Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

I wonder if trump will be tried as an adult.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

“woke” is the new caravan.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

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

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

No Justins, No Peace

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Aug. 26-27

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Aug. 26-27

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======

… The Chinese shipments will help the sputtering global COVAX vaccine sharing programme which is far behind its pledge to deliver 2 billion doses this year following supply problems and export curbs imposed by major producer India.

It could also boost Beijing’s vaccine diplomacy efforts despite concerns over the efficacy of the Chinese shots, which have been turned down or paired with boosters from Western manufacturers by some of the recipient countries…

The Chinese vaccines have been allocated to 60 countries, mostly in Africa, which is expected to receive a third of the 100 million doses.

However, not all countries want the Chinese vaccines.

South Africa is listed by COVAX as one of Africa’s largest recipients of Chinese shots with an allocation of 2.5 million Sinovac doses, but a senior health official told Reuters the country was currently unable to accept the vaccines…

Nigeria, the main recipient of Chinese shots in Africa under COVAX with an allocation of nearly 8 million Sinopharm doses, has approved that vaccine but has called it a “potential” option for the country’s inoculation campaign…

Officials from Kenya, Rwanda, Togo and Somalia, which are entitled to smaller COVAX shipments, said they had no concerns about the Chinese shots because they had been vetted by the WHO and more people needed to be inoculated as soon as possible…

Ukraine is the only country in Europe on the COVAX list for Chinese shots and is set to receive about 160,000 Sinovac doses.

Asian countries are expected to receive more than 25 million Chinese vaccines, of which nearly 11 million Sinovac doses would go to Indonesia, making it the largest recipient of Chinese shots through COVAX. Other vaccines will go to countries in Latin America and the Middle East.

Indonesia has decided to give boosters, largely with the Moderna (MRNA.O) vaccine, to healthcare workers – who have mostly been immunised with Sinovac shots.

That mirrored similar moves in other countries that have deployed Sinovac shots, such as Brazil and Chile…

======

Researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) have created a facemask using silver and copper nanolayers that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, the university’s official gazette said on Thursday…

To test the mask, researchers took drops with the virus from COVID-19-positive patients at the Hospital Juarez in Mexico and placed them on the silver-copper film deposited in polypropylene.

UNAM said that if the viral concentration was high, the virus disappeared by more than 80% in about eight hours and if the viral load was low, in two hours none of the virus RNA was detected.

“Upon contact with the silver-copper nanolayer, the SARS-CoV-2 membrane breaks and its RNA is damaged,” the gazette said. “Thus, even if SakCu is disposed of improperly, it will not be a problem as it does not remain contaminated, like many of the masks that are thrown away.”

The facemask is reusable and can be washed up to 10 times without losing its biocide properties.

UNAM is not mass-producing the facemask and said that it currently has the capacity to produce 200 of them per day…

… Doctors in Bristol tracked 27 children with neurological conditions for two weeks after their jabs.

They found the children, who had been shielding, had similar side-effects to adults.

High-risk children benefited most from the vaccine, the researchers said…

Each parent was asked to record any side-effects they noticed in their child.

All were aged between 12 and 15 and vaccinated in March or April this year, when only small numbers of extremely vulnerable children were being offered a jab.

The children had various conditions affecting the brain or nervous system, including cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy.

They also tended to have other conditions such as epilepsy, heart defects and problems with their immune system…

The most common symptoms after the first dose included a mild rash, headache, diarrhoea, neck pain and possible sore throat, which had all gone within 72 hours.

After the second, five children experienced some of the following symptoms – vomiting, armpit swelling, diarrhoea and blisters around the mouth.

One child in the study experienced severe fatigue and discomfort and became more agitated than normal.

And the family of another child, who had epilepsy, reported a rise in the frequency of seizures.

All side-effects had cleared up within a week, the study said…

======

Last year, analysts used cellphone data to track the Sturgis superspreaders all over the United States. I’m not seeing a similar enterprise this year — just the (quite bad enough) data from the rally site. Can anyone find more information about tracking the wider spread?

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    “I’m still not planning to get it”: FDA approval not swaying some vaccine holdouts

    I think we need a moratorium on these stories. They add no value. We know these people exists, and it’s time to stop caring about them.

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 8/26 China reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (0 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Yunnan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 26 active domestic confirmed cases there. 1 community at Ruili remains at High Risk. 1 Medium Risk village has been re-designated as Low Risk. 1 village at Ruili remains at Medium Risk. 

    Jiangsu Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. 37 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 415 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • At Nanjing 17 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 93 active domestic confirmed (16 mild & 77 moderate) cases in the city.
    • Yangzhou reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (moderate), found via screening of residential compounds under lock down. The case had previously tested negative 10 times. 20 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 319 active domestic confirmed (44 mild, 268 moderate) cases in the city, though more than half are actually being treated in Nanjing. 12 zones/sites are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Huai’an 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 5 active confirmed cases in the city.

    Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There are currently are 95 active domestic confirmed (including 2 serious) & 13 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Changde there currently are 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Xiangtan there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Changsha There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • At Yiyang there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic case.
    • At Zhuzhou 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Zhangjiajie there currently are 65 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases. All national parks & tourist sites in the city have re-opened.

    Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 101 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Zhengzhou did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 79 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 sub-district remains at Medium Risk.
    • Shangqiu did not report any new domestic positive case. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 2 sites remain at High Risk & 2 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Zhumadian the 4 domestic confirmed cases in the city recovered.
    • At Kaifeng there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases. 7 villages are currently at Medium Risk.

    Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 80 active domestic confirmed (36 mild & 45 moderate) & 52 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Huanggang 1 domestic confirmed case recovered, There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
    • At Jingzhou, there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • At Jingmen 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently 41 active domestic confirmed & 11 active domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 sub-district & 1 township remain at Medium Risk.
    • At Wuhan 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 33 active domestic confirmed & 35 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
    • At Ezhou there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Shanghai Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact of the airport logistics worker cluster, already under centralized quarantine since 8/20. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, 7 from the airport cluster & 2 from the hospital cluster. 5 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.

    Imported Cases

    On 8/26, China reported 30 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 22 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:

    • Yunnan Province (locations not specified) – 7 confirmed & 1 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar via land border crossings
    • Kunming in Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Indonesia
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 6 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Bangladesh, 2 from the Philippines & 1 from Myanmar; 4 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Saudi Arabia, & 1 each from Bangladesh & Myanmar
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), coming from the Philippines; 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Saudi Arabia; both off flights that landed at Guangzhou
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Indonesia
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from the Philippines, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Shanghai Municipality – 7 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from the US, 2 from the UAE & 1 from Tanzania (via Amsterdam Schiphol), & a French national coming from France; 1 suspect case, no information released
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 2 confirmed & 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Serbia (via Paris CdG); 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Egypt
    • Dalian in Liaoning Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 5 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Harbin in Heilongjiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Japan
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Chad, Egypt & Spain
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from the US

    Overall in China, 98 confirmed cases recovered (46 imported), 23 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (20 imported) & 3 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 2,164 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,431 active confirmed cases in the country (679 imported), 12 in serious condition (10 imported), 463 active asymptomatic cases (388 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 27,310 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 8/26, 2,003.914M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 15.48M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 8/27, Hong Kong reported 3 new positive cases, all imported (from Kazakhstan, Venezuela & Nigeria, 1 of whom had been double vaccinated w/ SinoPharm). 

  3. 3.

    opiejeanne

    @Baud:  Amen. Also, the deathbed pleas from the unvaccinated to everyone else to get vaccinated are starting to really annoy me. I doubt that they convince anyone outside their immediate family, and sometimes not even then.

  4. 4.

    Cermet

    Literally hundreds of thousands of amerikans are dying thanks to a false news network telling endless lies, a political party telling the same lies and the media is far, far more interested in thirteen soldiers deaths and the fate of a few thousand Afghani’s at an airport. The word insanity does not do this justice.

  6. 6.

    sab

    My dad’s vaccinated caretaker tested positive but asymptomatic, so she is out for two weeks. Since his floor at assisted living is in quarantine lockdown I can’t visit and I can’t find anything out about dad. He just turned 97.

    ETA : State government is spending so much energy on appeasing the anti-mask, anti-vax Covid deniers that they are completely ignoring the concerns of the rest of us that are just trying to mask up, protect our families and get on with our lives in Covid times.

    ETA I don’t blame the nursing home. Their hands are pretty much tied by state rules (with severe fines.)

  7. 7.

    debbie

    Ohio had 5,398 new cases yesterday. I don’t remember when we last had a number that size, but it’s more than a little distressing. One high school football game has been canceled due to positive testing, and with OSU games beginning next weekend, we may soon be giving Texas a run for their body bags.

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    From the Orlando Sentinel:

    Morgues throughout AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division have reached capacity due to COVID-19 deaths, the organization said in an email obtained by the Orlando Sentinel Thursday.

    “The Central Florida Division of AdventHealth has reached capacity of our hospital morgues due to an influx of COVID-19 patients,” the email said. “We have begun utilizing rented, refrigerated coolers at 10 of our campuses throughout Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, & Volusia counties. These coolers are quickly becoming filled also.”

    Meanwhile…

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @sab: My wife and I finally got to meet our newest granddaughter yesterday. Even got to hold her for a little bit. She should be able to come home on Monday, or so they say now. Things being what they are, I feel lucky we were able to get in at all.

  11. 11.

    terben

    In Australia today:
    NSW recorded 885 new cases, bringing its total to 22,346. This means that it now tops the Australian league table, (as befits the ‘Premier State’) although it lags in the death toll.
    NSW and Victoria now account for 44,118 of the 48,816 cases recorded in Oz since the pandemic began.
    In my state, South Australia, there has been 1 case in the past 7 days, and that was in hotel quarantine.
    Australia has has 991 deaths in total (955 in NSW/Vic and the remaining 36 split up between 5 of the other 6 jurisdictions)
    Vaccinations are proceeding at around 270,000/day with 56% of the population over 16 having had 1 injection and 33% fully vaccinated. The current estimates for 80% coverage are 35 and 81 days for 1st/2nd injections.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    @sab:

    I heard it reported yesterday on my local NPR stattion that legislative leaders are thinking about scrapping hearings on the anti-every-vax-in-the-world after seeing the silliness of anti-vaxers’ testimony.

  17. 17.

    New Deal democrat

    The Columbia U study cited by Delthea Ricks, estimating that 1/3 of the US population had actually been infected by the end of 2020, is interesting. Since the total number of confirmed COVID cases has almost doubled since the end of 2020, that would imply that by now perhaps 2/3’s of the US population has been infected. That 2/3’s number is right in line with the Red Cross report that 2/3’s of their recent unvaccinated blood donors have antibodies to COVID.

    Needless to say, *if* that is correct – and I’ve seen estimates that only 20%-30% of the population has antibodies – that puts us a lot closer to herd immunity than commonly believed.

    The CDC should have been doing widespread seropositivity studies all along, to estimate this crucial number. It is one of their biggest failures. If you read the book “Premonition,” they document how hollowed out an institution the CDC had become even before Trump.

    P.S. 91-DIVOC has the 7 day average of deaths at just shy of 1200. Anyone know why there is such a big difference vs. the number cited in the post?

  18. 18.

    sab

    I have absolutely no patience with the idea that we should try to be understanding with the anti-vax, anti-mask folks. They are destroying our lives and I am furious. Heaven help the next guy that makes a snide comment about my mask.

  19. 19.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Cermet: ​
     

    Literally hundreds of thousands of amerikans are dying thanks to a false news network telling endless lies, a political party telling the same lies and the media is far, far more interested in thirteen soldiers deaths and the fate of a few thousand Afghani’s at an airport. The word insanity does not do this justice.

    This. Congress needs to pass a resolution to the effect that we are in a war with the coronavirus. Then those bastards could be tried for treason. They have betrayed their country, causing the deaths of tens of thousands at the very least, and they should have lost the right to be walking around freely.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 22,070 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,662,913 cases. He also reports 339 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 15,550 deaths — 0.94% of the cumulative reported total, 1.11% of resolved cases.

    There are currently 265,695 active and contagious cases; 982 are in ICU, 470 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 21,877 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 1,381,668 patients recovered – 83.09% of the cumulative reported total.

    28 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 4,611 clusters. 1,467 clusters are currently active; 3,144 clusters are now inactive.

    22,055 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 5,919 local cases: 383 in clusters,2,910 close-contact screenings, and 2,626 other screenings.
    Sabah reports 3,010 cases: 37 in clusters, 1,782 close-contact screenings, and 1,191 other screenings.

    Sarawak reports 2,224 cases: 269 in clusters, 1,406 close-contact screenings, and 549 other screenings. Kedah reports 2,072 cases: 54 in clusters, 1,342 close-contact screenings, and 676 other screenings.

    Penang reports 1,829 cases: 310 in clusters, 513 close-contact screenings, and 1,006 other screenings. Johor reports 1,806 local cases: 171 in clusters, 975 close-contact screenings, and 660 other screenings.

    Kuala Lumpur reports 1,059 local cases: two in clusters, 511 close-contact screenings, and 546 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,051 cases: 74 in clusters, 674 close-contact screenings, and 303 other screenings.

    Perak reports 939 cases: 126 in clusters, 447 close-contact screenings, and 366 other screenings.

    Pahang reports 610 cases: 95 in clusters, 391 close-contact screenings, and 124 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 589 cases: 67 in clusters, 201 close-contact screenings, and 321 other screenings
    .
    Terengganu reports 488 cases: 29 in clusters, 345 close-contact screenings, and 114 other screenings.

    Negeri Sembilan reports 336 local cases: 17 in clusters, 165 close-contact screenings, and 154 other screenings.

    Perlis reports 76 cases: 34 in clusters, 15 close-contact screenings, and 27 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 39 cases: 24 close-contact screenings and 15 other screenings. Labuan reports eight cases: four close-contact screenings and four other screenings.

    15 new cases today are imported: nine in Kuala Lumpr, three in Johor, two in Negeri Sembilan, and one in Selangor.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 408,295 doses of vaccine on 26th August: 155,669 first doses and 252,626 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 33,044,202 doses administered: 18,948,648 first doses and 14,095,554 second doses. 58.0% of the population have received their first dose, while 43.2% are now fully vaccinated.

  22. 22.

    sab

    And the Ohio Department of Health Covid website on long term care facilities is simply lying. Updated 8/25/21 shows 0 residents with current Covid, when his floor has been in lockdown for two weeks and his nurse’s aide says there are at least 3 cases on his floor.

  23. 23.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY: 185 new cases.
    I had my 3rd Moderna shot yesterday. The side effects so far were the same as the 2nd shot. I’m hoping tomorrow I’ll be back to normal, just like with jab #2.

  24. 24.

    Robert Sneddon

    I mentioned a friend of a friend of a friend anecdote a few days back, about a sawmill in Oregon which had to close due to a COVID-19 outbreak among its workers and how three of the Young Immortals who got infected ended up being transferred to Idaho due to lack of available ICU beds closer to their homes. The updated news is that two of them are leaving the ICU but they’re pulling the plug on the third one today (or it may already have happened).

    The vaccination status of the sawmill workers and specifically the ones who ended up in ICU is not known but young-ish, healthy, fit country folks in a blue-collar work environment, the smart money would be on “nope”.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    A Texas man who helped organize protests against pandemic restrictions is fighting for his life after being hospitalized for nearly a month with COVID-19, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported.
    “He’s not doing good. It’s not looking in our favor,” she said. “His lungs are stiff due to the fibrosis. They called and said they’ve run out of options for him and asked if I would consent to a do not resuscitate. And it would be up to us when to stop treatments.”
    Caleb Wallace, a 30-year-old father of three, has been unconscious, ventilated and heavily sedated in the ICU at Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo since Aug. 8, the Standard-Times reported. His wife said on a GoFundMe page for household and medical bills that he was was intubated multiple times, had high fevers, infection and bleeding in his chest.
    In July, Caleb Wallace reportedly helped organize “The Freedom Rally,” an event that billed itself as a protest against the “government being in control of our lives.” He also founded “The San Angelo Freedom Defenders,” which hosted a rally last year to “end COVID tyranny.”
    He wrote a letter in April to the San Angelo Independent School District and published by a local news outlet demanding that the school district “rescind ALL COVID-related policies immediately.” He falsely claimed that wearing masks had harmful effects on children and that there was “little evidence that masks worked for anyone.”

  26. 26.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    And yet, very few who know him will change their positions. I do not understand this grip that TFG and fellow loons have on these people.

  28. 28.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @Kay: I hope his wife does the right thing and signs the order. At this point, he’s a waste of a needed bed. He helped fill them so the least they could do is release his. Sad but true.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    I signed the school’s COVID permission slip for routine (pooled) testing and individual testing should someone in my son’s pool test positive.  The school has mandatory masking because our State mandated masking for schools.  I want mandatory vaccination for ages 12 and up.  I don’t know why we can’t do that.  If the anti vaxxers respond by pulling their kids out of school that is absolutely fine with me. I’m sick of coddling these assholes.

  30. 30.

    charon

    @New Deal democrat:

    P.S. 91-DIVOC has the 7 day average of deaths at just shy of 1200. Anyone know why there is such a big difference vs. the number cited in the post?

    NYT tabulation I check every day shows 1233, pretty compatible.

  31. 31.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:
    The news media should at least call it what it is: these vaccine refuseniks are not even bothering to consider the science. They don’t give a damn about the science. They are refusing to be vaccinated for partisan political reasons. Just ask any one of them how they vote.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    Working against safety measures in schools is unforgiveable, IMO. You can’t escape or evade these people if you want to go to school and you can’t even try to protect yourself. They have spent the entire summer disrupting the prep work of schools and harming students. They have contributed nothing to the effort and instead caused damage wherever they’ve gone. People now have to get past a screaming pack of lunatics to send their kids to school. It’s unforgiveably bad behavior.

  33. 33.

    Ohio Mom

    Remember Ohio Congresswoman Mean Jean Schmidt? She came out of retirement last year to run for the statehouse.

    I hadn’t heard much about her since but banner headline in today’s Cincinnati Enquirer:
    “Lawmakers target masks in school: GOP state Rep Schmidt sponsors bill”

    Grrrr.

  37. 37.

    Barbara

    @Kay: ​Do they think we should be sorry for his wife and family? Why should we care more about them or him for that matter than he does himself? He abandoned his family to own people like me? How’s that working out for you, as Dr. Phil would say?

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    Can’t find the tweet now, but some asshole father physically assaulted a student as she approached her school building wearing a mask.

    It looked to me like she was a POC, which I guess makes his actions understandable. //

    These people are absolute monsters.

  39. 39.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    He falsely claimed that wearing masks had harmful effects on children and that there was “little evidence that masks worked for anyone.”

    That sure comes as a hell of surprise to medical staff who have used masks in healthcare settings to deal with infectious disease. Why do these people think surgeons wear masks?

  41. 41.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @debbie:

    Good god. Imagine being such a twisted, delusional asshole that you would assault a minor for wearing a mask. So much for “protecting the children”, huh?

  43. 43.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    BTW, does anybody know if the vaccine shipments the US is doing is through COVAX or is it us on our own?

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @Barbara: ScienceMag had a story yesterday on yet another study out of Israel that immunity was better after infection (and survival) than for the vaccines.  It made no sense to me.  And, sure enough, it was of a relative handful of people (less than a dozen in one cited group).

    There’s still a lot we don’t know.  But one wonders if contrarianism is making things much worse – even in the scientific community.

    Grr…

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  45. 45.

    Chris T.

    @Amir Khalid:

    They are refusing to be vaccinated for partisan political reasons. Just ask any one of them how they vote.

    They will likely claim to be “independents”, so be sure to ask how they voted, past tense…

  47. 47.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — The First Minister is holding a press conference on COVID-19 at the moment. She has announced 6,835 new cases of COVID-19, another significant increase over the past few days, with four new reported deaths of someone who had tested positive. Test positivity rate is 14.2%, rising again. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 47, the same as yesterday but hospitalisations have increased by 53 to 479. Vaccinated people are about a third of the new cases being reported.

    There are no immediate plans to introduce ‘circuit breaker’ mandatory lockdowns or reintroduce restrictions on meetings, closure of pubs and clubs etc. but they continue to push voluntary precautions instead. It must be said though that this is the sort of messaging that gets tuned out by most folks who have heard it repeatedly over the past eighteen months.

    ‘Harm indicators’ are being used to determine the legislative response to increasing case numbers, factors such as the numbers of hospital admissions, length of stay and intensive care beds use. Right now the increase in new cases is not putting a severe strain on the health services but they’ve still not recovered from the big impact on staffing and workloads of the second wave during winter last year.

  48. 48.

    Ken

    @Chris T.: I forget where I saw this, but might have been in one of AL’s updates. It was charts showing vaccine attitudes over time, with lines for “already vaxxed”, “want to get”, “waiting for info”, etc., and further broken out by party – Democrats, Republicans, and “independents”.

    I use the scare quotes because the curves for the independents were almost identical to the Republicans, for pretty much all the curves across the whole timeline.

  49. 49.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Barbara:

     

    The fact that most current hot spots are in former hot spots with low vaccination rates suggests that “natural” immunity might not be worth much.

    Just listened to an interview with a virologist here in the UK. He does not think that herd immunity is currently possible since the vaccines available, at best, stop someone having any symptoms and, at worse, lower the chances of them getting seriously ill or dying but what they don’t do, as far as Delta is concerned is stop transmission of the disease.

  50. 50.

    charon

    @Amir Khalid:

    these vaccine refuseniks are not even bothering to consider the science.

    Currently, a rather large fraction of “conservatives” will actually tell pollsters that they oppose science.

  51. 51.

    Quiltingfool

    Yesterday, the checker at Walmart and I had a brief discussion re Covid vaccinations.  She said she believed that getting vaccinated should be a “personal choice.”   I really need to get ruthless with these fuckers and quit being polite.  I stopped talking, but in my head I was thinking,  “hey, I’m okay with a personal decision not to wear seatbelts or motorcycle helmets, but when your choice affects my health and the health of others, I’m not feeling charitable about that.”
    The sad thing?  This woman’s opinion isn’t rare in my area.  I simply can’t wrap my mind around how all these people are so goddamned ignorant.

  52. 52.

    Sloane Ranger

    Thursday in the UK we had 38,281 new cases. This is an increase of 11.1% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 29,417 (up 2067)

    Northern Ireland – 1550 (down 221)

    Scotland – 4925 (down 96, but see Robert Sneddon’s more recent update)

    Wales – 2389 (up 684).

    Deaths – There were 140 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 14.2% in the rolling 7-day average. 121 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 14 in Scotland and 1 in Wales.

    Testing – 923,845 tests took place on Wednesday 25 August. The rolling 7-day average for testing was up by 2.4%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 747,422.

    Hospitalisations – As of Wednesday, 25 August there were 6906 people in hospital and 974 on ventilators. As of 22 August the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 8.2%.

    Vaccinations – As of Wednesday, 25 August, 47,860,628 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 42,234,417 has had both. This means that 88.1% of all UK residents aged 16+ had had 1 jab as of that date and 77.7% were fully vaccinated. There is increasing talk about vaccinating the 12-15 age group but so far the health regulator is holding fire.

    General – The current rates per 100,000 people over the past 7 days is

    England – 329.9

    Northern Ireland – 629.1

    Scotland – 394.9

    Wales – 348.5.

  54. 54.

    Cermet

    @charon: The few papers I’ve read on the subject state clearly that natural immunity is significantly inferior to the mRNA vaccines; little has been said about memory T-cells for natural immunity but certainly vaccines provide it.

  55. 55.

    J R in WV

    @Chris T.: ​
     

    My question is, how do you “break up” a one-person protest?

    Easy: You send him home, tell him his other option is 30 days in jail, after his court date next December.

  56. 56.

    burnspbesq

    Think it’s been bad in Texas for the last month? You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

    High school football starts this weekend, with no capacity restrictions and no mask requirements.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    I really need to share this:  you REALLY don’t want to be exposed to this even if you’ve been vaccinated.

    My uncle – 72 with a prior heart attack.  Fully vaxxed.  Got the COVID anyway.  Got REALLY sick, said he’s never felt anything like that in his life.  Flat on his back for five days now.  Said the pain was incredible.  Said “it rampages through your body, you can feel it attacking everything”.   Couldn’t go to the hospital as it was full (semi-rural NC).  Toughed it out at home.  Seems to be getting better.

    Don’t get this shit.  Just don’t.  Treat life like you’re not vaccinated at all.

  58. 58.

    Fake Irishman

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    The US is using both bilateral donations and working through COVAX. I think most of the African donations are through COVAX. If you follow Wendy Sherman on Twitter or check the state department’s Web site on COVID-19.  As of las week about 115 million have been donated, more than 20 million in sub Saharan Africa, not including the latest announcements.

  61. 61.

    Chris T.

    @The Moar You Know:

    Don’t get this shit. Just don’t. Treat life like you’re not vaccinated at all.

    A bad flu is like that too.  Spousal Unit and I both caught something nasty on a trip to Yosemite in 2016 or so.  Neither of us is anywhere near 72 yet, and that was half a decade ago when we were younger and healthier.

    (Anyone who says “Covid is just the flu” around me gets my “OH MY GOD IT’S AS BAD AS THE FLU?!!?!” reaction.)

  64. 64.

    Bill Arnold

    The new record fatality count beats the previous one-day record of 819 deaths set on Aug. 14 — The Moscow Times

    Since we know (as reported a few paragraphs down in that piece) that the Russians are lying about their COVID-19 fatality numbers, I wonder whether they’re trying to bring the numbers more in line with reality, or are lying to the same degree, or are lying even more (i.e. perhaps deaths are being underreported more than in the past).
    Credibility doesn’t get restored easily or quickly. This absurd underreporting was a serious mistake on the part of the Putin regime, both domestically and internationally. (As was the Aug 2020 pre-phase-3 trials approval of the Sputnik vaccine.)

    Thunderbirds (i think) just flew by; really tight formation. Air show nearby this weekend.

  65. 65.

    Bill Arnold

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’d been wondering about that: just how do you break up a one-person group?

    You too? Many ways are possible. A wood chipper is only one of them.
    Even odds that they picked that headline to get some of us to think evil thoughts.

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