Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

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

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

American History and Black History can not be separated.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

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

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Second rate reporter says what?

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

In my day, never was longer.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 1

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Aug. 31 – Sept. 1

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The patients are older, sicker, and poorer. And these are not easy jobs, under any circumstances:

… The market for health care labor, strained by more than a year and a half of coping with the pandemic, continues to be pinched. While urban hospitals with deeper pockets for shoring up staff have implemented vaccine mandates, and may even use them as a selling point to recruit staffers and patients, their rural and regional counterparts are left with hard choices as cases surge again.

“Obviously, it’s going to be a real challenge for these small, rural hospitals to mandate a vaccine when they’re already facing such significant workforce shortages,” said Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association.

Without vaccine mandates, this could lead to a desperate cycle: Areas with fewer vaccinated residents likely have fewer vaccinated hospital workers, too, making them more likely to be hard hit by the delta variant sweeping America. In the short term, mandates might drive away some workers. But the surge could also squeeze the hospital workforce further as patients flood in and staffers take sick days.

Rural covid mortality rates were almost 70% higher on average than urban ones for the week ending Aug. 15, according to the Rural Policy Research Institute…

It all comes back to workforce shortages, especially in more vaccine-hesitant communities, said Jacy Warrell, executive director of the Rural Health Association of Tennessee. She pointed out that some regional health care systems don’t qualify for staffing assistance from the National Guard as they have fewer than 200 beds. A potential vaccine mandate further endangers their staffing numbers, she said.

“They’re going to have to think twice about it,” Warrell said. “They’re going to have to weigh the risk and benefit there.”…

It’s not just nurses at stake with vaccine mandates. Respiratory techs, nursing assistants, food service employees, billing staff and other health care workers are already in short supply. According to the latest KFF/The Washington Post Frontline Health Care Workers Survey, released in April, at least one-third of health care workers who assist with patient care and administrative tasks have considered leaving the workforce…

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Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:
    174 new cases on 8/31, 4.5% test positivity, from the county tracker website.
    NYS Dept of Health says 157 new cases in Monroe County on 8/31.

  2. 2.

    guachi

    Yesterday Mississippi passed New York and moved into second place in deaths per capita, which is astonishing considering how far ahead NY was last year.

  3. 3.

    Brachiator

    GOP Covid policy is killing GOP voters…

    Wow. A good news Covid story.

    ETA. Lest anyone accuse me of not being nice, anti vaxx idiots can easily solve their own problems here.

  4. 4.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 8/31 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Yunnan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 1 community & 2 villages at Ruili remain at Medium Risk. 

    Jiangsu Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases. 54 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 125 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • At Nanjing 13 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed (1 mild & 18 moderate) cases in the city.
    • At Yangzhou 40 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 101 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, though more than half are actually being treated in Nanjing. 3 zones/sites are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Huai’an the last domestic confirmed case recovered.

    Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 4 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently are 85 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Changde the 3 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation.
    • 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.
    • At Yiyang 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city.
    • At Zhuzhou 5 domestic  confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Zhangjiajie there currently are 62 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 78 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Zhengzhou there currently are 65 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
    • At Shangqiu 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 2 High Risk sites have been re-designated as Low Risk. All areas of the city are now at Medium Risk.

    Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 66 active domestic confirmed (29 mild & 37 moderate) & 41 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Huanggang 1 domestic confirmed case recovered, There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Jingzhou, there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases.
    • At Jingmen 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 37 active domestic confirmed & 11 active domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 township remains at Medium Risk.
    • At Wuhan there currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 26 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
    • At Ezhou there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, 7 from the airport cluster & 2 from the hospital cluster. 1 residential compound was re-designated as Low Risk. 4 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.

    Imported Cases

    On 8/31, China reported 19 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 13 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:

    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 6 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar, & 1 each from Bangladeh, Malaysia & the US; 6 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals each returning from Myanmar & Bangladesh, & 1 each from Cambodia & Tanzania (via Nairobi)
    • Yunnan Province (locations not specified) – 4 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Laos; all via land border crossings
    • Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Japan; 2 suspect cases, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). 1 Chinese national each returning from Tunisia & Ghana (via Paris CdG);  1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the US
    • Beijing Municipality – 1 confirmed cases, a Chinese national returning from the UK (via Stockholm)
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Brazil; 3 asymptomatic cases, 1 each from Columbia, Tanzania & Taiwan
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Cambodia
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Indonesia

    Overall in China, 95 confirmed cases recovered (29 imported), 19 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (15 imported) & 4 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 2,514 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,022 active confirmed cases in the country (623 imported), 3 in serious condition (2 imported), 436 active asymptomatic cases (380 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 20,123 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 8/31, 2,066.589M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 11.623M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 9/1, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive case, imported (from Greece, had been double vaccinated w/ BioNTech). 

  5. 5.

    danielx

    Best idea I’ve heard all week.

    Steps:

    1) Borrow horse

    2) Put MAGA hat on horse

    3) Sell photos of you with horse for $500

    4) Retire

    — Jason Ventresco (@jasonventresco) August 31, 2021

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Pfizer and BioNTech are partnering with a Brazilian biopharmaceutical company to begin producing doses of their COVID-19 vaccine exclusively for distribution within Latin America, significantly boosting vaccine access in a region that has struggled to secure supply….

    The partnership with Eurofarma Laboratórios SA could produce over 100 million doses each year for use across the region once they are “at full operational capacity,” a Pfizer spokesperson said.
    [snip]
    Transferring the technology and expertise behind the vaccine’s manufacture, as well as the installation of equipment to Eurofarma’s facility in São Paulo will begin immediately, and “the manufacturing of finished doses will commence in 2022,” Pfizer said in a press release.
    [snip]
    [Pfizer’s Latin America president] said the financial terms of the deal “remain confidential,” but noted that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine contracts have deployed a scaled pricing structure.

    “High and middle-income countries will pay more than low-income countries, but at a value that is significantly discounted from our normal benchmarks, during the pandemic,” he said. “Low and lower middle-income countries will pay a not-for-profit price.”

    The doses will use drug substances formulated in the United States.Source

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Covid mortality in the Trumpiest counties was *three times higher* than in most staunchly Democratic counties in August.

    But black people!!! #TexasGOP

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    Vaccine hesitancy in US is showing signs of crumbling, per Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index and @margarettalev, due to Delta variant’s strength, kids’ return to school, FDA approval of the 1st COVID-19 vaccine and the rise of mandates.  Stupid, selfish assholes who have probably caused others to die are finally afraid of dying themselves.

    Fixed.

  9. 9.

    Matt McIrvin

    I think it’ll be a while before COVID mortality takes more from their side than it’s already taken from ours. Remember when the Trump administration decided to just let it burn because it was a blue-state pandemic?

  11. 11.

    Robert Sneddon

    More and more “Living with COVID-19” stories are starting to appear in the Press coupled with a lot of surprise and disappointment at this ‘new’ idea.

    The lockdowns, closed borders, social distancing, masking, handwashing and other prophylactic efforts early in this pandemic on were to buy us time and keep the kill count down to something respectably low until vaccines could be designed, tested and manufactured in quantity and then injected into lots of arms. However a “herd immunity” approach with vaccinations and/or widespread acquired immunity was never going to eliminate COVID-19 and its variants from this world since it has animal reservoirs outside the human population. This means “Living with COVID-19” is going to be the New Norm unless we’re willing to go out and inoculate every bat, cat, ferret and other large animal that can host the disease as well as nearly all human beings on the planet.

    The question is, what does “Living with COVID-19” actually mean? My guess is…

    Vaccinations with booster shots like the flu vaccine every now and then, perhaps when the disease flares up in a local population or perhaps annually on a schedule.

    A drive to reduce any virus load in large public spaces like schools, churches, shops etc. with better ventilation and active filtering in air ducts using UV lamps and the like.

    People continuing to wear masks in public even after the mandates are cancelled with hand sanitising stations remaining in shops, plexiglass screens at shop counters etc.​​

  12. 12.

    mrmoshpotato

    As these data show this is not just about cases: people in GOP strongholds are dying at disproportionate rates.

    No Chris.  This is literally a situation where Trump-humping stupidity is suicidal.  Nothing “disproportionate” about it.

     

  14. 14.

    Geo Wilcox

    @Baud: Franklin County, IN is going to get waxed when the wave finally hits it. This is the Trumpiest county around. Staying home for the duration and postponing my left hip replacement till next year. Fucking idiots.

  15. 15.

    JPL

    Fulton County, GA planned on opening a masks optional K-8 school, in order to appease anti-mask parents.   Ten people responded.   The school isn’t going to open.

    Just a reminder that a few voices can cause havoc, and it’s best to ignore them.

  17. 17.

    Sloane Ranger

    @danielx:

     

     

    Steps:

    1) Borrow horse

    2) Put MAGA hat on horse

    3) Sell photos of you with horse for $500

    4) Retire

    — Jason Ventresco (@jasonventresco) August 31, 2021

    Better still,
    1) buy clapped out horse cheaply,
    2) rent it out in 15 minute spots for horse-paste lovers to take selfie with it.
    3) Offer to take photo for an additional charge.
    4) Retire.

  18. 18.

    New Deal democrat

    That Axios poll actually *only* shows vaccine resistance crumbling by parents for their children. This is confirmed by the CDC vaccination data showing almost 1/2 of all teens already having received at least one dose.

    But the best data I’ve seen showing all the demographics of vaccine resistance, including changes over time, comes from Morning Consult:
    https://morningconsult.com/covid19-vaccine-dashboard/

    While the % of those uncertain has been declining over time, with the exception of Blacks, the % of those outright refusing has barely budged in 6 months, and it is concentrated even more among Young Invincibles than GOPers.

    While it still looks like we may be close to a nationwide peak in this wave, I am really concerned that there continues to be a slow seemingly inexorable climb in cases even among the Bluest and most vaccinated States of the Northeast and Midwest. Not a good omen for later this fall and winter at all.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    NPR ran a report on students returning to school. They were all so happy to be back, and not one of them supported any of this anti-masking nonsense. If the kids don’t care, I can only assume the anti-mask-and-vax parents don’t give a shit about them.

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    G.O.P. Governors Fight Mandates as the Party’s Covid Politics Harden

    “the Party’s Covid Politics”

    Congrats to whomever came up with that. Celebrate by throwing yourself into the Sun.

  21. 21.

    Nicole

    @Geo Wilcox: I hear you. My horse died about 4 years ago and I still have his photo on my phone. I posted an image of the tweet above on my FB page on Monday, commenting that this Ray person obviously never owned a horse, and a friend of mine from high school said that when he and his ex-boyfriend broke up and my friend moved out, he took pictures of all 17 of their horses with him, and none of his ex.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 18,762 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,765,016 cases. He also reports 278 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 16,942 deaths — 0.96% of the cumulative reported total, 1.13% of resolved cases.

    As of 31st August, the seven-day running average of Malaysia’s nationwide Rt was at 1.02.

    There are currently 265,274 active and contagious cases; 1,007 are in ICU, 464 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 21,073 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 1,482,800 patients recovered – 84.01% of the cumulative reported total.

    42 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 4,773 clusters. 1,494 clusters are currently active; 3,279 clusters are now inactive.

    18,757 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 3,710 local cases: 95 in clusters, 2,105 close-contact screenings, and 1,510 other screenings.

    Sabah reports 2,430 cases: 156 in clusters, 1,362 close-contact screenings, and 912 other screenings. Sarawak reports 2,414 cases: 234 in clusters, 1,761 close-contact screenings, and 419 other screenings.

    Johor reports 1,993 cases: 437 in clusters, 928 close-contact screenings, and 628 other screenings. Penang reports 1,762 cases: 118 in clusters, 554 close-contact screenings, and 1,090 other screenings. Kedah reports 1,585 cases: 27 in clusters, 1,097 close-contact screenings, and 461 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,504 cases: 114 in clusters, 928 close-contact screenings, and 462 other screenings.

    Perak reports 899 cases: 57 in clusters, 377 close-contact screenings, and 465 other screenings.

    Pahang reports 715 cases: 193 in clusters, 409 close-contact screenings, and 113 other screenings.

    Kuala Lumpur reports 570 local cases: 278 close-contact screenings and 292 other screenings. Terengganu reports 506 cases: 114 in clusters, 315 close-contact screenings, and 77 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 309 cases: 87 in clusters, 139 close-contact screenings, and 83 other screenings.

    Negeri Sembilan reports 290 local cases: 75 in clusters, 92 close-contact screenings, and 123 other screenings.

    Putrajaya reports 34 cases: 28 close-contact screenings and six other screenings. Perlis reports 33 cases: one in a cluster, eight close-contact screenings, and 24 other screenings. Labuan reports three cases: two close-contact screenings and one other screening.

    Five new cases today are imported: three in Kuala Lumpur, one in Selangor, and one in Negeri Sembilan.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 261,768 doses of vaccine on 31st August. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 34,752,340 doses administered: 19.7 million first doses and 15.0 million second doses. 60.5% of the population have received their first dose, while 46.0% are now fully vaccinated.

  23. 23.

    Sloane Ranger

    Tuesday in the UK we had 32,181 new cases. This is an increase of 0.7% in the rolling 7-day average, the rate of increase is down a lot from where we were a week ago, but we may still be catching up after the three day admin. office closures. New cases by nation,

    England – 20,967 (down 357)

    Northern Ireland – 1313 (up 54)

    Scotland – 6029 (up 2136)

    Wales – 3872 (Includes all cases from Monday).

    Deaths – There were 50 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. This is a decrease of 3.4% in the rolling 7-day average, but, again the closure of Registry offices over the Bank Holiday weekend may mean this is an artificially low number. 36 deaths were in England, 6 in Northern Ireland, 7 in Scotland and 1 in Wales.

    Testing – 672,479 tests were conducted on Monday, 30 August. This is an increase of 8.1% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 758,435.

    Hospitalisations – There were 7015 people in hospital and 988 on ventilators on Friday, 27 August. The 7-day rolling average for hospital admissions was up by 6% as of 27 August.

    Vaccinations – As of Monday, 30 August, 48,048,009 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 42,790,585 had received both. This means that 88.4% of all UK residents aged 16+ have had 1 shot and 78.7% were fully vaccinated.

  24. 24.

    lowtechcyclist

    The thing about Florida is, they could report cases in an honest way, even when reporting by date of death.

    Say it takes 3 weeks to be sure that they’ve got >95% of the deaths from a given date.  Then they simply don’t report any stats for the last three weeks.  Instead of showing a declining death rate because of incomplete data, they just don’t report anything because they know the data are incomplete and therefore grossly misleading.

    There’d be a blank space on their charts for the most recent 3 weeks, which I’m sure would be kinda embarrassing, but better that than to actively mislead people that things have been getting better for the past few weeks when they haven’t.

  26. 26.

    Suzanne

    @Robert Sneddon:

    A drive to reduce any virus load in large public spaces like schools, churches, shops etc. with better ventilation and active filtering in air ducts using UV lamps and the like. 

    Allow me to note, as someone who works in this sector, that there has been absolutely zero push that I have seen to increase ventilation requirements such as ACH (air changes per hour), filtration like HEPA, or additional technologies like the UV lights in ducts or within rooms. I will note that all of this technology has existed for a while, but I don’t think there is any reason to expect that building owners and developers are going to do any of this if there is no legal requirement. Building science has discovered that six ACH is a minimum guideline for effective ventilation for Covid, but the vast majority of spaces don’t get anywhere close to that.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    @JPL:

    Same here. More than “some, ” I’d bet. I saw one photo of a school board meeting where a couple of rows of “parents” were ‘roided up white men with their arms crossed over their chests.

  28. 28.

    Chris T.

    Someone should make a bunch of posters: “kill more children”, “I’m pro-death”, “COVID clears out the weak”, etc and drop them off at each of these protests.

    “What?  I’m on Team COVID, just like you. We’re in a war, if you haven’t noticed. You’ve picked your side: you’re pro-COVID.”

  29. 29.

    Mousebumples

    First case of almost close contact that I’ve had – niece (4 y/o) probably got it from daycare. Her unvaccinated dad (not anti Vax but he has seasonal work for the company he owns and works almost every day during the summer – didn’t want to miss work with shot side effects) has a really high fever.

    It’s been over a week since we’ve seen them, so I think we’re in the clear. I’ve already suggested my BIL ask about monoclonal antibody treatment. Not sure if he qualifies but don’t want to miss the treatment window either.

    He’s also a vet. Anyone have VA related advice or suggestions?

    The 4 y/o seems to be doing okay so far – mild fever and just exhausted all the time. My SIL is pregnant but no symptoms or positive test yet. (she’s also vaccinated and is apparently laughing at her partner for being sick and boy getting the vax)

    Hope all your families are doing well. ?

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    @New Deal democrat: I don’t think we’re going to see any consistent case drop in the Northeast before the school openings put us on an upward trajectory again. This wave is going to have to burn through the unvaccinated and some fraction of the vaccinated before it subsides, maybe next spring.

    I expect to get breakthrough COVID sometime in the next couple of months. I don’t really see any way to avoid it without pulling my daughter out of school entirely. At least we’re all vaccinated so it probably won’t be fatal.

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    @Suzanne: We spent a while upgrading HVAC in our classroom spaces, mostly focusing on increasing the circulation rates rather than adding filtration etc. Wasn’t really feasible for some of the bigger lecture halls (not enough spare capacity without major surgery on ductwork and air handlers), so the biggest classes will be virtual when we start up in a few weeks. We got enough of the smaller rooms upgraded to support the majority of our classes though.

  32. 32.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Suzanne: ​
      There’s some pressure (yes, I did go there, sue me) here in the UK to retrofit school buildings with uprated air circulation filtration systems including UV-sterilisation to combat current and future COVID-19 infections. They’re also looking at CO2 monitoring systems to prevent stale air buildups which can host virus populations. These upgrades will improve the general health of everyone at the schools which are well-known to be plague Mixmasters at the best of times (colds, flu, chickenpox etc.)

    We’re starting from a low level though, most UK homes, businesses and school premises don’t have air-conditioning to start with since it’s rare for summer temps to get higher than 25 deg C for more than a few days a year. This means ventilation when it gets hot is “open a window” with no central air ducts, filters etc. Once winter comes along even that amount of air circulation stops as doors and windows are kept closed to keep the heat in and fresh air of any kind indoors is at a premium.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I think it’ll be a while before COVID mortality takes more from their side than it’s already taken from ours. Remember when the Trump administration decided to just let it burn because it was a blue-state pandemic?

    But it was never a blue-state pandemic. Trump’s assumptions were just wrong.

    Covid is taking from “their side” now only because right wing idiots are deliberately putting themselves at risk because of their stubborn and wrongheaded decisions.

  35. 35.

    dr. bloor

    Question: Do people who own horses typically walk around with a photo of themselves and their horse?

    TV GUIDE: “Hijinx ensue when Mr. Ed opens a photo booth to facilitate straw purchases of Ivermectin and Wilbur can’t make bail.”

  36. 36.

    Scout211

    I posted this in yesterday’s fire/hurricane thread but it’s also COVID thread relevant.

    https://www.kcra.com/article/covid-19-outbreak-sidelines-strike-team-crews-battling-caldor-fire-south-lake-tahoe/37446147

    An outbreak of COVID-19 has sidelined a strike team of 16 firefighters battling the Caldor Fire, which is currently approaching the South Lake Tahoe area.

    During a Tuesday morning operations briefing, Cal Fire incident commander Jeff Veik announced the loss of the crews, and warned other firefighters to follow the agency’s COVID-19 protocols.

    “We lost a whole strike team of crews yesterday, we lost a finance section chief due to [being] COVID positive, so understand, do not come to this briefing without a mask on,” he said. “I understand your views are important and I will always respect that as one of our leaders, but you are here at a briefing. One more COVID firefighter getting sick could take out our actions to protect the community and the people we’re here to serve.”

     

     

  37. 37.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    “No, Rep. Gaetz, I was asking for a picture of you and your HORSE; you can put away the  photo of you with those young girls.

    But here, have some horse paste.”

  38. 38.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — There were 6,170 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday with nine new reported deaths of someone who had tested positive. Test positivity rate is 11.5%. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 59, up five from yesterday while hospitalisations have increased by 44 to 629. The case numbers and other indicators are trending steadily upwards and the increase in hospitalisations and ICU bed occupancy must be causing some concern to the health authorities.

    There were just under 12,500 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Tuesday) with about 25% of them first-doses. This brings the total in the adult (18+) population to 91.1% first-dose and 82.9% fully vaccinated. The first-dose vaccination rate for 16 and 17-year-olds is now 49.7%.

    My guess, looking at the graphs of vaccination levels across age groups is that we’re approaching the maximum initial takeup of the vaccine here in Scotland with about a quarter of adults between 18 and 29 remaining unvaccinated despite them being able to get vaccinated on demand for the past couple of months. Virtually everyone over 50 years old is fully vaccinated now. The one bright spot is the rate at which 16 and 17 year olds are taking up the vaccine when offered, reaching 50% in just a couple of weeks from an initial level of about 15% or so.

  39. 39.

    brendancalling

    The Pope hat tweet killed me—that heinous statue of Bedford “KKK” Forrest still stands outside Nashville, smeared with red paint by protestors.

  40. 40.

    The Moar You Know

    Question: Do people who own horses typically walk around with a photo of themselves and their horse?

    You better believe it, just like I’ve got about nine billion picture of me and my dog on my phone.  Horse owners tend to be pretty fanatical about their horses and the awesomeness thereof.

    Yes, I dated a horse owner.  And her horse, because they are not a separate package.

  41. 41.

    The Moar You Know

    There’s some pressure (yes, I did go there, sue me) here in the UK to retrofit school buildings with uprated air circulation filtration systems including UV-sterilisation to combat current and future COVID-19 infections.

    @Robert Sneddon: What with 8 billion people on the planet and that number not slated to go down ever, for the long haul (yeah I went there) it’s actually not COVID I’m worried about, but something a lot nastier/lethal getting loose.  Not if but when.  Seems to me a good idea to start retrofitting old buildings and demanding new buildings conform to at least this standard of ventilation.

  46. 46.

    MontyTheClipArtMongoose

    @brendancalling: has outkuckthecoverage bemoaned this onslaught of hypocritical* leftist cancellation culture

    *nathaniel bedford forrest was a democrat (then again, so was kkklay travis in the year 2000)

  47. 47.

    smith

    @Matt McIrvin: I think it’ll be a while before COVID mortality takes more from their side than it’s already taken from ours.

    If you use the rural-urban divide as a proxy for red-blue (and you probably can in most states), then their side surpassed ours for cumulative deaths from covid long ago. The CDC shows numbers separately for rural and metropolitan counties, and rural cumulative deaths went ahead of urban ones in the surge of last fall and winter. The differential has started to grow again with the delta surge, with rural counties at .53/100K deaths and urban ones at .29/100K. Rural ones may be leveling off, but their case rates are still exploding, so that may just be a blip (or Florida chicanery).

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