Strongest 24 hours of vaccinations since before July 4th.
Vaccine requirements and incentives are starting to pay off — as well as the tragedy of seeing so much needless illness and loss due to Delta's impact on the unvaccinated. https://t.co/EKk2zdDzuj
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) August 13, 2021
CDC advisers back 3rd vaccine doses for immunocompromised people. Additional doses of Pfizer-BioNTech & Moderna mRNA vaccines could be available as soon as this weekend. The CDC independent advisory panel approved the booster dose a day after FDA approval https://t.co/AQ8OgCaxHE
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 13, 2021
Evidence-based guidance @CDCgov on boosters for some immune-compromised people *only*.
-Some studies show that many don't generate antibodies after full vaccination
-They account for >40% of hospitalized breakthrough cases
-They make up <3% of the US adult population pic.twitter.com/O5F4SNx8Sq— Amy Maxmen, PhD (@amymaxmen) August 13, 2021
The delta variant is moving the goalposts for ending the pandemic https://t.co/xEXO24dM1P
— Bloomberg (@business) August 13, 2021
As #DeltaVariant spreads, so does PTSD among health care workers: 'I'm living in a parallel reality,' reports a clinician who has been inundated w/ patients https://t.co/adVIa1I6QF
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 13, 2021
The Delta waves in the US and Canada, a striking contrast. Fully vaccinated of total population:
Canada 64%
US 50% pic.twitter.com/eoEjSGZ3uK— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) August 13, 2021
Everything is interconnected…
Could wildfires be exacerbating Covid? Researchers estimate that there were nearly 20,000 extra coronavirus infections and 750 Covid deaths associated with wildfire smoke between March and December 2020. https://t.co/R2qlnBcaB3
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 13, 2021
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has paid $1 billion to 150,000 people to help cover coronavirus funeral expenses. Nearly 620,000 people have died in the U.S. from the virus. https://t.co/w2oejkWDg1
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 13, 2021
======
Poor countries were supposed to get coronavirus vaccines through a shared international system. But in June, Britain got twice as many doses as all of Africa. https://t.co/JXvxGxXyEd
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 14, 2021
China's new locally transmitted COVID cases down for the 4th straight day https://t.co/VTaYQBy0lt pic.twitter.com/Ym8q5VvVK9
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2021
China has issued new guidelines upping requirement of mask wearing, including in outdoor areas, as the country grapples with its worst resurgence of #COVID19 in over a year.
The #DeltaVariant is spreading across more than half of China's provinces.https://t.co/HgiDRpPlhs
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) August 13, 2021
India reports 38,667 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours https://t.co/pkPlia7ysy pic.twitter.com/lbyBhMC27z
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2021
Tokyo reported a record 5,773 coronavirus cases on Friday. Japan’s daily cases have topped 10,000 for more than a week, hospitals are filling up and thousands of infected are isolating at home. About 36% of Japan’s population has been fully vaccinated. https://t.co/xUv41Uuaq3
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 13, 2021
Philippine health ministry says no corruption in $1.3 bln pandemic funds https://t.co/6znqMtnHZT pic.twitter.com/S6ySVXAk4d
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2021
Sydney lockdown extended statewide as Australia faces 'worst' COVID episode https://t.co/bainDYhQ4X pic.twitter.com/X6QhlyYGvy
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2021
Australia's New South Wales reports record spike in COVID-19 cases to 466 https://t.co/3Mf51xswxA pic.twitter.com/URvsRBqt0M
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2021
Australia’s vax program is racing ahead, with record ?? in 24hrs. But its Indigenous communities — most at risk — have been left behind.
Now the worst case scenario has happened: an outbreak in a remote Outback town with a sizable Aboriginal population. https://t.co/GGNvID1oit
— Michael Miller (@MikeMillerDC) August 13, 2021
Nurses in Walgett’s vaccination center prepare to give out Pfizer doses this morning. (Photo courtesy of Walgett Shire Council General Manager Michael Urquhart) pic.twitter.com/bHj64h2Hbx
— Michael Miller (@MikeMillerDC) August 13, 2021
With parliamentary elections looming, the Kremlin is wary of pushing Russians too hard to do something a majority are against: getting vaccinated, @JakeCordell reports https://t.co/EQPBvuM38x
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) August 13, 2021
Canada will require travelers on commercial planes, trains and ships to be fully vaccinated, along with federal employees. @shellykhagan https://t.co/b8fYJuc6sY via @bpolitics
— Danielle Bochove (@daniellebochove) August 13, 2021
======
For your ‘rationalist’ acquaintances…
An evidenced-based response to vaccine hesitancy concerns: https://t.co/fW2b0jHeNK
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) August 13, 2021
Some 2.5 million full genome sequences of #SARSCoV2 have been uploaded to @GISAID https://t.co/kOxRo7phCZ
Global pattern show:
– declining alpha & beta variants
– soaring #DeltaVariant in most of the world
– #Brazil steady with gamma form
– And lambda still concentrated in #Peru.— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) August 13, 2021
Young people have questions about COVID-19 vaccines. Experts from @JohnsHopkinsSPH have answers.
⬇️ Check out this informative thread, available in both English and Spanish: https://t.co/2owOMIzxyH
— Johns Hopkins University (@JohnsHopkins) August 13, 2021
You are not a 1200lb ungulate, so don’t eat horse paste — not even the apple-flavored variety!
A doctor strongly advises against taking vet meds for coronavirus: "Lets say it was manufactured for a large horse but a human takes it, it can create lo blood pressure, rapid heart rates, seizures; there are even episodes when layers of your skin fall off https://t.co/13SLkclvic pic.twitter.com/Q5g1cerTq0
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) August 14, 2021
======
Jeff Zeints @WhiteHouse #Coronavirus Resp Coordr:
"In the past week, Florida has had more #COVID cases than all 30 states w/the lowest case rates, combined. #Florida & #Texas have acct'ed for 40% of new hospitalizations across the country."
Thanks @GovRonDeSantis & @GovAbbott . pic.twitter.com/LPEIZGHK0u— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) August 13, 2021
NEW From @acolleendg and @carla_astudi: COVID cases are skyrocketing in Texas nursing homes, where nearly half of workers are unvaccinated https://t.co/Li5P6sub0n #txlege pic.twitter.com/PqeU0lVBjA
— Evan Smith (@evanasmith) August 13, 2021
A person who had a heart attack had to take a 2-hour ambulance ride, passing 6 hospitals, to find a facility to care for them.
The other hospitals were filled with COVID patients.
“If you don’t think this does not impact you, you’re absolutely wrong."
https://t.co/varNnm1Q5Y— The Advocate (@theadvocatebr) August 14, 2021
A rural Mississippi community is overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases, two weeks after hosting the Neshoba County Fair that drew thousands who lived in cabins, attended shoulder-to-shoulder outdoor concerts and listened to stump speeches. https://t.co/tOh5vbVKa7
— WNCT (@wnct9) August 14, 2021
NYC transmission rates skyrocket as delta variant hits 90% of Covid cases: https://t.co/n1phX2NCzs via @NBCNewYork
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) August 13, 2021
Dodgy. https://t.co/ia4YTShim8
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) August 14, 2021
BREAKING: AEG, the second largest concert promoter in the US behind Live Nation, is taking the dramatic step of requiring proof of vaccination at all of its US venues. https://t.co/4WAgZvd1ZX pic.twitter.com/k36KUq1d5r
— Consequence (@consequence) August 12, 2021
AEG owns and/or operates a number of major US festivals, including Coachella, Hangout, and Firefly, as well as an array of venues ranging from Los Angeles' Staples Center and Las Vegas' The Colosseum to New York City's Brooklyn Steel and Webster Hall. https://t.co/4WAgZvd1ZX
— Consequence (@consequence) August 12, 2021
rikyrah
Go Canada.
Wanna travel by something other than a car?
Be vaccinated??????
rikyrah
We have to get vaccines to the rest of the world.?
Fan of Facts
State Representative who sponsored multiple anti-mask bills and spoke at rallies against Covid vaccination is in the hospital with Covid:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article252162998.html
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY web site says 122 new cases on 8/12, 4.5% test positivity. 143 new cases based on NYS Dept of Health site data.
I still N95-masked-and-gloved up and went out yesterday to get a new cell phone activated. Within 2 weeks I’ll know if that was a mistake.
Fan of Facts
More on that lawmaker: https://www.wral.com/conservative-nc-lawmaker-ill-wife-hospitalized-with-covid/19823341/
rikyrah
@NeenerNeener:
??????????
Rob
That Lalo Alcaraz cartoon is funny, and terrifying
YY_Sima Qian
On 8/13 China reported 30 new domestic confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild, a Chinese national), at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture. The case is a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. 3 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 47 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases there. 1 community at Ruili remains at High Risk. 3 zones & 2 villages at Ruili, & 1 village at Longchuan County, are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province reported 18 new domestic confirmed cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 729 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Hunan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently are 106 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 18 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Henan Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) cases. There are currently 155 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic suspect cases in the province.
Hubei Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) cases. There currently are 87 active domestic confirmed & 71 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Beijing Municipality there currently are 9 active domestic confirmed cases, all connected to the outbreak at Zhangjiajie in late Jul. The 2 Medium Risk residential compounds have been re-designated as Low Risk.
At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 active 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 remains at Medium Risk.
At Haikou in Hainan Province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases, 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. 2 sites remain at Medium Risk.
At Ningbo in Zhejiang Province there is 1 domestic asymptomatic case, a dock worker at the port there.
Imported Cases
On 8/13, China reported 36 new imported confirmed cases (4 previously asymptomatic), 18 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 43 confirmed cases recovered, 24 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 7 were reclassified as confirmed cases, & 4,953 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,907 active confirmed cases in the country (739 imported), 62 in serious condition (10 imported), 487 active asymptomatic cases (383 imported), 2 suspect cases (1 imported). 46,044 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 8/13, 1,844.382M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 11.932M doses in the past 24 hrs. 777.056M individuals have been fully vaccinated in the country, or 55% of the population.
On 8/14, Hong Kong reported 5 new positive case, all imported (from Switzerland, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka & the US).
p.a.
Remember when Canada was lagging in vax rate? No more. Guess P.O.S. Rupert will chalk the Great White North up as a ‘fail’.
YY_Sima Qian
More reports are emerging from the outbreak at Hucheng County in Shangqiu, Henan Province, specifically possible attempts by members of the county authorities to hide cases. Apparently, 1 of the family members reported as domestic confirmed case on 8/14 actually has been under quarantine since 8/3 & had developed symptoms on the same day, but was not tested until 8/13. Therefore, at least 1 member of the family was identified as a close contact, but the person was not tested to prevent her identification as a confirmed case. When the couple checked into the hospital on 8/6, they were asked whether they or their family members have been to any Medium or High Risk areas, including the shopping where 2 of the early confirmed cases had worked at, they did not answer truthfully.
The confirmed case that 1 of the members of the new family cluster had close contact w/ on 7/30 was sent to quarantine 7/31, after a colleague had tested positive (that person had cared for a relative at the #6 Hospital at Zhengzhou). The case was only identified as a positive case on 8/3, yet he may have been infectious on 7/30. Was he not tested when entering quarantine? Perhaps the hiding of cases started at end of Jul. Alternatively, the case was infectious for at least 4 days before testing positive, which is scary w/ the Delta Variant.
I suspect the family may have powerful local connections. The woman was giving birth to her 3rd child, which meant her pregnancy started well before the Chinese government announced raising of limit to 3 children per couple. Unless she or her spouse is an ethnic minority, the pregnancy would have violated the then 2-Children Policy. If the relative under quarantine had tested positive when first developing symptoms on 8/4, the couple would have been identified as close contacts, & she would have been sent to a designated COVID-19 hospital to give birth, & her spouse may not have been able to serve as caretaker.
I do not understand the thought processes of people who purposely lie to contact tracers, or officials who hide cases. With the kind of big data available to Chinese authorities, they will be able to find at least some circumstantial evidence for a close contact in most case. Hiding cases means not triggering NPI measures, & the resulting outbreak will be detected sooner or later, especially w/ the high transmissivity of the Delta Variant. In China, the outbreak will be detected sooner, rather than later.
1 selfish old lady circumventing pandemic response measures shut down the city of Yangzhou. The same will happen to Hucheng County, & probably the larger Shangqiu city.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 20,670 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,384,353 cases. He also reports 260 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 12,228 deaths — 0.88% of the cumulative reported total, 1.07% of resolved cases.
There are currently 243,942 active and contagious cases; 1,096 are in ICU, 540 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 17,655 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 1,128,183 patients recovered – 81.50% of the cumulative reported total.
34 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 4,154 clusters. 1,308 clusters are currently active; 2,846 clusters are now inactive.
20,662 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 6,601 local cases: 385 in clusters, 3,377 close-contact screenings, and 2,839 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 2,027 local cases: 134 in clusters, 949 close-contact screenings, and 944 other screenings.
Kedah reports 1,796 cases: 97 in clusters, 976 close-contact screenings, and 723 other screenings. Sabah reports 1,752 cases: 11 in clusters, 1,063 close-contact screenings, and 678 other screenings. Johor reports 1,425 cases: 282 in clusters, 770 close-contact screenings, and 373 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,370 cases: 136 in clusters, 906 close-contact screenings, and 328 other screenings. Penang reports 1,251 cases: 160 in clusters, 397 close-contact screenings, and 694 other screenings. Perak reports 1,002 local cases: 84 in clusters, 331 close-contact screenings, and 587 other screenings.
Pahang reports 794 cases: 203 in clusters, 466 close-contact screenings, and 125 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 727 cases: 27 in clusters, 388 close-contact screenings, and 312 other screenings. Sarawak reports 724 local cases: 165 in clusters, 357 close-contact screenings, and 202 other screenings.
Terengganu reports 560 cases: 79 in clusters, 385 close-contact screenings, and 96 other screenings. Melaka reports 521 cases: 80 in clusters, 190 close-contact screenings, and 251 other screenings.
Perlis reports 61 cases: three in clusters, 30 close-contact screenings, and 28 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 51 cases: 31 close-contact screenings and 20 other screenings.
Labuan reports no new cases today.
Eighr new cases today are imported: five in Selangor, one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Perak, and one in Sarawak.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 462,860 doses of vaccine on 13th August: 162,182 first doses and 300,678 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 26,851,765 doses administered: 16,707,566 first doses and 10,144,199 second doses. 51.2% of the population have received their first dose, while 31.1% are now fully vaccinated.
rikyrah
PhDeezNutz (@D4Real8645) tweeted at 9:22 PM on Fri, Aug 13, 2021:
So I was told, according to insiders, the big Republican plan is to discourage vaccines and masks so that the Biden administration is stuck having to deal with this pandemic the entire time.
#DumbestPlanEver
(https://twitter.com/D4Real8645/status/1426368477082918916?s=02)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Fan of Facts:
I hope he dies.
Mary G
@YY_Sima Qian: It’s reassuring that China has at least a few knuckleheads if certainly many fewer than we do here in the USA. Will they suffer any kind of penalty or will they skate by due to money and/or connections?
The OC had 933 new cases and two deaths today which isn’t an increase. Twice as many as all of Australia, go us.
The doctors and nurses tweeting out of Florida, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi are almost at the end of their ropes. We need to make sure that the inevitable PTSD so many will suffer is taken care of, not ignored like that of so many Vietnam veterans was for so long. The big conglomerate hospitals run by hedge funders will wipe their hands and walk away counting their money, after laying off the oldest, highest paid, and loud complainers. The government has to do a special program like the 9/11 fund for police and firefighters Congress finally established.
raven
It’s sorority rush here and the main greek drag is already peppered with maskless girls in tiny dresses and wobbly heels. God I’m glad I never had kids.
MagdaInBlack
@raven: Right there with ya on the kid thing.
Betsy
@raven: Let’s be sure and focus on the guys, though.
Ridiculous as those women look, there’s no harm to anyone from their tiny dresses and teetering heels.
Those women are doing what they’re doing because they don’t yet see a better way forward for themselves under the patriarchy.
Spanky
@raven:
Usually a sentence with “drag”, “tiny dresses”, and “wobbly heels” doesn’t go in the direction yours does.
I was willing to have my heart broken by my own daughters, but nature had other plans. No sons, either.
Kay
@raven:
Hopefully they’re vacced at least. My middle son went to Lollapalooza with 5 other people – he says they were all vacced. 7 hours Duluth to Chicago in a van- I hope so.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Works for me. Fewer voters on their side. //
OzarkHillbilly
I’m glad I had my sons. The best part? Granddaughters.
New Deal democrat
A few items of interest:
1. Barry Ritholtz says he is at “DEFCON3” about Delta’s impact on the economy:
https://ritholtz.com/2021/08/delta-is-coming-for-your-economic-recovery/
I’m not there yet, but restaurant reservations (the first place the crash showed up in March 2020) finally took a hit this past week:
https://ritholtz.com/2021/08/delta-is-coming-for-your-economic-recovery/
2. Florida’s weekly data dump once again showed record new cases and deaths, bumping the US weekly average of deaths up to 650/day vs. 215 a month ago. On the other hand, for the second week in a row the increase in cases decelerated.
3. While DeSantis and Abbott deserve every bit of loathing being hurled at them, Florida’s vaccination rate is not low – it is right in the middle of the pack. Even States like NY have nearly 40% unvaccinated, and Winter is Coming. The regional catastrophe might look very different in 4 months.
4. Which means, I am totally in favor of Biden bringing the hammer down as soon as any vaccine receives final approval: mandatory vaccinations for all federal workers and contractors, mandatory vaccinations for all teens and adults in order to travel interstate on trains, buses, ships, and airplanes, and strong encouragement for all schools and State governments to enforce similar mandates.
debbie
@Fan of Facts:
This has happened to Gov. DeWine. Laws have been passed, and now, when reporters ask him about mandates, etc., his stock response is “There isn’t the appetite for that now.” Grrr, bastard’s put his reelection above peoples’ lives.
Barbara
@YY_Sima Qian:Public health types will tell you that if the consequences of being truthful are perceived to be harsh or onerous a significant number of people will lie, whether it’s about drug use or other risky behavior or exposure to disease.
New Deal democrat
@New Deal democrat: corrected link for restaurant reservations:
https://www.opentable.com/state-of-industry
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
What I didn’t realize about grandchildren is you see your own kids (as children) in them. My grandaughter plays EXACTLY like my daughter did – same kind of oblivious cheerfullness and busyness.
NorthLeft12
Here in Ontario we have 82% of the eligible (12 years and older) with one dose and 73% fully vaccinated……and it still is not good enough.
My thanks to the Canadian government for stepping up and requiring vaccinations for their employees and for activities (travel) under their responsibility. Although I woke up this morning to read that the Ontario government is mandating all health care workers to be vaccinated, and pushing back any reopening plans for the foreseeable future.
It took them three waves, but it looks like the Cons have finally learned to take this seriously.
Ken
@Kay: I’m just hoping the vast crowds on the Mall for Reinstatement Day don’t turn into another superspreader event.
LiminalOwl
@rikyrah: YES. And it is horrendous to read of thousands of doses (or more) beng thrown out in the US because the “hesitant” are not using them. For all sakes’ sake, people, send those doses to where they are desperately wanted in other countries, rather than holding them in the land of wilful ignorance until they expire!
debbie
@Kay:
I’ve enjoyed watching my brothers having to deal with the same kind of rebelliousness and defiance they directed at their parents when they were children. “I was never this bad.” “Oh yes, you were.” Karma is a bitch.
Kay
@Ken:
I think people have to get out, especially young people. I don’t want to go to huge concerts anymore, but they do. At least let them out in the summer- that way they’re outdoors so it’s less of a risk. No one enjoys summer like people who live in Chicago. The first day that’s above, oh, 60 degrees they’re all out in tank tops on the beach. They’ve earned summer with those brutal winters :)
Barbara
@debbie: One of the funniest things to see are dads contemplating the prospect that their daughters will be dating boys “just like dad.” One told me he would prohibit dating until his daughter turned 21. “You were that bad were you?” was my response.
raven
@Betsy: Yea, you’d love it. The idiot frat boys set up couches across the street, look through binoculars and hold up scorecards.
raven
@Ken: Why? Fuck em.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: I had sons and I get grandsons, and I couldn’t be happier. ?
Betty
Delta continues to rise quickly here in Dominica. From 10 to 363 cases in about two weeks in a population of 70,000. The first round topped out at 189 confirmed. There is dramatically more testing this time. The UK just sent a bunch of Astra Zeneca to the Caribbean. We received 12,000 doses which could get us over 50 percent if the hesitants can be convinced to get it. Lots of the conspiracy theories are prevalent throughout the region. There have been multiple protests against mandated vaccination. We are under lockdown for at least another week. Meanwhile tropical storms are coming fast and furious.
Kay
@Ken:
I’m still mad Trump got away with never admitting he lost. The rules are that after the election we all get to read about the giant loss for the loser with all the bitter blind quotes from campaign staff about how the loser ruined everything. We were robbed of that.
I was genuinely looking forward to the sad-faced Trump children publicly reckoning with their unemployed status.
Barbara
@Betty: Wishing you luck in all departments, weather and disease related.
Kay
@JPL:
Little boys are great. So far we have one girl and one girl to be in September, but no little boys.
debbie
@Barbara:
Two of my brothers had daughters and they said that. Their daughters were far craftier than their fathers ever anticipated!
MagdaInBlack
@Kay: What I have noticed with my friends grandkids is seeing my lifelong friend in them. More than once I’ve said ” oh my god that child is you!”
And we laugh and laugh, knowing whats in store ?
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
“I was never this bad.” were words I never uttered because I knew I was worse. Far worse.
p.a.
Mon/Tues wake/funeral for a close relative (cancer not covid), (meaning I can’t, or at least shouldn’t, just show (masked) face and split) and the crowd will be 90% the worst of the worst wingnut covidiots. I’m not going to be polite if challenged, I’ll drop fbombs if necessary because I no longer give a flying fuck what these people think about me.
Brachiator
I don’t even understand the “logic” of this. Why would someone do something more complicated and risky as taking horse medication rather than getting the vaccine?
How do you apply this stuff? Do you eat it? Or smear it all over your body?
Do people feel more in control self-administering this stuff vs getting a shot?
Where are people getting the medical advice that says that this stuff is effective?
In short, the idea of getting a shot seems simpler and easier to me. Get the vaccine and you are done. Why do some people see freedom and personal responsibility in more elaborate and questionable nonsense?
LiminalOwl
Anybody in the mood for two more examples of the GQP Limbo? (Forgive me, please, if there was a discussion that I missed. I’ve been pretty sick—not with Covid—for six weeks now, and my brain is deteriorating.)
1. DeSantis is trying to get a lawsuit, by parents who want to keep their kids safe, thrown out. Because asking him to obey the Florida constitution’s mandate fir safe schools “infringes on the authority of the executive branch.”
2. Tucker Carlson (I know, I know) mocking AOC’s fears of sexualized violence during the insurrection, and indeed the whole idea of sexual violence.
debbie
@p.a.:
I would hope they would have the decency, given the occasion, to refrain from their bullshit.
Brachiator
@Kay:
I am just glad that he is gone, banned from most social media, and that I don’t have to think about him.
Have we passed another one of those mythical deadlines where someone would prove that he won the election and he would become president again?
He is a loser even if he can’t admit it. Big loser. Sore loser. Loser.
Central Planning
Why does my SIL want me to take a garbage bag filled with returnables to her sister instead of just returning them and giving me the money (what, maybe $3.45?) to deliver? Or just keep them and I’ll giver her the money. Ugh!
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: I think alt-med and conspiracy people generally want to believe that they’re in the special club who know a truth inaccessible to others. If regular doctors say not to take something, that’s actually a positive for them. And there are quacks out there pushing any quack treatment you care to name.
Kay
@MagdaInBlack:
That’s nice because the adult retains the child that was in that. I read a poem – I don’t recall which one- that said that every parent loses their child because that child disappears when they reach adulthood. I think about it with my granddaughter- “oh, look! She’s back!”
Barbara
@raven: Your kids didn’t need to be like this. Mine aren’t. Even 40 years ago it seemed weird to me to be like this.
Soapdish
@Kay: a four day music festival with 385k attendees at a 90% vaccination rate resulting in 203 positive COVID cases with no deaths or hospitalizations?
That’s… not too bad!
Wonder what the breakdown of vaxxed/non-vaxxed was in the positive cases.
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: That’s the delusion at the heart of most conspiracy theories, fueled by a need to feel that you are more special than your day to day existence would suggest.
Betty
@Barbara: Thanks, Barbara. So far the storms have been kind to us, but the heart of hurricane season is just starting. Fingers crossed!
Kay
@Brachiator:
I wanted the post mortem. Drrraaaag that sucker out. My God, we had 4 years of it for Clinton – how long did we hear about the rust belt “Reagan Dems” she lost? There is an entire NYTimes book about how Hillary Clinton is a big huge loser. I wanted the parade of national Republicans talking about how “mistakes were made” and how they have to do more outreach, like w/Dems after 2016.
Instead they got more belligerent, more insistent that they in fact are wildly popular and represent “the country”. They’re cheats even in a loss.
WereBear
And here I hoped I’d never witness a natural-phenomenon extinction event among humans. Oh, me of little faith.
Here we have dramatic and sad proof: wingnuttiness kills. And, at last, it targets them.
Soapdish
@Soapdish: ok, so based on this…
https://www.revolt.tv/news/2021/8/13/22624082/lollapalooza-covid-19-wasnt-super-spreader-event-health-commissioner
4 out of 10k vaxxed were COVID positive, 16 out of 10k were non-vaxxed
Assuming 385k attendees that’s 139 vaxxed (385k*.9/10k*4) vs 62 non-vaxxed (385k*.1/10k*16) positive COVID cases
It’s almost like vaccines work!
Kay
@Brachiator:
I think admitting you lost publicly is an important norm and another one they smashed up and threw in the trash. It goes to legitimacy for the winner and it’s part of merit. He lost. He should have had to concede.
There’s a reason they make 6 year old soccer players line up and walk past the winners and hit their hands. They’re forcing them to deal with losing. Look at it. Admit it. Move on. The Trump people have not done the necessary work of dealing with losing and that is going to come back and bite us. It already has.
Gvg
@Soapdish: I think the number of cases of that many people would be similar if nobody went to a concert. For a random group of unvaccinated it would be higher.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,383 new cases of COVID-19 reported with five new reported deaths of someone who had tested positive. Test positivity rate is 5.6%. Hospitalisations and ICU bed occupancy numbers remain about the same.
Just over 24,000 vaccinations were administered in Scotland yesterday (Friday) with about 25% of those vaccinations being first doses. 77.0% of the adult population (18+) are now fully vaccinated with another 13.2% having received their initial dose of vaccine. News sources are reporting that 16 and 17 year olds are coming forward to get their first dose of vaccination with some enthusiasm, resulting in the apparent uptick in first dose numbers over the past week or so. Schools are beginning to reopen here in Scotland with masks mandated in classrooms but AFAIK no remote teaching. The authorities will be watching for any outbreaks and infections spreading from schools. There is as yet no mandate for school staff to be vaccinated.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
And yet this “inaccessible truth” is all over social media. It is almost funny that the conspiracy nuts still act as though they are in a small, special club.
And yeah, the quack doctors are having a field day.
Strange times. I blame Trump, even though I acknowledge that this is not just a US problem, but I am somewhat surprised at the degree of nutty pushback against the vaccine and science.
Some people are fatally attracted to woo and pseudo science and conspiracy nonsense.
Kay
@Brachiator:
We all just keep lowering standards for them. “Concession? Oh, they’re exempt from that. Everyone else has to do it except these special people”.
The entitilement is just off the charts. The Trump Administration petitioned the DOJ for a “do over”. They wanted results thrown out in 6 states. This is completely within acceptable behavior for them- this now 8 month long tantrum and if we accept it from them it becomes the new norm. They wanted. Why won’t they concede? They don’t want to.
There’s a straight line from that to screaming about everything, incessantly, and threatening school boards. It’s the same thing. They need to be checked.
Brachiator
@Kay:
I understand what you mean. But the important thing is that Trump does not control the narrative. And some of this is not new or uncommon. Trump can play at being Bonnie Prince Donnie, pretender to the throne, but he has no power and even the GOP leadership understand this and have moved on.
There is not much point in paying attention to the lunatic fringe of Trump worshippers. Yes, they may still need to be watched and dealt with, but there is no practical way to get Trump to formally concede. He is too much of a man baby to admit defeat. People should just move on.
And prepare to crush his ass if he tries to run again or to stir up trouble.
ETA. Trump should have been impeached, convicted, removed and disqualified from holding future office. Then none of this other stuff would matter.
Sloane Ranger
Friday in the UK there were 32,700 new cases. This is an increase of 7.8% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 28,679 (up 586)
Northern Ireland – 1389 (down 221)
Scotland – 1542 (up 17)
Wales – 1090 (Previous figure included 2 days worth of cases so no comparison).
Deaths – There were 100 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 4.7% in the rolling 7-day average. 86 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 8 in Scotland and 2 in Wales.
Testing – 813,378 tests were conducted on Wednesday, 12 August. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 0.5%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 710,619.
Hospitalisations – There were 5875 people in hospital and 882 people on ventilators on Thursday 12 August. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 3.2% as of 9 August.
Vaccinations – As of Thursday, 12 August, 47,215,352 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 40,206,029 had received 2 shots. This means that 89.3% of all adults in the UK had received 1 shot by that date and 76% were fully vaccinated.
Barry
@Fan of Facts: Awwwwwwww…..
Thoughts and prayers.
Kay
@Brachiator:
I would have said the same thing 4 years ago but I no longer believe it works. It isn’t a small minority. Most Republicans won’t admit they lost. “Norms’ are only norms because most people recognize and follow them. It’s a kind of contract- a deal- I’ll admit when I lost and you admit when you lost. It has to be reciprocal or it’s gone. You can’t just hold up one end and proclaim it’s still standing. It’s not. The other end is dragging on the ground. What they do influences our response. It has to. We’re yoked to them, like it or not. Pick up your end as high as you want and start walking. Their end is still dragging on the ground.
Just Chuck
@Kay:
Oh there’s also beating the absolute shit out of the loser until they admit defeat. We just didn’t win a big enough majority to give the GQP the curb-stomping they need for the fact to sink in.
smith
@Gvg: Not sure that’s true. On July 29, the start of Lollapalooza, the infection rate in Chicago was 8.01 per 100k per day. Just applying that number you would expect 31 new cases/day from 385k people wandering at random around Chicago for 4 days, for a total of 124. And that’s with Chicago’s vaccination rate much lower than that of Lollapalooza attendees. There was most likely some extra infection from attending, but apparently not serious infection, and not by a whole lot. Not a superspreader event, but not a non-spreader event.
Basically, with concerts and festivals you’re faced with the same kind of risk-benefit analysis you face in resuming any “normal” activity after vaccination, such as eating in restaurants: Is the increased chance of a likely non-serious case of covid worth it for this activity?
J R in WV
@Brachiator:
Yesterday was a special Supreme Court session to appoint TFG the new president.
Except that the Supremes are in recess for summer vacation, which lasts a couple of months. They were to unanimously appoint TFG into the White House, but evidently no one told them about that part of their job duties…
It is pretty funny, if it wasn’t so crazy. Mostly the pillow guy on this one. I hope he spends all his money on TFG’s campaign in the 2020 election. All of it!
Steeplejack
@Kay:
I am looking forward to the sad-faced Trump children publicly reckoning with their indicted status. ?
YY_Sima Qian
@Mary G:
Anyone caught lying to contact tracers or circumventing pandemic response measures are in for weeks (possibly months) of detention & hefty fines, not to mention risk being doxed by angry netizens.
As for the officials, I am certain they will be facing punishment by the CCP disciplinary apparatus & criminal charges by the justice system. The former is much more dreadful. Officials have been relieved for oversights that led to cases or clusters. Actively hiding cases that lead to larger outbreaks & greater economic/social disruption is an order of magnitude worse.
VOR
@Brachiator: TFG’s power is his 95% approval rating among Republicans. And the army of dead-enders who worship him. Every R politician is afraid of a primary with a Trump-approved opponent. And they are afraid of the mob, of groups like the Proud Boys and other militias. His power is fear.
YY_Sima Qian
@Barbara:
That is indeed the theory, & a major concern when China started implementing truly draconian measures to suppress & eliminate the 1st wave. However, the Chinese population overwhelmingly acquiesced to the NPI measures, & have done so pretty consistently over the course of the pandemic. The main reasons are that the measures make logical & intuitive sense (break all possible transmission chains & vectors), are predictable & are consistently applied (though some jurisdictions are more conservative in re-opening than others), & have repeatedly demonstrated effectiveness.
You get IDed as a F1 or F2 close contact, you are sent to centralized quarantine for 2 weeks. If you test negative after centralized quarantine, you are sent home for 1 – 2 more weeks of home quarantine. If you tested positive, you are sent to a designated hospital for free treatment. Quarantine hotels are generally no frills business hotels (think Holiday Inn Express equivalent), but you are well fed, can sometimes order delivery, most of the cases have decent mobile signal & WiFi. The biggest complaint I have heard (& one I personally experienced) was windows being boarded up & blocking all sun light, but that was relatively rare. By now > 1M individuals in China have been traced as close contacts & have gone through centralized quarantine at 1 point or another, & many more because of recent travel to areas w/ outbreaks (like myself in Jul.), not to mention every arrival from overseas. No one likes being quarantined, but the alternative of uncontrolled outbreak is much worse. As of this moment, a close friend of my wife’s has her entire family in centralized quarantine, because they had gone to an outdoor park at nearly the same time as a positive case. At least they got to quarantine together in a large suite.
The knuckleheads in China that lie to contact tracers or circumvent NPI measures are not people who do not believe in the danger of COVID-19, or that they oppose the NPI measures because of “freedom”. I think they just believe the probability of them being infected is very low (which is true, unless they have had a close contact). This is doubly true if they have been fully vaccinated. With the original Wuhan strain, or even Alpha, one could take that chance because most transmission chains reach dead ends themselves. You really do not want to roll the dice w/ Delta. The possibility of any positive Delta case, leaked through containment, seeding a cluster is much higher.
When the old lady left Nanjing for Yangzhou in the morning of 7/21, Nanjing authorities had just reported the cluster of 9 cases among cleaning staff at the airport. I am sure the old lady thought it impossible that she was infected. What has gotten her in deep trouble is not that she left the city against government advisory or that she failed to notify the community at Yangzhou of her arrival from Nanjing. In the morning of 7/21, her health code was already at yellow, & one needs a green health code to take long distance bus. She asked her sister to take a screen cap of her green health code & sent it by WeChat. She flashed the screen cap to the staff at the long distance bus station, who waved her through. One can always claim faulty memory for omissions to contact tracers, but faking a green health code is a crime of commission.
West of the Cascades
How does an article about Neshoba County and covid not mention the most significant thing that ever happened in that county? Namely the murders of James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner by white supremacists in 1964?
Of course the second-most significant thing that happened there was Reagan launching his 1980 campaign there — Republican right-on-message, and it continues to infect that county 41 years later.
Ken
But Barrett could come back for long enough to betray the anti-mask students of Indiana. So now we see her utter lack of gratitude for TFG.
(Anyone know how I could get this in circulation among the wingnuts?)
lashonharangue
@VOR:
@West of the Cascades:
They went hunting where the ducks were and now the ducks are hunting them.
Chetan Murthy
@West of the Cascades: You are not alone. First thing I thought was “Neshoba County. Goddamn.”
Nettoyeur
Good news RE vax rates, but even at 1M shots per day, it will takes weeks to vax the tens of millions we need to vax. And it takes weeks after that for resistance to develop. Hospitals and ICUs already filling way up. Thanks, red state GOPers, guess you want to thin the herd ….