intense desire to spend time with our kids before the kids get too old for all that. This may not be enough to satisfy others’ scrutiny — on social media, among lefties like myself who proudly believe in science and ostentatiously defer to expertise, I’ve noticed quite a bit of travel-shaming. The C.D.C. says the safest way to spend Thanksgiving is to stay home. After discovering how huge my bubble is, shouldn’t I just go with that advice?

But I can’t do it. Even after I’ve mapped my bubble, the question of whether or not to go still feels, in the end, like a gut call, ruled more by emotion than empirical data.

So, after thinking long and hard about this, and after extended conversations with my eager parents, my wife and I decided that we would travel for Thanksgiving. This might come as a surprise, given what I found in mapping my bubble…

After all, what’s more important? Contributing our mite to the larger goal of protecting the whole community, or the mild inconvenience of not doing something I personally enjoy?

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 7 new domestic confirmed cases and 0 new asymptomatic cases.

    Tianjin Municipality reported 5 confirmed cases, 4 of whom I discussed in yesterday’s comment. The 5th case works at the Tianjin Port area, and is a close contact of a cold chain logistics worker who had been exposed to a contaminated batch of imported frozen ribbon fish from India. The case has been under quarantine since 11/10. Over the past week and half, authorities across China have intensified testing of imported frozen products, and have reported a number of contaminated shipments that were imported through Tianjin, including pork knuckles from Germany, ribbon fish from India, beef from Brazil, Argentina and New Zealand, and pork from Brazil. (However, the beef from New Zealand might have been contaminated by contaminated beef from Brazil stored in the same room.) In each instance, workers who were exposed to contaminated products have been placed under quarantine. Tianjin CDC claimed that they have been able to complete genomic analysis of 4 samples (which would indicate live virus, rather than fragments) taken from the contaminated products, and they match those prevalent in Europe, South America and South Asia.

    More worryingly, the small family cluster of 3 cases reported yesterday has a granddaughter who has been attending kindergarten, with the mother doing the drop off and pick up. While l the granddaughter and mother have both tested negative so far (the grand parents and the father are confirmed cases), environmental samples from the kindergarten have tested positive. Tianjin has commenced mass screening of all residents and workers in the Binhai New District, where the port is located, over the next 2 days. The residential compound seem High Risk is surrounded by port facilities, warehouses and logistic companies. Binhai New District is not a dense populated part of the city. In the meantime, > 4,400 Tiers 1 & 2 close contacts of recent cases have been traced and quarantined. Of the < 1,300 results obtained so far, all are negative.

    Shanghai Municipality reported 2 new confirmed cases yesterday, husband and wife. Unfortunately, both cases were discovered after they had developed symptoms and visited fever clinic. The husband works as a security inspector for UPS at Shanghai Pudong International Airpot, and the wife is a nurse at the local Pudong Hospital. Both work in high risk positive, and as such, should have been regularly screened, but it is not yet reported whether they were regularly screened and if so, when was the last test. The village and townships they visited over the past 14 days are placed under restricted movements. Pudong Hospital has temporarily shut out-patient clinic and all 4,015 patients/caretakers/staff will be tested, of the 3,233 results obtained so far, all are negative. The middle school where the cases’ daughter attends is shut and all students and families are under quarantine to be tested, instruction has shifted online. 86 close contacts (including 6 family members) have been traced, and 8,120 individuals at risk have been identified and swabbed. Of the 4,468 results obtained so far, all are negative. 336 environmental samples have been collected from related areas, 4 tested positive.

    Today, Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region (on the border w/ Russia) also reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases. Epidemiological investigation is ongoing. The cases will be reported in tomorrow’s China National Health Commission’s daily data dump.

    In Xinjiang “Autonomous “ Region, the 2 remaining asymptomatic cases have been released from isolation. There are no more active domestic cases in the Region.

    Yesterday, China reported 9 new imported confirmed cases and 18 imported asymptomatic cases:

    * Shanghai Municipality – 9 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Pakistan and 1 national each returning from Japan, the UK, the Ukraine (via Germany), Germany and the US, a Germany national coming from Germany and a Filipino crew member off a cargo ship
    * Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 7 asymptomatic case, no information released
    * Changsha in Hunan Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    * Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals each returning from Ethiopia
    * Qingdao in Shandong Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    * Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines

    Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 43 new cases, 7 imported and 36 local (13 of whom with out clear sources of infection). There are another 60 preliminary cases.

  3. 3.

    Winston

    On Friday Florida recorded 9045 new cases and 79 Corona deaths. Coincidently on Thursday Florida recorded 9045 new cases and 79 deaths. Is someone sending a message? What are the odds?
    Friday also saw 200,000 new cases nationwide.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    “We’re working on mass distribution of the virus,” Treasury Secretary Mnuchin tells CNBC, presumably meaning the vaccine.

    These mass-murdering motherfuckers let the truth slip out. OOPS!

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    When you are, at base, a selfish jerk, nothing sinks in. You blithely keep doing what YOU want to do, and it’s no surprise your relatives, who are supposed to love you, encourage it, because it’s likely where you first learned it. And now, the pain of that is buried in such a person being unable to make an actual, mature, good decision.

    It reminds me of the reflexive response of the Bad Person. It will be fine.

    “Don’t practice your discus near the new car. Don’t let the baby play in the chocolate sauce. You shouldn’t replace the fuse with a penny.”

    “It will be fine.”

    The ones who see trouble are constantly told to shut up.

  7. 7.

    NeenerNeener

    294 new cases in Monroe County, NY yesterday. They won’t publish hospitalization figures until Monday.  And it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet.

  8. 8.

    Geminid

    Although Virginia has not been impacted as heavily as some other states, our infections are steadily rising. The seven day moving average of new cases as of Thursday was 1761 cases per day. The last two days of the period were over 2000. (We made it through August and September at a average ~1000 a day among 8.5 million residents). The test positivity rate was 4.3% a month ago; now it is 7.6%, or calculated in a different way, 8.8%.

    These figures are from a regular report by Dr. Bob Holsworth published in Virginia political journal Bearing Drift.

  9. 9.

    Winston

    I think Worldometers.info has the most accurate information available. They footnote every entry they make with links to various boards of health around the country. In addition, they go back and add data to previously reported days. I wondered for a while why todays data when added to yesterdays data didn’t add up. Sometimes by as many as 10,000 cases. Then I started looking at yesterday’s data, which they provide. Yesterday, such an easy game to play, now I believe in yesterday.

    https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

  10. 10.

    Ian

    to accommodate their intense desire to spend time with our kids before the kids get too old for all that.

    Well that settles that debate.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    The BBC News story about Canada notes that there was a spike in CoronaVirus cases after Thanksgiving, which is observed in October. Also, more cases as people spend more time inside due to colder weather.

    A clear warning for the US.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. The Ministry of Health reports 1,041 new cases today, for a cumulative reported total of 53,79 cases. The Ministry also reports three new deaths for a total of 332 deaths — 0.62% of the cumulative reported total, 0.81% of resolved cases.

    12,854 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 108 are in ICU, 45 of them on respirators. Meanwhile, 1,405 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 40,493 patients recovered — 75.4% of the cumulative reported total.

    Three new clusters were reported today: Kota Kecil in Johor; Sky Coklat in Labuan; and Jalan Harapan Prison in Selangor.

    1,039 new cases are local infections. Selangor has the most cases, 402: 346 in older clusters, 17 in Jalan Harapan Prison cluster, 19 close-contact screenings, and 20 other screenings. Sabah has 346 cases: 43 in existing clusters, 148 close-contact screenings, and 155 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan has 121 cases: 119 in existing clusters, and two other screenings. KL has 66 cases: 44 in existing clusters, five close-contact screenings, and 17 other screenings.

    Johor has 33 cases: 17 in older clusters, three in Kota Kecil cluster, eight close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Perak has 29 cases: 21 in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and seven other screenings. Penang has 17 cases: 12 in existing clusters, three close-contact screenings, and two other screenings. Labuan has 12 cases: six in Sky Coklat cluster, and six other screenings. Kelantan has seven cases, all in existing clusters. And Kedah has six cases: one in an existing cluster,  three close-contact screenings, and two other screenings.

    Melaka, Pahang, Perlis, Putrajaya, Sarawak, and Terengganu have reported no new cases today.

    Two new cases are imported, both reported in KL. No information on countries of departure.

    The three deaths today, all reported in Sabah, are a 62-year-old man with hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and chronic kidney failure; a 78-year-old man bedridden with hypertension; and a 55-year-old woman with hypertension and diabetes.

  13. 13.

    Winston

    I posted this on facebook, April 23, 2020. Prophetic.

     

    I’m in a black mood tonight. I’m thinking, what if this is what the rest of my life is going to be like

    It’s only gotten worse.

  15. 15.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    This sentiment:

    After all, what’s more important? Contributing our mite to the larger goal of protecting the whole community, or the mild inconvenience of not doing something I personally enjoy?

    Some people with children do genuinely have thoughts, issues and concerns about this. Easy to be shitty about it when you’re childless or are so far removed from grandkids that you don’t have much of a relationship with them.

    And yeah, it’s easy to be dismissive of the negative social and business effects of lockdown when you’re an introvert, retired, or a retired introvert.

  17. 17.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @WereBear:

    Don’t practice your discus near the new car.

    That there is just crazy talk. Let me tell you about practicing shot put in a parking lot once….

  18. 18.

    TS (the original)

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    I live in a country that is virtually covid-free. Haven’t seen my daughter/grandaughter since February – and this is one of the reasons we are virtually covid free. Travel between states was stopped.

    It is thought borders will be fully open for Christmas. We are looking forward to being with them, but if things change, will accept that as well.  It has all been worth the effort. There are many ways of staying in touch without travel and face to face interaction.

  19. 19.

    mrmoshpotato

    Now he says—to millions—that those who don’t travel don’t think “family is worth it.”

    Hopefully I never meet Farhad, because I will smack all the shit out of him.

    Holy shit, what a selfish prick!

  20. 20.

    Chyron HR

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Some people with children do genuinely have thoughts, issues and concerns about this. Easy to be shitty about it when you’re childless or are so far removed from grandkids that you don’t have much of a relationship with them.

    “We’re not stupid and self-destructive, we have economic familial anxiety!”

  21. 21.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Winston: Dude, piss off.  These murderous bastards called a raging pandemic a hoax for months while it ravaged – and continues to ravage – the land.

    FUCK! THEM!

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    All I can say is it must be great to be able to look down on people who see things differently from oneself because they weigh the issues in a different way. Calling them selfish for thinking of the loss others will suffer or for considering their feelings about a situation is rather telling tho.

  24. 24.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly: That op-ed by Farhad Manjoo really is awful, though. He’s literally going to help some people rationalize a very risky decision which will very likely result in deaths occurring. That’s not sitting in judgment, it’s just a fact.

    I totally get the wrestling between fear and desire. My wife wanted to go to her sister’s for Thanksgiving. I was willing to consider it, so I sat down and did a similar mapping exercise. There were just too many risks. My youngest nephew is going to middle school. My wife’s aunt works in a gym. My older nephew is in college and flying home from Tennessee. And there would be 12 of us altogether.

    In the end, I just couldn’t bring myself to take the risk. I love my family too much and I couldn’t live with the guilt if anything should happen to them.

  25. 25.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Chyron HR:

    Look, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday – and the plans that I pulled the plug on were going to be the easiest ever. We were going to our youngest’s new home in Cincy and I was going to get to do minimal work. Instead, we decided to not mix households.

    To pretend, though, that these desires for gatherings and families are mere trivialities to be brushed aside and not address them with care and concern is the thing that bugs the shit out of me.

  27. 27.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    Did you get talked out of the Thanksgiving get-together yesterday? I had to leave and didn’t see the rest of the thread.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    To pretend, though, that these desires for gatherings and families are mere trivialities to be brushed aside and not address them with care and concern is the thing that bugs the shit out of me.

     
    Virtue signaling annoys me too. It is especially keen for Mr WereBear’s sake, as our Orphan’s Thanksgiving is one of his few social outlets. He has a chronic illness, and he rests up and looks forward to it all year.

    But of course, I want him to be around NEXT year.

    Such concerns makes the decision all the tougher, but all the more important.

  30. 30.

    Chris T.

    The calculations involved in risk are tricky for normal humans. They are not the same as those in the birthday paradox but they are similar and are why a gathering of, say, four people is so much safer—like, hundreds of times safer, not twice as safe—as or then a gathering of eight people. (I phrased this awkwardly…)

  32. 32.

    Steeplejack

    I am giving my Trader Joe’s friend a ride home from work today, and then that’s it for a while. She is going to visit family in New Jersey for Thanksgiving  (?), so she won’t be around next week, and when she gets back she’s going into Steep-mandated “no ride” mode for at least two weeks. Then we’ll see what’s what. That’ll be mid-December, when I expect the general situation to be much worse than now.

  33. 33.

    Sloane Ranger

    Yesterday in the UK we had 20,252 new cases. This is about 2400 fewer cases than the previous day and the rolling 7 day average continues to go down (-8.8% yesterday). New cases were distributed as follows,

    England – 17,845 (down @2300)

    Northern Ireland – 369 (down @120)

    Scotland – 1018 (down @70)

    Wales – 1020 (down @20).

    The R rate for the UK as a whole is now 1.0 to 1.1, so moving in the right direction.

    Deaths – There were 511 deaths yesterday. 436 in England, 12 in Northern Ireland, 32 in Scotland and 31 in Wales. Trendline ticking upwards.

    Testing – 395,436 tests were processed on Thursday, 19th November out of a capacity of 537,771. The rolling 7 day average is up by 0.6%.

    Hospitalisations – As of Wednesday, 18th November 16,444 people were in hospital and 1426 people were on ventilators on Thursday, 19th. Both continuing to trend upwards.

    General – Nothing new. The news is all about Boris Johnson refusing to sack Home Secretary Priti Patel after an investigation found she had broken the Ministerial Code of Conduct by shouting and swearing at staff (She’s very strong minded and passionate, don’t you know!). Also, he apparently asked the guy conducting the investigation to go easy on her. He’s resigned in protest (Sir Alex Allen, the guy who did the investigation, not Johnson).

  34. 34.

    trnc

    @mrmoshpotato:

    @Winston: Dude, piss off.  These murderous bastards called a raging pandemic a hoax for months while it ravaged – and continues to ravage – the land.

    Winston’s comment was in response to Mnuchin’s “vaccine” comment. I read Winston’s comment as a riff on the administration’s failure on Covid and DT’s push for cures that were worthless or dangerous.

  35. 35.

    Zzyzx

    @trnc: I read it your way when I first woke up and saw it as a rather cynical take and then I read it the other way and it makes much more sense that way.

  36. 36.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Sloane Ranger: General – Nothing new. The news is all about Boris Johnson refusing to sack Home Secretary Priti Patel after an investigation found she had broken the Ministerial Code of Conduct by shouting and swearing at staff (She’s very strong minded and passionate, don’t you know!).

    Look, even the Tory Party is running out of soulless psychopaths who are eager to step into the Home Secretary’s shoes and it’s not a Cabinet position Boris can really leave open.

  37. 37.

    Another Scott

    Brad DeLong’s extrapolation spreadsheet indicates US deaths will average 3000 a day the week of December 10. The numbers are baked in unless people change their behavior in substantial ways. Thanksgiving will make things worse. Collapse of the health system will make things worse (how much worse may be difficult to determine if it’s impossible to be seen by a Dr or be tested)…

    Stay home and be safe.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    California’s new coronavirus curfew does not apply to Tesla workers -state health dept

    Or anyone else who works swing shift and graveyard in Alameda County, just Jesus Christ these work at home privileged twats. So, so unfair how us blue collar people get the privilege of having to leave the safety of our fucking homes five times week, cover ourselves with hand cleans, spend the next eight hours wearing a godman mask, gloves and trying to stay the fuck away from any other living human being just to simply pay the rent while the poor white collars must stay at homes watching net-flix in their boxer shorts while answering emails and getting paid three times what the blue collars do for it.

    Oh the unfairness of it all. Will anyone think of our countries Middle Managers who have had to go eight months now with out fucking with someone’s life?

  41. 41.

    Ruckus

    One time in life that it’s comforting to actually not have a place to go for the holidays, to not have people that just have to see you, in the middle of a world wide pandemic, when being alone is the only medicine that makes any sense.

  42. 42.

    Winston

    Well. maybe Munchkin said it right. The vaccine is just another virus. Offering 94% efficacy. The same as one gets taking no vaccine at all. Only if you change what he actually said, does it give you hope.  And yet they are touting how great their new plan is. When do you think this administration will stop lying? For Christ’s sake they are still pushing Quinine. I’ll believe it when I see it.

  43. 43.

    Ruckus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    It’s called the luxury of being an entitled prick.

    The not having to recognize that your life isn’t worth shit, any more than most any other life is. That you are special, not a person, but a person deluxe. A better model of human, a specialist in pompous arrogance.

  44. 44.

    Dan B

    @WereBear: You’ve heard of Cassandra.

    People feel their loneliness is being ignored when those of us who know that there is much greater loneliness than missing friends and family at one holiday.

    Begins as tragedy and continues as an avalanche of grief.

  45. 45.

    Dan B

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  The heartbreak of not seeing family members is noticed.  There are many of us who also feel for healthcare workers and essential workers.  They have probably missed their family.  Those of us who are LGBT have missed our chosen families, especially those whose families have shunned them.

    There is plenty of pain and deep sadness everywhere – well except for some powerful psychopaths.

  46. 46.

    Pete Mack

    So yeah. Busch Dog Brew is apparently a Thing. It is some kind of (non-alcoholic) bone broth mix.

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