Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

The revolution will be supervised.

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

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

Bark louder, little dog.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday/Wednesday, Dec. 8-9

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday/Wednesday, Dec. 8-9

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That’s one hell of a catch, that Catch-22…

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Reader Interactions

26Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County NY yesterday:

    627 new cases, 357 total deaths (up 7 from last week), 576 people hospitalized and 102 of those in the ICU. So we’re back to where we were 2 days ago.

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    Orange County had to change its chart of hospitalized people, because it only went to 900 and before a week or so ago we had never come near to that. Today we hit 946 and will probably be more soon, because we had 1,671 new cases and no deaths.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 959 new cases today at his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 76,265 cases. Dr Noor Hisham also reports five new deaths today, for a total of 393 deaths — 0.52% of the cumulative reported total, 0.60% of resolved cases.

    Dr Noor Hisham reports that Malaysia’s R0 is at 0.94.

    10,748 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 127 are in ICU, 61 of them on respirators. Meanwhile, 1,068 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 65,124 patients recovered — 85.4% of the cumulative reported total.

    Four new clusters were reported today: Kupi-Kupi in Sabah, Ikon Bintang building site in KL, Bandar Impian in Johor, and Jalan Kemang in Negeri Sembilan.

    953 new cases today are local infections. Selangor has 276 cases: 78 in existing clusters, 76 close-contact screenings, and 122 other screenings. Sabah has 203 cases: 36 in older custers, one in Kupi-Kupi cluster, 106 close-contact screenings, and 60 other screenings. KL has 124 cases: 76 in older clusters, three in Ikon Bintang building site cluster, 22 close-contact screenings, and 23 other screenings. Pahang has 119 cases, all in existing clusters. Johor has 100 cases: 37 in older clusters, one in Bandar Impian cluster, 22 close-contact screenings, and 40 other screenings.

    Negeri Sembilan has 33 cases: eight in older clusters, seven in Jalan Kemang cluster, three close-contact screenings, and 15 other screenings. Perak has 33 cases: 29 in existing clusters, three close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Penang has 29 cases: 16 in existing clusters, nine close-contact screenings, and four other screenings. Kelatan has 17 cases: 12 in existing clusters, two close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Kedah has 16 cases: 11 in existing clusters, four close-contact screenings, and one other screening.

    Melaka has two cases: one in an existing cluster, and one other screening. And Labuan has one case, found in other screening.

    Six new cases are imported. Five were reported in KL, and one in Selangor. They are arrivals from Indonesia (four), the US, and Iraq.

    The five deaths today are a 75-year-old man in KL with gout; a 61-year-old man in Sabah with hypertension; a 68-year-old man in Johor with diabetes and chronic kidney disease; a 60-year-old man in Johor with hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and stroke; and an 82-year-old man in Sabah.

    In other news, the field hospital at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang, Selangor, is being reactivated as a quarantine and treatment centre for foreign workers with milder cases of Covid-19. Similar field hospitals are also being set up or reactivated in other states.

  4. 4.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 4 new domestic confirmed and 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all reported by Chengdu in Sichuan Province. It turns out the asymptomatic case also played Mahjong at the parlor in the village. There are currently 6 confirmed and 1 asymptomatic domestic cases in the city. 163 close contacts have been traced and quarantined. I have discussed these cases in detail in yesterday’s post. The city plans to conduct mass screening of an area covering 255.2K residents. As of 9 PM on 12/8, 60.5K individuals have been tested, with the 6 reported positive cases found (not including the index case). 515 environmental samples have been collected, of the 448 results obtained, 13 from the index cases’ residents are positive. Two areas in Chengdu are deemed Medium Risk.
     
    At Manzhouli at Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region, 1 suspect case has been ruled out as COVID-19. The city currently has 26 confirmed and 2 asymptomatic domestic cases. 1,437 individuals are under quarantine.
     
    Yesterday, China reported 11 new imported confirmed cases, 0 imported asymptomatic cases and 2 new imported suspect case:
     

    • Shanghai Municipality – 6 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the UK, Switzerland, Russia and Canada, a British national coming from Portugal (via Copenhagen) and. an Australian national coming from Croatia (via Germany); 2 suspect cases, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Italy and the US
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the UK, the case had contracted COVID-19 in the UK in Aug. and was pronounced recovered, arrived at Shanghai at the end of Oct., passed through the 2 weeks of quarantine and tested negative on RT-PCR twice, traveled to Chengdu in mid-nov. and was home quarantined for 3 days, still tested negative on RT-PCR, visited hospital on 12/7 due to persistent pharyngitis and tested positive, she is deemed a confirmed case due to showing fever and lung irregularities on the CT scan; not sure if the case is a reinfection in China, or COVID-19 presenting again after lying dormant for 3+ months, it does not look like she is shedding dead viral particles (as she is symptomatic), it will be interesting to follow the developments with this case
    • Liangyungang in Jiangsu Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the UK (entered China at Shanghai on 11/30, was transferred to centralized quarantine at Lianyungang, his final destination, on 12/3)
    • Beihai Port in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region – 1 confirmed case, a Filipino crew member off a cargo ship

     
    Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 104 new cases, 5 imported (from India and Pakistan) and 99 local (35 of whom without clear sources of infection, 12 connected to ballroom dancing clubs). An additional 60 cases are preliminarily positive, awaiting retesting and confirmation.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    On top of everything else –

    Health officials and experts are still baffled by a mysterious illness that has left over 500 people hospitalized and one person dead in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
    [snip]
    What is confounding experts is that there doesn’t seem to be any common link among the hundreds of people who have fallen sick. All of the patients have tested negative for COVID-19 and other viral diseases such as dengue, chikungunya or herpes. They aren’t related to each other. They don’t all live in the same area. They’re from different age groups, including about 70 children, but very few are elderly. Source

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    Kristi Noem’s stupidity is killing South Dakotans. Of course her state has better looking numbers than New York state, but it’s also far less populous. That’s why South Dakota’s infection, hospitalisation, and fatality rates are higher. How does a governor not grasp this simple concept?

  8. 8.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    “I really am sorry, from the bottom of my heart. But if the price we pay is 590 deaths a day then this in unacceptable.”

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel begs Germans to follow coronavirus restrictions in an unusually emotional appeal ahead of Christmas. pic.twitter.com/dNRge9cvdJ

    — DW News (@dwnews) December 9, 2020

  9. 9.

    Geo Wilcox

    @Amir Khalid: She’s stupid, that’s why. A pretty Trump in heels, a dumber Sarah Palin, whatever take you want. She refuses to even read the reports she gets because they conflict with her warped reality ala Trump. If the data and facts do not fit, they are excluded from her brain.

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    @Amir Khalid: They certainly do; its called self serving lying. Works against children (under five) and all republican voters. The one difference are children under five catch on, republicans, no.

  11. 11.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Russian government asking Russians who take the Sputnik V vaccine to abstain from drinking for 2 months, in the middle of winter, is mighty optimistic…

  12. 12.

    TS (the original)

    Is trump planning to steal any vaccine manufactured in the US and already paid for by other countries – as he stole the PPE that US states had ordered?  Or are the companies manufacturing same outside of the US?

  14. 14.

    TS (the original)

    Australia is not expecting to have any vaccines available until March. Given the low levels of infection, that is not considered a problem.

  15. 15.

    Amir Khalid

    @Catherine D.:

    What are you talking about? I could easily handle two months sans alcohol before vaccination and another two months after; in fact, I wouldn’t even notice it. ? ☪️

  16. 16.

    Sloane Ranger

    Yesterday in COVID in the UK.

    We had 12,282 new cases Tuesday, which is more than 2500 less than Monday. The R number remains at 0.8 to 1.0 but the rolling 7-day average is showing an increase of 1.5%. Cases by nation,

    England – 10,459 (down @1500)

    Northern Ireland – 351 (down @50)

    Scotland – 692 (up 15)

    Wales – 780 (down @1200).

    Deaths – There were 616 new deaths reported on Tuesday, 538 in England, 14 in Northern Ireland, 33 in Scotland and 31 in Wales.

    Testing – 215,981 tests were processed on Tuesday out of a capacity of 561,716. The rolling 7-day average is showing an increase of 6.9%.

    Hospitalisations – 14,807 people were in hospital on Sunday, 6 December and 1271 were on ventilators on Monday, 7th. The number of people in hospital is reducing but the number on ventilators seems to flattening out at around the 1250 mark. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions shows a reduction of 9.2%.

    General – Nothing new on COVID. The news is full of BoJo’s flight to Munich…err Brussels.

  17. 17.

    Percysowner

    It’s a small thing , but the holy of holy OSU vs Michigan game has been cancelled due to COVID. In related news, the Ohio GOP will have to put the brakes on passing legislation that will prevent Governor DeWine from “imposing” regulations to stop COVID because DRUMROLL so many members of the legislature have tested positive for COVID. Ohio House Cancels Sessions Amid COVID Cases They are saying it’s “scheduling issues”, but let’s face it, it’s hard to schedule things when you are isolating because you have or may have COVID.

  18. 18.

    YY_Sima Qian

    In vaccine news, the UAE has announced that one of the two inactivated live virus vaccines candidates from SinoPharm (the one from Beijing Institute of Biological Products) has demonstrated 86% efficacy from preliminary result of the Phase III trial conducted there, also 100% effectiveness at preventing mild and severe symptoms, no severe side effects reported. The authorities there has registered the vaccine for general use, and will be conducting mass vaccination shortly, with an eye toward reopening its economy in 2 weeks! Both SinoPharm vaccine candidates have been approved for EUA in the UAE in Sept., and in Bahrain a bit later.

    The authorities there did not share more detailed data (such as number of infections in the placebo group versus the vaccinated groups, breakdown into age groups, etc.). It is also curious that this was a unilateral announcement by the UAE, rather than a joint one with SinoPharm. Nonetheless, presumably the health authorities and the scientific establishment in the country have reviewed the full data and deemed the Beijing vaccine candidate good for general use. The Phase III trials at the UAE started in July with 31K volunteers, divided into the placebo control and the 2 vaccine candidate groups. SinoPharm’s 2 inactivated live virus candidates are developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, respectively. Aside from the UAE and Bahrain, the 2 candidates are also being trialed in at least 8 other nations around the Middle Ease and Latin America. Tens of thousands of people have been vaccinated with the 2 SinoPharm vaccinate candidates under the EUA at the UAE, including 30K members of its military. SinoPharm claims that at lease 1M people have been vaccinated under EUA in China.

    For other Chinese vaccine candidates, Indonesian authorities reported interim results show 97% efficacy for the Sinovac inactivated live virus vaccine candidate, though Sinovac itself is being more circumspect. The results from the Phase III trial conducted in Sao Paolo State in Brazil will likely be published next week.

    We need media and/or scientific community to deep dive through the Phase III trial data from the different vaccine candidates, and create apples to apples comparisons. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech Phase III trials in the US asked the volunteers to self report their conditions, and only those reporting symptoms were tested with RT-PCR. This trial protocol would, by definition, miss asymptomatic infections, and likely some of the mild infections. The 2 candidates also claimed 100% protection against severe symptoms, but no information about protection against moderate symptoms (which can cover a large range of conditions). The Astra Zeneca/Oxford Phase III trial protocol called for weekly testing of participants, so asymptomatic infection should be captured. The 62% efficacy for the full/full dose group is for protection against symptomatic infection, and more data need to be collected to verified the 90% efficacy suggested by the accidental half/full dose regimen. I have seen reports that the Astra Zeneca/Oxford vaccine candidate offered 5% protection against infection in the full/full dose regimen, while the half/full dose regimen offered nearly 60% protection. We need comparable data for all vaccine candidates. While protection against moderate to severe symptoms are great at reducing personal risk and preventing overload of the health care system, asymptomatic and mild cases can still infect other people who are not vaccinated. It doesn’t look like the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech trials will give us those answers. Anecdotal evidence from the SinoPharm and Sinovac trials indicate that volunteers are tested regularly regardless of symptoms, so hopefully that information will be available.

  22. 22.

    mrmoshpotato

    “Sometimes people think these vaccines just popped out of nowhere over a period of 4 months…This is not a 4 month process, this is a 17 year old process… The discovery and development of vaccine for coronaviruses began 17 years ago”

    So by Rethuglican logic, George W Bush is to blame for COVID-19.

    Cool.  Wow, W is a murderous motherfucker who belongs in The Hague.

  23. 23.

    Carlo

    On the ROK vaccination rate target of 90%:

    Note that while an SIR model for an epidemic with an R0 of about 3 requires an immunized population fraction of 67% (the WHO target) to achieve herd immunity, HI is not the end of the epidemic – it is merely the milestone where the epidemic is doomed, and infection rates start to decrease. The epidemic rolls on under it’s momentum, and by the time it’s truly over, the model says that over 95% of all susceptibles are infected or immunized. So a 90% target immunization rate is very reasonable if the goal is to annihilate the epidemic, rather than merely doom it.

  24. 24.

    Mike in Pasadena

    Rob Swanda’s explanation video was good, but I have one question. What is that thing on his head. It is so . . . Cute.

  25. 25.

    Jay

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    nope, back in the spring, the Ohio GrOPers were convinced that their rural purity  and distance from *ewYork would keep them safe from an urban/Blue State disease.

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