Winter is coming. So, in many states, is the first day of school:
BREAKING: California will require proof of COVID-19 vaccination or weekly testing for all state workers and health care employees.
New York City also says it will require its municipal workers to get vaccinated or face weekly COVID-19 tests. https://t.co/BhwhdyX83c— The Associated Press (@AP) July 26, 2021
Interest in getting a COVID vaccine seems to have ticked up as measured by Google searches pic.twitter.com/H8yuhuohOB
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) July 26, 2021
It took 227 days since FDA authorized the first coronavirus vaccines, but today felt like a U.S. tipping point on vax mandates — doctors, nurses, California, NYC, and Veterans Affairs all calling for or imposing them. https://t.co/C4ShSarlta
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) July 26, 2021
Scientists model 'true prevalence' of Covid19 throughout pandemic. Two Univ of Washington researchers developed a statistical framework that incorporates key Covid data—such as case counts & deaths—to model prevalence of the disease in the US https://t.co/a7PjMK3kQe
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 27, 2021
DOJ made clear today that federal agencies can not only ask employees about vaccination status, but can make being vaccinated a condition of working there.https://t.co/udnHNWTlq6 https://t.co/xr64DCCl5K
— David Burbach (@dburbach) July 27, 2021
"Senior Biden officials are carefully monitoring the impact of the delta variant on Britain…So far Biden officials are encouraged by the hospitalization and mortality rates in the U.K., which have stayed relatively low even as case rates have soared." https://t.co/sIFwKZT2wG
— Shashank Joshi (@shashj) July 26, 2021
The Biden administration releases guidance and resources to support people experiencing long-term effects of Covid-19, known as "long Covid," as the condition shapes up to be a major, long-term public health issue https://t.co/Sln2qRDOM1
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 27, 2021
US to maintain Covid foreign travel restrictions https://t.co/2Hx7lkjZWg
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 26, 2021
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One of the worst things about having so many @UN agencies in Geneva (e.g. @WHO @UNICEF @WTO @UNAIDS @GlobalFund ) is that EVERYBODY shuts down for the full month of August.
Yeah, and there's only a #COVID19 #pandemic going on…
Enjoy the beach, you jerks.https://t.co/XxXwPqy5yg— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 27, 2021
India reports 29,689 new COVID-19 cases, lowest since March 17 https://t.co/vXW9hgXfxB pic.twitter.com/E8rQXCoGe9
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
COVID-19 surge starting to ease in Indonesia capital, data shows https://t.co/GONoPQrwaz pic.twitter.com/cxhmOWx22Y
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
Olympic host Tokyo asks for more hospital beds as COVID-19 infections rise -media https://t.co/KJdlhL3SQT pic.twitter.com/HARnUyZxMg
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
Tokyo reports high of 2,848 new COVID-19 cases, exceeding its record from January with the Summer Olympics well underway. https://t.co/ShaKDLyqll
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 27, 2021
#Tokyo2020 organizers reported seven news Games-related COVID-19 cases, including two athletes. The latest daily cases have brought the total number since July 1 to 155. For the latest updates from the #Olympics https://t.co/ehrXQo1P8Z pic.twitter.com/0n2rJpSOM2
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
S.Korea begins COVID-19 vaccination for chip, electronics workers https://t.co/y2DmxZdR7G pic.twitter.com/6ZLtPDG5XK
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
Myanmar floods, coup, complicate growing COVID-19 outbreak https://t.co/9cn06Z7N7K pic.twitter.com/JzlFHOSypT
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
Australia's Victoria state said it will lift a strict lockdown after curtailing the spread of COVID-19, while neighboring New South Wales faces an extension of restrictions after daily new cases spiked to a 16-month peak https://t.co/5xfluX3ah5 by @Colpackham and @renjujose pic.twitter.com/6Ye10RogIe
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
Australia's vaccine rollout 'a colossal failure', ex-PM Turnbull says https://t.co/E8R7fGgZuJ pic.twitter.com/yo0x15iZa4
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 27, 2021
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has lifted a ban on liquor sales and relaxed other pandemic restrictions, reporting that a recent spike in coronavirus cases has passed its peak. The country is accelerating its vaccination drive. https://t.co/5iK19a0zTr
— AP Africa (@AP_Africa) July 26, 2021
Why are so many pregnant women dying from Covid in Brazil? https://t.co/idFwKwPhyl
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 27, 2021
When will business travelers return? Airlines are hoping the lucrative group of flyers will be back in force by the fall but that optimism is being tempered by the rise in COVID-19 cases fueled the delta variant. Read @airlinewriter https://t.co/HK7pjgryGX
— AP Business News (@APBusiness) July 26, 2021
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If you don’t recognize the name — it’s the antiseptic sold as Betadine:
Nasal spray preliminary research: An intranasal spray made up of povidone-iodine as the active ingredient, kills SARSCoV2 within 90 seconds. The spray also kills SARSCov2's closest cousins, SARSCoV & MERSCoV. Povidone iodine is also known as iodopovidone https://t.co/CXjuQfHdNo
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 26, 2021
Second Covid mRNA vaccine dose found safe following allergic reactions to first dose. New research, led by allergists at Massachusetts General Hospital, is published in JAMA Internal Medicine https://t.co/gnhH1T9d0D
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 26, 2021
The invasion and spread of #SARSCoV2 variant B.1.1.7 in the UK was shaped by factors including human movement and lockdown timing. The findings show the importance of considering behavioral and epidemiological data when interpreting variants' growth rates. https://t.co/cVB1ALHds6 pic.twitter.com/GCcPW9kMAs
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) July 27, 2021
Debunking Covid claims about cremations and vaccine statisticshttps://t.co/EiKYHIC7ub
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 26, 2021
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Actual number of U.S. coronavirus cases may be more than double the official tally – Los Angeles Times https://t.co/HY0lpMke4L
— Political Poet (@mdnij34) July 26, 2021
If the GOP Death Cult isn’t actually trying to kill people, maybe they should rethink their strategeries:
As coronavirus surges, GOP lawmakers are moving to limit public health powers https://t.co/XI3VqZ0SZD This is the most thoughtful analysis of ph powers in the COVID pandemic. Worth a read
— Lawrence Gostin (@LawrenceGostin) July 26, 2021
refusing to take the vaccine to own the libs, then trying to portray the unvaccinated population as a failure of the biden administration, whomst could have seen this coming.
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) July 26, 2021
Opinion | The unvaccinated are testing our pandemic luck – and have only themselves to blame when they get sick.https://t.co/jLlXhFbSBo
— Eugene Robinson (@Eugene_Robinson) July 26, 2021
Over 16 months after summer music festivals were silenced by the coronavirus pandemic, a more infectious variant is showing up to this year’s gatherings like an unwelcome gate-crasher. https://t.co/e2DkQQA4Qt
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 26, 2021
The largest city on Georgia’s coast has seen an “alarming rise” in cases. https://t.co/DszVWfLVWf
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 27, 2021
Conservative rights begin at me and end at you.
— Patrick (@416ppm) July 26, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats:
New COVID cases:
Back to 33 new cases yesterday, and a total of 229 new cases for the week. 53 of the cases are children 0- 9 and 10-19. The single highest number of cases by age group is the 30s, with 41 cases.
2% test positivity.
Deaths still at 1346.
61.5% have at least 1 jab, 58.3% are totally vaccinated.
WereBear
Thanks to the person who shared the tweet last night: about people seeking vaccinations in Missouri wearing disguises.
I predicted this to Mr WereBear weeks ago: might even have been pre-Delta, which only put wheels on this still-ongoing crisis.
Because, in their shriveled raisin hearts, Wingnuts are always about themselves, and hypocrisy is an operational status.
Mary G
I had a bit of a meltdown yesterday with the teen, who is a needle phobic drama lover and the last unvaccinated member of my household and indeed all my local friends. He cited a bunch of bullshit disinfo from TikTok and Instagram about men’s balls falling off and I told him he was listening to lies from Republicans and Russians and I am back to being as stressed out as I was at the start of all this because cases are going up and the delta variant is so contagious and it’s no help to me that most vaccinated people have only a mild case. Told him my doctor said I should put him in a motel and he can come back six weeks after the first shot. His mom and girlfriend and I have been at him for months and I have just had it. I don’t get angry often, but I kind of lost it. Hope it works. I told him he must wear a mask in the house. I did not sit around for nearly 17 months to come down with it now.
Johns Hopkins’ map has LA and Riverside Counties back to dark purple; Orange and San Diego still yellow/orange. For now.
Baud
@Mary G:
How it should have gone down.
WereBear
@Mary G: Considering what you have shared about your medical history, you have been much more patient than I could have!
WereBear
@Baud: Show me the groins!
Put up or shut up.
debbie
@WereBear:
Thought of you when I came across this last night:
satby
@Baud: Agreed.
As a parent of former teens, including extras because I’m a glutton for punishment, his only choice would be which day this week he would be going to get the vaccine. Refusal would not mean a stay at a motel, which would seem like a reward. More like the cessation of every single enjoyable thing in his life: no meals with the family and no one cooking for him, no media privileges, no payments on things like his phone bill (escalating to discontinuing the service), no driving privileges (and a police report if he takes the car without permission)… Consequences of his actions. Early introduction of consequences often saves everyone a lifetime of hurt.
MJS
“…or weekly testing for all state workers and health care employees.”
Because everyone knows COVID-19 politely waits until it’s detected before becoming transmissible.
satby
@MJS: yeah, as illustrated above I play hardball, so I would do daily quick tests and the nasal deep dive ones every three days. The holdouts would last a week before getting the shot or quitting.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
All those shows about the slow zombie apocalypse never show the civilization downfall scenes. I figure that in the beginning, conservatives refuse to listen the the public health authorities, choosing to get in zombie faces to scream “you will not replace us” and then shooting only the brown ones. At the same time, the Jill Stein-oriented performative left whimper for non-violence and understanding.
Overarching all of it is legislative gridlock over the expense of eradication of the zombie plague, objections by the wealthy to addressing it aggressively while ignoring the impact to the stock market and WSJ/NYT/NRO/CATO think pieces justifying inaction.
JPL
@Mary G: Please look after yourself, and if need be let the teen live on the streets. If you become ill, then what happens to him.
MJS
@satby:
I would only add “and the holdouts pay for the tests” to your solution. There’s no reason any employer, public or private, should have to foot the bill for that, when the vaccine is free.
Frank Wilhoit
Wrt the Delthia Ricks tweet, povidone is basically a buffer, the iodine is the active ingredient. I can’t imagine it feels very good; I*can* imagine it burning the mucous membranes; and how long after initial exposure would it work?
debbie
@Mary G:
Ask him how many men he has seen running through the streets, ripping their hair out and shrieking that their balls have fallen off? Do his eyes deceive him?
satby
@MJS: Good point! Added to my list.
Ever think about how the immense privilege of entitled GQPers grows out of how many of them haven’t really faced the consequences for their behavior most of their lives? I have, obvs.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 16,117 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,044,071 cases. He also reports 207 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 8,408 deaths — 0.81% of the cumulative reported total, 0.96% of resolved cases.
As of yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide R0 was at 1.14.
There are currently 170,224 active and contagious cases; 1,023 are in ICU, 524 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 11,526 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 865,439 patients recovered – 82.89% of the cumulative reported total.
42 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 3,527 clusters. 1,028 clusters are currently active; 2,499 clusters are now inactive.
16,091 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 6,613 local cases: 120 in clusters, 3,240 close-contact screenings, and 3,253 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 2,437 local cases: 249 in clusters, 1,109 close-contact screenings, and 1,079 other screenings. Kedah reports 1,000 cases: 260 in clusters, 448 close-contact screenings, and 292 other screenings.
Johor reports 906 local cases: 269 in clusters, 472 close-contact screenings, and 165 other screenings.
Sabah reports 741 cases: 142 in clusters, 379 close-contact screenings, and 220 other screenings.
Melaka reports 674 cases: 297 in clusters, 255 close-contact screenings, and 122 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 668 local cases: 132 in clusters, 353 close-contact screenings, and 183 other screenings. Penang reports 618 cases: 193 in clusters, 185 close-contact screenings, and 240 other screenings.
Kelantan reports 592 cases: 186 in clusters, 317 close-contact screenings, and 89 other screenings. Perak reports 583 cases: 126 in clusters, 285 close-contact screenings, and 172 other screenings.
Sarawak reports 404 local cases: 20 in clusters, 316 close-contact screenings, and 68 other screenings. Pahang reports 403 cases: 87 in clusters, 229 close-contact screenings, and 87 other screenings.
Terengganu reports 317 cases: 106 in clusters, 163 close-contact screenings, and 48 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 122 cases: 13 in clusters, 74 close-contact screenings, and 35 other screenings.
Labuan reports 11 cases: seven close-contact screenings and four other screenings. Perlis reports two cases: one close-contact screening and one other screening.
26 new cases today are imported: 20 in Kuala Lumpur, three in Selangor, one in Johor, one in Sarawak, and one in Negeri Sembilan.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 521,923 doses of vaccine on 25th July. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 17,839,476 doses administered. 5.7 million (17.5%) of the population are fully vaccinated.
The Thin Black Duke
@debbie: Bottom line, if you get sick, it won’t matter how many times he says “I’m sorry.”
satby
@debbie: nah, he gets with the house rules or he pays the penalty. No one needs to engage in his spurious claims, it’s just bullshit and he knows it. Teens engage in power struggles as a right of passage and some can be indulged. This one cannot, because it’s life and death to MaryG.
and if he’s over 18, put his ass out until he’s ready to to get the shot with his mom or sis (because his current bad faith now requires a witness to the jab). Consequences.
WereBear
@debbie: LOL. Beauty. Thanks!
Betsy
@Mary G: He’s getting secondary gain from all the attention and meltdowns. Cut off all the pleasure and subsidies. Actions, not more words.
I want to be clear Teen’s refusal is not somehow your fault; still, after months of the same approach, satisfying Teen’s need for drama, a drastically different approach is needed.
With satby on this one.
@satby:
satby
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: good analogy.
Anne Laurie
Depends on the dilution. Old-fashioned 5% iodine-for-cuts stings like a stab; 2% poviodine is used to treat vaginal fungal infections; 1% ‘betadine’ is slathered around in hospital wards like champagne in a championship locker room. As a skin rinse, it’s supposed to leave a ‘film’, even after being rinsed, that kills germs for 24 hours after application.
Using it in the shower, just before the final rinse, is an old remedy for eczema & stinky sweat-zones. It will stain bath mats, but it doesn’t sting at all.
satby
@Betsy: yes, bolstering his attention seeking and dramatic tendencies I had overlooked, because I only focus on results. ?
Betsy
@debbie: Teen’s silly irrational defenseive statements are about gaming the arguments, not rational discussion. I don’t think feeding the drama quest is likely to be helpful. Nor is engaging with the irrationality and blessing it with logical responses. Action, not more parental words, is what’s needed. Denial of all subsidies and privileges is necessary.
Look at what president and Manuel my chrome just sad. He said it is no longer going to be a burden on the vaccinated and responsible people to quarantine themselves and deny them selves their lives because of the unwaxed. Instead he is removing privileges of public transportation and dining out, gatherings and entertainment, and imposing weekly tests on all the unvaccinated — €49 a piece. I think that would be a good start with this kid. All the burdens of keeping the family safe should fall on the one person who is putting the family at risk. And no words or arguing except to inform Teen of the new policy. Yes, there will be tears and screaming, but these don’t have to elicit any response whatsoever.
Betsy
@debbie: Teen’s silly irrational defenseive statements are about gaming the arguments, not rational discussion. I don’t think feeding the drama quest is likely to be helpful. Nor is engaging with the irrationality and blessing it with logical responses. Action, not more parental words, is what’s needed. Denial of all subsidies and privileges is necessary.
Look at what French president Macron just said. it is no longer going to be a burden on the vaccinated and responsible people to quarantine themselves and deny them selves their lives because of the unvaxed. Instead, he is removing their privileges of public transportation and dining out, gatherings and entertainment, and imposing the cost of tests on all the unvaccinated — €49 a piece for every privilege.
I think that would be a good start with this kid. All the burdens of keeping the family safe should fall on the one person who is putting the family at risk.
And no more words or (fun for Teen) arguing except to inform Teen of the new policy. Yes, there will be tears and screaming, but these don’t have to elicit any response whatsoever.
Suzanne
@Betsy: My teenager didn’t get a choice. He wasn’t obstinate, though. I think MaryG is totally in the right to say, “you get it or you don’t live here”.
Betsy
@Suzanne: I agree. Instead of telling teen what the doctor said she should do, do it. (Will have to be a modified version obviously for cost and practicality.)
Geo Wilcox
@debbie: Luckily for me my daughter was first in line to get her shot but if I had a reluctant kid like Mary G. he’d have two choices. Get the shot or you move out to the barn. I have a 40 x 60 horse barn with a tack room. No heat, no AC, no internet, no comfort, horses are long gone so no one to even look at. I’d change the fucking locks as well just to prove a point. Car keys, locked in the house. Go sit out there and eat grass or leaves but you have NO access to food from the house because you cannot get in. There is water in the barn so he can drink that, not filtered. Oh and no toilet or toilet paper. If I am paying his phone bill I call and cancel it immediately. I guarantee one day and he’s begging to get that shot. He’s nothing more than a plain bully and you have to treat them with utter contempt or else you get rolled.
Amir Khalid
@Mary G:
(Does a quick check.) Hasn’t happened to me, so far, and I’m coming up on two weeks since my second jab. The teen is surely not stupid enough to believe such a thing, is he?
mrmoshpotato
“Sadly, senior Biden officials still can’t slap BoJo, tell him to stop being a slapdick, and force him to get a big boy haircut.”
Soprano2
@Baud: Best laugh I’ve had for days, thanks for that, and yes that’s how it should have gone down. Tell him that Covid causes ED in men, even young ones. I know he’s your son, Mary G, but I HAVE HAD IT with these selfish bastards.
Frank Wilhoit
@Betsy: “…president and Manuel my chrome…” Not to mock (I saw you posted a correction) but are you using speech recognition? If so, what software?
Soprano2
So last night my mom was still in the ER room waiting to be admitted to the hospital. It seems that her main problem is low sodium, which kind of makes sense; she wasn’t eating much, but was drinking a lot of water and Gatorade to keep hydrated. They did an ultrasound on her kidneys and an echo of her heart; the echo was fine for her age, the ultrasound found some cysts on her kidneys but the nurse said they don’t appear to be a problem (at least that’s what she got from reading the doctor’s notes). Also, she might have pneumonia. They gave her some kind of enhanced IV fluids and an antibiotic yesterday; she can only have antibiotics every other day because of the sodium problem. She ate more yesterday, and said her appetite is coming back and she seems to be feeling better. My concern is that so far there’s no indication they know what caused this to happen in the first place.
This is a time where it would be good if I had about 6 or 7 siblings who were here, because we could take turns spending time with her. I love my mother, but I can only take small doses at a time, and when she’s in pain and unhappy it’s worse. I don’t blame her at all for being unhappy, though; they don’t have the personnel in the ER room area because normally people are only there for a few hours, then they either leave or are transferred to the hospital, and they don’t have personnel from other parts of the hospital to send down there because it’s full of stupid people who didn’t get vaccinated! So it takes forever for people to come and help her go to the bathroom or for anything else she needs. The nurse told me they have 40 people down there waiting to get a room in the hospital, and my mother has been there the longest, but that doesn’t guarantee she’ll get the next room because it depends on how bad people are and whether or not it’s a “Covid” room. I told my boss this morning that if he thought I was mad about people not getting vaccinated before, it’s 10X worse now that I’ve seen how my mother is suffering because these idiots cannot see their way to get A FREE VACCINE that will keep them from getting Covid. I wish we could stream not them, but how other people are suffering because of their selfishness. I know for sure this is the week I’ve completely lost patience with the people who are refusing to get vaccinated. Fuck their feelings.
Matt McIrvin
My daughter has been telling her friends that they can hang out in person when they’re fully vaccinated. It’s worked on at least one, maybe two.
According to antivaxxers, of course, her eagerness is a sign that I’ve been emotionally abusing her.
kindness
I’m curious to see what happens wrt Gavin Newsome ordering health care workers to vaccinate. I work for Kaiser and in my group of 20 people, almost all of whom are working from home, about a third of them haven’t gotten the vaccine yet because…reasons. Those people are scheduled to go back to working out of the office in September. I’ve worked out of the office (in a hospital) the whole time. I’m glad Gavin made the call. My bosses were being terminally wishy washy claiming they couldn’t order them to get vaccinated, September was starting to scare me but now I think it’ll be OK. Thank you Gavin.
mrmoshpotato
Ask Hillary Clinton and 65.8 million other voters.
ETA – oh, and something was going to happen internationally or domestically during 2017-20 where American leadership or help would’ve been invaluable. That’s just the nature of our interconnected world. But, “Fuck you, Hillary!” yelled at least 78,000 stupid, selfish children.
Wvng
@Betsy: Auto correct had a field day with you. “Look at what president and Manuel my chrome just sad. He said it is no longer going to be a burden on the vaccinated and responsible people to quarantine themselves and deny them selves their lives because of the unwaxed. ”
I laughed, hard.
Sloane Ranger
Monday in the UK we had 24,950 new cases. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 21.5% and case numbers have fallen 6 days in a row now. However, the experts are warning us not to assume that the corner has been turned just yet. There may also still be a delay in reporting as offices catch up after the weekend. New cases by nation,
England – 22181 (down 3253)
Northern Ireland – 639 (down 625)
Scotland – 1000 (down 237)
Wales – 1130 (down 108).
Deaths – There were 14 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 50.3%. 12 deaths occurred in England and 2 in Wales.
Testing – 791,044 tests were conducted on Sunday, 25 July. This is a reduction of 10.1% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs was 685,885.
Hospitalisations – There were 5238 people in hospital and 715 people on ventilators on Friday, 23, July. The 7-day rolling average for hospital admissions was up 26.8% as of 20 July.
Vaccinations – As of 25 July, 46,589,211 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 37,287,384 had had both. This means that, as of this date, 88.1% of all adults in the UK had had 1 shot and 70.5% were fully vaccinated. There has been a noticeable slowdown in people coming forward to get their 1st shots, with only 24,551 people getting their 1st shot on the 25th. I think we are at the point where we are dealing with hard to reach populations, the homeless, the profoundly needle-phobic, the young who think they’re invulnerable as well as our small anti-vax population, but, assuming that all those who got shot 1 get shot 2 (and I think that’s a reasonable assumption), we will likely get nearly 90% of our adult population fully vaccinated.
The Moar You Know
CA does not consider school employees/teachers state employees; they are county level.
Quite a few K-12 teachers in CA are not vaccinated and don’t plan to be. The number amongst support personnel such as custodians is running around 40%.
You do the math.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
Nothing else would be in the news if that were happening!
BREAKING NEWS alerts would be BREAKING BALLS alerts regardless of the subject.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,044 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 7 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive. Test positivity rate is 5.6%. 63 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, a slight reduction since yesterday but still a lot higher than it was a month ago.
Just under 19,000 vaccinations were carried out in Scotland yesterday, with only 2,000 or so being first-dose. 69.8% of the adult population is now fully vaccinated with another 20% or so having received their first dose.
The Scottish First Minister is pushing vaccinations at the hold-outs as hard as she can but the takeup in younger people is lagging badly, especially in the cities which are magnets for young people, students, temporary workers etc. I think that all we can really hope for is that the 20% of 18+ adults who have received their first dose and are still to receive their second dose will actually take it when offered. There’s still no news about vaccinations for anyone under 18 although some special cases of younger people have already been vaccinated. There are trials going on at the moment with vaccinations of children, down to babies under a year old and the JCVI is waiting to see the results before making recommendations to the health services.
In terms of testing, the UK offers lateral-flow at-home tests free to anyone, distributed at pharmacies, GP clinics and other healthcare locations. I’m just about to do a test myself. After it’s complete I’m expected to enter the result on the gov.uk website.
The Moar You Know
@Mary G: if teen is over 18, throw him out. Period. You are not put on this planet to be a doormat.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@mrmoshpotato: bernie would have won!!
J R in WV
@Amir Khalid:
VERY Glad to hear that, your neighborhood appears to be dangerous right now.
mrmoshpotato
@MontyTheClipArtMongoose: You silly mongoose on the loose! :)
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Full vaccination on the horizon! Woo hoo!
Mary G
Many thanks to all for your support and advice. The teen is not yet 18. I don’t pay any phone or food bills for him as he is working all kinds of hours at the most popular restaurant in town. He has received two raises and gets a cut of tips plus a weekly bonus. He doesn’t drive and nothing important to him is more than a mile or two away so his skateboard is all the transportation he needs.
His mom tells me he has agreed to get the shot and she will take him. Losing my shit scares him. I use it sparingly. The motel I threatened him with is a Bates motel straight out of Psycho full of bugs and ghosts. Well, I may have invented the ghosts. He is a superstitious germophobe so it was a good threat.
Richard
@Mary G: What a stupid selfish boy! Hopefully, he will survive this. But if he is that stupid, he probably won’t even remember the suffering he is giving to his people. He only cares about his balls falling off. We should be so lucky.
Richard
@J R in WV: congratulations! It has been 3 months since my 2nd vaccination and my balls still haven’t fallen off, last time i checked.
I have gone back to wearing a mask indoors and at busy outside places. I was hoping we could be done with that, but because of Stupid Boy and his ilk it seems better to still to be careful.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/26 China reported 31 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 69 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 community at Ruili remains at High Risk. 1 village at Ruili & 1 village at Longchuan County remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province
Anhui Province
Liaoning Province
Guangdong Province
Sichuan Province
Imported Cases
On 7/26, China reported 40 new imported confirmed cases, 17 imported asymptomatic cases, 4 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 17 confirmed cases recovered, 15 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 10 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 331 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 795 active confirmed cases in the country (615 imported), 20 in serious condition (18 imported), 431 asymptomatic cases (410 imported), 2 suspect cases (all imported). 11,046 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/26, 1,565.872M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 15.604M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/27, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive cases, imported (from Spain).
Richard
@J R in WV: congratulations! It has been 3 months since my 2nd vaccination and my balls still haven’t fallen off, last time i checked.
I have gone back to wearing a mask indoors and at busy outside places. I was hoping we could be done with that, but because of Stupid Boy and his ilk it seems better to still to be careful.
StringOnAStick
We have a good liberal friend who runs paving crews for a very large company. Within the last two weeks a bunch of his crew members have been out with Covid and mostly really sick; one guy back at H Q died. I wonder if this info circulating around the crews will increase vaccination rates? He tried to talk the guy with an 8 months pregnant girlfriend into getting vaccinated to protect his first child, asking him how he’d feel if his baby was harmed by Covid but the idiot can’t think past himself and his brainwashing by hate media. It’s definitely a cult.
Cermet
@Frank Wilhoit: And of course one knows when they are exposed to Covid and can use the spray; since the nose is self cleaning, the spray effects will only have a finite window of protection. Not exactly a useful spray for 99% of people.
Another Scott
Recognizing that Robinson likely didn’t write the headline, and stipulating that I like his writing generally (though I don’t often read it), I think this is wrong.
As David Anderson reminds us, we all have limited bandwidth. Normal people aren’t virologists or epidemiologists. In modern society, we depend (whether we like it or not) on specialization and expertise in others, and we depend on them telling the truth.
Joe and Mary Smith don’t suddenly wake up one morning on their own and decide not to get a vaccine for a deadly disease. They’re convinced to do so by the environment they’re in and who they listen to. It’s the “elites” who are supposed to be the experts but who instead claim expertise without any basis. And who use those claims to spread nonsense and lies. Those are the people who are to blame for the continued and increasing path of the pandemic in the USA.
tl;dr – Don’t punch down.
Cheers,
Scott.
satby
@Mary G: WELL DONE you! Glad to hear he’s capitulated.
Anne Laurie
If it’s sold OTC like Betadine, people will be able to use it before or just after they’ve been around ‘potential infection vectors’ — before taking mass transit, after leaving the grocery store, etc.
It’s not intended as a miracle cure-all. Like masks, it’ll be one more weapon in the arsenal as Covid-19 gradually becomes a seasonal threat like the flu.