"This one box is hope that the end is coming"
The delivery driver making "the most important delivery ever" as she takes Covid-19 vaccines to hospitals https://t.co/4U84DR0MR9 pic.twitter.com/OkUAk3w1ek
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 25, 2020
119k Americans are hospitalized with #COVID19 tonight.
I’m grateful for everyone who took care of our loved ones on this holiday.
To my colleagues – nurses, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, physicians, laboratory technicians, transporters – thank you for everything you do!
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) December 26, 2020
There have been at least 400,000 more deaths in 2020 than in 2019—a staggering 15% increase. The largest yearly increase since 1919.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) December 24, 2020
Now the official line is where it should have been all along…."Herd immunity" against #COVID19 requires >90% population immunity — up there with #measles. https://t.co/ci0sKXjZCV
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 24, 2020
The NYTimes, back on its BS…
Moving the goalposts is a logical fallacy based on changing the rules to advantage one side over another. That isn't what Fauci's doing. He's updating guidance based, as the story says, in part on new information. The framing in this tweet is harmful to public health messaging. https://t.co/2w0sh7wAWv
— Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis (@KendraWrites) December 25, 2020
======
In his Christmas message, Pope Francis urged political and business leaders to prioritize making COVID-19 vaccines available to all, criticizing ‘vaccine nationalism’ and those who refused to wear masks https://t.co/o3AQ5m4gX6 pic.twitter.com/fJKsqmT4aI
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Today, we start turning the page on a difficult year. The #COVID19 vaccine has been delivered to all EU countries.
Vaccination will begin tomorrow across the EU.
The #EUvaccinationdays are a touching moment of unity. Vaccination is the lasting way out of the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/pYOj5vS2gV
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 26, 2020
A 1st case of the #SARSCoV2 variant observed in the UK has been detected in France.
The man is asymptomatic and has been isolated at his home.https://t.co/auU94W3CcQ #coronavirus #COVID19
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) December 26, 2020
Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 14,455: RKI https://t.co/ExoMwn9nf2 pic.twitter.com/bvZZaAA7sp
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Russia's total number of COVID-19 cases crosses 3 million mark https://t.co/sy0CXBkZlA pic.twitter.com/Zx5W7GmsmN
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
As 2020 comes to an end and Russia’s total number of coronavirus cases approaches 3 million, it’s time to look back at how the world’s largest country handled the pandemic: https://t.co/d51DcJfPYZ
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) December 26, 2020
Iran says U.S. approved its funds transfer to buy COVID vaccines https://t.co/lOPAER4C1l pic.twitter.com/JgXw1VoWxb
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 25, 2020
Hong Kong imposes 21-day quarantine for visitors, adds South Africa to banned list https://t.co/iNaJJnCSyP pic.twitter.com/XARRh1I6QH
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 25, 2020
South Korea seemed to be winning the fight against the coronavirus. But with over 15,000 infections in the last 15 days, a deadly resurgence has reached new heights, prompting soul-searching on how the nation sleepwalked into a crisis. https://t.co/whBIJCBUrZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 26, 2020
Tokyo coronavirus cases hit record 949: media https://t.co/QBOIgIIrkV pic.twitter.com/TDQUOFpSC8
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Thailand confirms 110 new coronavirus infections https://t.co/ZU34aSB2Nz pic.twitter.com/jT1MEBpUx2
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Sydney residents discouraged from Boxing Day shopping, some suburbs to re-enter lockdown https://t.co/3Vse7e08JC pic.twitter.com/L3JPfqtVxI
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Brazil coronavirus death toll hits 190,000 https://t.co/nOSVKlq3wG pic.twitter.com/LRXnwz2BX8
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Several countries across Latin America began receiving COVID-19 vaccine deliveries this holiday week including Mexico, Chile and Costa Rica https://t.co/YNudXcLHP1 pic.twitter.com/9r93nwitv5
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
Mexico records 9,679 new coronavirus cases, 665 more deaths https://t.co/QoKaVZX1NA pic.twitter.com/TOw4j0uGw5
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
======
New research finds evidence of lasting immunity after mild or asymptomatic SARSCoV2 infection. Understanding the nature of immunity following mild/asymptomatic infection is key to pandemic control https://t.co/LjWjbNbpDt pic.twitter.com/Jm3pPxoSIK
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 26, 2020
New #coronavirus variant: This time in Nigeria reports the director of Africa's CDC. "It's a separate lineage from the UK & South Africa," said Dr. John Nkengasong. He said Nigeria's Center for Genomics of Infectious Diseases will be analyzing more samples https://t.co/zHaaK1GcB1 pic.twitter.com/qhJjty7Yon
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) December 24, 2020
Coronavirus variant: What is the spike protein and why are mutations involving it important? https://t.co/FR51uHrfSy
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) December 24, 2020
Person with ‘severe shellfish allergy’:
Boston doctor has severe allergic reaction to Moderna COVID vaccine: NYT https://t.co/qpVb04y3DZ pic.twitter.com/AG33Qn3mWY
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 26, 2020
======
Southern states are being overwhelmed by coronavirus cases. 6 of these states: TN,AL,GA,SC,FL&TX have had sustained case increases in the last wk. TN has reported the country’s most cases per 100k over the last 7 days. The gov has refused to enforce masks https://t.co/T7knmnABml pic.twitter.com/YYBwDBaLbe
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) December 24, 2020
Hospital workers start to ‘turn against each other’ to get vaccinated. “I am so disappointed and saddened that this happened,” a New York hospital executive wrote to his staff who did not have priority to be first in line for the vaccine https://t.co/jL3wbkdf5h
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) December 24, 2020
Southern California’s hospitals are overwhelmed, and it may get worse https://t.co/aSvq1hwSZI
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 25, 2020
Maeve
My Mom got the Moderna vaccine this week. She lives in an independent living apartment in Texas. No reaction, she says it’s less than the shingles shot.
Mary G
There’s a lot of chatter that SoCal hospitals are running out of oxygen. I hope it’s wrong.
fun with duct tape
Here in Spain:
Catalonia is the only region of Spain that has not counted Covid deaths restrictively. (It reports 16,837 Covid deaths as of December 25, for example, whereas the national government reports 8,608 Covid deaths in Catalonia as of December 24.) For this reason, I pay little attention to what the national government and other regional governments report for regions outside Catalonia.
Catalonia as of Dec. 25 (https://dadescovid.cat):
1592 people currently hospitalized
335 currently in intensive care*
R = 1.16 Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
5.25% positive test rate Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
237 deaths Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
385,251 confirmed cases since March 1
16,837 total deaths (one out of every 459 people)**
Barcelona (city) stats as of Dec. 25 (https://dadescovid.cat):
248 people currently hospitalized
335 currently in intensive care*
R = 1.33 Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
5.24% positive test rate Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
47 deaths Dec. 16 – Dec. 22
87,148 confirmed cases since March 1
5,365 total deaths (one out of every 314 people)***
* The number of people in intensive care is sometimes reported as exceeding the number of people hospitalized. That does seem strange, but I assume that the category of “people hospitalized” does not include the additional category of “people in the ICU.”
** The population of Catalonia on January 1, 2020, was 7,727,029. https://www.idescat.cat/pub/?id=aec&n=245.
*** I use a population figure for Barcelona (city) of 1,686,845. The Spanish National Institute of Statistics gives a figure of 1,636,762, but that figure dates from January 1, 2019. https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=2861#!tabs-tabla (population of cities within the province of Barcelona). The figure of 1,686,845 dates mostly from 2020; it represents the total number of people entitled to services through the city Department of Health, which divides the city into the following four areas: Barcelona Dreta (407,550 people (2020)), Barcelona Esquerra (523,725 people (2020)), Barcelona Litoral Mar (315,915 people (2020)), and Barcelona Nord (439,655 people (2019)). http://salutintegralbcn.gencat.cat/ca/Arees_Integrals_de_Salut/. The area of Barcelona Nord appears to include an independent city, Montcada i Reixac (pop. 36,329 (Jan. 1, 2019), https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=2861#!tabs-tabla), but since Catalonia reports Covid data according to the city health department’s four areas of Barcelona, I use the health department’s population figures in my calculation.
NotMax
Number of reported cases worldwide flies past 80,000,000.
Brachiator
California is a mess. From the Sacramento Bee:
It’s Christmas Day in Sacramento, much anticipated by health officials who have continuously warned against family gatherings and travel during the holiday season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
California is still reeling from the effects of Thanksgiving, as coronavirus infection rates skyrocket throughout the state.
According to the California Department of Public Health, the state officially hit 2 million total cases of COVID-19 on Christmas Eve, and Gov. Gavin Newsom fears rapid increases in infections if behavior doesn’t change.
“We’re projecting that our hospital number will double in just the next 30 days, and our projections have gotten much more solid,” Newsom said in a video recorded while in another quarantine for a second potential exposure to the virus. “I fear that, but we’re not victims to that if we change our behaviors.”
The Associated Press reported that the first officially recognized case of COVID-19 in California was confirmed on Jan. 25, and state reached the million mark Nov. 11. But in only 44 days, the number doubled, reflecting the dire situation in the state.
Per a Thursday update, the CDPH reported 2,003,146 infections statewide, and 23,635 deaths due to the virus overall.
Many hospitals across the state, slammed by the winter surge, are at or near capacity. More than 18,800 people are spending the holiday in the hospital, and of those, nearly 4,000 are being treated in intensive care units.
In mid-October, fewer than 700 patients were in the hospital for coronavirus treatment, and that number has been on the rise since then.
Both Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley regions have hit maximum ICU capacity, according to the CDPH. Greater Sacramento has just over 15% ICU capacity available, which means the region could potentially withdraw from the latest set of economic restrictions by Dec. 31.
Over all of California, 1,302 ICU beds are still available. In mid-October, more than 3,000 beds were open. If Newsom’s fears of doubling hospitalizations are warranted, California could be in a serious hospital crunch in the coming weeks.
“In most hospitals about half of all of the beds are filled with COVID patients and half of all the ICU beds are filled with COVID patients, and two-thirds of these patients are suffocating due to the inflammation that’s in their lungs that’s caused by the virus,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, told the Associated Press. “They’re suffocating to the point that they can no longer breathe on their own, and they have to have someone put a tube down their throat, in order to oxygenate their organs. Many of these people will not live to be in 2021.”
Los Angeles County has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic, accounting for more than 651,000 of the state’s infection total.
ETA: Native American casinos continue to operate through California’s latest stay-at-home orders, being exempted from state guidelines due to their special status within sovereign tribal territory.
The Cache Creek Casino is advertising a private New Year’s Eve party, from midnight to 6 am.
There is perhaps a wry joke to be made here about payback for smallpox blankets.
YY_Sima Qian
On 12/25, China reported 8 new domestic confirmed and 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Dalian in Liaoning Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed and 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 of the 5 confirmed cases are traced close contacts (1 under quarantine since 12/18 and a family of 3 under quarantine since 12/23). The last confirmed case was placed into quarantine in the early morning of 12/24, as a worker at a high risk location. No case summaries were published for the asymptomatic cases. Other than the initial 6 asymptomatic cases among cold chain logistics workers, the vast majority of the community transmission has occurred at a residential compound and among vendors at a retail market. However, as the new cases are testing positive as soon as they are being traced as close contacts, the authorities are keeping just abreast of the outbreak. We will see with the next round of mass screening at Jinpu New Area whether there is still cryptic community transmission occurring. There are 1 community and 1 residential compound at Medium Risk.
Shenyang in Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, the granddaughter of the imported case returning from South Korea that was reported on 12/23. There are currently 1 domestic confirmed and 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, both close relatives of the imported cases. 1 community and 1 residential compound are at Medium Risk.
Liaoning Province just announced that all import cold chain logistics workers will be vaccinated by 12/31.
Beijing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both at Shunyi District. One case is a loader at a food store selling frozen and refrigerated products, discovered through screening of all cold chain logistics workers. The other is an office worker, who developed symptoms and visited a fever clinic on 12/24. No links have been established with the office worker who works at the district, reported on 12/23. 96 F1 close contacts and 180 F2 close contacts have been traced, quarantined and tested. As of mid-day on 12/26, 5 additional individuals have tested positive, all are close contacts of the 2 cases reported yesterday, living in the same village in Shunyi District. I would not be surprised if the authorities starts mass screening at the district. Clearly there has been cryptic community transmission happening. 1 hotel is at Medium Risk in the city, but I would anticipate status changing for parts of Shunyi District soon.
At Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region, the last domestic confirmed cases have recovered.
At Chengdu in Sichuan Province, 1 village and 1 residential compound has been re-designated as Low Risk. 1 community remains at Medium Risk.
There are no changes in other Chinese cities with recent/current outbreaks.
On 12/24, China reported 12 new imported confirmed cases, 17 imported asymptomatic cases:
* Shanghai Municipality – 5 confirmed cases, a family of 3 (2 Chinese nationals and 1 US national) returning from the UAE (via Istanbul and Helsinki), and 1 Chinese national each returning from the U.K. and Brazil (via Germany)
* Kunming in Yunnan Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Myanmar and the Philippines; the case from the Philippines arrived at Chengdu in Sichuan Province on 9/29, tested positive as an asymptomatic case on 10/1, spent 56 days in isolation before testing negative 4 times and deemed recovered, he was then sent to centralized quarantine for 16 days at Chengdu, he was released from quarantine on 12/10 and flew back to Kunming on 12/11 and entered mandatory 14 day home quarantine, he tested positive at the end of home quarantine on 12/25, and has been clinically diagnosed as a confirmed case presenting symptoms; 23 close contacts have been traced and quarantined, all residents in the village (as well as neighboring villages) where the case has been self-quarantining will be screened; certainly curious circumstances, the poor guy has been in isolation and quarantine for 3 months, and who know how much longer
* Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Iraq (via Tehran); 5 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Iraq (via Tehran), 1 each returning from Liberia and the Congo (Kinshasa) (both via Nairobi), and a Foreign national coming from Turkey
* Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Bangladesh
* Qingyuan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic cases”, a Chinese national returning from Georgia
* Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Egypt; 2 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from Egypt and a Sudanese national coming from the Sudan (via Cairo)
* Changsha in Hunan Province – 1 confirmed and 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
* Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Hungary (via Amsterdam Schipol); 1 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from the US
* Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Columbia (via Moscow)
* Tianjin Municipality – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Guinea (via Paris CdG)
* Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
* Dalian in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
* Nanjing in Jiangsu Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
Overall in China, 2 serious cases improved to moderate conditions, 12 confirmed cases recovered, 10 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation and none were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 627 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 328 active confirmed cases in the country (274 imported), 4 are in serious condition (3 imported), and 245 asymptomatic cases (202 imported). 12,055 traced contacts are currently under quarantine.
On 12/24, Hong Kong reported 59 new cases, 6 imported (3 from the U.K.) and 53 local (26 of whom without clear sources of infection). There are an additional 50+ cases preliminarily positive, awaiting retest.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
?????
rikyrah
@Maeve:
Happy for her?
OzarkHillbilly
Fixed.
JPL
@YY_Sima Qian: It’s been almost a year since you first wrote about the virus. At that time, I had no idea how incompetent trump would be in his handling of the virus.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY published limited stats yesterday, just total # of new cases, hospitalizations and available hospital beds but no breakdown of new cases by gender and age. For the last month or so more women than men were being diagnosed with it.
Yesterday:
508 new cases, 874 people hospitalized, 136 patients in the ICU.
33% of the hospital beds are available on average and 30% of the ICU beds.
J R in WV
Our family doc, who we have been seeing now for nearly as long as he has been practicing, something like 40 years, has lost 9 of his patients to Covid-19. As a family practice doctor with elderly patients since he began his practice, he was aware that he would lose most of those patients to old age if nothing else.
But this seems different, somehow, and he seems more grim lately. I hope he doesn’t suffer emotionally from this Trumpian catastrophe.
ETA: Our rural county has only had 638 confirmed Covid patients since this began, and only 8 deaths so far. But people don’t leave the county that much. Once it becomes established, it could explode just like any other place. There is no hospital, just a clinic, so you would be transported to Huntington or Charleston if you become ill.
With that grim thought, I’m going back to bed… wish me a good snooze.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 2,335 new cases today — a new daily record — in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 103,900 cases. Dr Noor Hisham also reports two new deaths today, for a total of 451 deaths — 0.43% of the cumulative reported total, 0.54% of resolved cases.
20,035 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 108 are in ICU, 50 of them on respirators. Meanwhile, 874 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 83,414 patients recovered — 80.3% of the cumulative reported total.
11 new clusters were reported today: Jalan Seng building site in KL; Pagar Siput and Sungai Redan in Johor; Plastik Subang and Jalan Asam in Selangor; Halban and Seragam Chepa in Kelantan; Lis Putih and Sentosa Residensi in Penang; and Semambu and Pagar Bentong in Pahang.
2,324 new cases today are local infections. KL tops the list today with 718 local cases: 385 in older clusters, 232 in Jalan Seng building site cluster, 60 close-contact screenings, and 41 other screenings. Selangor has 709 cases: 314 in older clusters, 83 in Plastik Subang and Jalan Asam clusters, 198 close-contact screenings, and 114 other screenings. Johor has 412 cases: 225 in older clusters, 138 in Pagar Siput and Sungai Redan clusters, 29 close-contact screenings, and 20 other screenings. Sabah has 248 cases: 27 in existing clusters, 168 close-contact screenings, and 53 other screenings.
Penang has 58 cases: 43 in older clusters, eight in Lis Putih and Sentosa Residensi clusters, and seven other screenings. Kelantan has 54 cases: 35 in Halban and Seragam Chepa clusters, seven close-contact screenings, and 12 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan has 33 cases: 24 in existing clusters, two close-contact screenings, and seven other screenings. Perak has 26 cases: 11 in existing clusters, nine close-contact screenings, and six other screenings. Pahang has 19 cases: 10 in older clusters, seven in Semambu and Pagar Bentong clusters, one close-contact screening, and one other screening. Kedah has 16 cases: two in existing clusters, 11 close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Labuan has 16 cases: one in an existing cluster, 11 close-contact screenings, and four other screenings.
Sarawak has six cases, all found in other screening. Melaka has five cases: one in an existing cluster, three close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Putrajaya has three cases: two close-contact screenings, and one other screening. And Perlis has one case, found in other screening.
Only Terengganu reported no new local cases today.
11 new cases are imported. 10 were reported in KL, and one in Selangor.
The two deaths today are a 44-year-old woman in Sabah with obesity and dyspepsia; and a 70-year-old man in Melaka with diabetes, hypertension, and benign prostatic hypertrophy.
Geo Wilcox
@JPL: I thought he’d be worse, like we’d be at a million dead. Glad I was wrong.
YY_Sima Qian
@JPL: Yeah, I had fears, but I still expected the technocrats at the CDC to help America muddle through. When I learned from my dad how ill-prepared were the US authorities (including the CDC staff) for the 1st batch of evacuees out of Wuhan, and failure to consider the early (though tentative) learnings from China (14 days incubation, asymptomatic/pre-symptomatic transmission, aerosol transmission, etc.), I had a really sinking feeling.
I had thought the Wuhan experience would be historically unique, with the first cordon sanitaire and lock down of a metropolitan area in modern history. Little did I know in late Jan. and early Feb. that Wuhan’s experience (harsh restrictions and collapse of health care system) would be fairly pedestrian compared to much of the world, and much shorter in duration.
I am much more surprised at how poorly most of Europe and Canada have handled the pandemic, and how well most of the Pacific Rim (especially Australia and New Zealand) have handles it. I am further surprised how little wealth, level of development, and sophistication of health care and medical systems had with success of response.
YY_Sima Qian
@Geo Wilcox: Only because vaccines have been developed and trialed so quickly, and success rate and efficacy seemingly so high. The US is already at > 400K excess mortality. If vaccines were not available to the masses until the next winter, 1M deaths would have been quite likely.
Amir Khalid
@YY_Sima Qian:
In the US in particular, the pandemic has exposed how badly underprovided it is in terms of healthcare resources. That has been the most surprising thing for me.
JPL
@Amir Khalid: trump was able to convince his followers that hydroxychloroquine was a cure and that wearing a mask was ineffective. So I guess it wasn’t just trump, we all own part of it
Glidwrith
@YY_Sima Qian: Roughly 10% of the COVID-infected end up back in the hospital. There isn’t any reporting yet on how many survive, but like the 5 year survival curve used for cancer patients, I’m assuming we’re going to lose them by then. I truly hope otherwise.
And then we have the fertility issues to deal with.
sab
@Amir Khalid: That you were surprised that we are under-resourced for healthcare surprised me and proves that you do indeed live on the other side of the world from us, despite your perfect English.
I was surprised how easy it was for well-connected hacks without actual government positions or titles (Guiliani) to get extremely limited treatment resources denied to actual front line doctors and nurses. I was also surprised at how easy it was for billionaires to cut in to the vaccine line ahead of health care workers.
sab
My dad in the nursing home is scheduled to get his vaccine on the 30th. Here’s hoping. His nurse’s aide is leery. Hoping that if his goes well she will change her mind about getting it.
Sloane Ranger
On Christmas Day the UK reported 32,725 new cases. This is 3300 fewer than Christmas Eve. The rolling 7-day average now shows an increase of 45.6%. As noted yesterday, these figures come with a warning that they are very probably an undercount due to people not wanting to get tested over Christmas, delays due to staff shortages due to Christmas holidays, Northern Ireland not updating their figures during this period etc. New cases by home nation,
England – 31,560 (down @4000)
Northern Ireland – 0 (not updated)
Scotland – 1165 (down @150)
Wales – 0 (down 2161). Looks like Wales also didn’t update yesterday.
Deaths – There were 570 deaths yesterday, but please see disclaimer above. All reported deaths in England. No other nation reporting.
Testing – Not updated.
Hospitalisations – Not updated.
General
England – The new Tiers came into force last night with only the Isles of Scilly remaining in Tier 1 and precious little of the rest of the country in Tier 2 (primarily in the south-west with a small “corridor” in the north). Everywhere else is in Tier 3 or 4.
Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have all entered severe lockdown (although how this is presented to the population varies according to the home government concerned).
That’s all I have today.
Zelma
In my rural/resort county, the number of deaths had grown from 104 to 117 in one week. Our population is under 100,000 during the winter and hospitalizations are growing. I just heard of the first case of a person I know in the hospital. Under 60, has allergies, wife is a nurse at the local hospital which is probably how he got it. She tested positive three weeks ago but was asymptomatic. They tried to stay apart, but it’s very hard to do. If the post-Christmas spike is anything like the post-Thanksgiving spike, we are in real trouble.
Miss Bianca
Well, in non-COVID-related hospital news…
Called my younger brother to wish him a Merry Christmas. He called back from Providence Hospital in suburban Detroit. He has been diagnosed with diabetes. The doctors had to amputate his left big toe. Apparently, that is the extent of the extremity damage, however – doctors told him he had pulses in both feet, so no other circulation damage so far.
To say I am shaken by this news would be the understatement of the year. Just thankful that he was able to get *in* to a hospital and be treated for anything non-COVID-related, as so many hospitals are full to overflowing. My family is prone to adult onset diabetes, something I haven’t really thought about when it comes to myself. I am sure as shit thinking about it now. Scheduling a complete blood panel when it comes time for the physical I put off from earlier this year. Oh, yeah, and fuck 2020.
Ruckus
Southern CA, at least where I am, is in large part acting as if the virus has been beaten back. People are out and about, traffic looks about the same as in the before times. Back in the first part of the year it looked like the virus had already hit everyone and they were down for the count. That lasted 3, maybe 4 weeks till people started getting out and about again. A lot are wearing masks, a lot are not. They are required in stores and in the grocery store I see a few mouth breathers (mask not covering the nose) but not many. But this is the most populated state, and LA county has a larger population than 41 states, over 10 million, in 4000 sq miles. Not all of that is inhabitable.
I try to limit my exposure to the very least possible with 100% masking when I have to go out, but many seem to not be doing that at all. So yes, like every area of the world that does not shut down completely for a minimum 60 day period, and 100% mask wearing thereafter, there is going to be exposure and illness and death.
Ruckus
@sab:
I’ve very jaded when it comes to wealthy, “important” people. I worked every day in professional sports for over a decade and ran into a few of them. Only a very small percentage were not full of themselves, exactly like you point out about the wealthy and connected. A lot of our nations character is based upon the notion of exceptionalism, caused by wealth and/or position. Pompous arrogance is a human trait and is seen around the world, it’s just that our particular culture rewards that more than some others and always has. The singular persona of strength, the person that goes their own way, the person who’s made it in this tough world, these are the people that get rewarded, and always have been. Selfishness is a national character trait among those who have “made it, I’m better than you – or even anyone else.” Hell look at our political system, that’s the dividing line between the base concepts of the two sides, conservatives are basically selfish, all for ME, liberals are at least willing to discuss the inequality and how to ease the divide. Steal wealth or die/share and grow together. I know which makes a better world and which makes a shittier one and selfishness isn’t a major trait on the better side.
sab
@Ruckus: I am as jaded as you are by important imported people. I also have treasured imported people who were actual asylum victims under Reagan. Now safely here and American. Could not happen now, and that is a huge loss to this country.
lowtechcyclist
The map in Delthia Ricks’ tweet – that’s also a map of where slavery was legal in 1860. Weird.
Elie
@Miss Bianca:
You have my empathy/sympathy, Miss Bianca. I found out my sister had diabetes last year before she ended up with post surgical complications that had her hospitalized for 6 months! She has recovered pretty well but it is clear her health will forever be a problem and that she will have to adopt taking care of herself quite differently than she has. It was a shock and remains an area of ongoing concern for me…
Elie
Hang onto your hats kiddies. Stuff is gonna get worse before it gets better. My biggest hope is that we can flood the zone (so to speak) with these hopefully continuing effective vaccines in such huge amounts that there will be no “competition” for vaccine access. Until Biden gets in we have no comprehenisive plan on how to get shots in arms at this time. We do not have big centralized databases that will help us identify those in the various tranches and a solid system for informing them and then following up. The congress killed Obamacare’s plan to have a universal medical record national database to identify the people in different risk categories. We have no algorithm for identifying “essential workers” either. Like how and who and where are they even by state or locality?
As I said my hope is that we have plenty of vaccine for everybody so we don’t have such nightmares as vaccine “runs”…..