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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, May 17-18

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, May 17-18

by | 34 Comments

This post is in: ,


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Worth reading the whole thread to which this is a lead-in:

Canadian thread:

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And MA Guv ‘Chickensh*t’ Baker, predictably, buckles to the tourism industry. We’ve hit the ‘not quite half the population vaccinated’ mark, after all! :


Boston Mayor bows to the inevitable (rise in cases around mid-June, deaths by Independence Day):


Even though Spousal Unit and I are both vaxx’d, I wasn’t planning to venture into public much anyway, at least not yet.

Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY stats:

    112 new cases – 73% were people under 40, including 39 children between 0 and 19

    1267 COVID deaths since March 2020
    3.2% test positivity

    196 people hospitalized, 49 in the ICU

    53.6% with at least 1 jab
    46.9% fully vaccinated

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 5/17 China reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Anhui Province report 0 new domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases. There are 7 domestic confirmed & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Liu’an report 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both traced close contacts, both employees at the photo studios were seminars were held. There currently are 5 domestic confirmed & 9 domestic asymptomatic cases there. A shopping center & 5 residential compound are currently at Medium Risk. 
    • Hefei currently has 2 domestic confirmed cases, both traveling sales people who conduct photography seminars. A hotel remains at Medium Risk.

     

    Liaoning Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There are 13 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Yingkou reported 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases. The new case is a traced close contact. There currently are 9 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 4 villages & 5 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk. The epicenter Bayuquan District has completed 2nd round of mass screening of all residents, while the other districts of Yingkou have completed the 1st round.
    • Shenyang reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, 1 is a traced close contact, the other had traveled to Bayuquan District at Yingkou with family during May 1st International Labor Day break and was tested due to travel history. There are 4 domestic confirmed cases there. A residential compound remains at Medium Risk.

     

    In Yunnan Province, 1 domestic confirmed case recovered, there currently are 15 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Imported Cases

    On 5/17 China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases, 17 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:

    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 6 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Italy (via Lisbon), 2 from Nigeria (via Frankfurt) & 1 from São Tomé & Principe (via Lisbon); 5 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals each returning from Italy (via Lisbon) & Nigeria (via Frankfurt), & 1 from Serbia (via Frankfurt)
    • Shanghai Municipality – 4 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Russia & 1 from Hong Kong; 1 suspect case, no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Nigeria (via Germany) & an Egyptian national coming from Egypt; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Ghana & the Ukraine (both via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a foreign national coming from Japan; 4  asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Cambodia, Indonesia, the UAE & South Sudan (via Dubai)
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed (previously asymptomatic) & 1 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Tanzania
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Filipino crew member off a cargo ship
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines
    • Harbin in Heilongjiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Japan
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 asymptomatic case, a Polish national coming from Poland 

     

    Overall in China, 18 confirmed cases recovered, 14 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 4 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 151 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 295 active confirmed cases in the country (260 imported), 2 in serious condition (1 imported), 349 asymptomatic cases (332 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 7,042 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 5/17, 421.991M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 15.053M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 5/18, Hong Kong reported 1 new case, imported (from India).

  3. 3.

    debbie

    That first tweet almost makes me think parents and grandparents need to tell their children scary stories. If they had spoken about the fear that polio brought to communities, rather than “protecting” them from real things, maybe there would be fewer anti-vaxers now.

  4. 4.

    Matt McIrvin

    That first tweet’s been going around and every time I see it, I initially misread it as an antivaxxer claim saying the opposite of what it says. Too much exposure to Naomi Wolf, maybe.

  5. 5.

    Matt McIrvin

    It does seem to be a general pattern that a lot of the countries that have been much better than us at controlling this through compliance with simple public-health measures have been slow to vaccinate. I suppose part of it is that when COVID isn’t ripping through your population killing everyone, the urgency is much lower (which gets to what that thread was saying about local statistics in Hong Kong).

  6. 6.

    Matt McIrvin

    Baker would move to lift everything a week before I’m fully vaxxed and 3 weeks before everyone in my family is. Once we’ve got all our shots, I’m not going to be too fussed about avoiding public contact, but I suppose it means we hunker down harder in the interim, and I don’t know what families with young kids are supposed to do. The problem with opening everything up is that it’s nearly impossible to get people to close down again when there’s another disease wave–they make plans.

  8. 8.

    Cermet

    Interesting that democratic states (all) are in the lead for vaccination of the general population. OK, not really – those states have the above average intelligence populations in the country

  9. 9.

    trnc

    I’ve seen various stories about some long haulers being helped by the vaccine. Curious if the London clinic for long haulers is finding that, but the article doesn’t say.

  10. 10.

    lowtechcyclist

    Looking at Chovanec’s tweets, I can’t help but notice that most of the shots are now going to people getting their second shot, and that the number of people getting their first shot is dropping WAY down. A mini-chart:

    Date . 1+ . 2 shots
    4/17 . 49.7 . 31.8
    4/27 . 54.2 . 37.3
    5/07 . 57.4 . 42.6
    5/17 . 59.8 . 47.4

    Between 4/17 and 4/27, slightly more people were getting their second shot than their first. Since then, roughly twice as many people have been getting their second shot than their first. Since the 7-day average is down to 1.8M shots per day, that means only about 600K persons per day are getting their first shot at this point.

    This despite the fact that >40% of the population still hasn’t had their first shot. At the rate we’re going, it would take us until December to get everyone their first shot. And absent a change of approach, that rate is likely to keep on slowing down.

    And we know that there aren’t that many hard-core vaccine refusers out there. Sure, there are plenty of them, but nowhere near 40% of the population. Forget them for now: we need to focus on everyone besides them who hasn’t had their first shot yet, find out why they haven’t and what we need to do to get shots in their arms, and then do it.

  11. 11.

    Ken

    Regarding Helen Branswell’s tweet about Sanofi, GSK & Merck not developing a vaccine, Derek Lowe has also found it stunning, but in the opposite direction. He’s expressed amazement that so many different companies have developed vaccines, since the usual success rate for vaccine development projects is only about 1/3.  (Which, as he also points out, is stunningly high by the standards of most drug development projects.)

  13. 13.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 4,865 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 479,421 cases. He also reports 47 new deaths today, a record for a second straight day, for a cumulative total of 1,994 deaths — 0.42% of the cumulative reported total, 0.46% of resolved cases.

    As of yesterday, the seven-day moving average for Malaysia’s nationwide R0/RT was 1.06.

    There are currently 44,287 active and contagious cases; 531 are in ICU, 277 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 3,497 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 432,600 patients recovered – 90.23% of the cumulative reported total.

    19 new clusters were reported today: Jalan Petaling Industri, Jalan Besi Satu, Jalan Bukit Mutiara, and Jalan Sri Putri Empat in Johor; Utarid Sembilan Belas and Jalan Kampung Taib in Selangor; Bayan Lepas Innoplex in Penang; Dah Helang and Dah Arked in Kedah; Jalan Helang Siput in Kuala Lumpur; Kampung Kemuning in Melaka; Jalan Batu Dua in Negeri Sembilan; Banggol, Gong Badak, and Jambu Bongkok in Terengganu; Jalan Lima Belas in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor; Hulu Spaoh and Jelang in Sarawak; and Seri Sutra in Perak.

    Hulu Spaoh, Jelang, Seri Sutra, and Jambu Bongkok are community clusters. Jalan Bukit Mutiara, Jalan Helang Siput, Kampung Kemuning, Jalan Batu Dua, and Banggol are religious clusters. Jalan Batu Dua is an education cluster at a Ministry of Education school. Jalan Lima Belas is an education cluster at a Ministry of Education-registered private school. Gong Badak is a higher-education cluster. The rest are workplace clusters.

    4,860 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 1,740 local cases: 64 in clusters, 1,261 close-contact screenings, and 415 other screenings. Sarawak reports 512 cases: 76 in clusters, 348 close-contact screenings, and 88 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 475 local cases: 49 in clusters, 256 close-contact screenings, and 170 other screenings.

    Johor reports 407 cases: 94 in clusters, 194 close-contact screenings, and 119 other screenings. Kelantan reports 406 cases: 19 in clusters, 294 close-contact screenings, and 93 other screenings.

    Kedah reports 244 cases: 66 in clusters, 95 close-contact screenings, and 83 other screenings. Penang reports 220 cases: nine in clusters, 84 close-contact screenings, and 30 other screenings.

    Perak reports 160 cases: 46 in clusters, 84 close-contact screenings, and 30 other screenings. Terengganu reports 156 cases: 38 in clusters, 96 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Pahang reports 152 cases: 85 in clusters, 48 close-contact screenings, and 19 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 149 cases: 20 in clusters, 87 close-contact screenings, and 42 other screenings. Melaka reports 127 cases: 22 in clusters, 85 close-contact screenings, and 20 other screenings.
    Sabah reports 95 cases: 13 in clusters, 53 close-contact screenings, and 29 other screenings.

    Putrajaya reports nine cases: five close-contact screenings, and four other screenings. Labuan reports six cases: three close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Perlis reports two cases: one close-contact screening, and one other screening.

    Five new cases today are imported: three in Selangor, two in Kuala Lumpur.

    The deaths reported today are so many, it doesn’t make sense to list them all in what is supposed to be a shortish summary. In future, I think I’ll only list them if there’s a more manageable number, like maybe 30.

  14. 14.

    Matt McIrvin

    One thing that concerns me, because it affects my family, is that a lot of these public pronouncements about risk act as if all the vaccines are the same… but they’re not, are they? There’s reason to believe that people who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine aren’t as well-protected against infection as people who got the other two, and we know that even infections that don’t initially manifest as serious can have long-term effects.

    I wasn’t too fussed about this initially because I figured mass vaccination with any vaccine with >50% effectiveness, combined with the other public-health measures, would eventually smash this thing down through its collective effects, and we’d be fine. But if the premature lifting of restrictions in the belief that this is all over means that uncontrolled infection just rages among groups of unvaccinated children and covidiots, could that in turn be a serious long-COVID risk to people vaccinated with the J&J? I don’t think we know that it’s not.

  15. 15.

    Frankensteinbeck

    As of yesterday I am 2nd shot +2 and looking to reconnect with friends.  It has been a long and lonely time.

  16. 16.

    Cermet

    @lowtechcyclist: Add to the fact that 12-15 year old’s are getting the vaccine now; as such, it is likely that most of those 1st dose shots were in that age group. So basically, almost no new 1st shots for the 18+ segment of the population.

  17. 17.

    sab

    Ohio Vax-a-Million registry is open. They changed the rules. Ohioans have to register to enter the lottery.

  18. 18.

    Fair Economist

    @debbie: One wonders if that’s part of why traditional stories and fairy tales are much more often scary with bad endings than modern Disneyfied children’s stories.

  19. 19.

    sab

    I don’t much like the common cold or the flu so I intend to keep on masking anyway.

  20. 20.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @trnc: Anecdotes aren’t the same as data, but I’ve got at least one friend who caught COVID, suffered through it and its long-term symptoms, then got vaccinated – and shortly after vaccination, she noted that her sense of taste had largely returned to its pre-COVID state.

  21. 21.

    satby

    @debbie: Not scary stories. Realistic ones. A distant cousin of mine shared the story of her younger brother, dead at age 2 from meningitis in 1957. Which seems ancient history to millenials. So I posted on that thread about my own son’s bout with meningitis in the mid-80s, when he was 9 months old and 6 months before the vaccine was released. Not ancient history that I nearly lost a child in their lifetimes (or very shortly before) from a disease they’re now routinely vaccinated for. Most of them have no real frame of reference of how routinely people lost young children to disease or disability from disease then.

  22. 22.

    Soprano2

    I remember hearing an interview with a historian on “Fresh Air” a long time ago. I don’t remember what the particular topic was, but what I do remember is him saying that if you look at old graveyards they’re absolutely filled with the graves of women of childbearing age and children. He said that losing a child to disease was a common experience before vaccines rather than being the uncommon experience it is today. That really stuck with me, how dangerous the world was for children and women of childbearing age.

    As I thought they would, our City Council voted to lift the mask mandate and capacity restrictions on May 27th, which coincides with the last day of school for our city’s system. We’ll probably be around 40% of the eligible population fully vaccinated by that date (excluding the just-added category of 12-15 year olds). I really wish they had waited until we were closer to 50% fully vaccinated, but at least I and my family are protected. I’m so disappointed that only 41% of City employees are vacced, since we’ve all been eligible since March 15th! There’s no excuse except stubbornness or ignorance. “Did you know the vaccines can change your DNA?” a co-worker asked me the other day – and he took it! *facepalm

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Cermet:

    Add to the fact that 12-15 year old’s are getting the vaccine now; as such, it is likely that most of those 1st dose shots were in that age group. So basically, almost no new 1st shots for the 18+ segment of the population.

    I wouldn’t guess ‘almost no’ new first shots for adults, but you’re right in general: no question that over the past few days, parents of 12-15 year olds (like me) have been running out and getting their kids their first shots in very noticeable numbers.

    That’ll tail off after a couple of weeks, because there are but so many 12-15 year olds, and >40% of them are kids of parents who haven’t gotten their first shots yet.  And then the rate of people getting their first shots will seriously nosedive, unless some serious outreach to unvaccinated people who aren’t opposed to it has mobilized by then.

  24. 24.

    Sloane Ranger

    Monday in the UK we had 1979 new cases. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 1.1% but figures may still be affected by weekend reporting delays. New cases by nation,

    England – 1645 (up 174)

    Northern Ireland – 82 (down 17, but yesterday’s figures were 2 days worth)

    Scotland – 161 (down 131)

    Wales – 91 (up 37 and yesterday’s figures were 2 days worth).

    Deaths – Yesterday, there were 5 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported. This is an increase of 7.1%. New deaths, England – 3 and 1 each in Northern Ireland and Wales.

    Testing – There were 1,086,443 tests conducted on Sunday, 16 May. This is a decrease of 10.1% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity estimated by labs on this date was 618,438.

    Hospitalisations – Not updated since 13 May when there were less than 1000 people in hospital with COVID.

    Vaccinations – As of 16 May, there were 36,704,672 people who had had 1 shot of a vaccine and 20,287,403 who have had both. In percentage terms this means that 69.7% of all adults in the UK have had 1 shot and 38.5% were fully vaccinated.

    General – The Indian variant is spreading here, not only in the North West but in parts of London as well. I was considering taking advantage of the relaxation of restrictions to have a meal in a restaurant but am now re-thinking, as the variant has now spread to Bedford and South Northamptonshire, which are geographically very close to me. The somewhat good news is that, of those hospitalised in Bolton, the vast majority were people who were not vaccinated. If that holds up, it may be that the vaccines still work against it.

  25. 25.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 268 new cases of COVID-19 reported yesterday, zero deaths. Test positivity rate is 1.7%.

    My landlord who is a year or two over 60 got his second vaccination today (AstraZeneca). That’s about 9 or 10 weeks after this first vaccination. Vaccination numbers are up to their regular weekday 40,000 or so, mostly second vaccinations at the moment. There may be surge vaccination operations being set up in the hotspots in Glasgow where the Indian variant is taking hold, this is happening in places like Bolton and Bedford as Sloane Ranger mentioned previously. Basically it’s being run on a “roll up your sleeve, get jabbed” processing line rather than by scheduled appointment.

  26. 26.

    Ruckus

    @satby:

    At my 50th HS reunion 5 yrs ago a number of us discussed how many of us had been sick with things kids do not get today. It was 100% of the people I talked to, we’d all been sick. And people died. From things that they now don’t get or get routinely successfully treated for. Medicine has come a very long way, and people half my age have little to no idea how much things have changed in the last 7 decades.

  27. 27.

    Betsy

    Anne Laurie, you are cautious, and I respect that.  I’m fully vaxed for over a month now.  Is it safe, in your view, for someone like me to fly to a wedding next month? Staying with family who are vaxed and following guidance?

    The CDC guidance is saying yes, but I see your cautiousness, and that of the states and cities that are not doing away with mandates yet, and therefore I’m not certain.

  29. 29.

    smith

    @satby: Not scary stories. Realistic ones.

    My younger sister had measles at age 4 that turned into encephalitis (this was in the fifties, before there was a vaccine for measles). It caused some brain damage, and she was never able to speak clearly again. It ruined her life.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    I very much don’t like the seeming shift in emphasis from “if enough people get vaccinated and follow rules, we can reduce the general infection level” to “COVID is effectively harmless for the vaccinated, so we might as well just let it roll and if you get sick, that’s your fault”. Though it’s a very American-individualist attitude.

    It ignores kids, the immunocompromised, the vaccine-allergic, the not-yet-fully-vaxxed and the general imperfection of vaccines. It’s effectively adopting the covidiot line of “if the vaccine really works what do YOU care what I do?” There are lots of reasons to care how much virus is out there

    Maybe the attitude incentivizes getting vaccinated, which will make things better for anyone. But I doubt it–the message is more “it’s over”, so why bother?

  31. 31.

    J R in WV

    @sab: ​

    I don’t much like the common cold or the flu so I intend to keep on masking anyway.

    You and me both~!!~ Anyone who disapproves of my non-clinical infection prevention program can bite my ass, also too.

  32. 32.

    J R in WV

    @Betsy:

    If I was to have to fly I would double mask, with a good filter mask underneath a more sturdy mask over top to hold it against my face more closely.

    I would hope that airlines and the FAA will continue to require masks for those without a CDC shot card proving total immunization of all passengers. I won’t fly in a tube-full of contagious bastards w/o a mask.

  33. 33.

    Ruckus

    @smith:

    I was treated for encephalitis after my bout with measles. For 5 years. It seems to have worked. I was lucky. I don’t think the doc actually had an idea of what he was doing, but it worked, or at least didn’t hurt.

    So many people young, middle or old, could and did die or have life long issues from diseases that most of the young and middle aged of today have no idea of.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betsy: I’m not a fan of flying at the best of times, so I’m the wrong person to ask!

    But if you want to see  your family, the general consensus seems to be:  As long as you’re vaxxed, you should be okay on the ground.  Mask up in the plane(s), though, because their ventilation systems are tricky!

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