Dr. Catherine O’Neal from LSU breaks down the Delta variant — and why everyone should get vaccinated.
Take a measly three minutes and check it out. Then pass it on if you feel it…pic.twitter.com/q4B6aQGYHB
— Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) August 7, 2021
The US reported +68,950 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total to over 36.5 million, though several states did not report. The 7-day moving average rose to 101,741 new cases per day, its highest level since February 11. pic.twitter.com/xQaulL0Xrl
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) August 8, 2021
Highest cases/capita in the world, state or country, with population ≥ 1 million
1. Louisiana 99/100,000
2. Botswana 98/100,000
3. Florida 90/100,000— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 8, 2021
NEW: Health officials say children now make up 20% of all new COVID-19 cases across the U.S. https://t.co/cdQ5WbYfh3
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 8, 2021
With the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 rising across the U.S., more education and health officials are shifting gears, calling for mandatory vaccinations among teachers and mask requirements in schools https://t.co/wqPaDRXpsS pic.twitter.com/OgSZ0JDrmz
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
“The Food and Drug Administration must work "aggressively" toward authorizing a Covid-19 vaccine for children under age 12, the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics wrote in a letter to Dr. Janet Woodcock, acting commissioner of the FDA.”https://t.co/fbx5rGN06L
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) August 8, 2021
We almost had to remove the spouse of a patient from the hospital last night because he refused to believe that his wife, who had signs/symptoms of COVID for 10 days and was found with an oxygen saturation of *9%* after having a probable stroke, had COVID. Violently in denial.
— Ryan (@NurseRyanRN) August 7, 2021
We see this a lot. Unvaccinated folks having signs/symptoms of covid for 1-2 weeks before coming to the ED, then by the time they get to us they need an emergent intubation. Denial is killing so many of these patients – getting to the hospital sooner means decreased mortality.
— Ryan (@NurseRyanRN) August 7, 2021
COVID denial didn’t pop up out of thin air. There are actual people to hold accountable for this. Carlson, Hannity & others have blood on their hands. Immeasurable loss of life.
The patients know it too, but most find out minutes before intubation and never wake to regret it.
— Ryan (@NurseRyanRN) August 7, 2021
WHCA President @stevenportnoy emails members saying that the Biden admin has imposed a vaccine mandate on all White House visitors. "This requirement will include journalists," Portnoy says, adding those who don't attest to vaccine status will have to pay for same-day Covid test. pic.twitter.com/vT0nX9mFBJ
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 6, 2021
======
China reports more COVID-19 cases while some cities kick off new tests https://t.co/ci7lhAdRRF pic.twitter.com/E6qPnEyj33
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Wuhan, a megacity of 11.08 million, has completed coronavirus testing on its entire population. Test were ordered because of a rise in #DeltaVariant cases https://t.co/TKiFfPdSvK
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 8, 2021
Coronavirus: Chinese health experts call for change in zero-tolerance strategy https://t.co/iZvmb6Bzuw
— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) August 8, 2021
… Liu Guoen, director of the Peking University China Centre for Health Economic Research, said it would be difficult for the country to achieve zero cases given the rapid spread of the Delta variant. He told a webinar organised by tech firm Baidu on Friday that “serious and systematic discussion” was needed to decide whether to “adjust and optimise the current strategy”.
Speaking at the same event, Zeng Guang, chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, agreed that changes were needed to build stronger herd immunity and move towards ending the zero-Covid-19 approach.
“The vast majority are mild cases [in China’s latest outbreak], which should not have caused so much panic and pressure,” Zeng said. “Staying at zero cases is absolutely impossible from the perspective of the whole world … and other countries will not wait for zero cases before they open their borders.”
China is facing its worse outbreak in months, fuelled by the Delta variant, after a cluster emerged at an airport in Nanjing on July 20. It has now spread to at least 17 provinces, with dozens of cities affected including Wuhan, where the pandemic first erupted, Zhengzhou, a city recovering from last month’s deadly floods, and the capital Beijing.
Case numbers are relatively low – more than 600 infections so far in a population of 1.4 billion – and no deaths have been reported, but authorities have ordered millions of people to get tested and imposed travel curbs and lockdowns as they try to contain the outbreak.
These and other measures helped China achieve zero locally transmitted cases and 2.3 per cent GDP growth
during pandemic-hit 2020. But there are growing concerns the zero-tolerance strategy could start to bring more economic costs than benefits, especially as other nations move towards “living with the virus”. Those concerns have seen investment banks including Nomura and Goldman Sachs either cutting or signalling they may cut forecasts for China’s economic growth in the second half of the year…
India reports 35,499 new COVID-19 cases – govt statement https://t.co/UKDmCgo2qy pic.twitter.com/De1r3nYP8m
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics reported 26 new Games-related COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the total since July 1 to 430 cases. https://t.co/gBnbluwnQK
— Reuters Sports (@ReutersSports) August 8, 2021
Hundreds of Philippine hospitals near full capacity as virus cases surge https://t.co/FCIRDbLW1p pic.twitter.com/lQ9ssLVDXu
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Indonesia president to review virus curbs as regional cases surge https://t.co/uJYetbY8ng pic.twitter.com/VZQki9N1w0
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Australia's most populous state of New South Wales expanded its COVID-19 lockdown to the rural town of Tamworth due to concerns the virus may have spread from Sydney into the countryside https://t.co/g2vitOj4Ok pic.twitter.com/uq040izCnX
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Virus-free New Zealand plans border reopening amid labour shortage https://t.co/1crOPjOfDm pic.twitter.com/2fhSFInJMj
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Saudi Arabia to allow in vaccinated Umrah pilgrims https://t.co/X85en83Nwt
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 8, 2021
Tunisia vaccinates more than half a million people in a day https://t.co/NJT0T5iPPz pic.twitter.com/PjgOWfdyiK
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
Canada is lifting its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit, but the United States is keeping similar restrictions in place for Canadians. The reopening is part of a bumpy return to normalcy from COVID-19 travel bans. https://t.co/Bx4ppfSJWh
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 9, 2021
A U.S. judge has allowed Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. to demand that passengers show written proof of coronavirus vaccination before they board a ship, dealing a major blow to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's effort to ban 'vaccine passports' https://t.co/1ZPABxA0Te pic.twitter.com/rjSwqNCQmc
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 9, 2021
======
Moderna says its mRNA Covid vaccine is durable for at least 6 months. Meanwhile, variant-specific booster shots that Moderna is testing are generating "a robust" antibody response, the company says. It's carrying out clinical trials on 3 different boosters https://t.co/grt4renHmb pic.twitter.com/Nr6HkjMoB1
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 8, 2021
A new metric shows Covid cut average lifespan by nearly a decade in parts of the US. The metric assessed the impact of temporary "shocks" like the pandemic on life expectancy. To date, >600k have died in the pandemic in the US, 4.2 million globally https://t.co/aQCeiNZfYt
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 8, 2021
======
A picture that denotes the absence of a national strategy, of states rolling on their own, with leaders unwilling to adopt best practices for defending vs Delta, and which puts the whole country in jeopardy of further spread pic.twitter.com/YNZ7yzD55e
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 9, 2021
There is a national strategy, involves vaccination and mitigation thru social distancing and masking.
We just have an absurd amount of people pushing against it in the Republicans side.— Nick Done ?? (@NickDone8) August 9, 2021
HEALTH CARE WORKERS: If the surge overwhelms hospitals, we will not be able to provide adequate care to everyone. People will die, and it won't be just COVID-19 patients.
NEW YORK TIMES: If the surge overwhelms hospitals, this COULD hurt DeSantis politically. https://t.co/TdVpRZPFO1— Ethan Grey (@_EthanGrey) August 7, 2021
From local yoga studios to McDonald's, U.S. businesses of all sizes are reintroducing mask mandates. It's a reversal that nobody wanted to see, brought on by the fast-spreading delta variant of the coronavirus and new federal health guidance. https://t.co/qnDHPMgUJk
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 8, 2021
A Massachusetts vax update as we continue to slowly add
85% of all adults have had at least 1 jab…pretty impressive. 3 out of 4 adults fully vaccinated. Via @CohoKelly pic.twitter.com/fJx8vy6lnn
— Eric Fisher (@ericfisher) August 8, 2021
'I figured I'd just get it done': Free cream puffs brings in people to get vaccines at State Fair https://t.co/0sZE0QaCeH via @_gracemcdermott
— Mary Spicuzza (@MSpicuzzaMJS) August 8, 2021
YY_Sima Qian
On 8/8 China reported 94 new domestic confirmed cases & 8 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 57 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 1 community at Ruili remains at High Risk. 3 site at Ruili & 1 village at Longchuan County remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province reported 38 new domestic confirmed cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 568 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Anhui Province did not reported at new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province, both traced to the outbreak in Nanjing.
Liaoning Province did not reported at new domestic positive cases. There currently are 5 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province, all traced to the outbreak in Nanjing.
Guangdong Province did not reported at new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province, both traced to the outbreak in Nanjing.
Hunan Province reported 12 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) cases. There are currently are 85 domestic confirmed (including 4 serious) & 18 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Sichuan Province did not reported at new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered at Chengdu. There currently are 7 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province, all traced to the outbreaks in Nanjing & Zhangjiajie.
Henan Province reported 41 new domestic confirmed (40 previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There are currently 90 domestic confirmed & 51 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Hubei Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 40 domestic confirmed & 45 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Chongqing Municipality there are currently 2 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases, 2 had traveled to Xi’an in Shaanxi Province & 1 connected to the construction site cluster at Wuhan.
At Beijing Municipality there currently are 8 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all connected to the outbreak at Zhangjiajie in late Jul. 2 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.
At Yantai in Shandong Province reported 1 new domestic suspect case. There currently are 11 domestic confirmed, 3 domestic asymptomatic & 1 domestic suspect cases in the city, all likely traced to the outbreak in Nanjing. 3 sites remain at Medium Risk.
At Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 domestic confirmed case in the city, a person who had traveled from Changde in Hunan Province on 7/28, & a traced close contact w/ the boat cruise super-spreading event there.
At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 new domestic confirmed case (at Hailar), who had stayed at the same floor in same hotel at the same time as the confirmed case reported by Yinchuan. 1 residential compound has been elevated to Medium Risk.
At Haikou in Hainan Province there currently are 2 domestic confirmed cases in the city, a person who had crossed paths w/ the party from Huai’an in Jiangsu Province on company outing at Jingzhou high speed rail station & a worker at the airport. The two are unlikely to be connected. 1 township & an industrial park have been elevated to Medium Risk. 3 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently are 4 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all of whom are close contacts of the imported confirmed case (cargo flight crew) reported on 7/30. 2 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently is 1 domestic asymptomatic case, an airport ground staff & unlikely to be connected to other domestic outbreaks. 1 residential compound remains at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 8/8, China reported 31 new imported confirmed cases, 31 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 29 confirmed cases recovered, 19 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 43 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 1,538 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,604 active confirmed cases in the country (720 imported), 49 in serious condition (13 imported), 532 asymptomatic cases (401 imported), 1 suspect case (domestic). 48,314 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 8/8, 1,782.525M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 12.221M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 8/9, Hong Kong reported 2 new positive cases, both imported.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY, from the NYS Dept of Health:
123 new cases on 8/8.
My neighborhood Wegmans has decided that curbside pickup is now a permanent thing and they’ve reserved 8 to 12 parking spaces for grocery and pharmacy pickups.
A Ghost to Most
Once you brainwash em with religion, they’ll believe, and do, anything. Or not believe, nor do, anything.
p.a.
Current tRumpublican response to systemic racism: attack CRT and forbid teaching accurate US history.
Coming tRumpublican response to covid numbers: ban teaching statistics?
mrmoshpotato
Thanks for posting someone smacking down Topol’s malarkey.
MagdaInBlack
I want a cream puff, damn it.
satby
O2 saturation of 9 is insane. That’s a person who’s basically dead but all systems haven’t finished shutting down. Intubation is just prolonging death at that point, so I hope they didn’t do it. Her husband should be held liable too, because she certainly was incoherent or unconscious before the stroke.
When can we start calling them murderers?
MagdaInBlack
@satby: I’ve already started. Join me?
Mousebumples
Yesterday, my husband pointed out that we will have another Olympics in about 6 months – Winter 2022 games. In China, i believe. So we can do this crazy, socially distanced stuff again…
Mousebumples
@satby: I’m curious where his O2 sat was. If they both had untreated COVID, his could have been 45% or something, which is also crazy low and can impair brain function, presuming there are brain cells that haven’t been killed off by his Foxheimer’s.
YY_Sima Qian
@Mousebumples: The CCP regime would dearly love to hold the Beijing Winter Olympics w/ audiences in the stands, to the show the world its successful pandemic response, & to show up the Japanese to boot. Given the Delta Variant, & the lower effectiveness of the Chinese vaccines, I am not sure that is achievable. At least the Winter Olympics are much smaller than the summer ones.
Mary G
It’s depressing to read that Moderna shots may peter out in six months, since my second one was on Feb.28.
Portal to Moderna Clinical Trials. I checked to see if I could get into the booster trials, but seems they are all filled out here in CA. They are doing seven different trials for children 6-11 within 64 miles of me. That doesn’t say “going to be approved soon” to me. It must be hard to decide to allow your child to be a guinea pig, or possibly not get anything from being in the control group. There is only one other Covid trial, but you must be 55 or younger. Oh well.
satby
@MagdaInBlack: right there with ya
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack:
Just one? I admire your self control.
WereBear
Republicans always had that Denial-of-Reality thing going on. Now it’s killing them… and I don’t think it’s enough for too many.
mrmoshpotato
@satby: Start?
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: Them getting treats while I still get to wear a mask only adds to my resentment. I’ll take 4, 2 for each jab. Better? ?
MagdaInBlack
My best friends 4 y/o twin grandsons live in Birmingham, AL. One just spent a week in pediatric ICU with RSV. I look at that Alabama map and my god I want those kids out of there.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Sounds good to me!
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: OMG. That’s horrifying.
debbie
I hope someone gets a photo of Doocy’s vaccination card and checks its authenticity.
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear: Parents are vaccinated and those little guys refuse to go anywhere with out a mask. But, they were preemies and the one is a little more susceptible to respiratory issues
Eta: on the other hand, both parents had it early, before the vaccines, and kids didn’t get it, so who knows wtf.
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: Hope it all turns out okay.
This is a classic example of how anger is building. Threatening people’s children is more than a line in the sand. It’s a trench I hope they fall into.
How long before Faux News frames it as “die for the economy” like they did with grandparents? Has everyone forgotten that?
Spanky
My heart goes out to the medical personnel that have to deal with this shit.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 17,236 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,279,776 cases. He also reports 212 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 10,961 deaths — 0.86% of the cumulative reported total, 1.04% of resolved cases.
There are currently 227,230 active and contagious cases; 1,095 are in ICU, 579 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 15,187 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 1,041,585 patients recovered – 81.39% of the cumulative reported total.
36 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 3,974 clusters. 1,232 clusters are currently active; 2,742 clusters are now inactive.
17,207 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 5,712 local cases: 265 in clusters, 3,308 close-contact screenings, and 2,139 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 1,567 cases: 116 in clusters, 760 close-contact screenings, and 691 other screenings. Kedah reports 1,328 cases: 177 in clusters, 684 close-contact screenings, and 467 other screenings. Sabah reports 1,247 cases: 87 in clusters, 770 close-contact screenings, and 390 other screenings. Johor reports 1,231 local cases: 257 in clusters, 710 close-contact screenings, and 264 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 1,215 cases: 46 in clusters, 553 close-contact screenings, and 616 other screenings.
Perak reports 935 cases: 76 in clusters, 476 close-contact screenings, and 383 other screenings. Kelantan reports 914 cases: 134 in clusters, 597 close-contact screenings, and 183 other screenings. Penang reports 908 cases: 188 in clusters, 298 close-contact screenings, and 422 other screenings.
Pahang reports 604 cases: 85 in clusters, 407 close-contact screenings, and 112 other screenings.
Sarawak reports 589 cases: 121 in clusters, 390 close-contact screenings, and 78 other screenings. Terengganu reports 501 cases: 83 in clusters, 331 close-contact screenings, and 87 other screenings.
Melaka reports 360 cases: 41 in clusters, 189 close-contact screenings, and 130 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 66 cases: three in clusters, 45 close-contact screenings, and 18 other screenings. Perlis reports 22 cases: five in clusters, 12 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Labuan reports eight cases: one close-contact screening and seven other screenings.
29 new cases today are imported: 28 in Selangor and one in Johor.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 389,641 doses of vaccine on 8th August: 156,816 first doses and 232,825 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 24,542,437 doses administered: 15,772,101 first doses and 8,770,336 second doses. 26.9% of the population are now fully vaccinated.
Ken
I’m trying and failing to understand the Canada/US border thing. Given the relative numbers for vaccinations and cases, I’d think Canada would be shutting the border on the plague pit to the south, not the other way around. Money must be involved; it usually is when something makes no sense.
eclare
@Spanky: Same here for the workers. I have to imagine a large percentage will develop PTSD. Or already have it. They’ve had to deal with this for eighteen months.
Mousebumples
@Mary G: I read that info from the recently released study differently – as “durable immunity lasts AT LEAST 6 months” (and probably longer) I know they were doing trials last summer but I’m not sure how much long term, high volume data they have beyond 6 months, especially with delta around now.
Spanky
@Mousebumples: Correct. There’s barely 6 months of data available, let alone been collected and analyzed.
OzarkHillbilly
Seems like a lot to me. It would be nice to know the /100K number to have proper perspective..
tom
@Ken: it would not surprise me if it were simply stupidity or bureaucratic inertia.
lowtechcyclist
@tom:
Or the fact that the State Department (which I assume handles such things) lost a lot of people during the Trump years, and is probably still way understaffed, given the challenges of hiring in the age of Covid.
Robert Sneddon
@Spanky: There’s a small data set of people who were vaccinated with the Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, a hundred thousand volunteers who went through the Stage 3 trials. Half of them received the proper doses of the actual vaccines over a year ago in the double-blind process. I assume the vaccine makers have been tracking these folks but I’ve not seen anything specific about their antibody level measurements. Note that absolute antibody level numbers aren’t a perfect guarantee of protection from infection, just a good indication statistically speaking.
JMG
@OzarkHillbilly: There were over 10,000 athletes at Tokyo. Add in the coaches, administrators, support staff from catering to cleaning, venue staff and volunteers, there were probably 50,000 people with some direct connection to the Games. 430 out of 50,000 would be a less than 1 percent infection rate. Not great, but not terrible either.
I should add that when the athletes, coaches, etc. go back home there will surely be come clusters of infection due to the Games that happen thousands of miles away.
New Deal democrat
Hopefully the Pfizer and/or Moderna vaccines will receive permanent approval soon, and once that happens the US government will make it mandatory for all employees, including all military. Hopefully also many blue States will make vaccination mandatory for all students over age 12. Further, one thing that has been long overdue in the national response is a cordon sanitaire with 14 day quarantines between recalcitrant red States and the others, including all forms of interstate travel, and backed up by the federal government.
Finally, I have no window into what sort of public service announcements might be going out to the Black community, but it unfortunately is one of the three big reservoirs of the unvaccinated. Considering how quickly Black public opinion changed once Obama’s views “evolved” on gay marriage, I have to think that public service announcements by Barack and Michele Obama in favor of vaccination, receiving saturation play on Black media, would work wonders there.
OzarkHillbilly
@JMG:OK, thanx, I knew it would be a fair number but had no real idea how big that number would be. 1% ain’t bad at all.
Sloane Ranger
Sunday in the UK we had 27,429 new cases. This is a fall from the day before but, again, this is the weekend and offices are closed. We will get a better idea of new case numbers today and tomorrow. In any case, the fall did not prevent the rolling 7-day average from increasing by 1.9%. New cases by nation,
England – 24,196 (down 1681)
Northern Ireland – 1129 (down 220)
Scotland – 1240 (down 146)
Wales – 864 (includes Saturday’s cases).
Deaths – There were 39 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. This is an increase of 14.5% in the rolling 7-day average. 35 were in England, 1 in Northern Ireland and 3 in Wales.
Testing – Not updated at weekends.
Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.
Vaccinations – As of Saturday, 7 August, 47,036,796 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 39,466,264 had received both. This means that 88.9% of all adults in the UK had had 1 shot by this date and 74.5% were fully vaccinated.
Ken
Chicago has a travel advisory, with visitors from certain states advised to get a test or quarantine for ten days. As this says, if cases continue to increase they will change it to an order which if I understand correctly makes the test or quarantine mandatory.
VOR
State was especially abused under TFG. A lot of experienced talent decided it was a good time to retire and openings were not filled. If any reporters are looking for a story, they ought to go agency by agency to see level of vacancy, of jobs not filled. Remember, TFG’s #1 criteria was loyalty to TFG, not competence. He probably signed off on all posts personally, which means there was an inherent bottleneck for jobs.
PST
@Ken: Unfortunately, no one paid attention to the order when it was in force, no one pays attention to the advisory, and no one will pay attention if it becomes an order again. There is simply no way to enforce it without a workable, universal way of proving vaccination status. Chicago, where I live, is still in pretty good shape, but I’m back to keeping a couple of masks on my bike and in my pocket so I have them when I go to a place that requires them or somewhere I don’t feel comfortable.
Fair Economist
@YY_Sima Qian: The 8 new asymptomatic cases concern me. That’s too few, especially with China’s now decent vax rate, and I fear asymptomatic cases are slipping through the cordons.
Suzanne
If you are willing to eat that giant-ass cream puff, but won’t get the vaccine because you’re concerned about “what goes in your body”, then you’re dumber than a bag full of hammers.
OTOH, I’ll give you some damn cream puffs if that’s what it takes at this point. Cream puffs for everyone!
Mary G
@Spanky: Judging by some of the nurses and doctors I follow on Twitter, we are in danger of losing a huge percentage of healthcare workers who take care of COVID patients, to burnout, nervous breakdowns, PTSD, suicide. Some are raging, some are in despair.
One of the TV networks and some hospital have to have the balls to get HIPAA waivers from patients’ designated representatives, and show them gasping, choking, being intubated and flipped over like a pancake every few hours, then dying a lingering death.
MomSense
@WereBear:
It’s just appalling what an afterthought children are in this country.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 851 new cases of COVID-19 reported with no new reported deaths of someone who had tested positive (noting that Register Offices are now generally closed at weekends). Test positivity rate is 6.7%. Hospitalisations and ICU bed occupancy numbers remain steady with the caveat that the weekend reporting of healthcare statistics is often delayed.
About 20,500 vaccinations were administered in Scotland yesterday (Sunday) with less than 10% of those vaccinations being first doses. 75.0% of the 18+ adult population are now fully vaccinated with another 15% having received their initial dose of vaccine.
Scotland exited level zero restrictions today, opening up public facilities such as gyms etc. to unrestricted access, no COVID-19-related limit on occupancy etc. Places like healthcare offices, public transport etc. are continuing with a mask mandate and distancing requirements and hospitality venues (pubs, restaurants etc.) are expected to continue requesting information for customers. Shops may well continue with a mask requirement for the moment at least.
It’s unlikely we’ll see the acrylic dividers in place in shops, restaurants etc. coming down any time soon although our local Hacklab folks are looking forward to a bountiful harvest of cheap/free scrap acrylic in the future to feed the lab’s laser cutters. Clouds, silver linings etc.
Cermet
Interesting in the WP, an expert pointed out that you are far more likely to die from the ‘common’ flu (if you get it) then the Delta Covid virus (again, if you get it) if you have the Covid vaccination. That really puts the risk issue into an easy to understand light.
Cermet
@Robert Sneddon: Be careful – in all cases of whether vaccine, or recovered from the illness – antibodies in the blood stream always fall and in most case, a great deal after a year. The issue, and why vaccines really work (and work well) is when memory T-cells are created; the body is then primed for action and quickly defeats the developing virial infection. Beyond any doubt the three vaccines in the US produce these critical memory T-cells so antibodies levels are a good bit of a red herring.
YY_Sima Qian
@Fair Economist: I am not sure why there are so few asymptomatic cases in the most recent Delta outbreaks in China, but it is consistent with the distribution during the Delta outbreak in Guangdong Province inn Jun.
China is doing multiple rounds of mass screenings at municipal or district levels wherever there are clusters of cases, as part of the SOP (w/ anywhere from 90 – 98% coverage of total population, those < 3 y.o. are exempt). Therefore, if there is any country that is capturing a very high percentage asymptomatic cases, it should be China. Zhengzhou & Zhuhou have been the exception to this pattern, but the last 2 days many of the asymptomatic cases have turned symptomatic.
I have noticed that imported confirmed (meaning symptomatic) cases also typically outnumber imported asymptomatic cases, it used to be the reverse. Presumably the vast majority of imported cases are Delta variant now, except those coming from Latin America.
It has long been speculated the Delta Variant is more virulent, I think perhaps we are seeing evidence of that. It is not just the low percentage of asymptomatic cases, but the distribution of symptomatic cases. In past outbreaks, mild cases typically outnumber moderate cases. That pattern has not held during the Delta outbreaks in China so far, w/ moderate cases significantly outnumbering mild ones. The data out of Yangzhou may reflect the significant skew toward elderly demographic (> 60% of cases are > 60 y.o.), who also happen to the least vaccinated population in China, relatively speaking. Hence, the relatively high number of serious or critical cases. The data out of Nanjing should be less impacted by age skew.
Chinese authorities have claimed that, even controlling for age, the fully vaccinated cases have lighter symptoms that unvaccinated ones. My cousins who are medical workers at Nanjing confirm this, & also shared that those who are vaccinated progress through moderate/severe symptoms much more quickly than the unvaccinated.
Lastly, I suspect China’s definition of asymptomatic case is more strict than elsewhere. Even w/ the mass screenings, China never reported as high a proportion of asymptomatic cases as the rest of the world. For reference, below are the case definitions used by China National Health Commission:
Kelly
Pac Mac updated for the pandemic
https://twitter.com/Nivekian13/status/1424407105621184512
Robert Sneddon
@Cermet: Pretty much everyone, other than monks and nuns in a cloistered order perhaps, is regularly being exposed to the COVID-19 virus. Go out anywhere today in the UK or the US where there’s more than a dozen or more people, you’re going to be breathing in some virus particles pretty much guaranteed. Sure, with vaccination and masks and the like you’re unlikely to get an actual infection where lots of fresh SARS-CoV-2 virus particles are being mass-produced in your body’s cells but you will be constantly generating some antibodies because of all those viral protein coats in your environment -> in your lungs -> in your bloodstream.
Statistically speaking vaccinated people should have higher levels of antibodies in their bloodstream compared to unvaccinated people but for a given individual those levels are not an absolute predictor for immunity from COVID-19. Epidemics and vaccination are both statistical.
burnspbesq
That map scares the bejeebers out of me. Supposed to be road-tripping from Austin to Asheville next month. Not looking forward to spouse’s reaction when I suggest a 1,000-mile detour and two additional days each way.
YY_Sima Qian
Yesterday, Yangzhou Municipal Health Commission published the transmission chain for the outbreak in the city, as of end of 8/6:
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@MagdaInBlack: come for the vaccine, get a cream puff, & stay for the sugar ray n’ lit show.
Uncle Cosmo
Sheeyit, they might as well – it’s not like any of the numbnutz actually learn it when it’s taught to ’em.
Edward Teller, “mother who claimed credit for the H-bomb” ** once claimed humanity would go extinct due to our inability to emotionally grasp the exponential function.
As with so many things outside his expertise, he was wrong. It has long been this former Stat 101 instructor’s belief that
** Just FTR, it was In fact his sidekick, Polish mathematician Stan Ulam, who had the key insight; the result should properly be known as the Ulam-Teller configuration and not the other way around. Teller’s key contribution to regress-in-science was (aided and abetted by the bastard Lewis Strauss at the head of the AEC) hounding J. Robert Oppenheimer into a premature undeserved grave.
Another Scott
@Uncle Cosmo: Doesn’t sound like Teller. Made me look.
Wikipedia says it was Albert Allen Bartlett in the context of population growth.
Responses to SARS-CoV-2 indicate that it’s still a huge problem…
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
glc
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/09/america-is-flying-blind-when-it-comes-to-the-delta-variant
Uncle Cosmo
Funnel cakes! Twinkies! Nutty Buddies! JFC, Dixie Cups with a picture of TFG on the top, if that’s what it takes!!
Uncle Cosmo
@Another Scott: Interesting – I’ve always seen it credited to Teller. My bad, I guess. But it’s so tempting to take a shot at the paranoid Hungarian physicist…
Uncle Cosmo
FTR, that sign at the hair place really oughta read
Otherwise some smartass sumbidge’ll walk in masked, take it off before the door closes behind them and dare the proprietor to pitch their wuthless butt out.
Another Scott
@glc: Thanks for the pointer.
I’m not sure that the CDC could be doing anything differently given the continued lack of testing – especially genomic testing required to determine which variant it is.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-21/us-isn-t-prepared-to-track-covid-variants-as-delta-mutation-spreads
The CDC publicizing unrepresentative data can be as bad as not reporting data. About the best they can do is try to do representative samples and keep track internally.
Cheers,
Scott.
dc
@YY_Sima Qian:
I’m surprised they haven’t closed these parlors. They are Covid’s best friend.
YY_Sima Qian
@dc: Poker & mahjong are the lifeblood of many Chinese retirees. The outbreak at Yangzhou is seeded by the index traveling from Nanjing on 9/21 to visit her sister there. despite the Nanjing authorities having issued a Do Not Travel guidance to all residents that morning. Upon arrival at Yangzhou, she failed to report herself to local community workers that she had just came from Nanjing (which would have triggered mandatory testing and at least home quarantine). Instead, she hit the parlors. She first developed symptoms on 7/24, but did not go to a hospital until 7/27, when she tested positive. She was hitting the parlors during those symptomatic days, as well. That is why she is now detained for violating pandemic response laws.
The parlors were not closed in Yangzhou because until 7/27 there were no reported cases there.
Parlors in Jiangning District in Nanjing also accelerated the outbreak there. Indeed, the index case at Yangzhou was probably infected at a parlor at Jiangning. The 1st cases at Nanjing had developed symptoms on 7/13, but were not identified until 7/20. Before the 1st cases were identified, there was no reason to close the parlors. The parlors were not closed in Jiangning until 7/22, before then the authorities were hoping that the outbreak was still contained in the airport.
Even after the outbreaks at Nanjing & Yangzhou became clear & authorities ordered all indoor services closed, some parlors still operated under the stable, speakeasy style. Gambling w/ poker and mahjong are addictions.