When I said I would listen to the scientists as president, I meant it. pic.twitter.com/VeC7qGESID
— President Biden (@POTUS) February 22, 2021
I can remember upping my estimates from 50,000 to 250,000 around last April and wondering whether I was being too pessimistic. https://t.co/sTnluoietD
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) February 22, 2021
Where we now stand w/#COVID19 in the USA, according to @IHME_UW pic.twitter.com/t2xMcL7D83
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 21, 2021
The US administered 1.8 million vaccine shots today, bringing the total to 63.1 million, or 19.0 doses per 100 people. The 7-day moving average remained largely unchanged at 1.33 million shots per day. 13.1% of Americans have received at least one shot; 5.7% are fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/mdPKGBspJC
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 22, 2021
The U.S. government is on a glide path to reach President Joe Biden's goal of administering 100 million coronavirus vaccine doses in his first 100 days. Now comes the more daunting mission: vaccinating all eligible U.S. adults by the end of the summer. https://t.co/UMD0bavDuY
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 21, 2021
The US had +57,198 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, bringing the total to over 28.7 million. The 7-day moving average fell to just over 69,000 new cases per day, its lowest level since October 24. pic.twitter.com/6JrLIBm95H
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 22, 2021
I have thoughts in reaction to this clip, but mostly profanity. So much profanity. https://t.co/oNNFRCvbbY
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) February 21, 2021
It seems like the honest answer to all these questions is, “Look, you know who my boss was, right?” https://t.co/QkqMWFjxV6
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 22, 2021
======
No one is happy with the speed at which vaccination rollouts are occurring. And global vax distribution is wildly inequitable.
But could we marvel for a moment at the fact nearly 200M people have received at least 1 dose of vax already? That is some awesome science right there. pic.twitter.com/nNkyoDeWV6— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 21, 2021
Hong Kong leader gets China's Sinovac vaccine to bolster public confidence https://t.co/aL8UpPSYwt pic.twitter.com/Ha6k6jUkm0
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2021
Japan vaccine supplies to be limited, delaying shots for elderly: minister https://t.co/jxG6xao0XB pic.twitter.com/ZrbWSwTSes
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2021
Strike threat by South Korean doctors fans fears of vaccine rollout disruption https://t.co/ymXEQhsX9x pic.twitter.com/jHVmd0l1Di
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2021
Resurgence of COVID-19 in India's Maharastra forces fresh containment measures https://t.co/kaj2zWtT07 pic.twitter.com/dFgkeDprae
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2021
Russia’s rollout of its coronavirus vaccine is beginning to pick up speed in some of its more remote regions, like Ikhala, a snow-covered village near the border with Finland, but experts say the campaign is still moving slowly. https://t.co/PGVbTHakF8
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 22, 2021
Italy marked the anniversary of the country's first recorded COVID-19 death with church services and wreath-laying ceremonies. With around 95,500 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus, Italy has Europe's second-highest pandemic toll after Britain. https://t.co/NGqWN9mqQF
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) February 21, 2021
In a bid to ease a national lockdown, Britain is speeding up vaccinations. All adults will have a first jab by July 31, with those 50 and over and people with underlying health issues getting their first shot by April 15. https://t.co/KflM8TR5mb
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) February 21, 2021
UK PM Boris Johnson to unveil 'cautious' plan to lift England's lockdown https://t.co/t2DcotiQPD
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 22, 2021
Israel has started lifting its coronavirus restrictions and reopening its economy after a nearly two-month long lockdown. Shops, museums, libraries, and malls are reopening Sunday along with most grade and high school classes. https://t.co/C87vWOQp4x
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 21, 2021
Australia begins its COVID-19 inoculation program days after its neighbor New Zealand, with both governments deciding their pandemic experiences did not require the fast tracking of vaccine rollouts that occurred in many parts of the world. https://t.co/FTqUn8xXVe
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 22, 2021
Some African countries have rolled out Covid-19 vaccination programmes, but many are yet to start. Which countries are vaccinating so far? https://t.co/2uy6NJJwMs
— Peter Mwai (@MwaiPetrov) February 21, 2021
======
Seven-year-old Carpenter Adoo has a medical condition that makes him particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. His home state of Tennessee is one of a handful that are moving the families of medically frail children up the vaccine priority list. https://t.co/bJpj7qCag7
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 21, 2021
======
New optimism that COVID19 is finally dwindling in Southern California as L.A. gains some herd immunity https://t.co/03I8x0J4P7
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 21, 2021
California’s new system of delivering and scheduling coronavirus vaccines is being rolled out. Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped insurer Blue Shield to manage a centralized system, saying the state needs robust data to ensure vaccines are distributed equitably. https://t.co/sEuDt3qAvr
— AP West Region (@APWestRegion) February 21, 2021
Health officials in the nation's capital are enlisting religious leaders to try to overcome vaccine reluctance in the Black community. Black residents make up nearly half of Washington’s population, but nearly three-fourths of the city’s virus deaths. https://t.co/7Hv80qYreb
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 21, 2021
Not sure I understand the logistics behind ‘Illinois to Minnesota, via Texas’, but it’s good that the Biden admin is getting due credit in these extracts from a longer thread:
It should have been a simple trip from IL to MN, but it turned in to quite the epic saga involving the White House, four different states, and finally @MNNationalGuard saving the day with late night deliveries to all four corners of the state.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) February 20, 2021
Texas is the epicenter of bad weather impacts (remember that super cold storage requirement? You need electricity for freezers). And these doses were needed in MN within the next 24 hours. We’ve made great vaccine progress and can’t afford more delays.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) February 20, 2021
The WH quickly recognized what a problem this was and got busy trying to make it right. Mid-day we found out it had a short layover in Texas and was in Memphis, TN. Working with FedEx, we caught up with the shipment there.
— Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) February 20, 2021
Iowa State Senator –
The spread of coronavirus among Iowa's kids is a danger to themselves, now and in the future, and also endangers families, staff, and the public who can get coronavirus from the kids.
Please use public health practices to stop the spread among Iowa's children!
(2/2)
— Rob Hogg (@SenatorRobHogg) February 21, 2021
Florida men:
Why is Governor DeSantis playing politics with vaccine distribution? His political allies & donors should not get to skip the line. Calling for full DOJ investigation. pic.twitter.com/OTjpkdD1o4
— Congressman Charlie Crist (@RepCharlieCrist) February 21, 2021
YY_Sima Qian
On 2/21 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Hebei Province
Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported that 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There are currently 145 domestic confirmed cases (127 moderate and 18 mild) & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province:
Heilongjiang Province
Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission reported that 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 12 domestic confirmed (10 moderate and 2 mild) & 22 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.:
Jilin Province
Jilin Provincial Heath Commission reported that 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently 31 domestic confirmed (1 critical, 1 serious, 20 moderate and 9 mild) & 4 domestic asymptomatic cases:
At Shanghai Municipality, 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are 12 domestic confirmed cases remaining.
Imported Cases
On 2/21 China reported 11 new imported confirmed cases, 8 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 33 confirmed cases recovered, 13 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation and 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 440 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 401 active confirmed cases in the country (185 imported), 2 are in critical/serious condition (none imported), 309 asymptomatic cases (271 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 7,832 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
On 2/22 Hong Kong reported 16 new cases, 3 imported & 13 domestic (4 of whom do not yet have source of infection identified).
Mary G
The OC is stalled with new cases in the 300s, but non-ICU hospitalizations continue to drop precipitously, and ICU occupancy lowering slowly. Good to see all the graphs going down.
Good for Charlie Crist to call out DeSantis. What a wanker, even for a Republican.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY yesterday:
New cases = 126. Reported deaths at 1108. Positivity at 2.2%
213 in the hospital, 58 in the ICU
40% hospital beds available, 37% ICU beds available.
Usual weekend drop in new cases. The bad weather most of this week may have some effect on people going out to get tested, too.
My niece at Dartmouth-Hitchcock had her 2nd dose yesterday. She reports headache, fever, teeth-chattering chills and assorted body aches which didn’t all disappear overnight. She still has the headache and fever, but she’s not taking anything for it in case that makes the shot less effective.
Baud
The video in that first tweet is cool.
satby
Logistics are all messed up in this country, and were before bad weather. IL to MN via TX and Memphis is because the freight carriers send shipments from one consolidation point to another, even if it adds hundreds of miles and several days to the trip. The post office does this now too so mail I send to Mishawaka, which shares a border with South Bend, now has to go sit in Indianapolis before being sent back to this area to the Mishawaka main PO and then delivered.
I’m sure it was supposed to save pennies on each delivery, and I would bet it really costs much more.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 2,192 new cases today in his media statement, a third fewer than yesterday’s number, for a cumulative reported total of 285,761 cases. He also reports six new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 1,062 deaths — 0.37% of the cumulative reported total, 0.42% of resolved cases.
There are currently 32,076 active and contagious cases; 199 are in ICU, 91 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 3,414 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 252,623 patients recovered – 88.4% of the cumulative reported total.
Eight new clusters were reported today: Jalan Kota building site, Lombong Timah building site, and Jalan Putra market in Selangor; Sungai Batu building site in Kuala Lumpur; Industry Sungai Gadut in Negeri Sembilan; Hilir Sungai Kluang in Penang; and Sungai Bakong and Emperoh Jambu in Sarawak.
Emperoh Jambu is a community cluster. The rest are all workplace clusters.
2,189 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 910 cases: 408 in older clusters; seven in Jalan Kota building site, Lombong Timah building site, and Jalan Putra market clusters; 327 close-contact screenings; and 168 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 301 local cases: 152 in older clusters, 25 in Sungai Batu building site cluster, 61 close-contact screenings, and 63 other screenings. Sarawak reports 221 cases: 19 in older clusters; 68 in Sungai Bakong and Emperoh Jambu clusters; 91 close-contact screenings; and 43 other screenings. Johor reports 210 local cases: 85 in existing clusters, 68 close-contact screenings, and 57 other screenings.
Perak reports 148 cases: 102 in existing clusters, 20 close-contact screenings, and 26 other screenings. Penang reports 135 cases: 55 in older clusters, five in Hilir Sungai Kluang cluster, 36 close-contact screenings, and 39 other screenings. Sabah reports 110 cases: 52 in existing clusters, 40 close-contact screenings, and 18 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan reports 64 cases: six in older clusters, seven in Industri Sungai Gadut cluster, 20 close-contact screenings, and 31 other screenings. Kelantan reports 28 cases: 15 in existing clusters, nine close-contact screenings, and four other screenings. Kedah reports 26 cases: six in existing clusters, 10 close-contact screenings, and 10 other screenings. Melaka reports 14 cases: six in existing clusters, five close-contact screenings, and three other screenings.
Pahang reports seven cases: five in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and one other screening. Putrajaya also reports seven cases: three in existing clusters, three close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Terengganu reports four cases, all in existing clusters. And Perlis repots four cases: two close-contact screenings, and two other screenings.
Labuan reports no new cases today.
Three new cases today are imported: two in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Johor.
The deaths reported today are a 25-year-old man in Pahang with a mediastinal tumour; a 50-year-old woman in Sabah with hypertension and lung cancer; a 59-year-old man in Sabah with mixed connective tissue disease; a 76-year-old woman in Selangor with hypertension, dyslipidaemia, stroke, and heart disease; an 84-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; and a 17-year-old non-Malaysian boy in Johor, DOA with no co-morbidities listed.
OzarkHillbilly
It’s always been done this way to one extent or another. I get my chicks from a hatchery in Lebanon MO, just 100 miles or so down the road from us. But they get shipped to STL first, then they come back to Sullivan. (Usually. 2 or 3 yrs ago they went to Union). It makes sense in that if a truck coming from Lebanon stopped at every town along the way to drop off one or 2 packages, it might take all day or more to get to STL instead of just 3 1/2 hrs. In STL it gets loaded on to various distribution trucks which then deliver hundreds, to thousands of items at each Post Office on their routes.
The driving is not where the inefficiencies are, the stop and go of delivery is. For some specific locales it may actually be less efficient, but for the whole network it is far better.
MagdaInBlack
I have a friend who works in daycare in a small LaSalle Co. IL town. She has an appointment for her first jab, and has to have: her letter from DCFS, a paystub, a gov’t issued ID and proof of insurance. Is all that paperwork normal? I’ve not seen anyone here mention the paper involved?
debbie
@MagdaInBlack:
I have to have my insurance card and proof I work in an eligible city. I am having trouble with figuring out what I need to provide to prove work. Turns out my ID doesn’t have my company name or address and I don’t have a printer to print out a paystub. I have a week to figure it out.
Amir Khalid
@debbie: Buy a printer? They are useful for other things, after all.
Amir Khalid
@MagdaInBlack: In Malaysia the Government is promising that you don’t even have to be in the country legally to get the vaccine. Which means, I guess, they won’t be asking for any papers.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
I can also just save one to a thumb drive and print it out at Staples. Even cheaper!
rikyrah
@debbie:
Why can’t your HR Dept give you a letter on company letterhead?
debbie
@rikyrah:
I’m going to ask them for that, but unfortunately, this HR has a history of non-responsiveness.
rikyrah
@debbie:
Can they send you the pay stub over the email, so that you can bring it up on your phone?
Robert Sneddon
A study of vaccination effectiveness in Scotland is returning promising results in terms of reduced numbers of hospitalisations from COVID-19.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56153600
This study is based on mostly single injections of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines but it also covers a period when strict lockdown measures were being applied which would have pushed the basic numbers down anyway.
Sanity warning — don’t read the comments.
MagdaInBlack
@debbie: Standard for HR, in my experience.
Eta: Unless you CC the right people =-)
rikyrah
@MagdaInBlack: outside of the letter from DCFS, I had all of that when I went for my shot. Didn’t have to show anything but ID and insurance.
debbie
@rikyrah:
That I can do, but it was a real surprise to realize my ID wasn’t like other IDs with name, address, etc.
MagdaInBlack
@rikyrah: TY, just curious how to prepare.
YY_Sima Qian
I don’t know why any US MSM is affording former Trump administration officials the easy opportunities rewrite history, evade their own responsibilities in enabling the disaster, and rehabilitate their reputations. Yes, Pottinger might have been one of the few White House officials to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, but where was he a year ago? Why did he not resign in protest after Trump administration’s criminal negligence/dishonesty/corruption became clear in Apr. – May? Why did he not blow the whistle when Trump was telling the public that COVID-19 is just a flu and a CCP/Dem hoax, even though he knew from briefings that it is a dangerous disease (as he admitted to Bob Woodward)?
As the NSC official responsible for China and East Asia, what was his view when John Bolton eliminated US CDC positions embedded in the Chinese CDC (that would have served as early warning and unofficial channels of communication), or the emerging disease surveillance programs that the US was conducting in collaboration with China in the country? What was his position when the Trump NSC forced the NIH to cancel funding to the NY based EcoAlliance’s long standing collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study bat coronaviruses, to identify new pandemic threats, and would have been in position to support the work of finding the zoonotic origins of COVID-19 (as they did with the original SARS); a grant that had passed the renewal assessment by the NIH with flying colors less than a year before?
The policy of no holds barred, unbounded confrontation with China that Pottinger enthusiastically promoted (along with Mike Pompeo) directly contributed to the destruction of any and all mutual trust between the two governments (both at policymaking and technocratic levels), a dramatic deterioration in relations from 2017 – 2019, and a total break down in relations throughout 2020. It would always have been challenging to pry information from the Chinese government, especially information that could be considered embarrassing to the CCP regime. It would have taken careful diplomacy, a delicate balance of public flattery, behind the scene cajoling and private threats. I am confident that Obama or Biden would have managed to at least some extent, Trump administration chose to go in a different direction. Why would the Chinese government share any information with the US (or even the WHO) if the US would simply turn around and use that information to beat the Chinese government over the head with? Why would any Chinese bureaucrat risk his career to share information with his US counterpart, if he has no confidence that such information would not be used as ammunition in a propaganda war against China?
Recalling the public statements that Trump administrations officials (including Pottinger) were making during Jan. – Mar. 2020 with respect to the COVID-19 situation in China, I don’t remember any empathy or even cold objectivity. Instead, there were barely concealed glee and schadenfreude. In Mar. Wilbur Ross went on CNBC to gloat that the pandemic would accelerate economic decoupling from China and bring industry back to the US. Well, a year later, not many people in the US may recall that episode, but I can assure you analysts and commentators in China remember. The US trade deficit with China reached a new record in 2020, driven by surging demand for medical supplies and consumer electronics and interior furnishing in the US, as well as rapid industrial recovery in China.
They spent most of their energy early on trying to frame the Wuhan outbreak and subsequent mass lock downs as the CCP regime’s Chernobyl moment, but neglected to protect the US homeland. Instead, the COVID-19 pandemic became the Trump administration’s Chernobyl, and by extension (fairly or not) that of the US system of government. All of the aspects of the US polity that were supposed to prevent or at least mitigate policy catastrophe: checks and balances across 3 co-equal branches of government, robust opposition party in control of half of the legislative branch, devolved powers to state and local governments, freedom of speech, free press, etc., failed to mitigate disaster. Biden and, if we are to be frank, his successors have a deep hole to climb out of.
Another Scott
Germany planning on opening some schools and vaccinating some teachers (with AZ) even as infections increase. DW story on the arguments:
Germany: Schools reopen for younger children amid rising COVID infections
https://p.dw.com/p/3pgt3
Good and bad, hopeful and worrying…
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
@MagdaInBlack: My housemate has to bring a mass of paperwork to prove she is in healthcare. We both had to show ID with our address in the county. Not proof of insurance though, no one should be getting charged for these jabs as far as I understand. We also have to have the QR code on our phones showing the appointment or I had to do a printout due to my aged phone, so yes, it was quite a bit and they were strict about it.
Robert Sneddon
@debbie:
In Scotland vaccination appointments are dealt with by Public Health Scotland, a government agency that controls the Scottish NHS. In my case I received an appointment letter (in a distinctive blue envelope) which I took with me to the vaccination centre. I showed this at the door, it was checked further in and then I presented this letter at the reception desk where my details were entered into the data recording system. There was a further verbal check of my name before the vaccine was administered since, I understand, they had to log my name and details against the batch number of the vaccine I was injected with in case of a need to track this later.
Insurance? What’s that?
Sloane Ranger
@Robert Sneddon: It was comforting to read this. I don’t know if you were here yesterday, but there were some people slagging off the AstraZeneca vaccine and saying they would wait for a Pfizer one so it’s interesting to see that the AZ one actually reduces hospital admissions more than the Pfizer does.
Also, yes, I always feel a little frisson of shadenfreude when I read about Americans struggles with insurance. Then of course, I feel ashamed of myself. Nobody should feel they have to put of treatment because they can’t afford it or, as an alternative, face bankruptcy.
The Moar You Know
We ain’t done yet. I stand by my original numbers: 2-5 million by the time we have a vaccine for all age groups.
And we should count ourselves lucky if it’s really that low.
JAFD
@MagdaInBlack: I registered for an appointment online, got an email “Please print this email and present it with a form of identification upon your visit.” That’s it
Upper left arm be irritated, not sore if I don’t bang it into anything.
Is cold damp day here, “takes the starch outa you”. Am going to take another nap.
Robert Sneddon
@Sloane Ranger: It’s entirely possible the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines are better than the Oxford/AstraZeneca modified adenovirus vaccine but it’s a question of how much rather than yes/no. We won’t know definitively until long after the pandemic has ebbed.
One thing about this particular pandemic, it is being recorded real-time almost to the point of absurdity and the resulting data mountains will be tortured until they confess for decades to come. Thousands of future PhDs will owe their vivas to this dreadful disease, its effects and treatment.
munira
@MagdaInBlack: The only thing they asked me for was my ID to prove I’m who I say I am. No medicare or insurance card – nothing else. This is in Washington state.
debbie
@Robert Sneddon:
Show off. ?
dnfree
@YY_Sima Qian: wow. You know much more about this Pottinger guy than most Americans!