Storming of Capitol was textbook potential covid-19 superspreader, experts say https://t.co/3lNFEySEKp
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 8, 2021
… Experts said that resulting infections will be near-impossible to track, with massive crowds fanning out around the country and few rioters detained and identified. They also wondered if even a significant number of cases would register in a nation overwhelmed by the coronavirus. As Americans shared their shock and anger at the Capitol breach Thursday, the United States reported more than 132,000 people hospitalized with the virus, and more than 4,000 deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus — making it the highest single-day tally yet.
“It is a very real possibility that this will lead to a major outbreak but one that we may or may not be able to recognize,” Toner said. “All the cases to likely derive from this event will likely be lost in the huge number of cases we have in the country right now.”…
Health experts predicted Wednesday’s events will contribute to an ongoing case surge in the greater Washington region. The average number of daily new infections in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia reached a record high Thursday, and current covid-19 hospitalizations in the District have risen 19 percent in the past week…
So many GOP members of Congress laughed & mocked Rep. @LisaBRochester for her trying to hand out masks to GOP members while in lockdown during the MAGA terrorist attack on the Capitol. Such a crowded dense room—no masks. So dangerous for others. #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/e4tYJp8hue
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 8, 2021
The United States topped 4,000 daily deaths from the coronavirus for the first time. That breaks a record set just the day before. The surge is being seen in a number of Sun Belt states, where spikes of the virus were seen over the summer. https://t.co/l2trq5mpyv
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2021
Our daily update is published. States reported 2.1M tests, a record 310k cases, 131,889 COVID-19 hospitalizations, and 3,777 deaths. The 7-day averages for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are at record highs. pic.twitter.com/lCaomGRg5P
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) January 9, 2021
The number of active cases in the US is now more than 8.8 million and rising. pic.twitter.com/yE3idJyd9Q
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 9, 2021
This https://t.co/6kWMww3KUq map shows where COVID-19 has been spreading most rapidly over the past week: https://t.co/yKEwCLtZBJ pic.twitter.com/pQYUv2s3eI
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 9, 2021
The #Biden team is so worried about the escalating US #COVID19 crisis that they will rush out 1st doses of vaccines widely ASAP. Their press release is lousy, however — unclear when/if the 2nd doses will get out, are all priority grps abandoned, etc. https://t.co/xIKYE3qTCr
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 8, 2021
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Europe's slow start: How many people have had the Covid vaccine? https://t.co/gpDVHneiDB
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 9, 2021
BREAKING: Britain records 1,325 new coronavirus deaths, highest since start of pandemic. https://t.co/x2d0awbXmD
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2021
“The threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said. “One in 30 Londoners now has #COVID19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die."https://t.co/2uvWYcYCva
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 8, 2021
Briton:
Don’t think this is being emphasised enough: right now is the absolute worst time to catch Covid that you could possibly think of.
Hospitals are already at breaking point, ambulances are taking hours, and in a week’s time it’ll be worse. It’s worse now than in the first peak.
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) January 8, 2021
(These tweets triggered by a shop run I just did after it turned out I had no rice in the house, discovering four people leaving my local corner shop, totally unmasked)
— James Ball (@jamesrbuk) January 8, 2021
Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 24,694 – RKI https://t.co/wbFQsjy5p6 pic.twitter.com/VlM9naEfmk
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2021
Barely 3 months old, a baby leaves a hospital in Spain after 70 days fighting #COVID19 https://t.co/zFo5wbstbr via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 8, 2021
A Russian e-visa system that would have applied to citizens of 52 countries from Jan. 1 has been suspended due to the coronavirus. https://t.co/8PCzBvq922
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 8, 2021
India to continue export of medicines, including vaccines – PM Modi https://t.co/iCNz3bUQpn pic.twitter.com/21bgqIfCG7
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2021
… India is the world’s biggest vaccine maker. Its pharmaceutical industry has been freeing up capacity and pushing ahead with investments to help support a global vaccination campaign.
Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan earlier this month said there was no ban on vaccine exports, following media reports that the government had imposed restrictions to ensure domestic vaccine requirements were met first.
The country is set to roll out a COVID-19 vaccination programme, aiming to cover 300 million people by July in one of the world’s largest inoculation drives against the coronavirus…
Asia Today: Chinese authorities have asked residents in two cities south of Beijing to stay home for seven days as they try to stamp out a COVID-19 outbreak in which more than 300 people have tested positive in the past week. https://t.co/7parQi47dX
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 9, 2021
A coughing, maskless pilot from New Zealand, who had been in the US, snaps Taiwan's 8-month streak of no local #COVID19 spread https://t.co/2N6eryCYvT
— Deborah Blum (@deborahblum) January 8, 2021
Singapore woman jailed for hiding meetings with male friend https://t.co/VDfrCLLzDn
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 8, 2021
Mexico reports 14,362 new coronavirus cases, 1,038 more deaths https://t.co/Lk6BtEjXzB pic.twitter.com/XUhDy3GTYf
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2021
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NEW—U.S. FDA said on Friday genetic variants of #COVID19, including the one found in the UK, could lead to false negative results from some molecular COVID-19 tests, but the risk of the mutations affecting overall testing accuracy is low.
https://t.co/gSqPoMkztN— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 9, 2021
A new computational analysis suggests a vaccine or medication that can shorten the infectious period of #COVID19 may potentially prevent millions of cases and save billions of dollars https://t.co/Rbordxuhh1 via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 8, 2021
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State and local governments will be receiving their first infusion of federal money later this month to support vaccination efforts against the coronavirus. https://t.co/SHgF5d0knt
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 9, 2021
“I'm talking to public health departments that tell me we can do testing or we can do vaccinations — we don't have the people to do both," one expert said. https://t.co/AnFxWiYMUA
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) January 9, 2021
ICUs clogged on the way in, morgues on the way out in California's COVID crisis https://t.co/DAerP5JMKi pic.twitter.com/gLWrXdxvQ5
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 9, 2021
Facing a massive coronavirus surge, California has been issuing waivers allowing hospitals to temporarily bypass the nation's only strict nurse-to-patient ratios. Nurses say that's pushing them to the brink of burnout and affecting patient care. https://t.co/4O9Fi8Vtaj
— AP West Region (@APWestRegion) January 8, 2021
Some hospital and nursing home administrators have dangled everything from vouchers for free breakfasts to a raffle for a car to straight cash payouts to get employees to roll up their sleeves. https://t.co/Um0PFKbRPw
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 8, 2021
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/8 China reported 17 new domestic confirmed, 17 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Dalian in Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/25. The case had taken 22 days between likely instance of infection (via close contact with a known case) and testing positive. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered and 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 34 domestic confirmed cases and 21 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. There are 13 communities, 2 residential compounds and a village currently at Medium Risk in the city.
Shenyang in Liaoning Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (both moderate), all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine (since 12/23, 12/28 and 1/1, respectively). The 2nd round of mass screening of residents in 9 districts continues. As of 12 PM on 1/7, 5,054,363 individuals have been swabbed, 2,497,806 results obtained, all negative. There are currently 34 domestic confirmed and 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 residential compound and a residential building were elevated to Medium Risk. There are 1 community, 2 buildings and 16 residential compounds currently at Medium Risk in the city.
Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported 14 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) and 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases by 0 AM on 1/9, all at Shijiazhuang. There are currently 137 domestic confirmed cases (7 serious, 130 moderate) and 197 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
11 confirmed cases are at Haocheng District (all at the epicenter township) in Shijiazhuang, 1 at Yuhua District (a close contact of a positive case reported on 1/6), 1 at Luquan District (had visited the epicenter township in Haocheng District from 1/1 – 1/3), and 1 at Qiaoxi District (who had visited relatives at the epicenter township in Haocheng District in 1/1 – 1/2). No information have been released for the asymptomatic cases. As of 0 AM on 1/9, there are 128 confirmed cases and 191 asymptomatic cases. 11,708 contacts are under centralized quarantine. 85% of the positive cases are in the Haocheng District, and all but 1 of the positive cases from other districts and counties are connected to the Haocheng District, especially to the epicenter township. The city has completed the 1st of mass screening, with 10,251,875 individuals swabbed and tested. The 2nd round is to start soon. The entire Haocheng District remains at High Risk. 2 residential compounds, 2 villages and 1 dormitory in Xinle District, and 4 residential compounds in Xinhua District, were elevated to Medium Risk. All residents in the city are asked to stay home for 7 more days. All retail business are closed and shifted to online sales.
Chinese media reports only referred to the super spreading events that accelerated the outbreak at Haocheng District as a series of weddings and “village events”. Chinese social media posts have suggested that the events were Christian church activities from before Christmas to New Year. Not sure if these are state sanctioned churches or the so called “underground” churches.
On 1/8, China reported 16 new imported confirmed cases, 21 imported asymptomatic cases, and 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 19 confirmed cases recovered, 12 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation and 1 was reclassified as confirmed case, and 617 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 535 active confirmed cases in the country (281 imported), 16 are in serious condition (5 imported), 483 asymptomatic cases (253 imported). 23,974 traced contacts are currently under quarantine.
On 1/9, Hong Kong reported 59 new cases, 6 imported and 53 domestic (20 of whom do not have source of infection identified).
prostratedragon
Thank you Anne Laurie for these posts.
Regarding the Tuskegee “experiment,” the point was that the men were unnecessarily and without their knowledge and consent denied a treatment that the runners of the thing knew was effective against syphillis in people of all races, not that they were given and harmed by something new and unproven. And I recall that approval of at least one of the covid19 vaccines was held up until it was tested on a sufficient number of African or African-American subjects.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY yesterday:
1114 new cases, but some of that number is because the state system was down for awhile earlier in the week.
52% of the cases are female. 20% are people in their 20s. 905 people hospitalized, 149 patients in the ICU. Still at 685 reported deaths, although they’re not reporting increases in this number every day anymore.
30% of the hospital beds are available on average and 24% of the ICU beds.
9.8% positivity
YY_Sima Qian
GOP senators and congressmen refusing masks… Clear evidence that a lot of them are not cynical charlatans playing to the mob, but have completely drunk the kool aid.
Brachiator
The BBC Radio 4 statistics and everyday life program “More or Less” recently had its “Numbers of the Year” episode for 2020.
Some numbers related to the pandemic:
1506. Total number of CoronaVirus cases in all of Europe at the end of February. Little did anyone know how this thing would explode.
49. Total number of deaths in 2020 in Rwanda. A number of factors are involved here, but even if this number is under-reported, hospitalizations are also low. They also found some ingenious ways of sampling to offset the cost and increase the range of PCR testing. As another commenter has noted here, other countries should take a closer look at the way less wealthy nations are dealing with the pandemic.
332. An amazing number. The number of days to develop an effective vaccine.
A new number I recently saw in a CNN story on joblessness in the US.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 2,451 new cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 133,559 cases. Dr Noor Hisham also reports five new deaths today, for a total of 542 deaths — 0.41% of the cumulative reported total, 0.50% of resolved cases.
26,185 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 177 are in ICU, 82 of them on respirators. Meanwhile, 1,401 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 106,832 patients recovered – 80.0% of the cumulative reported total.
Five new clusters were reported today: Mikro in Johor, Symphony Magazine in Penang, Pasai in Sarawak, Teknologi Kesidang in Melaka, and Palut in Terengganu.
2,446 new cases today are local infections.Selangor has 564 cases: 46 in existing clusters, 296 close-contact screenings, and 222 other screenings. Sabah has 409 cases: 13 in existing clusters, 255 close-contact screenings, and 141 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan has 351 cases: 296 in existing clusters, 37 close-contact screenings, and 18 other screenings. Johor has 300 local cases: 153 in older clusters, six in Mikro cluster, 68 close-contact screenings, and 73 other screenings. Penang has 273 cases: 213 in older clusters, 13 in Symphony Magazine cluster, 27 close-contact screenings, and 20 other screenings. KL has 196 local cases: 18 in existing clusters, 106 close-contact screenings, and 72 other screenings.
Kedah has 65 cases: 26 in existing clusters, 21 close-contact screenings, and 18 other screenings. Kelantan has 61 cases: 11 in existing clusters, 39 close-contact screenings, and 11 other screenings. Sarawak has 54 local cases: eight in older clusters, 37 in Pasai cluster, and nine other screenings. Melaka has 50 cases: 19 in older clusters, 15 in Teknologi Kesidang cluster, 13 close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Perak has 42 cases: seven in existing clusters, 30 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Pahang has 36 cases: six in existing clusters, 25 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings.
Putrajaya has 17 cases: four in existing clusters, 11 close-contact screenings, and two other screenings. Terengganu has 16 cases: three in older clusters, four in Palut cluster, four close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Perlis has eight cases: seven close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Labuan has four cases: three close-contact screenings, and one other screening.
Five new cases are imported. Two were reported in KL, two in Johor, and one in Sarawak.
The five deaths today are an 87-year-old man im Selamgor with hypertension. Chronic kidney disease, and heaet disease; a 60-year-old man in Putrajaya with diabetes, hypertension, and stroke; an 82-year-old man in Johor woth chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; a 67-year-old man in Johor with diabetes, hypertension, lymphoma, asthma, stroke, psoriasis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease; and a 62-year-old man in Johor with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease.
Geminid
Israel entered it third lockdown Thursday night, as new cases soared past 8,000 two days in a row. The Israeli Union of Beekeepers reports that honey theft is up 50% since spring.
JoyceH
Does it strike anyone else as amusing that the Trump cult has become so fanatically anti-mask that they won’t even wear a bandana over their face like a Wild West bank robber to hinder recognition when they’re storming a government building?
mrmoshpotato
@JoyceH:
They’re also anti-science, so they won’t even act out scenes from Back to the Future Part III.
Amir Khalid
Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Yassin is going to make some kind of announcement Monday regarding movement control orders, which have been under discussion in the National Security Council this past week. A lot of people here suspect that restrictions on movement and gatherings are going to be tightened up again, since Malaysia’s numbers have not been looking great since restrictions were loosened. Stay tuned.
Gvg
@Geminid: what is the connection? I am missing something here.
fun with duct tape
Here in Spain:
Catalonia is the only region of Spain that has not counted Covid deaths restrictively.* For this reason, and because I live in Barcelona, Catalonia Covid data is the only data I follow. So:
As of yesterday, residents are no longer permitted to leave the cities where they live. (Until yesterday, this applied only on weekends.) In addition, the only shops permitted to open on weekends are grocery stores and pharmacies. The curfew of 10 pm to 6 am remains in effect.
Catalonia as of Jan. 8 (https://dadescovid.cat):
53,343 people vaccinated so far (vaccination
began Dec. 27)
2356 people currently hospitalized
459 people currently in intensive care**
Rt = 1.44 Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
10.42% positive test rate Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
297 deaths Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
424,945 confirmed cases since March 1
17,545 total deaths (one out of every 440
people)***
Barcelona (city) as of Jan. 1 (https://dadescovid.cat):
10,928 people vaccinated so far (vaccination
began Dec. 27)
413 people currently hospitalized
459 people currently in intensive care**
Rt = 1.46 Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
11.26% positive test rate Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
82 deaths Dec. 30 – Jan. 5
95,502 confirmed cases since March 1
5,548 total deaths (one out of every 304
people)****
* For example, the Catalan regional government reports 17,545 Covid deaths as of January 8, https://dadescovid.cat, whereas the national government reports 8828 Covid deaths in Catalonia as of the same date. https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20210101/mapa-del-coronavirus-espana/2004681.shtml. Catalonia’s figure is relatively consistent with the 15,549 excess deaths observed in the region between March 13 and December 17. https://www.isciii.es/QueHacemos/Servicios/VigilanciaSaludPublicaRENAVE/EnfermedadesTransmisibles/MoMo/Documents/informesMoMo2020/MoMo_Situacion%20a%2030%20de%20diciembre_CNE.pdf.
** 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 1,664,182, https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=2861#!tabs-tabla (population of cities within the province of Barcelona), but I use the larger figure because it is the sum of the population figures in the four areas demarcated by the city Department of Health. Catalonia reports Covid data for the city of Barcelona according to those four areas. (The four areas are Barcelona Dreta (407,550 people (as of 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 the city of Montcada i Reixac (pop. 36,803), https://www.ine.es/jaxiT3/Datos.htm?t=2861#!tabs-tabla, which may account for the discrepancy between the national government and the city health department’s population figures.)
lowtechcyclist
Over 16,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus just in the past four days.
That’s more Covid deaths than were recorded during the worst week last spring (April 15-21).
Or another comparison, that’s more Covid deaths than were recorded here up through April 8.
To a certain extent, these are apples-and-oranges comparisons, because our health system was misdiagnosing a lot of early deaths as pneumonia and so forth, and at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, many patients died before they could be tested for Covid.
But still, it’s frightening how bad it’s gotten. We’ll probably hit 420,000 deaths before Joe Biden puts his hand on the Bible, and 600,000 deaths are probably baked in at this point no matter what the new Administration does.
Kent
Remember those cell phone tracking maps from March where they showed where all the Florida Spring Breakers fanned out to around the country in the following weeks?
They need to do the same thing for Wednesday. Those who have all that phone location data need to put together a map of every phone that was on the Capitol Mall and Capitol Grounds on Weds and track where all the rats have fled to. It would be interesting and enlightening.
Geminid
@Gvg: Sorry to explain so late. I meant to reference The Jerusalem Post article which said that the rise in honey theft was attributed to conditions created by the pandemic. The article can be found by looking up “Jerusalem Post honey.” A beekeeper friend found it interesting.