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Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

DeSantis transforms Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

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Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Republicans in disarray!

In my day, never was longer.

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This blog will pay for itself.

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This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Feb. 18-19

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Feb. 18-19

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  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY yesterday:

    New cases = 162. Deaths at 1108, up from 1078. Positivity at 2.2%
    265 in the hospital, 71 in the ICU
    40% hospital beds available, 36% ICU beds available.

  2. 2.

    raven

    So this morning msnbc had a piece that the SA variant may require three doses of pfizer and yesterday one of the rotating MD’s said if there is not universal masking we’re never going to beat this. As rikyah says “Good Morning”!

  7. 7.

    NeenerNeener

    @rikyrah: Yay for you!

    My BIL was supposed to get his first jab earlier this week, but bad weather has forced a reschedule to this weekend. Here’s hoping it’s not rescheduled again.

  8. 8.

    gkoutnik

    Am I missing something, or are predictions by US leaders regarding when things will “return to normal” (Fauci “fall”, Biden “Christmas,” etc.) failing to understand that things won’t “return to normal” until herd immunity is global?  With 130 countries still waiting for jab #1, talking about “normal” in US terms seems short-sighted.  Or will developed countries progressively isolate less developed countries (travel, business, etc.) as the inequities in immunity increase?

  9. 9.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 2,936 new cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 277,811 cases. He also reports 13 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 1,043 deaths — 0.38% of the cumulative reported total, 0.43% of resolved cases.

    There are currently 36,797 active and contagious cases; 220 are in ICU, 104 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 4,889 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 239,971 patients recovered – 86.4% of the cumulative reported total.

    13 new clusters were reported today: Jalan Kota Murni, Jalan Murni 12, Jalan Tun Mutahir, Jalan Indah Utama, and Parit Haji Khamis in Johor; Kompleks Perabut and Jalan Sementa in Selangor; Singgahmata in Sabah; Kejatau and Jalan Green in Sarawak; Jalan Kuchai in Kuala Lumpur; and Bukit Petiti and Kubang Jambu in Terengganu.

    Jalan Green and Bukit Petiti are community clusters. Kubang Jambu is a high-risk group cluster. The rest are all workplace clusters.

    2,919 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 977 local cases: 225 in older clusters, 31 in Kompleks Perabut and Jalan Sementa clusters, 466 close-contact screenings, and 255 other screenings. Johor reports 730 cases: 225 in older clusters; 31 in Jalan Kota Murni, Jalan Murni 12, Jalan Tun Mutahir, Jalan Indah Utama, and Parit Haji Khamis clusters; 63 close-contact screenings; and 109 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 219 local cases: 67 in older clusters, 14 in Jalan Kuchai cluster, 2 close-contact screenings, and 76 other screenings.

    Sarawak reports 191 local cases: 13 in older clusters, seven in Kejatau and Jalan Green clusters, 29 close-contact screenings, and 142 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 191 cases: 122 in existing clusters, 35 close-contact screenings, and 34 other screenings. Penang reports 188 cases: 110 in existing clusters, 56 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Perak reports155 cases: 123 in existing clusters, 10 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Sabah reports 101 cases: 50 in older clusters, one in Singgahmata cluster, 25 close-contact screenings, and 25 other screenings.

    Kelantan reports 38 cases: six in existing clusters, 20 close-contact screenings, and 12 other screenings. Terengganu reports 37 cases: 26 in older clusters, six in Bukit Petiti and Kubang Jambu clusters, six close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Kedah reports 36 cases: nine in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and 26 other screenings. Melaka reports 26 cases: 15 in existing clusters, six close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Pahang reports 26 cases: 17 in existing clusters, four close-contact screenings, and five other screenings.

    Putrajaya reports three cases: one in an existing cluster, and two close-contact screenings. And Labuan reports one case, a close-contact screening.

    Perlis reports no new cases today.

    17 new cases are imported: eight in Kuala Lumpur, eight in Sarawak, and one in Selangor.

    The deaths reported today are a 60-year-old man in Melaka with no co-morbidities listed; a 70-year-old man in Selangor with chronic kidney disease and obesity; a 75-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes and hypertension; an 84-year-old woman in Sarawak with diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia; a 75-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, dyslipidaemia, stroke, and heart disease; a 69-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes, hypertension and heart disease; a 67-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes and hypertension; a 66-year-old woman in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and heart disease; a 59-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and psoriasis; a 60-year-old man in Sarawak with diabetes, hypertension, and schwannoma; an 82-year-old man in Selangor with hypertension, heart disease, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease; a 69-year-old woman in Johor with diabetes and hypertension; and a 53-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur, DOA with heart disease.

  10. 10.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 2/18 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Hebei Province

    Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported no changes. There are currently 149 domestic confirmed cases (130 moderate and 19 mild) & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province:

    • At Xingtai, there are currently 21 domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • At Shijiazhuang, there are 128 confirmed cases & 9 asymptomatic cases. Gaocheng District remains at Medium Risk.

     

    Heilongjiang Province

    Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission reported that 12 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 12 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 29 domestic confirmed (23 moderate and 6 mild) & 38 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.:

    • At Suihua, 4 confirmed cases recovered & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 27 domestic confirmed & 26 domestic asymptomatic cases there. Wangkui County remains at Medium Risk.
    • At Harbin, 8 domestic confirmed case recovered & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 2 domestic confirmed & 12 asymptomatic cases there.

     

    Jilin Province 

    Jilin Provincial Heath Commission reported that 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 65 domestic confirmed (2 critical, 5 serious, 44 moderate and 14 mild) & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases:

    • At Songyuan, there are 2 domestic confirmed cases there.
    • At Tonghua, 7 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 50 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 building & 4 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.
    • At Changchun, 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 13 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.

     

    At Shanghai Municipality, 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are 17 domestic confirmed cases remaining. The Medium Risk residential compound has been re-designated as Low Risk.

    Imported Cases

    On 2/18 China reported 10 new imported confirmed cases, 8 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 7 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from the US, and 1 each from the UAE, Côte d’Ivoire (via Paris CdG) & Ethiopia, a Dutch national coming from the Netherlands, & an Indian national coming from India (via Hong Kong)
    • Tianjin Municipality – 2 confirmed cases, both Chinese nationals returning from France; 2 asymptomatic case, 1 is a Chinese national returning from the Philippines, a person who had contracted COVID-19 at the Philippines in Sept. and had recovered, no information released yet on the other case
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 1 confirmed & 1 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, q Chinese national returning from Mozambique
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the US
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Jordan
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Ethiopia (via Frankfurt)

     

    Overall in China, 46 confirmed cases recovered, 27 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation and none were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 406 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 484 active confirmed cases in the country (207 imported), 8 are in critical/serious condition (1 imported), 338 asymptomatic cases (282 imported), 4 suspect cases (all imported). 8,308 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    On 2/19 Hong Kong reported 13 new cases, 1 imported (from Indonesia) & 12 domestic (8 of whom do not yet have source of infection identified, including an illegal migrant from Vietnam & 3 staff at a restaurant). There are another 10+ cases preliminarily positive, awaiting retesting for confirmation.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    @gkoutnik:

    Am I missing something, or are predictions by US leaders regarding when things will “return to normal” (Fauci “fall”, Biden “Christmas,” etc.) failing to understand that things won’t “return to normal” until herd immunity is global?

    It’s not just the US. Leaders and a lot of regular folk don’t realize that things may get better, but never return to “normal.”

    And issues related to travel and immigration will be a serious issue unless the entire world is vaccinated.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @rikyrah: The third may be a booster for variants like the South African one. Yesterday it was reported that in testing the Pfizer vaccine still produced antibodies against that variant, but they’re reduced. They’re trying to determine if that reduction still is protective enough.

    Edit: Cheryl put up a thread about this virus becoming endemic. I think it probably will too, and yearly booster like yearly flu shots will be required to maintain immunity. We just don’t know enough about long term with this virus.

  14. 14.

    Sloane Ranger

    Yesterday in the UK we had 12,057 new cases. This is a decrease of about 650 from the day before and a reduction of 20.3% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 10,740 (down @200)

    Northern Ireland – 342 (up 44)

    Scotland – 685 (down @440)

    Wales – 290 (down 84).

    Deaths – There were 454 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is a decrease of 26.9% in the rolling 7-day average. Deaths by nation, England – 377, Northern Ireland – 6, Scotland – 57 and Wales – 14. On 5 February, 521 people in the UK had COVID mentioned on their Death Certificate.

    Testing – On Wednesday 17 February 578,844 tests were conducted out of a capacity of 789,705. This is a decrease of 17.2% in the rolling 7-day average.

    Hospitalisations – On Tuesday, 16 February, 20,156 people were in hospital and 2614 were on ventilators as of Wednesday, 17th. On Friday, 14th February, the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions had decreased by 24.8%.

    Vaccinations – On 17th February, 16,423,082 people had received the 1st dose of a vaccine and 573,724 had received both doses.

  15. 15.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The WSJ article on the work of the Joint WHO-China Mission in the origins of COVID-19 is a very good and objective summary, in stark contrast to articles from the same publication a few days ago. What a different the addition of a health/science reporter (Betsy McCay in this case) to the byline makes.

    Now the propaganda war over what data Chinese authorities did or did not release to the international team of the Joint WHO-China Mission seem to have died down a bit, here are a couple of more detailed interviews with team members:

    Peter Daszak with the New York Times:
    A W.H.O. Researcher on His Trip to China Seeking Origins of the Virus
    A short interview on the Australian ABC with Dominic Dwyer, whose comment on Chinese authorities not sharing raw case files of the 174 early patients in Wuhan kicked off much of the brouhaha:
    WHO visit to China to investigate CoV2 origins

    Look at the different reporting and interviews, I am much more curious about the fact that the Chinese authorities or the Chinese team did not already have the answers to some of the obvious questions that the international teams posed (obvious even to a layman like me): screen the early influenza and pneumonia cases in Wuhan during Nov./Dec. 2019 for suspected COVID-19 patients and test for antibodies (as opposed to doing it in Jan. 2021), testing the animal and worker population at mink farms, clarifying whether live wild animals (or live farmed “wild” animals) were indeed sold at the Huanan Seafood Market and who were the vendors, identifying the suppliers to the market and test the workers and animal population at the animal farms. China has many capable and competent epidemiologists (and access to more in Hong Kong) and public health officials, with the broad investigative and surveillance powers of the police, it is difficult to believe that the Chinese authorities have not thought of these factors and nor investigated them already. Either the Chinese team was taking the time to double check the data and analysis for any politically embarrassing content before presenting to the international team, or the CCP regime’s resolute effort to move on and the political sensitivity of any research into COVID-19’s origin had restrained the efforts of China’s scientific community. The fact that the international team largely reviewed the analysis conducted by the Chinese team, or at least by Chinese public health and scientific apparatus, will continue to be cause for skepticism, though multiple international team members have said this is the norm in such investigations. This is not an IAEA WMD type of investigation, nor would the Chinese government (or most governments for that matter) tolerate such intrusive investigations.

    Hopefully the Joint Mission’s report will shed more light.

  16. 16.

    Soprano2

    I get so frustrated by the discussions of school openings and COVID mitigation. I heard a critique of the CDC guidelines on NPR this morning, and it left so many questions unanswered. They say “adequate ventilation”, and then quickly pass by it and don’t say what “adequate ventilation” means. Many schools don’t have windows that can open, and in most of the country right now it’s too cold to have them open anyway! Schools already don’t have enough money, let alone having to spend tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade their heating/air systems. Are classrooms large enough to allow appropriate distancing – in many schools, the answer is “NO”. If they can use other rooms to accomplish this, do schools have the budgets to hire the extra teachers that would be required? Many times, again, the answer is “NO”. Teachers are asking for them and other school personnel to be vaccinated in order to completely return to the classroom in person. Why is this considered to be way too much to ask for? They say “well, businesses like restaurants, bars and casinos are open, why can’t schools be open?” without noting that businesses contribute taxes to a community, and since there has been no federal aid for state or city governments, there’s a lot of pressure to have things open for the tax revenue. I understand that parents want schools open 5 days a week so that they can go back to their jobs in a normal fashion, but why should school personnel have to take this kind of risk to make that happen?

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: I think Biden and his people are trying to be careful about what they think is “safe” for schools.  E.g. CBPP:

    Research has shown that money matters in education. Adequate school funding helps raise high school completion rates, close achievement gaps, and make the future workforce more productive by boosting student outcomes.[6] The Great Recession, in particular, hurt students’ educations, driving down test scores and college attendance rates.[7]

    Schools face hefty price tags to safely reopen schools even as they continue to cover the costs of distance learning:

    * Closing the “digital divide” to ensure that all students and teachers have access to the devices and connectivity they need will cost up to $12 billion over 12 months, plus up to $6 billion for each additional year, according to a study by Common Sense Media and the Boston Consulting Group. [8] (Many schools have already diverted money toward these costs because of the urgency, but that took funding away from other critical needs; more investment is needed to ensure that gaps are further closed even as students return to in-person learning.)

    * Schools should open for in-person instruction only under safe conditions, which will require investments in personal protective equipment, custodial staff, HVAC systems, and additional transportation costs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that safely operating in-person schools could cost as much as $12.6 billion for items like plexiglass shields and hand sanitizer, $12.7 billion for custodial staff time, and $19 billion for transportation. And those figures are just for the current school year; schools will undoubtedly need to extend some costs into the next school year as well.[9]

    * A quarter of schools have neither a full-time nor a part-time school nurse, and most schools lack the counselling support they will need to help students navigate the mental-health challenges of returning to school; adding needed nurses and counsellors will cost several billion dollars per year.[10]

    * Many schools will need to add staff and/or portable classrooms to reduce class size to meet social-distancing guidelines; a one-year, 10-percent increase in staffing would cost schools $35 billion, according to the American Federation of Teachers.[11]

    Perhaps the most significant cost — and the hardest to estimate — will be making up for lost learning time. Schoolchildren have lost many months of in-person learning time that — if not made up — could deliver a lasting blow to their long-term earning potential and America’s economic competitiveness, and it could exacerbate longstanding disparities in educational outcomes between white students and students of color.[12]

    (Emphasis added.)

    A few school districts will be able to open relatively quickly once they get the funding and are able to spend it. In others, it will take much longer…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  20. 20.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott: I think they’re trying to be careful too, in spite of reporters pushing them for a date certain of when everything will be normal again. The problem is, none of what is in that excerpt you posted was in the interview I heard this morning. It was basically “Use masks, social distancing, and adequate ventilation, and open schools now. Why are teachers whining about getting vaccinated when others have been working for months without it?”. That was the whole conversation, as least as far as what I heard. He literally said that if you follow the CDC guidelines you’ll never open schools again!

  21. 21.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2: ​

    If they can use other rooms to accomplish this, do schools have the budgets to hire the extra teachers that would be required? Many times, again, the answer is “NO”.

    Not to mention, where are these ‘extra teachers’ going to come from?When we were running out of ICU beds, it was easy to convert space and furnish it with beds, but they couldn’t make more ICU doctors and nurses magically appear.

    Same thing here. There may be a few surplus teachers here and there, but if you want to cut class size by even 1/4, that means you need 33% more teachers. Ain’t happening.

    Teachers are asking for them and other school personnel to be vaccinated in order to completely return to the classroom in person. Why is this considered to be way too much to ask for? They say “well, businesses like restaurants, bars and casinos are open, why can’t schools be open?”

    In addition to the money issues, it comes back to staffing again. If a restaurant’s staff comes down with Covid and they have to close, it’s a shame but life goes on for everyone else. If the teachers come down with Covid, where do you find their replacements?

    @Another Scott: ​

    Perhaps the most significant cost — and the hardest to estimate — will be making up for lost learning time. Schoolchildren have lost many months of in-person learning time that — if not made up — could deliver a lasting blow to their long-term earning potential and America’s economic competitiveness, and it could exacerbate longstanding disparities in educational outcomes between white students and students of color.

    OK, this is the part I don’t get: why does that time need to be made up??? Why can’t schools just say, “OK, our kids didn’t learn much last year. Why don’t we take a mulligan on everything from March 2020 through June 2021?” So a lot of kids finish high school, and (if they’re going on) start college, a year later than they otherwise would have.

    Maybe there’s a reason why that would be a problem that I’m not seeing. And if a lot of school systems did this, colleges would be aware that this was a thing, and not treat kids any differently if they graduated a year late relative to their age.​​​

  22. 22.

    Chris T.

    @lowtechcyclist: OK, this is the part I don’t get: why does that time need to be made up??? Why can’t schools just say, “OK, our kids didn’t learn much last year. Why don’t we take a mulligan on everything from March 2020 through June 2021?” So a lot of kids finish high school, and (if they’re going on) start college, a year later than they otherwise would have.

    Maybe there’s a reason why that would be a problem that I’m not seeing.

    Yes, what you’re not seeing is that children are interchangeable widgets. Nobody wants a widget that’s one year staler than another. Plus, of course, their interchangeability is why they all need to go back to interchangeable classrooms with interchangeable teachers.

    Well, except if I’m a billionaire: then my kids are special!

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