For the first time in 25 years, Bill Pullman is back with a new speech to celebrate Independence Day. Watch now and #GoFourthAmerica.
Join us in supporting vaccine access everywhere in partnership with @directrelief pic.twitter.com/yt6CmU9kSP
— Budweiser (@budweiserusa) June 30, 2021
Reminder: Since (cross fingers) there won’t be much news over the holiday weekend, there will be no daily COVID-19 update tomorrow, Sunday, or Monday morning. See you back here on Tuesday — Murphy the Trickster God willing!
COVID has fallen from America's #1 cause of death to #7 as of June 2021. The infectious disease was the 3rd leading cause of death for much of 2020, but became the leading cause of death in December 2020, reaching a peak of 3,136 deaths per day in January https://t.co/OviGhBQhEN pic.twitter.com/tWRCRpRbhq
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 1, 2021
The White House said it would send out special teams to hot spots around the United States to combat the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant amid rising case counts in parts of the country where vaccination rates remain low https://t.co/1Vqk5mWax5
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
The US administered over 1.3 million vaccine shots yesterday, bringing the total to 327 million, or 98.4 doses per 100 people. The 7-day moving average rose back over 1.0 million shots per day. pic.twitter.com/5DlN5Cz3lg
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 1, 2021
Very good timing for the best US vaccinations in many weeks. Over 1.6 million shots with >660,000 newbies reported today. ??
Maybe awareness of Delta is helping people get on board to build the immunity wall we need right now pic.twitter.com/frn4XLjO1j— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 1, 2021
Delta is what would move me if I was still unvaccinated, but the people I know getting on board now(tiny sample admittedly) are doing so because of employer/other vaccine mandates.
— ex ante lady (@exante_me) July 1, 2021
The US had 14,875 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total close to 33.5 million. The 7-day moving average rose to 12,609 new cases per day. pic.twitter.com/pCaldqztvV
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 1, 2021
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And you thought it was all over! Not the football, the pandemic. This infographic on where the Delta Variant is gaining ground shows you how many miles we have to go before we sleep. It is going to be a long-tailed pandemic #PreventiveMedicine #https://buff.ly/2UO1PpM pic.twitter.com/7voGTI5WxP
— Gavin Giovannoni (@GavinGiovannoni) July 1, 2021
As the World Health Organization draws up plans for the next phase of its probe into how the coronavirus pandemic started, an increasing number of scientists say it isnât up to the task and that the U.N. agency shouldnât even be the one to investigate. https://t.co/VgxifQEx3g
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 2, 2021
Delta variant sweeps Asia, prompting curbs as vaccination remains tepid https://t.co/xMQn92uSZq pic.twitter.com/T1B4NIMPCg
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
India's official death toll from the coronavirus reached 400,000, though experts say the actual number of dead could have reached one million or even higher, with a possible third wave approaching https://t.co/bxxDs84GBt
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
The WHO said that a drug to treat black fungus infections made by Gilead should have its price reduced and supplies boosted as the disease rises sharply among Covid-19 patients in India and Nepal https://t.co/Qbu3mgZ8NZ
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) July 1, 2021
Thailand reports third day of record coronavirus deaths https://t.co/268WZcqRlg pic.twitter.com/GYiMRjPSgg
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
S.Korea's COVID-19 cases spike as Delta variant spreads https://t.co/WFxpQW4dpE pic.twitter.com/UfpMJaLsYd
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
singapore vax numbers are creeping upward. total population is about 5.7 million fwiw pic.twitter.com/n5lIu48UZm
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) July 2, 2021
Indonesia to lift social aid, health spending amid COVID-19 curbs https://t.co/3mKOoojdQs pic.twitter.com/UFwmXgjuv1
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
Without ICUs, doctor in Jakarta hospital battles to help COVID-19 patients https://t.co/2e0OintEKQ pic.twitter.com/wuPcv78z8Y
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
Covid: Australia to halve arrivals and trial home quarantine https://t.co/hx2lebH1MB
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 2, 2021
Good coverage from @washingtonpost on the Australian situation. https://t.co/Xc34BZTEWX
— Scott Murdoch (@murdochsj) July 2, 2021
Russia has confirmed a new record Covid-19 death toll for the fourth day in a row https://t.co/EzB3N5708y
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) July 2, 2021
Europe risks new Covid wave, WHO warns https://t.co/376LqUEsEv
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 1, 2021
Over 40% of Finlandâs new coronavirus cases are linked to football fans returning from Euro 2020 matches in neighboring Russia, the countryâs health authority said Thursdayhttps://t.co/H0ijhvLtVe
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) July 2, 2021
The EUâs vaccine passport and what it means for travel https://t.co/EWXowhjgWI
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 1, 2021
Britain reports 50,824 new cases of Delta variant in latest week https://t.co/znsCUpEZSa pic.twitter.com/qYaDFcsFZN
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2021
Spain records surge in Covid cases among unvaccinated young people https://t.co/DXMENQe4xE
— Guardian news (@guardiannews) July 1, 2021
Investigators found two secret COVID-19 vaccine sites in Panama. The sites sparked outrage, though authorities said only 32 people received shots at them. The recipients were perceived as trying to use their privilege to cut in line. https://t.co/mydmmnStYO
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 1, 2021
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Evidence mounting, from multiple countries & researchers, that even mild #COVID19 infections can lead to permanent changes in the brain that affect everything from signaling to muscles & organs to cognition, memory & organization of thoughts & ideas.
(Avoidable w/#vaccination.) https://t.co/wuxBU7XmOD— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) June 30, 2021
The two mRNA vaccines: Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech apparenty prime T cells to fight SARS-CoV-2 variants, an advantage that ensures long-term protection https://t.co/nVj6iwpscX via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 1, 2021
weâve faced such calamity over the last 18 mos. but hereâs another reminder that we also got really lucky. eagerly awaited new mRNA vax from Germany turned out to be just 48% effective for symptomatic illness. Over 90% from Pfizer & modern was a godsend. https://t.co/fmp9TuWIBT
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 1, 2021
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Essential workers were supposed to have priority when #Covid19 vaccines were first distributed. Instead many remain unvaccinated â not by choice, but because of barriers that impede their access to vaccines. Take the vaccines to them, these authors argue. https://t.co/RqgiMmi981
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) July 1, 2021
"The findings suggest that Republicans would have been substantially more careful had their media environment encouraged them to do so, plausibly saving many thousands of lives and preventing scores of long-term health problemsâŠâ https://t.co/nnwca3Jtwa
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 1, 2021
On The Road – arrieve – The Galapagos, part 6
JR
The Curevac vaccine is unmodified RNA. So thatâs a big difference.
Booger
That commercial…SACRILEGE!!!
OzarkHillbilly
Silly me, I thought trump was the #1 cause of death in the US.
WereBear
Decent news for me: I tried to get my vaccine passport via the NY state app, but I wasn’t there. The pharmacy (Walgreens) which did my shots told me they have to put the info in manually, and they will do this now that I’ve asked.
Will give it more than the 24 hours just because EVERYTHING IS SO FRUSTRATING.
I hate to sound like an old geezer when I regard myself as neither, but why does nothing actually work anymore? (Hint: I blame Republicans.)
Matt McIrvin
One consolation concerning any new Delta COVID wave here is that unvaccinated Americans are a relatively young group, so the death rate will be much lower than it was in all our previous waves, and the ICUs will probably not fill up with dying people. But the jury is out on subtle long-term damage.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/1 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic confirmed cases.
Imported Cases
On 7/1, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases, 22 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 20 confirmed cases recovered, 19 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 3 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 1,722 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 436 active confirmed cases in the country (388 imported), 8 in serious condition (all imported), 474 asymptomatic cases (467 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 11,703 traced contacts are currently under quarantine.
As of 7/1, 1,264.149M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 19.474M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/2, Hong Kong reported 11 new positive cases, 10 imported & 1 domestic (source of infection not identified, yet).
YY_Sima Qian
This afternoon, I returned home from quarantine hotel. I was tested for the 4th & final time yesterday. The nurse took 4 swabs, 2 oropharyngeal & 2 nasopharyngeal (1 far up each nostril). Apparently, before being released from centralized quarantine, one needs to have samples tested at 2 different labs. I suspect it is because the newer variants may evade detection by some of the older PCR kits.
A team of community workers (from the community office, property management, community clinic & police station) came by inspect the apartment to confirm that it is suitable for home quarantine. Before they left, they installed a magnetic sensor on front door, that gives off an audible alarm when the door is opened, as well as sends a message to the district pandemic control & prevention command.Â
My apartment has another door that opens to the terrace, with a stair case that leads to the garden downstairs &, from there, outside. I pointed this out to the team, inquiring if another sensor needs to be placed there. The response was that they had only brought one set of sensors, they will trust me not to sneak outside via the 2nd door, & that they are justing checking off the boxes of the SOP checklist. I am to message the community worker ahead of time whenever I need to open the front door to retrieve food delivery or parcel, so they can answer the district command what I am doing opening the door. In theory, I should be video chatter with them, so they can see me opening the door, retrieving the package & closing the door. I guess it is too much work for the community workers.
The community can provide food packages (vegetables, meat, rice, noodles, etc.) during the home quarantine period, if I choose. I may end up ordering delivery most of the time.
I have 14 days of home quarantine ahead, but hopefully it will be lifted early when the residential compound at Shenzhen is reduced to Low Risk by early next week.
satby
@YY_Sima Qian: So what’s the total time you will have spent in quarantine by the time you’re released? It sounds much longer than two weeks.
Catherine D.
@WereBear: It may take a few days more for the upload to reach the Excelsior pass. Hang in there!
Dog Mom
@WereBear: Grrr! Â I got mine from them too and I haven’t yet tried to get my passport. Â First shot – I had a snotty pharmacist giving me a hard time, because the info on their website was incorrect. Â They seemed to ask for more health info than other places and then I end up in their marketing database – which just kind of pissed me off. Â I unsubscribed but I still think they are sending me spam. (Bitching done for today! Â Still very thankful for being lucky enough to be vaxxed!)
And Thank you Anne Laurie for all the posts. . .
YY_Sima Qian
@satby: 14+14, which is standard for people who returned from cities w/ districts that have Medium or High Risk areas. The quarantine ends early if the Medium/High Risk areas are reduced to Low before then.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Prediction – the teams that go to unvaccinated places in red states will be hounded by state officials and âinvitedâ to leave by local sheriffs.
satby
Having never seen the movie, I had no idea WTF that commercial was about. But good on the beer conglomerate for supporting vaccination access if they’re backing up a silly commercial with actual $$ donations.
Spanky
@Matt McIrvin: The Laurie Garrett tweet says that the jury is not really out. All the evidence I’ve seen points to long-term covid problems. As I said yesterday, look for a new specialty, the covid side effects doctor.
satby
@YY_Sima Qian: That’s what it sounded like, and seems to be massive overkill when most other countries only require two weeks total. Has there ever been an explanation why it’s double?
Booger
@satby: Fourth act, President Whitmore gives a rousing and emotional speech to rally the troops before donning a flight suit and personally leading (he’s a former gulf war fighter jock, natch) a near certainly doomed fighter attack against the alien spacecraft over the SoCal desert. Emotional high point of the movie.
WereBear
@Dog Mom: We’re kind of stuck with them because our favorite pharmacist was driven out of business and has to work there: we want to support him, and avail ourselves of his expertise.
However, I will be communicating with corporate headquarters because the manager blithely told us she wasn’t vaccinated and she wasn’t masking…
YY_Sima Qian
@satby: There is a very small percentage of cases (both imported & domestic) with > 14 days of incubation period. So 14 + 7 or 14 + 14 have been standard across China since at least Q4 2020. The change is the 14 + 14 requirement for people who traveled through districts w/ Medium/High Risk areas, as opposed to traveling through the Medium/High Risk areas themselves. I believe the motivating factors are the Delta Variant & the centennial of the founding of the CCP, both make bureaucrats extra paranoid.
OzarkHillbilly
Heh, I don’t mind sounding like an old geezer, probably because I am one. I regularly find myself screaming at inanimate objects, “ON! OFF! WTF IS SO HARD ABOUT THAT???” Than I will tell it about my 35 yo worm drive circular saw that “STILL F’N WORKS!!!” I blame the incessant drive to computerize everything, as tho the insertion of a microchip can improve anything just by virtue of being there.
NotMax
@YY_Sima Qian
Sounds much more like being involuntarily placed under house arrest than being asked to observe quarantine.
YY_Sima Qian
@NotMax: It is a form of house arrest. As far as Chinese authorities are concerned, unsupervised quarantine is no quarantine at all. Experience at other countries (& in China during the early days of the pandemic) have shown that unsupervised quarantine will not be observed by a large percentage of the quarantined. The majority of people do not volunteer for quarantine.
It’s still much better than quarantine hotel, though.
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly: The incessant drive to computerize everything is designed to drive the useful lifetime of the object down, while simultaneously making repair cost ridiculously expensive. Win-win for the manufacturer, whilst consumers take it up the ass.
debbie
It will be amusing, watching the MAGAts clamor to cancel Budweiser.
debbie
Just in time for the holiday weekend, Ohio’s new cases rate jumped to more than 500 yesterday, after it had been between 100 and 200 for more than a week. Yippee.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Three – count ’em,. three – different products encountered within the past month which come with a screw-on lid have crooked threads inside the cap, so once opened it is impossible to properly screw it shut; it just spins.
It ain’t exactly sliced rocket bread, manufacturers.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: Ha, A fellow geezer! I knew I wasn’t the only one here!
Amir Khalid
Malaysiaâs Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 6,982 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 765,949 cases. He also reports 73 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 5,327 deaths — 0.70% of the cumulative reported total, 0.76% of resolved cases.
There are currently 66,084 active and contagious cases; 905 are in ICU, 443 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 6,278 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 694,538 patients recovered â 90.67% of the cumulative reported total.
17 new clusters were reported today. Of the cumulative total of 2,882 clusters, 877 clusters are currently active; 2,005 clusters are now inactive.
6,979 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 2,906 local cases: 165 in clusters, 1619 close-contact screenings, and 1,122 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 636 local cases: 149 in clusters, 276 close-contact screenings, and 211 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 605 local cases: 186 in clusters, 244 close-contact screenings, and 175 other screenings.
Johor reports 517 cases: 360 in clusters, 96 close-contact screenings, and 61 other screenings.
Sarawak reports 440 cases: 81 in clusters, 244 close-contact screenings, and 115 other screenings.
Penang reports 351 cases: 256 in clusters, 51 close-contact screenings, and 44 other screenings. Pahang reports 329 cases: 173 in clusters, 118 close-contact screenings, and 38 other screenings.
Kedah reports 257 cases: 99 in clusters, 95 close-contact screenings, and 63 other screenings. Sabah reports 230 cases: 49 in clusters, 96 close-contact screenings, and 85 other screenings. Melaka reports 202 cases: 87 in clusters, 86 close-contact screenings, and 29 other screenings.
Perak reports 182 cases: 134 in clusters, 26 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Labuan reports 131 cases: five in clusters, 80 close-contact screenings, and 46 other screenings. Kelantan reports 129 cases: 41 in clusters, 53 close-contact screenings, and 35 other screenings.
Terengganu reports 44 cases: 36 in clusters, six close-contact screenings, and two other screenings. Putrajaya reports 20 cases: 12 close-contact screenings and eight other screenings. Perlis reports no new cases today.
Three new cases today are imported: one in Selangor, one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Negeri Sembilan.
YY_Sima Qian
@Amir Khalid: At least looking at the overall data, it does not seem the movement restrictions in Malaysia is suppressing the wave? Rt seems to be around ~ 1.
WereBear
@NotMax: It’s on purpose. Clever young MBA psychopaths (but I repeat myself) are whittling away at specs to save a nickle.
Like using screws half the length they should be… skipping maintenance on machines… dropping inspections and spot checks…
Like, I’m still paying extra for those zipper-type packaging on all kinds of food, but the jokes on me, because not only does the tear-off part not tear off, once I cut it with scissors, it won’t zip, either!
New Deal democrat
17 States now have rising cases over the past 2 weeks. The US as a whole is up about 1250 cases/day vs. its low of 11,300/day set 9 days ago.
The 5 or 10 worst States should have U.K.-style exponential increases within 2 weeks.
One bit of good news: WA, OR, and CO have continued to trend slightly lower.
NotMax
@WereBear
Partial to the 2 pound package of sliced Muenster cheese found at Costco, which comes in a package with the pressure type seal (push and run fingers along to seal it). I defy anyone to successfully get it closed again after initial opening.
Have taken to transferring the contents to gallon size zip lock bags (the kind with a push-pull type zipper). Target brand bags, still (for now) bargain priced compared to name brands.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Oh jeesoos, don’t even get me started on food containers and the things they employ as the try to keep old fucks like me from enjoying their products.
Soprano2
From the epicenter of the largest outbreak in the U.S. right now, you’re half right. The ICU’s are full; we’re now sending patients to K.C. and St. Louis. The good news is that the death rate is much lower than before. We won’t know the long-term damage from Covid for years.
gvg
@satby: I don’t think the 14 days was ever long enough. I kept seeing examples all over during the pandemic which seemed to indicate it needed to be a little longer to be sure. 4 weeks seems uncalled for however. We still don’t have definitive data as far as i know though.
Amir Khalid
@YY_Sima Qian:
There are growing signs of compliance fatigue, after some 15 months.
Soprano2
That won’t happen in Greene County, but in some of the surrounding counties they won’t be too welcome.
Soprano2
What explains how our push mowers crap out every two or three years? No computer chips there. I wish my husband would agree to hire someone to mow our grass, not because he won’t do it but because he doesn’t do it frequently enough. He’s 74, and doesn’t want to mow when it’s too hot, or early in the morning, or when the grass is even a little bit wet, and so on. The window of acceptable mowing conditions is so small that by the time he has the inside mowed, the outside needs mowed again! The recurring rain we’ve had all spring and summer doesn’t help that, either. I work and he’s retired, so he needs to be mowing!
arrieve
@WereBear: I used the Excelsior pass for the first time this week when I went to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway — you had to show proof of vaccination along with your ticket. It’s very convenient and worth getting — hope Walgreen’s fixes your records.
Soprano2
I’m so glad NY is doing that. It may sound silly, but it makes my heart feel good every time I watch Colbert now, because it shows what’s possible if you do it right. They can have an audience safely.
ThresherK
@Soprano2: I have lived my whole life between NYC and BOS, but from what little I think I know:
“The outside needs mowed again” sounds a lot like the greater Pittsburgh PA vernacular.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 3,823 new cases of COVID-19 reported, four deaths. Test positivity rate is 10.8%. The hospitalisation and ICU numbers continue to creep upwards but they are still a lot lower than they were during winter and early spring. This lack of severe cases is ascribed to the high vaccination rates. The recent increase in case numbers is being driven by the Delta variant which is a lot more communicable than earlier variants.
There were 30,000 vaccinations carried out yesterday, about 50% first-dose. The Scottish government will be opening drop-in vaccination centres in major towns and cities from Monday onwards to start offering vaccines to people who have fallen through the cracks in the appointments system. At the moment 86% of all adults in Scotland have received a first dose of vaccine with over 61% being fully two-dose vaccinated. I would presume that nearly everyone who has taken up the offer of a first dose will eventually get their second dose and hence be fully vaccinated in time. Vaccine hesitancy is not noticeable here in Scotland and in the UK generally although there have been a few protests about the lockdowns and the vaccination program.
The government here is considering removing most lockdown precautions by mid-August, about six weeks from now. As usual the First Minister’s statement on this is hedged around with conditions — if the health services are under serious pressure due to increasing case numbers then it’s likely the restrictions will continue beyond that point in time.
Matt McIrvin
@Spanky:
The question is, in whom? There’s this scary paper claiming that something like 50% of COVID cases have detectable brain damage. Does that mean that 50% of everyone who ever tests positive on a nasal PCR swab (even if they were vaccinated and never have visible symptoms) gets brain damage? I kind of doubt it, but I don’t know. That’s the kind of question where I’d like better information that I think doesn’t exist.
JaneE
Why is it that when you tell Americans they have to do something some percentage will always not do it and screw things up for everyone?
My old company was going to let vaccinated employees go without masks on the 1st. They have been holding a vaccination event on site for the last two or three months. All they needed was a self certification for vaccinated or not, or even I don’t want to say. They couldn’t do it because not enough employees returned their forms. They only had two weeks to do something that should take about 2 or 3 seconds.
If it were me I would hold up their paychecks until they turned in the form. But that isn’t legal, and everyone is probably on direct deposit anyway.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2:
Unless they really can’t and these people are living in a fool’s paradise. We might not know for a while.
Ken
July 5 report: “Scientists have designated this new strain the ‘Omega variant’. Dr. Smith noted, ‘When the transmissibility and mortality data started to flood in, it seemed appropriate to skip the intervening letters.’ The variant’s ability to spread via insects is especially concerning…”
Matt McIrvin
@Ken: “Oh, the pain, the pain,” Dr. Smith added.
Sloane Ranger
Thursday in the UK we had 27,989 new cases. This is an increase of 71.8% in the rolling 7-day average. The graph is showing a very steep upward curve since mid-June. New cases by nation,
England – 22,948 (up 1655)
Northern Ireland – 326 (down 49)
Scotland – 4234 (up 347 but see Robert Sneddon for more recent figure)
Wales – 481 (down 32).
Deaths – There were 22 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 10.7% in the rolling 7-day average and, so far, the graph is showing only a minimal rise, but early days. 16 of the deaths occurred in England with the other 6 in Scotland.
Testing – 1,251,696 tests were conducted on Wednesday, 30 June. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 6.5%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 594,829.
Hospitalisations – As of Wednesday, 30 June, there were 1795 people in hospital and 287 on ventilators. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 11.4% as of 27 June. On the surface, this doesn’t look too bad given the steep rise in cases but, as we’ve learned, hospitalisations lag infection by about 2 weeks so the next couple of weeks are going to be crucial in seeing if the vaccination effort has worked to depress serious illness and death.
Vaccinations – As of 30 June, 44,860,978 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 33,048,199 had had both jabs. In percentage terms this means that 85.2% of the adult population of the UK have had 1 shot and 62.7% were fully vaccinated. I agree with Robert Sneddon that vaccine hesitancy here is not a serious issue and that almost everyone who got shot 1 will return for shot 2. The trust British people have in the NHS is one factor in this and so is the fact that everyone from The Queen, through political leaders of all parties and religious leaders from all major faiths have been on board with the effort and led by example.
Finally, thanks to AL for providing this platform for us all to report the situation wherever we are. Enjoy the break!
trollhattan
Heard on the Beeb overnight that a current surge in Finland is almost entirely from soccer fans returning from a match in Russia.
Cermet
@Amir Khalid:Â After only 15 months and there is compliance fatigue?/s
That is incredible that after all that time people are still following the rules. Hope this helps get the infection/death rate going in the right direction.
The Moar You Know
@YY_Sima Qian: Interesting. For what it’s worth I completely agree with them.
Cermet
@Matt McIrvin: Don’t forget other organ damage – esp. the lungs and liver. These are know to taking a beating even for twenty year old’s that have had no symptoms! Covid is a nasty virus
Matt McIrvin
@Cermet: The thing I think we’re all struggling to understand is how serious the typical “asymptomatic infection” really is. PCR tests are incredibly sensitive and if you do a screening test of the whole population, you’ll probably find a lot of even vaccinated people who have detectable amounts of viral RNA in their noses, even though their immune systems are fighting it off pretty effectively. So those are “asymptomatic infections”. But most of the time, the viral load is way too little for them to transmit the virus, and you probably wouldn’t even detect these infections without doing massive group screening.
So in how much danger are these people? I see statements like “50% of cases had organ damage, even with mild symptoms”, and the question is how those “cases” were selected. Does it mean “50% of people who test positive” or something else?
I’m seeing actual experts saying things that sound contradictory about this, with some doctors saying most of these positive tests are actually nothing to worry about, and others saying scary things that, if you take them very literally, imply that some huge fraction of the whole population including vaccinated people is permanently damaged without knowing it.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
It likely doesn’t exist at the level needed to say it publicly. It’s not the kind of thing that should just get blurted out. It should be proven one way or the other first. So much of this is new to anyone alive, our last pandemic being 103 yrs ago. Of course it hasn’t been that long ago, 70 yrs, that many diseases raged and did major damage, such as polio. Medicine has come a very, very long way in the last 60-70 yrs, that I’m actually amazed that we have at least 2 vaccines that provide such high resistance to a new disease and in just what 18 months or less, and millions have been inoculated. Considering our anti-science conservative party it’s actually pretty impressive. The city I live in has an over 60% inoculation rate and some cities in socal have over 80% and more are still being inoculated. That’s pretty impressive.
Just Chuck
@ThresherK: I’ve noticed that “needs past-tensed” form as well from co-workers and sure enough, they were from PA as well. But what I’m wondering is what mowing the inside is about? There some unorthodox carpeting going on?
Fair Economist
Numbers are really getting worse in LA county. Cases are now over double the low and positivity triple, in spite of respectable Vax rates. OC still pretty low, so most likely it’s poorer and immigrant communities ( less common in OC due to housing costs) bearing the brunt.
I think the comparatively slow increases in hospitalization in the UK as it leads the developed world into the delta wave is somewhat misleading. The unvaxxed skew young and healthy, and the vaxxed have very good protection vs. severe disease. But, people with bad COVID can be sick a long time, and I think these long timers held up the death and hospitalization rates when new cases were very low in May. In the long term doubling cases should double severe outcomes, and we are going to start seeing that soon.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:Â â
Pretty sure I’m older, more geezery than you are, Ozark.
Matt McIrvin
@Fair Economist: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of statements form the UK noting “hospitalizations/deaths aren’t so high so far” and realizing that, while vaccination will probably cut the numbers way down, time lags can really fool you when there’s exponential growth going on. Over here, when there’s adequate testing of cases, death rates have tended to lag by about a month.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
I keep a giant pair of channel-lock pliers in the kitchen junk drawer for hard to open containers.
With the rubber glove on one hand for extra friction and the channel locks for the lid/cork/etc I can open most anything eventually.
Some sparkling wine corks are really really in there, the pliers always get some twist out going.
Many years ago my dad proudly showed me his new Black and Decker jar twisting opening device. I was appropriately impressed, now I want one. It automatically adjusted to the size of the jar in all 3 dimensions. Clever!
Scout211
@J R in WV:
Speaking of geezer jackals . . . sad news for us:  Costco ends their early shopping hours for customers over 60 later this month.  Starting Monday July 26th, all warehouses are back to regular hours.  :(
J R in WV
@Scout211:
That is sad! I just wish we had a Costco within reasonable driving distance. I think the closest Costco is in Lexington KY, about 3.5 hours west. There’s also a Costco in Columbus OH, but I hate that drive… to Lexington is just I-64 all the way, but lots of construction so slower than it sounds like.
Robert Sneddon
@Matt McIrvin: Death rates lag hospitalisations by about two weeks and we’re not seeing a lot of hospitalisations here in the UK currently despite the big upswing in case numbers that started a month ago. The hospitalisation/ICU bed occupancy trend is ticking up but not exponentially. Compared to the US our hospitalisation and deaths numbers are very low (today, we have 300 ICU beds occupied with COVID-19 patients and another 1500 people hospitalised. Multiply those numbers by 5 to compare with the US figures for a per-capita comparison).
We have a high vaccination rate and that seems to be cutting into the severity of cases when vaccinated people do catch this disease. We’re also testing a lot more than we used to. Lateral-flow home testing kits are free but you’re expected to report the result via a website and RT-PCR walk-in test sites are open for anyone who suspects they have symptoms. This will bump up the reported numbers over earlier times when asymptomatic infections were never reported.
The main driver for this increase in case numbers in the UK is the highly-transmissable Delta variant which is much more prevalent in the UK than in the US. We’ve just been through a big superspreader event with the Euro 2020 football competition that’s resulted in, for example, a big upswing in case numbers among tens of thousands of Scottish football fans who spent two days travelling together down to London and back for the England-Scotland match a couple of weeks ago.
Another Scott
@Matt McIrvin: I wonder how much of these reports about long COVID and organ damage and all the rest are garbled like a game of Telephone.
STATNews (from March):
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Betsy
@Soprano2: Â The inside? Â Is there grass in the house, also, or do you just have a large courtyard?
Betsy
@Robert Sneddon:Â @Sloane Ranger: Iâm trying to understand how the cases rates can be increasing so much when so high a percentage of the population of the UK/Scotland are vaccinated. Â I mean I love me some vax, but what is going on? Â Are these âcasesâ or are they âcasesâ? (Like mere positive tests vs symptomatic outcomes)
signed,
a vaxed person who really wants to enjoy spending time indoors with people, and really DOESNâT want a positive test, even an asymptomatic one
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/2 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic confirmed cases.
The last domestic confirmed case in Yunnan Province, at Ruili in Degong Prefecture, has recovered.
Imported Cases
On 7/2, China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases, 19 imported asymptomatic cases, 7 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 28 confirmed cases recovered, 22 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 8 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 394 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 431 active confirmed cases in the country (393 imported), 8 in serious condition (all imported), 463 asymptomatic cases (457 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 12,098 traced contacts are currently under quarantine.
As of 7/2, 1,283.175M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 19.026M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/3, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive cases, imported (from South Korea).
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/3 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic confirmed cases.
Imported Cases
On 7/3, China reported 14 new imported confirmed cases, 18 imported asymptomatic cases, 3 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 17 confirmed cases recovered, 27 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 3,981 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 428 active confirmed cases in the country (394 imported), 8 in serious condition (all imported), 452 asymptomatic cases (446 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 8,356 traced contacts are currently under quarantine.
As of 7/3, 1,296.037M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 12.862M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/4, Hong Kong reported 3 new positive cases, all imported (all from the UK).
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/4 China reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (2 moderate & 1 mild), all at Jiegao sub-district in Ruili, Dehong Prefecture, 2 Chinese nationals & a Burmese national. Ruili, as an important land border crossing w/ Myanmar, has been conducting periodic mass screenings of all residents. There has also been a vaccination drive since the previous outbreak associated w/ the jade wholesale/retail exchange but not sure about the coverage. The Jiegao sub-district is under lock down & a cordon sanitaire has been setup around the area. Traveling in & out of Ruili is discouraged. In Wuhan, our community has already informed all residents that anyone w/ travel history to Dehong Prefecture in the past 7 days need to go into centralized quarantine.
Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic confirmed cases.
Imported Cases
On 7/4, China reported 19 new imported confirmed cases, 14 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 21 confirmed cases recovered, 21 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 431 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 429 active confirmed cases in the country (393 imported), 6 in serious condition (all imported), 443 asymptomatic cases (437 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 8,234 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/4, 1,305.499M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 9.462M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/5, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive case, imported (from the UK).