Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

He really is that stupid.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Come on, man.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, July 14-15

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, July 14-15

by | 52 Comments

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Later today…


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*Now* they tell us!

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Because it’s not just the Confederate states — showing the ‘ass’ in ‘Masshole’:

Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    Patricia Kayden

    Arkansas — 35% vaccination rate:"Coronavirus cases rose Tuesday by 1,476 — the largest one-day increase in more than 5 months — while the number hospitalized with the virus topped 600 for the first time since Feb. 20."https://t.co/PSkvlO5UOe— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) July 14, 2021

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    There are places in the epicenter of the US Delta wave with vaccination rates as low as 15%

    Waves hello…

  5. 5.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    This is brilliant.

    Hi. First, I want to say I am beyond honored and humbled to be here today to help spread the message about the importance of youth vaccination. I’m in awe of the work President Biden and Dr. Fauci have done, and was happy to help lend my support to this important initiative.

    It’s important to have conversations with friends and family members, encouraging all communities to get vaccinated, and actually get to a vaccination site, which you can do more easily than ever before, given how many sites we have and how easy it is to find them at Vaccines.gov.

    Thank you, Jen, for having me today. And thank you all for helping share this important message. It’s so appreciated. Thank you.

    Olivia Rodrigo with Uncle Joe (photo)

    Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter.

    She is known for her roles as Nini Salazar-Roberts on the Disney+ series High School Musical: The Musical: The Series and as Paige Olvera on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark. Rodrigo signed with Interscope and Geffen Records in 2020 and released her debut single “Drivers License” in January 2021. It reached number one in multiple countries, including the United States.

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Mission Avoided: It would seem that nobody told the Delta variant, which is currently ripping through the southwest portion of the state at a rate so alarming that we’re now making national news for our ever-increasing rates of infection and hospitalization, but Missouri is doing a really great job with COVID-19, actually — or at least that’s the way our dumb governor sees it. This past week, Governor Mike Parson spoke out forcefully against the implementation of federal vaccine outreach efforts, saying the state “is not in crisis mode,” even as Missouri has risen to the second-highest number of new cases per capita, according to the New York Times, and some of the lowest rates of vaccination in the entire nation. “I think we’ve took every action we could possibly take in the state of Missouri to prevent this,” Parson told reporters last week, as he attempted to justify his decision to not take further action to prevent it. It’s a continuation of the do-nothing approach to a deadly pandemic that has become Parson’s calling card over the past year and a half, the latest in a series of inactions that includes no statewide mask mandates; a disastrous vaccine rollout that saw Missourians driving across the state to get their shots; a discontinuation of enhanced unemployment benefits meant to keep people from spreading the virus and even the signing of HB 271, limiting the ability of local health departments to implement orders protecting public health during a crisis. In a way, you’ve got to hand it to the guy — not for his COVID response, of course, but for the fact that though he may be utterly useless, he’s at least consistent.

  7. 7.

    R-Jud

    Not only are passport services heavily backlogged, there’s also no way to get an appointment at the embassy. I’d like to take my kid to see her grandparents for Christmas, but her U.S. Passport expired in October, 2020.

    I have to physically take her down to London to do the renewal, but they have limited appointments that book up instantly (you can only book online). I check multiple times a day and it seems like new dates become unavailable in the time it takes me to click the date and start filling out the form. Incredibly frustrating.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    The State Department issues travelers alerts for countries that are unsafe to visit. I would like the CDC to start doing the same for plagueling states and counties.

  9. 9.

    Tony Jay

    So, uh, with a daily case rate of over 42K and only just over half the population having received their full vaccination jabs the UK is pushing hard to challenge Bolsanaro’s Brazil for the privilege of hosting this year’s official Home of Covid Convention. Johnson’s Government is really going all out to ensure that every single British citizen has the opportunity to host a family of Covid viruses from the many variants on offer. If there’s a regulation or a scrap of hoity-toity, ivory tower, mumbo-jumbo elitist red tape holding back the rising tide of infection from sinking all of our boats, you can rely on Flobalob to simultaneously harpoon it (those well-funded backbench extremists won’t pander to themselves, you know) while also opining that local authorities are free to impose ‘common sense’ restrictions  themselves…only without the backing of Government funding, advertising or the force of law.

    So that’s us fucked. Thanks again to the national coalition of racist fuckwits, self-centred IGMFY snobs, professionally deceitful Infotainers and backstabbing Princes of the Church of New Labour who made this all possible, Qui morituri te salutamus digitis, or whatever.

  10. 10.

    raven

    @R-Jud: We have the vague notion of traveling before we get another dog but this does not seem encouraging since, 1) I can’t walk more than a mile, 2) I don’t have a passport.

  11. 11.

    Cermet

    @Tony Jay: Is the vaccine in the UK that poor or are we just seeing mild/no symptom cases due to the virus which everyone vaccinated will sooner or later get?

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    @raven:  I’m thinking about getting a folding motorized wheelchair to do some traveling next year. Might that suit the trip you have in mind?

  13. 13.

    hueyplong

    We can add all these Trump-inspired, needless deaths to the pig’s tab.

    If, as it should be, 100% of the deaths were within the group of deniers, they’d merely attribute it to a lib-driven conspiracy.  It’s a half-step at most from Carlson’s nightly warnings of white genocide any time a POC survives an encounter with police.

  14. 14.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports yet another new record: 13,215 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 880,782 cases. He also reports 110 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 6,613 deaths — 0.75% of the cumulative reported total, 0.86% of resolved cases.

    There are currently 108,369 active and contagious cases; 885 are in ICU, 432 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 6,095 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 765,800 patients recovered – 86.95% of the cumulative reported total.

    26     new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 3,168 clusters. 873 clusters are currently active; 2,295 clusters are now inactive.

    13,202 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 6,113 local cases: 264 in clusters, 4,060 close-contact screenings, and 1,789 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 1,602 local cases: 134 in clusters, 884 close-contact screenings, and 584 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 1,494 local cases: 267 in clusters, 702 close-contact screenings, and 525 other screenings.

    Kedah reports 695 cases: 107 in clusters, 360 close-contact screenings, and 228 other screenings.

    Johor reports 599 cases: 308 in clusters, 211 close-contact screenings, and 80 other screenings. Penang reports 509 cases: 266 in clusters, 124 close-contact screenings, and 119 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 484 cases: 172 in clusters, 195 close-contact screenings, and 117 other screenings.

    Sabah reports 370 cases: 115 in clusters, 148 close-contact screenings, and 107 other screenings. Sarawak reports 363 cases: 145 in clusters, 167 close-contact screenings, and 51 other screenings. Perak reports 344 cases: 114 in clusters, 142 close-contact screenings, and 88 other screenings.

    Kelantan reports 255 cases: 173 in clusters, 39 close-contact screenings, and 43 other screenings. Pahang reports 222 cases: 73 in clusters, 93 close-contact screenings, and 56 other screenings.

    Terengganu reports 70 cases: 36 in clusters, 27 close-contact screenings, and seven other screenings. Putrajaya reports 53 cases: two in clusters, 43 close-contact screenings, and eight other screenings. Labuan reports 26 cases: two in clusters, 19 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Perlis reports three cases, all close-contact screenings.

    13 new cases today are imported: seven in Selangor, five in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Negeri Sembilan.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 434,828 doses of vaccine on 14th July: 279,938 first doses and 154,890 second doses. As of yesterday, the cumulative total is 12,647,558 doses administered: 8,644,292 first doses and 4,003,266 second doses.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    Didn’t Malachy predict this would be the last Pope? I can see that.

    Not that the world will end (fingers crossed) but that THEIRS will.

  17. 17.

    Tony Jay

    @Cermet:

    What we’re seeing is a rise in infections consistent with the rise during the 2nd Wave, but hospitalisations and deaths are much lower because of the partially completed vaccination. That’s the good news and the fig-leaf Johnson’s Government is clinging to as they strip away the nation’s defences in the name of making money for their donors.

    The bad news is that for the first two waves of infection, hitting this kind of increase triggered Lockdown and the imposition of restrictions that, while not as stringent as other countries, slowed, stopped and reversed the spread and caused cases to eventually fall. This time they’re doing the opposite, kicking the barricades down just as cases of infection are skyrocketing. We don’t really know how bad it’s going to get because no one else (except maybe Flobalob’s fellow authoritarian gobshites in Brazil and India) would be callous enough to do something like this. All of the experts are saying it’s going to be a huge wave, more than enough to swamp the NHS in cases needing hospitalisation. It turns out that, even though the proportion needing hospital beds (and morgue space) in a partially vaccinated population is smaller than in an unvaccinated population, that ‘small’ proportion becomes very large indeed when the infected number its a proportion of is allowed to grow huge.

    They’re gambling that they can open everything up and ride out the rise in infections because deaths can be spun as fewer and a sad but necessary price to pay for people’s holidays, festivals and sporting events. The idea that allowing a virulently infectious variant of Covid to rip through a partially vaccinated population (and vaccinations are slowing down due to lack of supply – I guess front loading the supply of single shots for PR purposes was a bit of a dick move, eh?) is a recipe for breeding more infectious and vaccine-resistant variants is something Johnson’s mob are simply ignoring. That’s a problem for tomorrow, today is all about keeping donors and backbenchers happy.

    All to keep that spineless globule in Number 10 for just a bit longer.

  18. 18.

    R-Jud

    @Cermet: The UK’s using AstraZeneca and Pfizer, so it’s not the vaccine. It’s more the fact that a lot of young adults under 30 are still waiting for their second (or even first) doses, having only become eligible to receive them in the last two months or so. There is a longer waiting period between shots here.

    They’re mixing a lot, as young adults do, and from what I’ve read most of the cases are happening among them. Just another reason why taking the brakes off completely at this point is madness.

    Anecdotally, virtually every one of the 20 or so younger folks in my MA program have either caught Delta COVID over the last month or had to quarantine after a housemate had it.

  19. 19.

    trnc

    There are places in the epicenter of the US Delta wave with vaccination rates as low as 15%

    Right about now is when I would expect republicans to look at a map and say, “There’s too much red. Land doesn’t get covid.”

  20. 20.

    Anne Laurie

    @raven: I’m not to that point yet. When I scheduled the surgery the doc said “well, this isn’t an emergency, you are not in a wheel chair”!

    Yeah, but travelling is different from living your day-to-day life. It would be a shame to let false pride keep you & your beloved spouse from seeing places you want to visit!

    There are folding wheelchairs, with or without motors.  In some places you can rent motorized scooters (& not just at the entrance to zoos / gardens / sites, but from local medical-supply stores, by the day or the week).  And if you’re up to ‘walking a mile’, a folding rollator with a seat can mean the difference between enjoying a long afternoon at a museum or public garden, or spending half your time searching for a place to rest before your back gives out (ask me how I know!).  The feeling of freedom lasts a lot longer than the embarrassment of feeling old & frail, believe me.

  21. 21.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Tony Jay: The problem Johnson, Sturgeon and the other devolved national leaders face is that they can mandate tough rules about COVID-19 but enforcing them is, after eighteen months of lockdowns and social distancing and Granny dying in a care home without relatives being able to visit, the general population is at the point where they don’t going to give a flying fuck and they will do what they want. See, for example, the Great Invasion of Scottish footie supporters down to London for the England-Scotland match even after all the pols said “Don’t do it, it’s a bad idea, COVID-19.” Ditto for the Hillsborough 2: Wembley Boogaloo superspreader event at the Euro 2020 final a few days ago — telling footie fans they can’t do what they want is a lost cause as you well know, Tony and it doesn’t matter how many police officers you throw at the problem. Sadly the Special Patrol Group was disbanded a while back…

  22. 22.

    Tony Jay

    @R-Jud:

    Anecdotally, virtually every one of the 20 or so younger folks in my MA program have either caught Delta COVID over the last month or had to quarantine after a housemate had it.

    Jeebus Christopher, that’s chilling.

    And example number eleventy-billion why the Johnson Government pissing about with how testing figures are calculated and what constitutes a need for quarantine is a slasher-flic is waiting.

    Here’s a tip, kids, the killer was the scruffy scarecrow in the bleached Shatner mask.

  24. 24.

    Tony Jay

    @Robert Sneddon:

    There will always be dickheads, and they will always find something to give themselves licence to spread that dickheadedness far and wide. It happened last summer on the beaches and at the airports and all over the nightime economy, BUT (and it’s a Bunter sized butt) the vast majority of people have and will stick to the regulations if they think they’re fairly applied and necessary.

    Stripping away basic protections and actively seeking to spread Covid throughout the population has bugger all to do with a weary acquiescence to the realities of human patience and everything to do with Johnson’s fear of getting volleyed in the brown-eye by giddily rebellious backbenchers who have executive directorships to audition for and well-funded ‘thinktanks’ to seek donations from.

    tl:dr – There’s also a venomous minority who will always spew their racist attitudes into football, doesn’t mean we strip away all the anti-racism guidelines to accommodate them*.

     

    * This is not a precise analogy but you see what I’m getting at.

  25. 25.

    New Deal democrat

    Almost all bad news on the “delta wave” front.

    1. *All* States, in *all* regions of the US, including the most vaccinated ones (yes, even Vermont) have been seeing a substantial increase in new infections over the past two weeks. In other words, the delta variant is so infectious that it has moved the goalposts for herd immunity, and even the most vaccinated States, which were getting close, aren’t so close any more.

    2. In the least vaccinated States, new cases are running between 50% to 100% of last summer’s outbreak. Those that are behind (most importantly, Florida) will get there by the end of this month.

    3. In the US as a whole, new infections have *doubled* from about 12k to 24k in the past month.

    4. Deaths have clearly started to rise as well, and can be expected to follow the same exponential path.

    5. In the bellwether UK, deaths are following a similar exponential path to cases, rising fourfold with a 4 week lag. We should expect the same exponential increase in deaths in the US.

    6. In the bellwether States of the US – Missouri and Arkansas – deaths are also rising at a similar exponential rate, with a 3 to 4 week delay.

    7. The only silver lining comes from the UK, where deaths started out at such a low level that, even rising at an exponential rate similar to cases, the total number of deaths (so far) is likely to be only about 1/4 of the winter peak of 1250/day.

    8. If the more heavily vaccinated portions of the US follow the UK’s pattern, then those portions of the US will only see deaths rise to about 400/day. As for the Deep South and interior West …  may G*d have mercy on you.

  26. 26.

    R-Jud

    @Tony Jay: I put myself in a bit of a bind by taking some homemade Oreo brownies to the first lot that caught it (curbside delivery, obviously), and let’s just say I’ve got through a lot of cocoa powder since then.

    Sure, some of THEM may wind up with myocarditis or chronic fatigue or whatever, but what about ME?

    On a more serious note, I would really, really like the UK to approve jabs for kids age 12-18 soon. The Child does not need to risk long COVID setting her back along with the pre-existing autism and whatnot.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly:“I think we’ve took every action we could possibly take in the state of Missouri to prevent this,” Parson told reporters last week, as he attempted to justify his decision to not take further action to prevent it.

    He has the strangest definition of “every possible action”, doesn’t he, since we never had any statewide capacity restrictions or mask requirements. I think he means “Without pissing off my supporters in the rural counties where they believe Covid is either a hoax or not any worse than the flu, and thought Covid wouldn’t get them because they don’t live on top of each other like they do in those nasty cities”. It makes me crazy, all this illness and death down here in SWMO is avoidable now!! Shoot, one of the biggest Assemblies of God churches down here is having vaccination clinics – they know how important it is! And yet, even in the face of all this, there are still a lot of deniers and refusers.

  29. 29.

    Soprano2

    @Tony Jay: We don’t really know how bad it’s going to get because no one else (except maybe Flobalob’s fellow authoritarian gobshites in Brazil and India) would be callous enough to do something like this.

    You’ve never been to my neck of the woods, where we never had any statewide protection measures for Covid. No statewide mask requirement, no statewide capacity restrictions, only a state health emergency. Our governor left everything up to local authorities, so he couldn’t be blamed for anything that happened, and he bragged about signing a law that restricts what local governments can do in the face of a health emergency because they were all pissed off at the mayor of St. Louis.  I live in the epicenter of the worst outbreak in the U.S.; our hospitals are full of Covid patients, half of them are on ventilators and a lot are under the age of 50, but there will be no new restrictions, no matter how bad it gets.

  30. 30.

    Cermet

    @Tony Jay: Thanks; didn’t think about the terrible implications of doing mass single doses of a two dose vaccine. Excellent point – strange tRump didn’t try that considering he wanted death and destruction in Blue States at the time.

  31. 31.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 7/14 China reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Yunnan Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed cases (2 moderate & 3 mild, all Chinese nationals), 2 at Ruili & 3 at Longchuan County, Dehong Prefecture. There currently are 66 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 community remains at Medium Risk.

    Nanjing in Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases, there is 1 domestic confirmed cases there.

    Ziyang County in Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases, there is 1 domestic asymptomatic case there (reported one 7/9). 110 F1 & 473 F2 close contacts have been traced & placed under quarantine, all tested negative so far. 8,141 individuals deemed at risk have been tested twice, all negative.

    Imported Cases

    On 7/14, China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases, 8 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 12 confirmed cases, all Chinese crew members off a cargo ship w/ last port of call in Indonesia; 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese national returning from Ghana (via Nairobi)
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the US, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Yunnan Province (locations not specified) – 7 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar, via land border crossing
    • Ningbo Port in Zhejiang Province – 2 confirmed cases, a Mainland Chinese & a Hong Konger crew members off a cargo ship w/ last port of call in Indonesia
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Spain & Mexico
    • Kunming in Yunnan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Burmese national returning from Myanmar
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Taiwanese resident coming from Taiwan; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Malaysia
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Myanmar
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 23 confirmed cases recovered, 20 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case, and 470 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 506 active confirmed cases in the country (438 imported), 4 in serious condition (all imported), 451 asymptomatic cases (445 imported), 2 suspect cases (all imported). 7,378 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 7/14, 1,414.609M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 12.59M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 7/15, Hong Kong did report any new positive cases.

  32. 32.

    Soprano2

    @New Deal democrat: I’m so, so glad I’m vaccinated, and my husband is, and my mom is. I’m hoping that as this gets worse and worse it will make the fence-sitters get off the fence and get the shot. Our vaccination rates are going up every day still, but at a slow, slow rate. I guarantee you a lot of them would rather die from Covid than admit that liberals are right about Covid and the vaccines.

  33. 33.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tony Jay: Focusing on giving the maximum number of people the first shot worked great…

    …for the pre-Delta variants.

    For perspective, though, I think the fraction of the population that is fully vaxxed in the UK today is actually higher than in the US. The difference is that in the UK this is supply-limited–some people who want vaccination can’t get it yet, right?–and in the US it’s demand-limited. The Delta wave is going to get far worse in parts of the US but it’s harder to feel entirely sympathetic.

  34. 34.

    Cermet

    @Soprano2: Exactly when did a deadly disease become a believe or not believe issue and a vaccine with essentially 100% protection become a liberal thing – only in amerika, land of the inbreed stupid (aka republican party.)

  35. 35.

    Tony Jay

    @R-Jud:

    I’m sorry to say that I really can’t foresee this shower of malcontents doing anything so useful that might interfere with their commitment to get the whole country infected and culled ASAP. Kids are a great source of vectors, one natural resource they’re not going to let go to waste.

    I do, however, hope I’m wrong on this. No one needs that kind of nagging worry blighting their future. Wishing you and the Judd-Child safe days.

  37. 37.

    Soprano2

    @Cermet: When the MAGA’s decided to make it be that way. About 65% of the voters in my county voted for TFG. The olds are vaccinated, because hearing that the death rate in your age cohort is 10% tends to concentrate the mind, but the ones under 50 just don’t want it – they think they don’t need it because Covid isn’t any worse than a bad cold, and don’t you know the hospitals are all lying about Covid because they make a lot of money off each Covid patient. *sigh* It’s unbelievable what I hear around here. I’m especially discouraged because my youngest niece is having a baby in August, and I was hoping we could see them in the hospital. I’m sure that won’t be allowed now.

  38. 38.

    Tony Jay

    @Soprano2:

    Fully vaccinated ideologues playing politics with the lives of their constituents and banking on deliberately fostered ignorance to spare them any consequences.

    Bless their withered little hearts.

  39. 39.

    Soprano2

    @Tony Jay: Our governor and his wife got the vaccine personally. That’s about the only productive thing he did regarding Covid.

  40. 40.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Cermet: As far as I know there’s no actual shortage of vaccines in the UK. The authorities are receiving shipments from the manufacturers as the contracts require, there’s no massive warehouse full of vaccines that are getting doled out in a parsimonious fashion.

     

    The Public Health Scotland data pages report on the number of doses allocated to Scotland as deliveries are made and the number of doses actually given out. Until recently there were about 500,000 doses allocated but not yet dispensed. That doesn’t mean they had 500,000 “extra” doses on hand, just that was the number promised for ongoing supply. Due to the reduced uptake of vaccinations in Scotland over the past couple of weeks for whatever reason that reserve number is now up to 700,000 doses.

  41. 41.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2:

    I’m hoping that as this gets worse and worse it will make the fence-sitters get off the fence and get the shot.

    One problem at the moment is that so much of the media buzz and social media panic is focused on the question of breakthrough infections in vaccinated people–which gives the undecided the impression that the vaccine doesn’t work anyway.

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: The ironic thing is that getting vaccinated actually makes COVID-19 closer to what they’re imagining it already is. And they figure their immune systems can handle it–well, it can, but only (with a high degree of assurance) if they get vaccinated.

  43. 43.

    Tony Jay

    @Cermet:

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Yup. The Johnson Government went all in on getting as many single shot needles into the arms of the elderly and middle aged as possible and parlayed that into a misinformation campaign where partially vaccinated = successfully vaccinated so they could claim to be ‘beating’ the EU = Brexit Bonus!

    It was always bollocks, and now that the EU member states are racing ahead with their vaccination programs while the UK’s is starting to lag that comparison is verboten on State Approved TV. Can’t have the Great British Government’s Great British  Vaccination Triumph called into question by a quaint little thing like reality, can we? That would be unpatriotic.

    Just wait for the next UK produced variant to start hitting the headlines. We’ll be back to Plague Island status quicker than you can say “Cambridge virus monkeys”.

  44. 44.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 2,086 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 19 deaths, test positivity rate is 6.6%. 47 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19 which is apparently not a big increase over yesterday’s figure of 46 but it’s likely that a number of the deaths reported today were folks in ICU to begin with so the number given is somewhat misleading I suspect.

    The new case numbers are stable, test positivity shows a welcome decline, deaths are way up over the past few weeks. Interesting times.

    There were just over 20,000 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday continuing the pattern of about one-third first doses and two-thirds second doses. This total again is way down on the surge numbers of May and early June when over 40,000 vaccinations a day were being carried out. Scotland is now operating a number of drop-in vaccination centres in the big cities where the population is typically younger. Fewer young adults have been given scheduled appointments in the past as the vaccination program concentrated on protecting older and more vulnerable people. The drop-in centres also provide second vaccinations for anyone who doesn’t want to wait eight weeks or more from their first vaccination. There’s no information on how many people are taking up this option though.

    88.7% of the adult population of Scotland has now received a first vaccine dose and 65.8% have received both doses (all vaccines being used in Scotland are two-dose formulations at the moment). Scotland should reach 90% first-dose by the end of the month even at this reduced vaccination tempo.

  45. 45.

    New Deal democrat

    @Soprano2: Essentially, MO and AR are exactly where they were one year ago. They did have both a summer wave and a bigger winter wave, both of which abated when enough panic set in.

    As you say, some fence-sitters will probably go ahead and get the vaccine. When enough of the rest panic and take self-protective measures, the “delta wave” will abate even in the Ozarks. Worst case scenario, you arrive at herd immunity the hard way, as the Dakotas seem to have: the Democrats got vaccinated, and the GOPers got COVID.

    Best wishes to you and your family.

  46. 46.

    Feathers

    Masshole here. The issue of Catholics claiming religious exemptions to vaccine requirements has been an issue for a while. It’s been used as an argument for doing away with religious exemptions. Anti-vaxxers will just use any justification they can come up with to fulfill their fantasies of self-mastery and free will. Massachusetts has issues here, largely due to being the radically anti-medicine Christian Science religion being founded here and having some political pull. Although that does seem to be waning. All those kids dying with easily treatable diseases will do it.

    Not surprised to learn that the anti-abortion and anti-vaxx miasmas have congealed into an unholy mess. There are jokes about more Catholic than the Pope for a reason.

  47. 47.

    JaneE

    Maybe Pope Francis should tell Catholics that anyone who dies of Covid who refused to be vaccinated will be considered a suicide.

  48. 48.

    Kent

    @Cermet:@Soprano2: Exactly when did a deadly disease become a believe or not believe issue and a vaccine with essentially 100% protection become a liberal thing – only in amerika, land of the inbreed stupid (aka republican party.)

    Reportedly a lot of insurance companies are rolling back Covid coverage for the unvaccinated.   Or are at least no longer waiving deductibles.  So a whole bunch of these MAGAt deniers are going to start getting large medical bills when they go in for their ventilator ICU treatments.

    Of course a whole bunch of them are also uninsured because…OBAMACARE.  We can’t have that.  Or else they are in fraudulent religious-based fake insurance scams that also won’t pay for Covid.  So we are going to start seeing a lot of $100K+ medical bills for Covid emerging from these MAGA hot spots.

    Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @New Deal democrat:

    As you say, some fence-sitters will probably go ahead and get the vaccine.

    It seems to me like the yahoo reaction to the latest wave is “we had mass vaccination campaigns and this happened anyway, obviously the vaccines don’t work, why bother getting them?”

    Even though the big outbreaks are centered on places where almost nobody is vaccinated. But cases are rising even in places where many are vaccinated, so if you don’t pay close attention you can think the vaccines are obviously worthless.

  51. 51.

    J R in WV

    OK, this is a dead thread, but I just got home from an expedition into town…

    Wife had a doctor’s appointment last Tuesday (I had a dentist appt today) and Doc, a family practice Dr told her he has had 4 patients come down with Delta-Covid and die in the past couple of weeks — unvaccinated, of course, wouldn’t take his educated advice to get a shot.

    I wore a mask all day (except while the pros had their hands in my mouth) but NO ONE else after the dental office was wearing a mask. I take that back, several people in the Kroger’s were masked. I would have skipped that stop except that I needed to stop by their pharmacy to pick up some refills.

    Anyway, I think we’re about to see a Delta-Covid outbreak just like last summer, because masking is over most places. Wife and I are fully vaccinated, but you never know how much your own particular immune system is activated without elaborate testing…

    Best of luck to everyone …

  52. 52.

    currawong

    Meanwhile in Australia, we have completely blown the advantage we had in locking down early with the Liberal (read Republican) government completely stuffing up both the building of quarantine facilities and organising vaccines. Both of these are federal responsibilities.

    I hand over to David Milner of the Shot who says it far better than I ever could (worth a look on Twitter too @DaveMilbo )

    https://theshot.net.au/general-news/victorias-lockdown-5-0-pretty-fast-pretty-fucking-furious

    As you can see we are pretty pissed off with both the Federal Government and the Liberal Government of New South Wales.

    We’re all hoping that the Liberals will be wiped out in Victoria next year like they were in Western Australia earlier where they were left with just 2 seats.

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