Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

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

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

Battle won, war still ongoing.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

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

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

This really is a full service blog.

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday/Tuesday, March 1-2

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday/Tuesday, March 1-2

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There have been endless ‘lifestyle stories’ about upper-class media subscribers whose main complaint about the pandemic seems to be ‘Apart from missing vacation trips, I have been forced to pay entirely too much attention to insufficiently deferential house cleaners and grocery clerks.’ Months on a cruise ship seems like a perfect solution for everyone (barring the cruise ship staff, perhaps):

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Reader Interactions

88Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY yesterday:123 new cases, still at 1137 reported deaths
    1.8% positivity
    197 people hospitalized, 60 people in the ICU
    40% available hospital beds, 34% available ICU beds

    The new cases are coming down again, right before my MRI next week.​ 
    My sister in Virginia finally got her appointment for her first Fauci Ouchie! Woo hoo!​

  2. 2.

    Cermet

    Well, my daughter managed to get me an appointment for the covid vaccine mid March (early birthday present) – hope I can stay out of the hospital and make it – a number of other significant health issues are hitting me all of a sudden! Bad timing.

  3. 3.

    satby

    I’m interviewing other people to hire for the doctor’s office. One new hire starts today. Two more to interview and potentially hire. Then when they’re trained, the vaccine refuseniks are going to be shocked when the schedule shows them with no hours of work. The bribe I arranged for them didn’t motivate any of them and only one says they intend to get it. The three holdouts (two of which said they don’t like shots but have tattoos ?) have until April 1 to be scheduled and only a few weeks after that to have at least one dose. I’m done with the dumbshits in this state of idiots.

  4. 4.

    PenandKey

    Hell, mass vaccination sites sound good right about now. I just found out yesterday that as a dairy plant worker I’m eligible in Wisconsin for vaccination, finally, but there’s no place within 50 miles of me or my workplace with an appointment opening to get the shots. I had to sign up for a waiting list. That basically means there’s no place to get a shot anywhere in Wisconsin along I90 west of Madison. I’m not sure how we meet coverage goals with that sort of roll-out.

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 1,555 new cases today at his media briefing, for a cumulative reported total of 304,135 cases. He also reports six new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 1,141 deaths — 0.38% of the cumulative reported total, 0.41% of resolved cases.

    There are currently 24,563 active and contagious cases; 204 are in ICU, 96 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 2,486 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 278,431 patients recovered – 91.5% of the cumulative reported total.

    Seven new clusters were reported today: Taman Alam, Sementa 27, and Jalan Mawar in Selangor; Jalan Cyber Satu and Jalan DPB Enam in Johor; Persiaran Bayan Indah in Penang; and Jalan Bukit Blossoms in Negeri Sembilan.

    Jalan Bukit Blossoms is a high-risk group cluster. The rest are all workplace clusters.

    1,552 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 671 local cases: 111 in older clusters; 32 in Taman Alam, Sementa 27, and Jalan Mawar clusters; 430 close-contact screenings; and 98 other screenings. Johor reports 163 cases: 84 in older clusters, 41 in Jalan Cyber Satu and Jalan DPB Enam clusters, 45 close-contact screenings; and 29 other screenings. Sarawak reports 158 local cases: 54 in existing clusters, 37 close-contact screenings, and 67 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 144 local cases: 32 in existing clusters, 71 close-contact screenings, and 41 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 115 cases: 72 in older clusters, 16 in Jalan Bukit Blossoms cluster, 15 close-contact screenings, and 12 other screenings. Penang reports 106 cases: 11 in older clusters, three in Persiaran Bayan Indah cluster, 17 close-contact screenings, and 75 other screenings.

    Perak reports 63 cases: 51 in existing clusters, four close-contact screenings, and eight other screenings. Sabah reports 53 cases: 16 in existing clusters, 22 close-contact screenings, and 15 other screenings. Kelantan reports 46 cases: 19 in existing clusters, 19 close-contact screenings, and eight other screenings.

    Kedah reports 11 cases: one in an existing cluster, one close-contact screening, and nine other screenings. Melaka also reports 11 cases: three in existing clusters, and eight other screenings. Terengganu reports seven cases: four in existing clusters, two close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Pahang reports three cases: two close-contact screenings, and one other screening. And Putrajaya reports one case, a close-contact screening.

    Labuan and Perlis report no new cases today.

    Seven new cases today are imported: one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Selangor, and one in Sarawak.

    The deaths reported today are a 66-year-old man in Sabah with heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and thyroid cancer; a 62-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, and asthma; an 80-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with no co-morbidities listed; a 57-year-old woman in Selangor with diabetes, dyslipidaemia, and pancreatic cancer; a 72-year-old woman in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, and asthma; and a 44-year-old non-Malaysian man in Perak, DOA with no co-morbidities listed.

    Other news:
    Dr Noor Hisham also said the Ministry of Health’s Drug Control Authority has conditionally approved for emergency use AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, SinoVac’s CoronaVac vaccine, and a second source for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Full approval is pending receipt ot further trial results under the Ministry’s rolling submission process.

    Meanwhile, Senior Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that the movement control order in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, and Johor is to be downgraded. These states join Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Perak, and Kelantan on conditional movement control order status for two weeks starting Friday, until the next fortnightly review. Crossing district boundaries within a state will also be permitted from Friday, except in Sabah at the state Government’s request.

    Ismail Sabri also announced a loosening of restrictions on social gatherings and conferences.

  6. 6.

    Jeffery

    My 86 year old neighbor called me to tell me the pharmacy we used called to set up a covid shot for him. In Philadelphia it’s 75 and older who are first. I just turned 73. Thought things are starting to roll and I might get a shot in a month. The phone rang yesterday. It was the Philadelphia health department telling me having signed up with the vaccine interest site I could get my first shot vaccine this week. I am scheduled for tomorrow. I thought it would start to move fast, just not this fast. It’s nice to have a functioning federal government again.

  7. 7.

    satby

    @PenandKey: See, this is why my co-workers enrage me. So many people want vaccines and can’t get one yet, and these morons refuse the ones they’re eligible to get. And working at a doctor’s office, which people (reasonably) presume would have immunized staff. It’s maddening. I hope more vaccinations become available closer to you.

  10. 10.

    Princess

    China may be vaccinating the world, but my understanding is that they are not vaccinating their own citizens over 60. If that is true, it seems unconscionable to me.

    [Also, I knew the Bruenig’s were worthless, but man, Yglesias has taken a deep dive in the past few months]

  11. 11.

    satby

    @Princess: It’s ridiculous, but I imagine that the logic is that calling vaccines the “T**** vaccine” would motivate some of his idiot followers to get one while the rest of us are perfectly aware what the real story of his mismanagement is.

  12. 12.

    Low Key Swagger

    Sigh. Mrs. Swagger has been on my ass to try and get vaccinated. I’m not against it, I just haven’t actively tried, as my rationale was to wait until those more at risk get theirs first. Eventually, I started to get all excited that there were indeed some options out there and at 64 and a half, I was kinda sorta eligible. So, I registered with the State, and a friend told me she got hers at Kroger. (She’s 58) I went to the website, filled in the required fields honestly, and was told I’m not eligible. Did it again today, and it said “your eligible”!!! Pick your first appt time. I did, but there were no slots available for the second shot, and you can’t complete the appointment without both. More waiting I guess.

  13. 13.

    Princess

    @satby: At this point, I don’t care if they take it. I hope they all get Covid and die or have long term Covid and can’t reproduce.*

     

    *I don’t really feel this way. I know that if they get it, it will encourage new variants and endanger the rest of us. So I do want them to be vaccinated. But I don’t think calling it the Trump vaccine is going to do a thing, and I *don’t* feel like the majority of the country is aware enough to think “well, it’s really Biden who got it in my arm.”

  14. 14.

    Shalimar

    Cruise ship staff already know how casually horrible human beings are. They can handle it.

  15. 15.

    satby

    @Princess: I said the concept was ridiculous because it is. And I blame the same media who float stupid ideas like this in an attempt to reach the obtusely, malignantly idiotic T**** followers for helping create them in the first place by their dishonest reporting on the worst administration in history.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    JFC, Matts! Go collect your fucking Matts!

    Seriously, though, are those two knuckleheads saying it should be called the Turnip vaccine to overcome vax resistance among Turnip supporters? Because if so, that’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard as this would obviously increase vax resistance among anti-Turnip people, who are both more numerous and at higher risk demographically.

    Bruenig is a walking YouTube comment section on the Chapo Trap House channel, but while Yglesias is a contrarian knob, he’s not usually that incandescently dumb. What am I missing?

  19. 19.

    Baud

    Re: Trump vaccines. If some practicioner wants to do that in quiet rooms to get people to take the shot, fine.

    The idea that society at large should use that ridiculous terminology is … ridiculous.

    And I’m not sure calling it that would help with vaccine skepticism in the AA community, but I suspect they don’t care about that.

  20. 20.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Princess: Mainland China is basically free of COVID-19 with zero local cases being reported day after day. The people who are out and about, interacting with each other at work, in offices, using public transport, delivering stuff, working in factories etc. and likely to contract the disease are typically under 60 years of age so the push in that country is to vaccinate the population that could spread the disease and stop it flaring up again and infecting the older folks secondarily.

     

    The US, the UK and elsewhere are where the disease is spreading widely with tens of thousands of new cases and hundreds or even thousands of deaths reported each day. The vaccination process in these countries is aimed at older more vulnerable people to keep them out of the hospital or the morgue rather than to stop the spread.

  21. 21.

    Catherine D.

    Tompkins County NY is doing pretty well *spits, knocks wood, tosses salt over left shoulder*. We’re down to 76 active cases, from a high of 330 on January 8, and only 3 positives in 4881 tests yesterday. Just 3 people in the hospital.

    Off to get my twice weekly snot test now!

  22. 22.

    Mary G

    News from the OC is fanfuckingtastic. Measures have dropped 80-90% in the last few weeks and we may move to the red, less restricted tier as soon as today. I just saw a photo of a restaurant in Huntington Beach with a vast sea of empty outdoor tables. So once the Former Guy has been out of sight – out of mind, everybody except the hard-core 27% has come to their senses. Let’s hope we can keep it together and not run wild again.

  23. 23.

    rikyrah

    Tired of folks trying to gaslight people about J and J.

    Just admit that it’s not as effective as Pfizer AND Moderna.

    BUT, that it has a place.

     

    Give it to 18-27 year olds with NO UNDERLYING CONDITIONS.

    This would help relieve pressure on the system and free up Pfizer AND Moderna for those of us with underlying conditions.

     

    You all gung ho about J and J- then you and yours can take it

     

    But, for me and mine, who are walking underlying conditions…

    Pfizer and Moderna.

  24. 24.

    debbie

    Why name anything after someone who actively worked to suppress it and deny it to anyone who did not agree with him? What a precedent! ?

  27. 27.

    Mousebumples

    @PenandKey: I’m in Wisconsin and found a spot at Walgreens at about 6am on Saturday. They schedule 3 days out and only show locations within 20 miles of whatever city you enter.

    I struck out when I was looking on Friday, so it’s hopefully just a matter of time. If you’re willing to drive a bit, here’s a list of Walgreens in Wisconsin by city –

    https://www.walgreens.com/storelistings/storesbycity.jsp?state=WI

    Try local and then do Baraboo, Dodgeville, etc., or whatever is doable for you.

    Just under 3 hours until I get my first jab. Hopefully, you can get yours soon too!

  29. 29.

    Hoodie

    @Betty Cracker: When your job entails pumping out 140 character packets of wisdom at certain intervals, you’re bound to launch some real turds.  What you’re missing is that this is a stupid way to make a living.

  31. 31.

    Starfish

    @satby: I would lose it at anti-vaxxers in a medical setting. My friend who works with brain trauma patients said all their existing workers are vaccinated.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    @PenandKey:

    Try every place with a pharmacy. Sign up, so that when you go back to check, you aren’t wasting precious time that could cause you to lose your slot.

    Start at midnight checking.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The J&J vaccine is just fine if your goal is merely to avoid hospitalization &/ death. If one insists on avoiding infection all together, the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines are the better way to go.

    I’ll settle for staying alive and out of the hospital if that’s the only choice I ever get because as things stand right now? Not even that is a choice I get to make.

  37. 37.

    Mary G

    @Betty Cracker: Ysieglias has taken a hard right turn down the road where Andrew Sullivan lives since he left Vox to put out his own newsletter. After all the jokes about subscribing to your newsletter on the internet in the past decades, Substack and Patreon have been luring writers who’ve quit or been let go from organized medto actually try it out. I doubt it’s going to work for all of them, but what do I know?

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    As for the rural areas..

    Aren’t they the ones who were all anti-mask, and any procedures that would have helped slow down the spread.?/

     

    Then why the phuck are you whining about the Vaccine??

  39. 39.

    Starfish

    @Baud: I think the point is that people knew to do outreach to the Black community amd the Latino community. Hesitancy in those groups is dropping. Hesitancy is not dropping in Republicans who fell down the Q hole.

  40. 40.

    satby

    @rikyrah: No one is gaslighting about J&J’s vaccine. It was evaluated differently and while covid had mutated, so direct comparison isn’t possible. It still prevents serious illness and death at the same rate as the other two. An efficacy rate that exceeds the average flu vaccine was a fever dream this time last year, and for people concerned about the newer vaccine technology using mRNA, it’s a typical old technology vaccine (which two of the morons in my office are worried about). Plus easier to transport and store.  Preventing hospitalization and death were, and are, urgent goals.

    We can’t pick (right now, and probably not for a long while) which vaccine we get. If I wasn’t already vaccinated as a health care workers and I got offered J&J today, I’d roll up my sleeve in a heartbeat, because I’m asthmatic with the beginnings of CPOD and obese. Staying out of the hospital and off a ventilator was my goal, and J&J delivers that.

  41. 41.

    Low Key Swagger

    @rikyrah: Hi Rikyrah!  Not sure that’s entirely fair.  Lots of progressive thinkers in rural areas.  Lots of POC as well.  I’m both.  No area of the country should be without.

  42. 42.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @rikyrah: Then why the phuck are you whining about the Vaccine?

    Because the only thing more unAmerican than wearing a mask is getting sick because one refused to wear a mask.

  43. 43.

    Mousebumples

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve also heard that the mrna vaccines didn’t have the known variants about that we have now and we don’t know their efficacy against them. Hopefully still good, but difficult to compare apples to apples (so to speak) with the numbers.

    I have heard there is lots j&j data for seniors. Doesn’t make it less safe or effective – just more unknowns. Seems like a good option for those that are otherwise young and healthy but at high risk due to their jobs.

  45. 45.

    satby

    @Starfish:   @rikyrah:  That’s exactly why I’m hiring. Right now it’s half my staff, all young women in their 20-30s. When I have bodies to replace them, no vaccine = no hours. Good luck paying bills.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m jumping on the first vaccine offered. Already signed up to be notified when my age group is eligible. We’ll see if the weeks-old FL vaccine registry is as efficient as the FL unemployment insurance claims site famously is…

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Mousebumples: Speaking as a 62 yo with at least 2 comorbidities, my only point is that with the available data, the J&J vaccine appears to meet the larger goal of all but eliminating serious hospitalizations and deaths from covid.

    Good enough for me, and seeing as it’s probably going to be my only choice, I’ll take it.

  52. 52.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I believe the J&J vaccine doesn’t need the same extreme refrigeration which should make it easier to set up mobile clinics, even at work sites eventually, the way companies do flu clinics for their workers sometimes

  53. 53.

    Argiope

    @Baud: ​
      So, I actually tried this approach on my RWNJ 78-year old dad who has obesity and whose brain Fox and Rush were allowed (by him) to eat. Had a shot guaranteed as a substitute teacher; all he had to do was show up. I played up the funding of getting the vaccine out, swallowing my inner vomit and crediting the former guy. My sibling told him if he didn’t get vaccinated he’d better either recover completely or die, because help with recuperation was not on the agenda. Results: nope. The brainwashing about it not being real/no worse than the flu has stuck.

  54. 54.

    Nelle

    @rikyrah: Iowa legislature, on a Trumpian tear like none other, wants a law forbidding employers the right to require Covid vaccinations.  They also want to require in person graduations and bar tenure at state universities. Just some of the Freedumb gems.  Suddenly, they are all about no local control.

  55. 55.

    Chetan Murthy

    I feel like somebody’s gotta say it, so I’ll volunteer.  Re: the vaccines, and esp J&J:

    The thing that’s going to allow us to get our lives back, isn’t which particular vaccine you got, but rather that everyone around you is vaccinated.  When everyone is vaccinated, then transmission drops, and case rates, hospitalizations, and deaths crater.  And then we get our lives back.

    And something furthermore: the thing that will save your life isn’t a 95% efficacy rate, or a 66% efficacy rate, of preventing infection; it’s that the chance of -meeting- someone with covid during you day, went from N%, to near-if-not-exactly-zero.  And that comes from herd immunity.  And then there’s the old people, cancer patients, transplant patients, and all sorts of people with weaker immune system: all of these people are protected by virtue of the fact that everyone around them is vaccinated.

    Get the first shot you can.  And then, don’t change your behaviour until case/hospitalization/death rates plummet and herd immunity is reached.  That’s how we’re all going to get our lives back soonest.

  56. 56.

    Mousebumples

    @OzarkHillbilly: oh, i agree 100%. And as a woman of childbearing age, if i were pregnant, i think I’d prefer the mrna shots, though there’s obviously limited safety data on all in that population.

    I’m with you. Preventing death and serious illness is goal number 1. I think I’m getting Moderna later this morning but I’m rolling up my sleeve for whatever they have.

  57. 57.

    Scout211

    CNN reported that the former first couple were vaccinated in January.

    If he really wanted to call the  vaccine the T**** vaccine, shouldn’t he have announced this or even shown it on live television?  No, it remained a secret until a few days ago.

  59. 59.

    Sloane Ranger

    Yesterday the UK had 5455 new cases. This is a decrease of about 600 from the day before and a 28.7% reduction in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 4738 (down @300)

    Northern Ireland – 138 (up 2)

    Scotland – 386 (down @200)

    Wales – 193 (down 54).

    Deaths – There were 104 deaths within 28 days in a positive test yesterday. This is a decrease of 34.7% in the rolling 7-days average. Deaths by nation, England – 99, Northern Ireland – 2, Scotland – 0 and Wales – 3.

    Testing – 526,679 tests were conducted on Sunday, 28 February out of a capacity of 749,036. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 18%.

    Hospitalisations – There were 14,808 people in hospital on Thursday, 25 February and 1971 on ventilators on Friday, 26th. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions has decreased by 22.1%.

    Vaccinations – On 28 February, a total of 20,275,451 people had received the 1st shot of a vaccine and 815,816 people had received both shots.

    General – The good news. I am booked to have my 1st shot on Friday week (12th March) and my 2nd on 29th May. The bad news, the location is about 8 miles from where I live and means I will have to take 2 buses and about 1 hour thirty minutes to get there and the same back as I don’t drive (long story). There is a closer location but they are currently vaccinating Group 6 (60-64’s with an underlying health condition). I am Group 7 (healthy 60-64’s) and they say they won’t get round to us for “several weeks”.

  63. 63.

    satby

    @satby:  Wanted to edit but this goddammed site did the duplicate thing again.
    Merck gave up their vaccine development attempt because it wasn’t acceptably protective enough. Not all experiments succeed, even by big companies with great research teams, which is why we should be thrilled we have three highly effective vaccines now. It’s really a miracle of science.

  64. 64.

    Robert Sneddon

    @OzarkHillbilly: The statistical evidence from the UK is that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine (based on a chimpanzee adenovirus) provides very good protection from severe symptoms of COVID-19 too.

     

    I’ve not seen numbers in that regard specifically for the mRNA-based vaccines (Pfizer is the only one in use in the UK, Moderna has been approved but no deliveries or distribution has happened yet) but the aim and purpose of a vaccine is the same regardless of the technology used, to cause the body to react to foreign proteins and develop antibodies against the disease. The proteins which are characteristic of the coronavirus being targeted are created in our own body’s cells by the vaccines — in the case of the mRNA vaccines an artificial lipid capsule containing the “make this protein” messenger RNA strands is absorbed by a cell and it starts pumping out the proteins that will trigger antibody production and ‘program’ memory cells. This is basically the same process that the other virus-based vaccines like the Oxford/AstraZeneca and the J&J products trigger except that they’re more conventional and old-school but they also cause the body’s cells to make those foreign proteins.

     

    TL:DR — all the approved vaccines induce the body to create antibodies against coronavirus. They all provide some protection against infection, they all reduce the severity of the symptoms of infection and reduce the severity of lingering effects of the disease (‘long COVID’). There’s no evidence that later booster vaccinations with different versions of a given vaccine will be impossible so get vaccinated now with whichever approved vaccine you are offered as soon as possible and if something better comes along later, get that too.

  65. 65.

    Cameron

    Was signed up to go to the county vaccination site tomorrow. Turns out to be drive-through only: no car, no jab. Dunno who was smiling down on me this a.m., but I was able to get a Saturday appointment at CVS, so called the county and said give my spot to somebody else. Last few weeks have been really frustrating, though I suspect that’s the cumulative effect of a frustrating year.

  66. 66.

    Chris Johnson

    @Mary G: Patreon’s going to be a bad match for right-wing lunatics. For some time now it’s been deplatforming the most terrorist of the right-wingers, to the point where you’ll get people clamoring for you to ditch Patreon on the grounds of ‘free speech!’ and generalized SJWing.

    I know this ‘cos I make my living on Patreon and have done for years, so I get this directly. Patreon is so mean to right-wing terrorists that they scramble to come up with any alternative, and try to get people to boycott it.

    Only makes me embrace it more, but then I am obviously a sockulist hippie scum :)

  67. 67.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: I think they should also give J&J to people like me, who have already had Covid and probably only need one shot anyway. I wish it had come out first; then there wouldn’t be this perception that it’s an inferior vaccine. I remember discussions that 50% effectiveness would be acceptable in this situation. They’re also testing doing a 2nd dose with J&J, which is probably what they’ll end up doing.

  68. 68.

    Ken

    @Mary G: we may move to the red, less restricted tier

    You remind me that the CDC and others started off with the usual green-yellow-red coding. Then things got so bad they had to add colors.

  69. 69.

    Ken

    I have a compromise to the naming nontroversy:  Call it the “vaccine against the Trump pandemic”.

  70. 70.

    PaulB

    Two reviews of health care and vaccination in Washington state. Neither show the state off to good advantage.

    “In southeastern Washington’s Asotin County, thinly staffed public health offices must balance COVID-19 contact tracing investigations with routine inspections of septic systems. In North Central Washington, staff shortages impeded Okanogan County health employees reaching out to educate and test agricultural workers before a coronavirus surge for a time turned their region last summer into the hardest-hit place in the state. …”

    The COVID-19 pandemic that marched across Washington encountered a public health system gradually starved of money, staff and attention over the past two decades. Rural health offices — like in Asotin, Okanogan and Mason counties — have lost roughly half their full-time staff since the Great Recession, local officials say.

    Meanwhile, DOH, which had for years pleaded with state lawmakers and Gov. Jay Inslee for funds to increase disease investigation, boost the public health lab and update information systems, wrestled to report and post COVID-19 data.

    And:
    “A Seattle Times review of [Washington] state’s vaccination plans, internal emails and other reports, along with vaccine provider interviews, reveals missteps that confounded one of the largest and most difficult government undertaking in generations.”
    The first item, lack of funding for public health, is a problem in damn near all of the states. Like much of the rest of the nation’s infrastructure, the money has just not been available. Crumbling public health resources are just as much a danger, if not more so, as crumbling bridges.

  72. 72.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Robert Sneddon: You are quite correct. Another reason China has been holding off vaccinating anyone over 60 and younger than 18 is that all of the Phase III trials of Chinese vaccines were conducted in the 18 – 59 demographic, so there are not enough data for the young and elderly. Late stage trials for the young and the elderly appear to be ongoing, and there are reports that some areas in Beijing are already increasing the age limit to 70.

    Of course, the calculus would have been very different if there are uncontrolled spread in the country.

  73. 73.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 3/1 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

     

    Hebei Province

    Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported that 15 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently 14 domestic confirmed cases (13 moderate and 1 mild) & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province:

    • At Xingtai, the last 3 domestic confirmed cases in the city recovered.
    • At Shijiazhuang, 12 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are 14 confirmed cases & 2 asymptomatic cases.

     

    Heilongjiang Province

    Heilongjiang Provincial Health Commission reported that the last domestic confirmed case recovered & the last 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation.:

    • At Suihua, the last  domestic confirmed case recovered.
    • At Harbin, the last 2 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation.

     

    Jilin Province 

    Jilin Provincial Heath Commission reported that there are currently 9 domestic confirmed (1 severe, 4 moderate and 4 mild) cases there.:

    • At Tonghua, there are currently 9 domestic confirmed cases in the city.

     

    Imported Cases

    On 3/1 China reported 11 new imported confirmed cases, 6 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 4 confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), all Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each from the US and Turkey ; 4 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria the UAE and 1 each from Cambodia and the DRC
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from South Africa; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Botswana
    • Shanghai Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese student returning from the US
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case, no information released, yet
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chines nation returning from the Sudan (via Frankfurt); 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Portugal

     

    Overall in China, 21 confirmed cases recovered, 15 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 203 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 200 active confirmed cases in the country (171 imported), none in critical/serious condition, 243 asymptomatic cases (240 imported), 1 suspect case (all imported). 4,824 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    On 3/2 Hong Kong reported 13 new cases, 6 imported & 7 domestic (4 of whom do not yet have source of infection identified). There are another 10+ cases preliminarily positive, awaiting re-testing for confirmation.

  74. 74.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Any jackals here in Minneapolis and having success with getting the vaccine? My parents haven’t been vaccinated yet and they’re well over 65…

  78. 78.

    The Moar You Know

    China may be vaccinating the world, but my understanding is that they are not vaccinating their own citizens over 60. If that is true, it seems unconscionable to me.

    @Princess:  Most older folks in China stay at home. It’s the youngsters that are working side by side and getting it.

    Where’s the guy who turns up everyday to tell us China has no cases at all? Hell, you don’t need to immunize anyone if the disease isn’t there.

  80. 80.

    YY_Sima Qian

    All, I just realized that the Chinese provincial data i my previous post are from 2/28, not 3/1. Below is the correct data from 3/1:

    On 3/1 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

     

    Hebei Province

    Hebei Provincial Health Commission reported that 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently 9 domestic confirmed cases (8 moderate and 1 mild).:

    • At Shijiazhuang, 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are 9 confirmed cases.

     

    Jilin Province 

    Jilin Provincial Heath Commission reported 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 6 domestic confirmed (2 moderate and 4 mild) cases there.:

    • At Tonghua, there are currently 6 domestic confirmed cases in the city.

     

    Imported Cases

    On 3/1 China reported 11 new imported confirmed cases, 6 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 4 confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), all Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each from the US and Turkey ; 4 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria the UAE and 1 each from Cambodia and the DRC
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from South Africa; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Botswana
    • Shanghai Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese student returning from the US
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case, no information released, yet
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chines nation returning from the Sudan (via Frankfurt); 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Portugal

     

    Overall in China, 21 confirmed cases recovered, 15 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 203 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 200 active confirmed cases in the country (171 imported), none in critical/serious condition, 243 asymptomatic cases (240 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 4,824 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    On 3/2 Hong Kong reported 13 new cases, 6 imported & 7 domestic (4 of whom do not yet have source of infection identified). There are another 10+ cases preliminarily positive, awaiting re-testing for confirmation.

  85. 85.

    TerryC

    I got my second Pfizer Fauci Ouchie last Wednesday. Arm was sorer than first but no other side effects. I’m 73 with CHF and got it through the VA. Each time I was in and out of the Ann Arbor VA hospital in less than 30 minutes.

  86. 86.

    J R in WV

    OK, all… I found a federal website that IDs locations with vaccines being administered, along with in-stock / out-of-stock flags.

    https://vaccinefinder.org/search/

    It shows lots of Walgreens in WV with vaccine on site. Maybe this will be of use to those of us seeking a vaccine for the trumpian plague. Phone numbers to make appointments, also too.

    Wife and I got our first dose of Moderna at a county health clinic a couple of weeks ago, have the CDCD shot card in my wallet getting frayed. But still interested in seeing what’s up where.

  88. 88.

    Chris T.

    @debbie: Well, okay, but … if a Flu Vaccine prevents flu, then a Trump Vaccine prevents trump, and I’m all for that!

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