Hoping to add one more incentive for travelers to visit — and join the ranks of the fully vaccinated — some tourist sites are offering coronavirus vaccines to visitors. https://t.co/4rvN6POqc7
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 17, 2021
60.2% of all American adults have received at least one vaccine shot; 47.9% are now fully vaccinated.
84.7% of Americans age 65 or older have received at least one shot; 73.0% are now fully vaccinated. pic.twitter.com/SZMoU0EwoE
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) May 20, 2021
Retail workers are pissed off about the end of masks in the stores. https://t.co/NE0pn59mQZ
— gregarious (@mistergeezy) May 18, 2021
The US had +28,541 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 today, bringing the total to over 33.8 million. The 7-day moving average declined to below 30,000 new cases per day, to its lowest level since last June 21. pic.twitter.com/8TSzywbTwG
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) May 20, 2021
=====
As #COVID19 death tolls hit record levels in #India the govt tells the world's largest #vaccine maker: no more exports, keep supplies in India.
China is licking its chops at the prospect of taking over Numb.1 slot in generic pharma, APIs & vaccines.https://t.co/pvFkNPIk7I— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 19, 2021
India reports 276,110 new coronavirus infections https://t.co/bRShhkDmqr pic.twitter.com/V1YurabhUf
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
India has recorded the pandemic’s highest single-day death toll in the world. The Health Ministry reported 4,529 deaths as the coronavirus spreads beyond cities into the vast countryside, where health systems are weak. https://t.co/Ukh07NSXZ4
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 19, 2021
India reported 4,529 covid deaths in the past 24 hours—more single-day deaths than any other country at any time during the pandemic.
(and likely an undercount by 2-5x)— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) May 19, 2021
India coronavirus: 'Stay positive' call jars amid raging pandemic https://t.co/H7hXxbr0VX
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 19, 2021
China now has the second-fastest vaccination rate in the G20, likely to overtake Canada in the coming days. pic.twitter.com/MRgGibytFo
— Mike Bird (@Birdyword) May 20, 2021
To help reach China’s goal of vaccinating 40% of citizens by the end of June, Sichuan health officials released this rap song, ‘Get Jabbed Quick’ pic.twitter.com/LhXSgaUfSu
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) May 19, 2021
Singapore and Taiwan were once hailed as Covid success stories, but both places are now seeing a steep rise in cases
What went wrong? https://t.co/UiP3kP2bEW
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 20, 2021
Taiwan COVID-19 cases rise again, but not dramatically https://t.co/S5V893qfpH pic.twitter.com/DdmoM0MQRa
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
Singapore ordered Facebook and Twitter to carry a correction notice to users of the social media platforms in the country over what it says is a false statement about a new virus variant originating in Singapore https://t.co/Rva9OKiXaq pic.twitter.com/eZjBIkDkdt
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
'It's a great feeling': Saudis free to travel abroad after more than a year https://t.co/nix6B4nD83 pic.twitter.com/1j1IYs0lOZ
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2021
Australia's peak medical body warned the country's residents were 'sitting ducks' for COVID-19, as business leaders call for the international border to be reopened faster despite a sluggish national vaccination drive https://t.co/ySniJKki2x pic.twitter.com/iMjgwgOgg2
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
(Bloomberg) — European Union governments agreed to allow quarantine-free travel for vaccinated tourists and visitors from countries deemed safe, paving the way for the resumption of hassle-free trans-Atlantic flights.https://t.co/c4ZDDNL89u
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) May 19, 2021
China says it is providing COVID-19 vaccines to nearly 40 African countries and described its actions as purely altruistic. https://t.co/ejg4S2pzgN
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 20, 2021
Why some African states can't use their vaccines https://t.co/CHExQe6szK
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 19, 2021
Malawi destroyed thousands of expired doses of #AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine. The shots were given to the country by Australia. But there was a short window for their use. Malawi health officials say they want to assure the public that safe products are being used https://t.co/zeTOzsc7Vu pic.twitter.com/sdSrGBYmdq
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 19, 2021
Argentina is setting records for coronavirus infections and deaths, with more than 35,000 daily cases and 743 confirmed deaths. Nationally, officials say intensive care beds remain at 72% occupancy. About 20% of people have received one dose of vaccine. https://t.co/K4vfNjLElu
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 19, 2021
Argentina's gravediggers plead for vaccines as death toll climbs https://t.co/F7oo7vazqN pic.twitter.com/3eocP985vh
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 19, 2021
=====
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized storage of Pfizer and German partner BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine at standard freezer temperatures for up to one month, in an effort to make the vaccine more widely available https://t.co/fyL2aTWvCH pic.twitter.com/Z4VJMeHxh2
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 20, 2021
Turncoats: Rogue antibodies—autoantibodies—can wreak havoc in severe Covid. They target & react w/ a person's tissues just as they do in autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. In Covid, they attack the brain, blood vessels, GI tract https://t.co/xLfz2wYJ6T pic.twitter.com/NHfZQEHIkU
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 19, 2021
Third dose of Covid jab to be trialled in UK https://t.co/I3b4L3auui
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 19, 2021
Is It Covid or the flu? New combination tests can find out. Screenings for respiratory illnesses can look for more than 20 pathogens in one swoop https://t.co/ssspc7kKqn
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 19, 2021
=====
Important to note that Friday, May 14, two days after Gov. DeWine announced the Vax-a-Million or Shottery as (@karenkasler as named it), Ohio saw the highest daily vaccination rate in 3 weeks, with more than 25,000 people receiving a dose. https://t.co/4p5nS78pC7
— Farnoush Amiri (@FarnoushAmiri) May 17, 2021
Iowa has never seen a year with more deaths than births, even in the depths of the Depression. But it nearly crossed that line last year, as the baby bust accelerated and COVID caused a surge in deaths. https://t.co/o3pE4HIcJ1 via @DMRegister
— Tony Leys (@tonyleys) May 19, 2021
Babylon Bee CEO goes ‘edgy’ –
Visit the link in my bio to buy this shirt and drive the libs crazy. Several colors and sizes available. Proceeds go directly to my checking account (the good one that my wife can't access). pic.twitter.com/Q8EEMSuBR2
— Seth Dillon (@SethDillon) May 14, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats:
134 new cases – 63% were people under 40, including 41 children between 0 and 19
1267 COVID deaths since March 2020
2.9% test positivity
193 people hospitalized, 47 in the ICU
54.1% with at least 1 jab
47.5% fully vaccinated
sab
Being fully vaccinated, we went for a walk in our local metropark yesterday. Halfway through we were coughing and sneezing. Oh, yes, we forgot. It’s Spring pollen time. There are other reasons to mask besides Covid.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia has reported a record high number of new Covid-19 cases today for the second day in a row: 6,806, exceeding 6,000 new cases on both days.
My usual update post will come later.
bjacques
I was wondering why a lot of my right wing friends had glommed onto the Babylon Bee lately.
sab
@Amir Khalid: Yikes.
Mary G
OC has lowest number of hospitalizations – 70 including only 15 in ICU. Officially in the yellow “minimal” level finally! Also, too, lowriders are back cruising Van Nuys Blvd. on Saturday nights. No link because it’s a LA Times subscribers only. The pictures are awesome.
Cermet
Masks not important? Well my girlfriend’s mother was fully vaccinated (two months after; and was an mRNA vaccine) and got covid from an unvaccinated coworker! The sick coworker refused to wear a mask on at work and being Florida, didn’t have too (and of course, its a doctor’s office so they were fine with no masks.) Her mother got a good bit sick (moderate flu symptoms and used bed rest, and was out for two days) but no serious issues (she is 63) and is fine now.
So vaccines do work but if you do get massive exposure you can get sick but it 1) won’t be serious 2) extremely unlikely to get long covid 3) no long-term harm
NotMax
Talk about being late out of the starting gate. This is datelined May 19, 2021.
Amir Khalid
@sab:You cn say that again. The Health Ministry says we’re running desperately low on ICU beds, especially in the Klang Valley in Selangor, which is the most populous and urbanised part of the country. The Ministry of Health is calling on private hospitals to provide more Covid-19 beds to help out.
gkoutnik
@Cermet: I’d be interested in reading in more depth about long-term COVID in vaccinated people who were infected. It’s the one reason that my wife and I are still hesitant to move into post-COVID, maskless life after being fully vaccinated. If in fact we can show clearly that this is not an issue, our arc toward normality could change for the better.
sab
@Amir Khalid: US is out of the woods what with vaccines. We need to be reminded that other countries, who did much better than us on virus control, dont’t have our vast vaccine capability.
Americans face the world proud of our capabilities, and utterly shamed by our lack of outreach and sharing.
NotMax
@sab
Out of the woods? More than 36,000 new cases reported over the past 24 hours.
Barbara
@Cermet:Eventually of course, mask mandates have to be lifted. What annoys me most about the CDC’s guidance is that it just reinforces the notion that masks are a hardship when they are actually simple in comparison to turning your life inside out to avoid other people.
sab
@NotMax: Vaccine widely available. Not everyone wants it. That’s Ohio. Different in Hawaii?
sab
@Barbara: Yes! I find masks mildly annoying. They steam up my glasses. I went to the petfood store and she was hot, and therefore bothered by her mask. But it protects her. Life is complicated.
Matt McIrvin
@gkoutnik: I don’t think enough is known for there to be anything to read on this subject. Most of what I’ve been able to find about vaccination and long COVID is about getting vaccinated when you’ve already got long COVID.
Cermet
@gkoutnik: So far, I have only read about long covid from the actual illness for people that were not vaccinated; never seen anyone report it after being vaccinated. Also, as you know, a good number of the people with long covid did recover after getting the vaccine. One thing that is known is the body does not create an immune response ‘storm’ if one gets covid well after being vaccinated. That is the process that causes long term harm (to organs) and is suspected for being the cause of long covid in some people
However, it is smart to be cautious until this has been properly studied.
Soprano2
@Cermet: That’s the vaccine working like it’s supposed to. I’m not sure a mask on your GF’S mother would have made much difference. On the unvaccinated moron, yeah. Covid is going to be in the world whether we like it or not.
YY_Sima Qian
On 5/19 China reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Anhui Province report 1 domestic asymptomatic case. There are 7 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. There are 14 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
In Yunnan Province, there currently are 15 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases.
Imported Cases
On 5/19 China reported 11 new imported confirmed cases, 15 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 14 confirmed cases recovered, 10 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case, and 224 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 294 active confirmed cases in the country (258 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 350 asymptomatic cases (331 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 7,535 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 5/19, 449.511M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 13.822M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 5/20, Hong Kong reported 1 new case, imported (from India).
Geo Wilcox
@gkoutnik: My neighbor’s BIL got Covid and is a long covid victim. He got vaccinated but is still going to need oxygen for the ret of his life. He was a 60 year old very healthy person (marathon runner, no booze) and he is very depressed. So yes, if you get a big enough dose before being vaccinated you can end up with long Covid forever.
NotMax
@sab
Vaccine compliance in Hawaii is quite good. Too slow to roll out, and unduly complicated hoops to jump through for the first few months, but now appears to have reached a state of equilibrium regarding accessibility to the general public.
My own experience is with getting the shots at Costco. Once they began providing them, easiest-peasiest appointment sign-up (light years less intricate and confusing then the state site).
Matt McIrvin
@Geo Wilcox: The question is how easy it is to end up with long COVID from a breakthrough infection after being vaccinated.
My guess is that vaccination is pretty good protection against this. But I haven’t seen any statistically solid information from a field study, and I don’t think there is any because the trials have not been designed to investigate this, and there probably hasn’t been enough time to even know. Results stress that vaccination is very protective against severe or fatal COVID, but we know that long-term damage can occur from apparently mild cases.
NotMax
@Matt McIrvin
It’s simply too early to make definitive predictions regarding long COVID. The manifestation itself is still barely understood.
Matt McIrvin
@NotMax: This is just another reason I think it’s dangerous to set policies that imply that you can act as if COVID-19 doesn’t exist if you’re vaccinated. I understand all the political pressures and strategic reasoning involved, but I still think it’s unwise.
Sloane Ranger
Wednesday in the UK we had 2696 new cases. The moving 7-day average is down by 0.9%, helped by a further 561 English cases being removed from the totals after a positive Lateral Flow Test was followed by a negative PCR test within 3 days. New cases by nation,
England – 2151 (up 143)
Northern Ireland – 107 (up 3)
Scotland – 394 (up 116)
Wales – 44 (up 12).
Deaths – There were 3 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is a decrease of 22.9% in the rolling 7-day average. All deaths were in England.
Testing – There were 732,012 tests conducted on Tuesday, 18 May. This is a decrease of 5.9% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity estimated by labs on the 18th was 645,838.
Hospitalisation – On Monday, 17 May, there were 939 people in hospital. There were 124 people on ventilators on Tuesday, 18th. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions is down by 10%.
Vaccinations – As of 18 May, 36,985,505 people had received the 1st shot of a vaccine and 20,870,453 had received both. In percentage terms, this means that 70.2% of all UK adults have had 1 dose and 39.6% were fully vaccinated.
NotMax
OT.
Morning thread had a flat on the way to work?
Cameron
A few minutes ago I checked in at my FB account for the first time in a few days, and was startled to see that a friend of mine (a few years older, intelligent, generally liberal) has signed on with the “man-made in Wuhan, financed by Fauci” story. Well, at least the just-asking-questions part, which is pretty much the same as admitting belief. Guess I better get used to it; probably will have a few similar unpleasant surprises ahead. I tend to forget that the very tiny bubble of people I interact with isn’t really representative of much of anything.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 6,806 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, yet another record high, for a cumulative reported total of 492,302 cases. He also reports 59 new deaths today, another record, for a cumulative total of 2,099 deaths — 0.43% of the cumulative reported total, 0.47% of resolved cases.
There are currently 50,171 active and contagious cases; 587 are in ICU, 330 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 3,916 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 440,032 patients recovered – 89.38% of the cumulative reported total.
24 new clusters were reported today: Jalan Bunga Azalea, Jalan Iskandar, and Taman Sri Muda in Selangor; Jalan Makasar, Jalan Perwira Lapan, and Taman Maju Jaya in Johor; Teknologi Juru, Jalan Kampung Juru, and Padang Lalang Dua in Penang; Lorong Karamunsing, Jalan Tun Fuad, Jalan Pengalat Lok Kawi, and Jalan Kretam Silimpopom in Sabah; Jalan Dato Dol Said, Bukit Tempayan, and Batu Lapan Bukit Rambai in Melaka; Dah Berapit and Dah Insun in Kedah; Kenyalang Park and Kampung Tebakang in Sarawak; Jalan Dara and Sri Tanjung in Pahang; Tok Dor in Terengganu; and Kandis in Kelantan.
Jalan Iskandar, Taman Sri Muda, Jalan Perwira Lapan, Dah Berapit, Taman Maju Jaya, and Jalan Kretam Silimpopom are religious clusters. Kenyalang Park, Kampung Tebakang, Dah Insun, Padang Lalang Dua, Batu Lapan Bukit Rambai, Jalan Dara, and Sri Tanjung are community clusters. Tok Dor is a high-risk group cluster. Kandis is an education cluster at a Ministry of Education school. The rest are workplace clusters.
6,804 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 2,277 cases: 153 in clusters, 1,510 close-contact screenings, and 614 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 654 local cases: 84 in clusters, 340 close-contact screenings, and 230 other screenings. Johor reports 615 cases: 290 in cluster, 208 close-contact screenings, and 117 other screenings. Sarawak reports 607 local cases: 61 in clusters, 431 close-contact screenings, and 115 other screenings.
Kelantan reports 426 cases: 72 in clusters, 278 close-contact screenings, and 76 other screenings. Kedah reports 417 cases: 67 in clusters, 190 close-contact screenings, and 160 other screenings.
Penang reports 362 cases: 62 in clusters, 128 close-contact screenings, and 172 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan reports 291 cases: 63 in clusters, 169 close-contact screenings, and 59 other screenings. Perak reports 247 cases: 53 in clusters, 116 close-contact screenings, and 79 other screenings. Sabah reports 245 cases: 151 in clusters, 61 close-contact screenings, and 33 other screenings. Terengganu reports 233 cases: 119 in clusters, 85 close-contact screenings, and 29 other screenings. Melaka reports 212 cases: 35 in clusters, 142 close-contact screenings, and 35 other screenings.
Pahang reports 157 cases: 61 in clusters, 64 close-contact screenings, and 32 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 35 cases: four in clusters, 26 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Labuan reports 17 cases: 15 in clusters, and two other screenings. Perlis reports eight cases: four close-contact screenings, and four other screenings.
Two new cases today are imported: one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Sarawak.
rikyrah
I still can’t believe that Japan wants the Olympics, but hasn’t VACCINATED their.population????
rikyrah
@NotMax:
Will be double ?? until September at the earliest
Tall Tom
I would like to hear opinions on the CDC’s recommendations that vaccinated people can now go to a fully attended indoor church service. Knowing that there will be x % of unvaccinated people there sans mask, and indoor singing is a high-risk COVID activity, is it really safe for vaccinated people to attend without masks?
VOR
This must be the 2021 version of the “stabbed in the back” (Dolchstoßlegende) conspiracy theory promoted by the Nazis in Germany after WW1. In this scenario, Trump’s pandemic efforts didn’t fail because he treated a global pandemic as a PR problem, no he was stabbed in the back by the evil Dr. Fauci. All those Libs think Fauci is a good guy, a voice of science, when he actually is plotting to kill us all. I bet they think COVID was all a plan to attack the Great Orange Leader’s re-election.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Took the words right out of my mouth.
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: As attested by some of the links above and in prior posts, “long Covid” looks an awful lot like an autoimmune disorder in which the body’s immune system goes haywire by engaging in a too broad or misdirected immunological attack. To the extent that the vaccine “sets” a targeted immunologic response to Covid, it should help to avoid a more generalized response in which the immune system attacks not just the virus but a lot of other organs or tissues as well. Of course, we will have to wait and see, but this is already being offered as an explanation for why the vaccine seems to help at least some people suffering from long Covid.
Soprano2
@NotMax: I was nagging my stepson yet again last night over texting to just get vaccinated already! I sent him a long text answering some things he was wondering about. This idea that vaccines were rolled out way too soon, and thus are scary and uncertain, is an extremely common one. I said some things to address that which I hope will get him to just go do it already! I’m trying to help Maui get more fully vaccinated.
Matt McIrvin
@Tall Tom: The way I figure, the CDC is reckoning that vaccinated people without masks at these services won’t be a significant risk to others. I think one of the things that drove the change in guidance was indications that breakthrough infections in vaccinated people tend to have a low viral load in the nose and throat, which means these people aren’t going to be big spreaders.
But that doesn’t mean they’re perfectly safe themselves. Personally, I wouldn’t do it until the case rates get a lot lower.
WaterGirl
@Tall Tom: I don’t think that would be safe, but I am not a doctor.
My take on the CDC recommendations is that they are setting these standards in terms of what the society can handle – will hospitals be overrun, will ICUs be over capacity.
They aren’t saying that if you unmask, you still won’t catch COVID if you are vaccinated – but everyone seems to be acting as though that is what they are saying. The CDC is saying that as a country, we can afford to lift restrictions because our hospitals will be able to handle the number of patients.
20,000 or 40,000 new cases still scares the hell out of me, and I do not understand why people think we are mostly thought this thing.
I think the CDC fucked up with their recent announcements and they have thrown essential workers under the bus. Again.
it’s one thing to tell me that I am pretty safe shopping at the grocery store without a mask, but what about the people who are there working all day?
Soprano2
That’s why I still have friends on FB who are Trump supporters. I also work with a lot of them. It helps me know what insane thing they’re saying today. Even the ones I know say the “vaccinated people shed a new virus” theory is crazy, so there’s that.
Soprano2
I read an article about this that was posted in one of the Covid threads. Evidently, they insisted on doing their own evaluation of the safety of the vaccines rather than accepting the CDC and/or WHO’s evaluation, so that meant it took a couple more months before they could even start vaccinating people, and then their roll-out wasn’t that good. I was wondering why a country like Japan, that’s usually efficient about things like this, was lagging so far behind. That not trusting anyone else thing bit them in the ass this time.
Matt McIrvin
@VOR: As a general rule, when someone’s theory of the COVID pandemic focuses entirely on its ultimate origin, it comes from an attempt to deflect attention/blame from inadequate protection against the pandemic’s spread. It’s important to figure out the origin of COVID to make future outbreaks easier to fight at the source, but there are always going to be pandemics coming from somewhere.
Barbara
@WaterGirl: It’s not just that hospitals can handle the load of new cases, but a vaccinated person who gets Covid is very unlikely to need hospitalization, and will likely have symptoms that are no worse than a cold or mild flu. We do not require people to wear masks during flu season. The CDC’s guidance is in that sense a show of faith in vaccines to do the job that they were created for. They should have been much more explicit about it.
Soprano2
@Tall Tom: According to scientists, the vaccines protect you way better than a face mask ever did. So I’d say yes, it’s safe for them. Safe in this context doesn’t mean “will never get Covid”, it means “if you get Covid it’s asymptomatic, like a cold, or like a bad cold, and it won’t kill you”, and it also means that your odds of actually getting Covid are extremely low. Honestly I wouldn’t blame anyone for still wanting to wear a face mask until more people are vaccinated, though. I wish CDC had held off a couple of more weeks, until those who became eligible in the middle of April could get fully vaccinated.
WaterGirl
@Barbara: I have read that some people who have long covid had relatively mild symptoms or were asymptomatic.
Until more is known about whether you can get long COVID once you have been vaccinated, comparing “mild covid after vaccination” to the flu is foolish at best, and ridiculously irresponsible at worst.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Japan has had scandals about vaccine safety in the relatively recent past that got a lot of public attention, and created high public suspicion of new vaccines. Same with some of the countries in Europe where vaccine hesitancy is high.
Matt McIrvin
@Barbara:
We should, though.
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: But we don’t. That’s what matters for setting policy at this point.
Soprano2
That’s why I wish they had waited at least a couple more weeks, so that all of those people would have a chance to get fully vaccinated. I mean now they’re offering it everywhere – our Cardinal AA team is having vaccination tables at all their home games this week, and offering a free ticket to a future game to the first 100 people who get vaccinated! I do hope that this motivates more of those younger people to get vaccinated – lots of them could now easily do it where they work
Barbara
@WaterGirl: Right, people with mild Covid symptoms had what appears to be an enduring immunologic response. I have an autoimmune disease, albeit a very, very mild case of it. Something triggered my body to target normal tissue. Many people believe that there is a complex interplay between autoimmune disorders and infection, but they don’t know why or how. I am not trying to dismiss the concerns with long Covid, and for heaven’s sake, I am wearing a mask for the foreseeable future, but it could be the case that “long Covid” isn’t Covid at all or not anymore, but the body’s misdirected response. The potential for unlocking secrets to autoimmune disorders must be really exciting for those in the field.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 432 new cases of COVID-19 reported over the past 24 hours, zero deaths. Test positivity rate is 1.6%. The number of reported cases is up significantly, probably due to the Indian COVID-19 variant hotspots in Glasgow and surrounding areas. The TPR is staying around the same though which is more hopeful. Hospitalisations are ticking up slightly but there’s no apparent surge. It’s the major factor that the authorities are monitoring as a danger point.
There is a surge vaccination program operating in Glasgow at the moment offering walk-up vaccination to any adult over 18 in the hotspot areas but that will take some time to do anything to dampen down the outbreak locally. This surge operation is also eating into contingency stocks of vaccine which reduces the resiliency of the ongoing appointment-based vaccination operation which is continuing to deliver 40,000 doses a day to priority candidates.
Matt McIrvin
@Barbara: That’s one of the leading theories–another one is that these people still have the virus resident in their bodies at some low level. It’s possible that more than one of these things is happening, too.
Wag
craigie
How is that shirt supposed to drive this lib crazy? I thought it was funny and happily wear one.
I guess I will never understand the conservaloony mind.
VOR
@craigie: They are saying if they identify as vaccinated, then they don’t have to actually be vaccinated. It is also mocking the concept of Trans people like Elliot Page identifying as a different gender than their biological birth gender. IOW, the shirt is both stupid and offensive and therefore on brand for MAGAts.
Uncle Cosmo
Same complaint here. I’ve heard that a dab of shaving cream rubbed across the lenses & then wiped out cures that. Alternatively there are antifog cloths & sprays. And this article suggests washing your glasses with soapy water & then letting them airdry will make them fog-resistant.
(You’re quite welcome! :^D)
YY_Sima Qian
Taiwan is a very curious case. For most of the pandemic to date, Taiwan has been effective at keeping COVID-19 at the border, and minimizing community transmission via aggressive contact tracing, and most of the population had maintained high vigilance. However, Taiwan has never been aggressive with the testing or isolation parts of TTI. Like Japan, it has been had some of the lowest testing rates in the world, and it has not adopted centralized quarantine of suspect cases and close contacts widely. The government has been continually criticized for its low testing and less aggress isolation strategy. Unlike Japan, the strategy has worked for Taiwan until now. There has been doubts both in Taiwan and Mainland China if Taiwan has simply missing cryptic community transmission due to low testing, but that is unlikely because exponential growth would produce a wave of moderate and severe cases at hospitals sooner or later, which has not been the case.
In the latest outbreak, there is clear evidence of increased complacency on parts of both Taiwanese government and population. The breach came from quarantine of China Airlines cargo pilots. The length of their centralized quarantine has been steadily decreased from 10 days to 7, then to 3, with the balance at home. However, some pilots failed to abide home quarantine rules, and instead visited clubs, KTVs and mosques (some of the pilots are Indonesia nationals). The hotel where the pilots are quarantined was also mismanaged, with quarantined pilots and regular guests staying on the same floor! When evidence emerged of community transmission, the national government still hesitated to implement localized mass screening (citing false positives and false negatives, as well as lack of reagents, :-O). The mayors of Taipei and New Taipei took matters into their own hands and set up rapid antigens testing sites at epicenter districts, which uncovered hundreds of cases a day with 5 – 10% positivity rate, and forced the national government to implement stricter distancing measures first in the two cities, and then across the island. Their actions may well have saved the island.
Even now, with cases in every jurisdiction, and clear concentration at the densely populated northern end of the island, Taiwan is only conduction a few thousand tests a day. The government is still hesitating from declaring lock downs (citing potential population fatigue). At this point, I am not sure what their strategy is. I had always thought that Taiwan followed an eradication strategy, but it is not aggressively locking down like Mainland China, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. It may decide to follow the South Korean strategy of maintaining suppression, but that is very difficult to execute, and requires aggressive testing and isolation of cases and prompt adjustment in distancing policies. Vaccination is a challenge. There is widespread hesitance toward the AZ/Oxford vaccine, no interest from the government or the population for Chinese or Russian vaccines, the government seems not interested in purchasing the BioNTech vaccine from Fosun Pharma because it is a Mainland Chinese company (even though Fosun has exclusive distribution rights in Greater China and had invested into the vaccine’s development), and the US has not been willing to release Moderna vaccines.
The saving grace is that the population became quite vigilant again with the outbreak. Even before the government instituted distancing policies, streets and metros of Taipei largely emptied.
I do not know if Taiwan was simply lucky before, but one thing is for sure, the playbook that worked against the original variant prevalent in Wuhan, or the variants with the D614G mutation prevalent during the 1st wave, may not work against the more transmissive B.1.17, B.1.351, B.1.617/618 & P.1 strains. At least some adjustment are needed. This applies to expectations for achieving herd immunity from vaccination, as well.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Soprano2: Japan’s evaluation of the vaccine is following their SOP for all medications. Drug companies are required to do clinical trials with just Japanese subjects. Data using other ethnicities is not considered acceptable.
YY_Sima Qian
@Cheryl from Maryland:
China has the same policy, but it was apparently relaxed to ethnic Chinese rather than just Chinese nationals in this pandemic. The local licensed Oxford vaccine (imported or produced by Taikang Pharma) has just been approved under EUA. The local licensed BioNTech vaccine (imported or produced by Fosun Pharma) is expected to be approved in June.
Ohio Mom
I am not sure that fewer (Red state) Iowans is a bad thing. Yes, I am in a bad mood this morning.
On a OT note, that adorable rap commercial from China once again proves how vital African American culture is, and its vast influence throughout the world. If we were a less racist nation, we’d own that loudly and proudly.
Finally, for argument’s sale, let’s say the virus was concocted in a lab and all the other paranoid ranting that go along with that supposition. I’d still need to be vaccinated against this genie that escaped from its bottle.
sab
@Ohio Mom: I have a good news story for you. My stepdaughter rents next door to us, with our oldest step-grandchild and our autistic grand-daughter, age 7.
The understanding was that when we could, we would buy the house they rent.
The real estate market lately is insane. So our lovely banker landlady decided now was the time to strong arm us into buying the rental house.
Much as we love our step-daughter, no way are we taking on a mortgage in our sixties. We offered a land contract with a big upfront downpayment. Landlady said no.
So we have been freaking out for the last month, since there are no reasonably priced rentals anywhere.
Then we found a miracle. A landlord with a property specially set up for his autistic brother, who grew up high functioning and doesn’t need it. The landlord has two properties, both old houses divided into two apartments. The upstairs is set up to be safe for a family with an autistic kid. Downstairs for another tenant. Big beautiful apartment. Underpriced because autistic families need that. Great neighborhood. Grocery in walking distance. Library in walking distance. Good school.
We are delirious with relief. Only sad thing is she can’t take her dog, so we get dog.
The set-up is so much better than they had, and that was good.
J R in WV
@Barbara:
I’m not sure why you would say this, or believe it at all.
Frankly, I think wearing masks, and of the highest quality possible, all the time sounds like the way to do business in an over-populated world in which new pandemic diseases erupt on a regular basis. It’s not like this is the last pandemic we’re likely to see, even as an old.
Remember, we’ve seen Ebola, Zika, Sars-1, swine flu, H1N1 flu, just off the top of my head, so I’m sure I’m missing some… oh yeh, MERS, Middle-Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, which research into MERS helped creat the mRNA vaccines so successful against SARS-Covid-2 virus killing people all over the world right now.
I think we’ll all rue the day a new respiratory virus hits the world, the current Covid-Deniers will explode when the new CDC advice for a brand new virus is all different from their advice for the current plague. They won’t believe things right in front of the eyes, all over again. Different virus, different disease, different vaccines, different masking requirements, etc. etc.
No, NO, all lies, not the same advice as in the last plague!!
lowtechcyclist
@VOR:
This.
I want the one where “I identify as vaccinated” is inscribed on a tombstone.
Ohio Mom
Sab: that IS fabulous news!
I see the subtle touch of putting the family with the autistic member upstairs — to discourage any so-called bolting (I am at best extremely ambivalent about the jargon of special needs). Ohio Son has always been a homebody but when he was a preschooler/younger elementary school age, he did slip out on his own one or twice to look for a tutor who had left without a proper goodbye — I was occupied on the other side of the house.
It was embarrassing to hear the door knock and see on the other side, a neighbor returning my kid who had been wandering around unattended.
I hope your stepdaughter and her family are able to stay there a long time, it sounds perfect, especially because it is a walkable neighborhood — your granddaughter will get plenty of practice in “community safety skills.”
Living in a quiet suburban subdivision as we do, Ohio Son has not gotten enough practice crossing the street, or doing things like run errands. For instance, I can’t send him to the store for a last minute ingredient for supper, and he couldn’t walk to school, which are both things he could be capable of doing except for our isolation.
My goal continues to be selling this house and finding a building with apartments in one of the more walkable neighborhoods nearby. One apartment for Ohio Dad and me, one for Ohio Son, and one or two more for whomever. Then arrange for it to continue to provide shelter for Ohio Son after we are gone (there are a variety of ways to accomplish this). Only trouble is, Ohio Dad balks at the thought of being a landlord. I’ll keep working on him.
Ohio Mom
J R in WV:
My niece and her family just came back to the States after a four year sojourn in Bangkok (she had a teaching job there). She says that Covid was slow at first in overtaking Thailand because its arrival coincided with the regular mask season.
It seems that the agricultural practice there is to burn the fields (why I can’t fathom but what do I know, I grew up in the Bronx). That makes the air quality so poor that people wear masks to filter out the particulates.
The low Covid numbers didn’t last (Covid was part of the reason they decided to leave) but still, an interesting natural experiment.
As for me, I’m leaving up the cute hook rack holding our collection of cloth masks near the door to the garage — I agree with you, it’s only a matter of time until they are needed again.
Barbara
@J R in WV: Feel free to wear a mask forever. I won’t bother you, just as I don’t bother women who cover their faces or heads for religious reasons.
Kayla Rudbek
@Barbara: the problem is that even with mild symptoms, there’s a 1-in-10 chance that serious damage is done..Science Daily