This is how we're going to end the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/lunLCO5ElK
— Kevin Corcoran (@KevMiCor) September 3, 2021
HOLIDAY BREAK: Since there’s usually not much news for me to aggregate over these holiday weekends (and we can all use some time away), this will be the last Daily Update until Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, Sept. 7/8. Enjoy your weekend!
(I will still be posting over the weekend — maybe even posting some longer COVID-related links.)
Big Friday just in: +1.40M doses reported administered over yesterday's total, including 550K newly vaccinated and 96K additional doses. Highest total dose number since July 1. Over 175M fully vaccinated (61.9% of eligible pop). Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend! ????
— Cyrus Shahpar (@cyrusshahpar46) September 3, 2021
The unvaccinated shouldn’t travel during the Labor Day holiday weekend, the CDC says. The agency recommends delaying domestic travel & not travel internationally until they're fully vaccinated. The inoculated should wear masks in public indoor settings https://t.co/b9lKgAkul1
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) September 3, 2021
Thread:
From late June to mid-August, there was a 10x increase in the rate of hospitalizations among children ages 0-4 with #COVID19 while the #DeltaVariant was widely circulating. It is critical for children to #maskup and get vaccinated if eligible. Learn more: https://t.co/aHC1vYdKVG. pic.twitter.com/uUeNPG6d5r
— CDC (@CDCgov) September 3, 2021
Children are four times more likely to need emergency room care for #COVID19 in States with low adult vaccination rates, versus those where more than half of adults are fully immunized, according to @CDCgov ./https://t.co/MC5xvWj7rH
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) September 3, 2021
American Airlines to end pandemic leave for unvaccinated staff https://t.co/BBe2PV5ZLU pic.twitter.com/CVfxKYfJFa
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 4, 2021
Poll on #COVID19 finds, “among those who admit they will not get the #vaccine , 70% either identify w/or lean toward the #Republican Party while just 6% align with the #Democrats.”
"It was all lunacy. It is all lunacy. This should never have happened."https://t.co/whOTtWX48U— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) September 2, 2021
The devilishly clever Republican strategy is working: Spread disease to tank the economy. Then people will vote…Republican? https://t.co/IVk09WmeSM
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) September 3, 2021
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China administered total of 2.092 bln doses of covid-19 vaccines as of Sept 3 https://t.co/Ogsi8RlFex pic.twitter.com/yrSHs9J1OE
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 4, 2021
A group of drone enthusiasts in Indonesia are providing contactless medicine and food delivery service to people isolating at home https://t.co/OAO6B3V4Fa pic.twitter.com/gzYGvo6CxA
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 2, 2021
Australia's reports record daily COVID-19 cases, braces for worse https://t.co/iGvajBcpOD pic.twitter.com/ebDkzY923l
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 4, 2021
Why has Australia switched tack on Covid zero? https://t.co/MFXrxoiYs9
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) September 3, 2021
New Zealand reports first death from Delta variant of COVID-19 https://t.co/WYHRHSCIyA pic.twitter.com/5400evv3Mu
— Reuters (@Reuters) September 4, 2021
As France juggles pandemic resources in its former colonies, the country's worst virus outbreak is unfolding 12 times zones away from Paris in Tahiti and other parts of French Polynesia. https://t.co/mJMIc1jWes
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) September 4, 2021
Russia on Saturday reported 18,780 new coronavirus cases and 796 deathshttps://t.co/gO1mX0T8Td
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) September 4, 2021
America, we're losers.
"More than 71% of Spain's total population of 47 million is fully vaccinated, ahead of Italy's 61%, and France and Germany on 60%," while USA is at 53% of total pop fully vaxed. https://t.co/HfSbcnxrrs— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) September 3, 2021
UK's vaccine advisory body refuses to approve vaccinating healthy children aged 12-15 years old on health grounds alone https://t.co/5RQCCuK4El
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 3, 2021
Some cities in Brazil are providing booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, even though most people have yet to receive their second jabs, in a sign of the concern in the country over the highly contagious delta variant. https://t.co/Tu2golrA73
— The Associated Press (@AP) September 4, 2021
Oh, Canada…
Protesters in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec have taken to busy streets and hospital entrances in the past week to voice their discontent with #COVID19 vaccine passports, which all three provinces have recently moved to implement passports.https://t.co/NSZMVIVhJX
— The Globe and Mail (@globeandmail) September 3, 2021
======
A coronavirus variant of interest known as #MuVariant is not an “immediate threat” to the US, says Anthony Fauci.
The variant is “not at all even close to being dominant,” as the #DeltaVariant remains the cause of over 99% of cases in the country.https://t.co/ZYAmI9AKGS #Mu
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) September 3, 2021
Here’s what we know about the mu variant https://t.co/UyaMKIyXom
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) September 3, 2021
Poorly-understood Long Covid affects millions. With funding from the Hassenfeld Foundation, Brown has launched the Long Covid Initiative to study the syndrome's impact on people, economies, and societies. @orpanag @meganranney @ashishkjha https://t.co/dayC0SWvmR
— Brown Public Health (@Brown_SPH) September 3, 2021
As someone who's spent the better part of my career working in TB/HIV:
VENTILATION, VENTILATION, VENTILATION
Opening windows & doors to create a cross-breeze is cheap & highly effective.
Then layer masks & air filtration on top of that for added protection.Excellent explainer: https://t.co/AkczDzPKOV
— Céline Gounder, MD, ScM, FIDSA (@celinegounder) September 3, 2021
I have to ask: Is he aware of the long-term medical effects from playing football? https://t.co/7NsxsQqZVi
— Will McAvoy (@WillMcAvoyACN) September 3, 2021
A lot of the ‘vaccine hesitance’ among men under 35 seems to be ‘someone said it’ll break my dick.’ *Covid* will break your dick, bro!
“The penis is just another organ that is at risk due to COVID-related blood clotting.
The disease can cause excessive or unusual clotting throughout the body, which may lead to complications such as strokes, heart failure, pulmonary embolisms, and "COVID toes."”/2
— Dr. Oni Blackstock (@oni_blackstock) August 29, 2021
(Also… Ebola, a closely related coronavirus, can lurk & remain infectious in men’s testes for at least five years — a woman in West Africa died this way just a few months ago. Perhaps another long-term side effect we’ll be worrying about… )
======
ICUs are full, hospitals are doing triage, #COVID19 is overwhelming entire medical systems — but suddenly, data is disappearing. Some Governors think the best way to minimize the #pandemic is to stop posting numbers of sick and dead on official websites.https://t.co/8am6XRnRt9
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) September 3, 2021
“Fifteen staff members in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools District have died from COVID-19 in the past 10 days.”
When will the national media hold DeSantis responsible for the carnage he caused in Florida? https://t.co/boycfZRLve
— Murshed Zaheed (@murshedz) September 4, 2021
Tennessee, to look on the brighter side of things, leads the world in the percentage of population who has done their own research. https://t.co/NWm39xQo3X
— Slava Malamud (@SlavaMalamud) September 3, 2021
A church camp didn’t require vaccinations or masks. It’s now linked to 180 covid cases, CDC says. https://t.co/1uIFhRK7ue
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 1, 2021
Marc Bernier was at least the fourth conservative talk-radio host who had espoused anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiments to succumb to the virus over the past month, highlighting talk radio’s often overlooked role as a vector of coronavirus misinformation https://t.co/XNSsEx7oo1
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 1, 2021
the cops finally found something they won’t shoot https://t.co/i8ismgatXV
— kilgore trout, horse paste suppository (@KT_So_It_Goes) September 3, 2021
I’m a cynic; it would not surprise me if every fatal heart attack or other medical incident was now being classified as ‘covid related’ to pump up individual cops’ pensions. But that can only be some of the rise in deaths…
I keep an eye on the Officer Down social media pages because, well, extremists kill cops.
Right now, it's one announcement after another of officers dying from COVID.
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) September 3, 2021
Police Unions are part of the problem. pic.twitter.com/oK70WRbT9Y
— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) September 3, 2021
Baud
But black people!
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY website: 201 new cases on 9/3, 4.1% test positivity.
NYS Dept of Health says 218 new cases for Monroe County on 9/3, but they both say it was over 200 new cases. Drat.
Baud
Why would Covid related deaths affect pension amounts?
Cermet
Again, Anne thank you for these extremely valuable updates/posts on Covid-19; first thing I look for here at BJ. As for Cops refusing, again, a win/win – those that quit are likely rightwing loons and those that don’t but get sick, set an example to others to get vaccinated. Still shocked that so many will not vaccinate here but I guess the fox bubble is extremely strong – this is mass murder but I know the republicans in power can’t see any down side – truly sick.
Baud
More right wing talk radio people have died of covid than I knew existed.
Nelle
Thank you again for these posts. I particularly value the global perspective. I’ve really missed that from most sources since I’ve moved back to the States (can no longer, in good conscience, write “United”). Enjoy a most deserved break.
Shalimar
@Baud: There are thousands of them. Every local market has at least one rightwing radio station, and all of them have a few local hosts for times they don’t want to pay for syndicated content.
NYCMT
A classmate of mine from law school died Wednesday of complications from a Covid infection. Not even forty years old. Widow and four children. The hospitals in Duluth were full, and he was being medically managed at home when he had sudden chest pain and shortness of breath. He died before reaching the hospital.
Immigrant from Nigeria. Marine. Three tours in Iraq. Hardworking, decent, always cheerful. Manny was a good guy.
Baud
I think the percentage of total population vaccinated stat is a bit misleading because different countries have different percentages of ineligible children.
Not sure what the spread would be if that is taken into account.
Nicole
I’m a current addict of the Herman Cain Award page on Reddit. There was a recent post by someone about using one of the stories on it to persuade their sister to get the shot: https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/comments/phg1ns/fwiw_my_antivaxx_sister_got_her_first_moderna/
So it’s not just schadenfreude. Or so I tell myself.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The Mu Variant confirms we are living in the Illuminati Trilogy.
Since when have football players been concerned about their long term health?
Brachiator
@Cermet:
Some nuance is called for. Some police are very much pro vaccine. But the police unions insist that vaccination requirements be negotiated with the union and not imposed on union members. The cities have been using emergency authority to demand vaccinations, and some unions are resisting this.
In California, a Covid outbreak among firefighters reduced staff available to fight the wild fires.
So now you have a potential problem. Letting unvaccinated police or firefighters roam free, or letting them quit or be fired, can have a significant impact on operations.
The Thin Black Duke
Here’s something I wrote about how anti-vaxxers have painted themselves into a corner. Rooting for injuries.
Lapassionara
I’m saddened by the school employee deaths. First the active shooter drills and now this.
and when did Bill Frist become such a RINO?
Thank you, AL.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Like the vaccine, the grifters can’t make money off an open window.
Also a well maintained HVAC system does the same. So it funny how people will pay the nose for horse laxatives but balk at having the air conditioner served.
Ken
As someone here said a few weeks ago, wait until we get to the Omega Variant. The press will handle it with their usual skill and professionalism.
Ken
@Baud: I expect it’s something about “job-related” disabilities or injuries.
WereBear
@Baud: It turns out many regions have their own mini-Limbaughs to confuse the locals.
Brachiator
I am surprised that any of these radio hosts are willing to die because of their beliefs. I assumed that most of them were pushing misinformation for rating success. This might still be the case for many.
It’s funny that the press would claim that the role of these hosts in spreading misinformation is “overlooked.” They have been there since the beginning of the pandemic, spreading lies. Especially those who blindly supported Trump when he was still in office. But these idiots are old school when compared to social media.
YY_Sima Qian
On 9/3 China reported 1 new domestic confirmed cases & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild, a Burmese national), at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 1 Medium Risk village has been re-designated to Low Risk. 1 community & 2 villages at Ruili are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases. 21 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 55 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently are 78 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 62 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 54 active domestic confirmed (22 mild & 32 moderate) & 40 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
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. 2 residential compound was re-designated as Low Risk. 2 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 9/3, China reported 27 new imported confirmed cases (7 previously asymptomatic), 22 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 55 confirmed cases recovered (26 imported), 24 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (22 imported) & 7 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 1,770 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 908 active confirmed cases in the country (621 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 424 active asymptomatic cases (371 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 15,772 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 9/3, 2,092.174M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 7.524M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 9/4, Hong Kong report 1 new positive cases, imported (from the Philippines).
Butter Emails
@Brachiator:
When the press says “overlooked” it just means they didn’t know it or didn’t bother covering it until now. It’s very similar to Trump’s “Not many people know this” followed by a piece of information that many people do indeed know, but was new information for him.
eclare
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I get your point about ventilation, but thinking back to my eled, middle, and high school, all of them had the windows sealed shut to keep the A/C in. Is it easy to unseal windows? Not snark, I have no idea.
And in my high school, a “window” measured about one foot wide and four feet tall. Can’t have kids looking out the window
WereBear
@NYCMT: That’s heartbreaking and infuriating.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@The Thin Black Duke: I suspect the reason why the MAHA aren’t sacrificing their own children on stone altars to (repurposed Big Boy) golden statues of Donald Trump is no has figured out how to make money off of it, yet.
lowtechcyclist
Enjoy yours too!
And while I can’t tell you how deeply I appreciate these daily updates, you’ve been doing this daily since January 2020, except for a few holiday weekends. Please, PLEASE take a break whenever you feel the need of one!
The Thin Black Duke
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m surprised nobody’s given the My Pillow guy a call yet.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 19,057 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,824,439 cases. It also reports 360 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 17,883 deaths — 0.98% of the cumulative reported total, 1.14% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.98.
There are currently 256,302 active and contagious cases; 978 are in ICU, 460 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 21,582 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 1,550,254 patients recovered – 84.97% of the cumulative reported total.
16 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 4,854 clusters. 1,455 clusters are currently active; 3,399 clusters are now inactive.
19,047 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 3,768 local cases: 171 in clusters, 1,912 close-contact screenings, and 1,685 other screenings.
Sarawak reports 2,723 cases: 157 in clusters, 1,474 close-contact screenings, and 1,092 other screenings. Sabah reports 2,278 local cases: 164 in clusters, 1,237 close-contact screenings, and 877 other screenings. Johor reports 2,076 local cases: 196 in clusters, 1,185 close-contact screenings, and 695 other screenings.
Penang reports 1,558 cases: 128 in clusters, 476 close-contact screenings, and 954 other screenings. Perak reports 1,450 cases: 178 in clusters, 562 close-contact screenings, and 710 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,434 cases: 74 in clusters, 992 close-contact screenings, and 368 other screenings. Kedah reports 1,329 cases: seven in clusters, 885 close-contact screenings, and 437 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 710 local cases: four in clusters, 323 close-contact screenings, and 383 other screenings.
Terengganu reports 605 cases: 79 in clusters, 415 close-contact screenings, and 111 other screenings.
Pahang reports 410 cases: 39 in clusters, 303 close-contact screenings, and 68 other screenings.
Melaka reports 338 cases: 60 in clusters, 158 close-contact screenings, and 120 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan reports 242 cases: 21 in clusters, 131 close-contact screenings, and 90 other screenings.
Perlis reports 99 cases: 24 in clusters, 27 close-contact screenings, and 48 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 18 cases: 11 close-contact screenings and seven other screenings. Labuan reports ninw cases, all close-contact screenings.
10 new cases today are imported: seven in Selangor, one in Sabah, one in Johor, and one in Kuala Lumpur.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 321,349 doses of vaccine on 3rd September. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 35,841,103 doses administered: 20.3 million first doses and 15.6 million second doses. 62.0% of the population have received their first dose, while 47.8% are now fully vaccinated.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@eclare: At work we open the doors to the production floor to increase air flow.
Also the school can have the building’s HVAC improved and the filter changed. But that costs money.
One of the reason why US West has a lower infection rate than the rest of the country is after SARS all new HVAC systems had to meet a bunch of standards in air flow, filtration and air ionization. .
Butter Emails
@Brachiator:
This is a short term problem, but also an opportunity. I suspect that there is a significant overlap between the most rotten fruit and those willing to quit over vaccination policy.
eclare
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Thanks for the info!
eclare
@Butter Emails: I suspect you are right!
Brachiator
@Butter Emails:
There is also this weird thing in some markets where newspapers will not seriously report on the radio industry, especially talk radio stations. They see it as giving free publicity to competitors.
ETA. In Los Angeles, the host of one talk radio morning show has been recuperating from heart surgery. He is strongly pro vaccine. Most of the guest hosts have come from Fox News and have been variations of crazy.
Nicole
@Brachiator:
Anne Laurie (I think it was) had some links posted a few days ago on this very subject- opinion pieces pointing out that it’s the bigwigs on teevee who lie about vaccines while making sure they themselves are first in line to get vaccinated. These smaller market radio guys are just middle management and aren’t in on the grift. They actually partake of the snake oil they sell.
Ken
@Nicole: “In chess, the pawns go first.” — Magneto
Brachiator
@Ken:
This might get interesting. I can see insurance companies refusing to pay the claims of people who do not get vaccinated and who do not have a valid reason for getting the vaccine.
This is also again where police and firefighter unions can complicate the issue if vaccine requirements need to be negotiated.
Nicole
@Brachiator:
Seeing as how there is a huge overlap of vehement anti-vaxxers with white supremacists, I’m willing to take that gamble. If a cop quits, I think they lose their pension, so I think most will eventually cave. Any of them willing to lose their pension over anti-vax beliefs is not someone I want in charge of saving other people’s lives. All the cities have to do is keep saying, “Cops and firefighters have frequent contact with the public; it’s a matter of keeping the public safe.” That said, I do understand unions wanting a say in the matter; that’s them doing their jobs to protect their members, but as a rule I don’t trust police unions to act in good faith. Teachers’ unions have already come around on this.
Nicole
@Ken: An excellent line from a pretty mediocre film.
debbie
My town will be having a combined Labor Day Block Party and Brewfest right outside my apartment on Sunday. Beer, food, games, and live music. As nice as the weather’s been, I think I’ll close windows and turn the damn A/C back on.
Ken
@Nicole: You have a higher opinion of it than I do.
topclimber
@Brachiator: I never saved the link so this one is based on memory. A union representing sheriffs in NYC (?) said tons of officers would retire if there was a vaccine mandate. Way down in the story was a stat that 72% already had the vaccine.
I take it as a sign that rank and file, racist or not, care more about their own health than do union leaders concerned about their prerogatives.
Kristine
Adding my thanks for these updates to the growing list, AL. Enjoy your holiday.
Peale
Bill Frist could just use his vast family fortune to buy the TN state GOP to get them to enact the policies he wants. Cheapskate. He knows how it works.
OzarkHillbilly
Not if they are vested in their pension. I was vested in mine when I hit the 5 year mark. I have no idea what the number is in most police/fire pensions.
Mousebumples
Thanks for this, as always, AL. Enjoy your weekend!
Steeplejack (phone)
@NYCMT:
Condolences. Do you know if he was vaccinated?
Nicole
@OzarkHillbilly:
It can’t be much of a pension at the 5 year mark, though, can it? Like, you’ve got to work a certain number of years to get the full pension, right? I googled NYC’s (I fully admit I don’t know much about it) and vested is 2.1% of salary x years of employment – 50% of SS benefit once SS benefits start at 62. I’m uncertain if that means they’re pressured into taking SS early or not
Interesting to learn that in NYC cops contribute to SS. My uncle was a state trooper in PA from the late 60s- early aughts and never contributed to SS, so his only income now is his pension.
debbie
@Nicole:
Vesting means you will get all of the funds that have accumulated, whether it’s not much or massive.
NotMax
Repeated from downstairs.
Suzanne
@eclare:
It depends. In most buildings that have non-operable windows or storefront or glass curtain wall, there literally is no mechanism for them to open. So you can’t even “unseal” them. That’s because the mechanical systems of most big buildings are designed to be pressurized to achieve some amount of ACH. Ventilation increases are much more complicated from a building perspective than “just open the windows!” or “turn up the air handler!” would indicate. Its not just turning up a dial to get the AHU to change the air more. It’s a lot of money and maintenance and effort. And I can assure you that most building owners will not do it unless they are required or pressured to do so.
New Deal democrat
Here is some helpful information about the percent of the US population that may actually have been exposed to COVID from Carl Bergstrom:
https://mobile.twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1433935751201185798
The study he highlights relied upon the the Red Cross donor data I mentioned here several times a couple of weeks ago. While blood donors aren’t a random sample (even in May 75 to 80% of young donors were already vaccinated!), the study was able to extrapolate by making use of differences that are accurately known.
The bottom line is that the true % of people who have had the virus in the US is about double the “confirmed” count. In May, when the study ended, that was 20%. With the Delta wave, for which known infections have been 2%, that results in a total current number of about 25%.
If the first 20% of infected were randomly aligned with the % of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, that gives us a current total of 50% vaccinated plus 10% unvaccinated but previously infected before Delta plus maybe 4% infected by Delta (since almost all confirmed cases are among the unvaccinated). That totals 64% of the US population currently with some resistance to infection.
eclare
@Suzanne: Thank you!
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Greece: the daily tally of new cases is back below the 3,000 level, the seven-day new-case average is slowly crawling back down, and apparently the threat of suspension without pay is convincing some vaccine-hesitant health-care workers to get their jabs. According to Kathimerini, one hospital saw its vaccination rate jump from 35% to 87%.
For myself, I’m wishing that some of the deniers with the megaphones would be de-platformed, and I’ve taken to citing the de-platforming of WW2 broadcaster William Joyce in early January 1946. (You may have heard of him under his broadcasting nickname, Lord Haw-Haw.)
Geminid
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: One good thing the Virginia General Assembly did in their recent special session was to allocate $250 million to upgrading public school HVAC systems, to be matched by localities with their federal Covid relief money.
lowtechcyclist
@New Deal democrat:
Good Lord, I had no idea what a prolific super-spreader he was!
(Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Like I said on another thread, it seemed to me like too many were dying to be consistent with the lethality of COVID–and then I realized that was just an indication of how many of these numbnuts there are.
And it’s interesting that, unlike the big-name conservative media figures, they seem to be true believers who actually didn’t get vaccinated.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: Those are actually higher rates of detection than I’d have expected–in the spring of 2020 it seemed to me, from death rates and such, like we must have been finding about 1/5 of infections. But I suppose things improved rapidly as testing became widely available.
New Deal democrat
@lowtechcyclist:
Touché!
Scout211
The California Central Valley has reached a critical stage as the availability of ICU beds is now less than 10%. The Central Valley is not doing as well as the rest of California. This is a repeat of the peak earlier this year, but for most counties in the region, this peak is actually worse. That includes the county where we live.
https://www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/san-joaquin-county-icu-capacity-critical-level-surge-order/103-05acc0b3-5024-43d8-82b7-62b80bb2cf2c
Ohio Mom
eclare@22:
My first elementary school, which I started attending in 1960, was an old, old building with I’m guessing 10 or 12 foot ceilings and long, tall windows that just about reached the top of the walls.
The building also had a boiler set on the proverbial 11, which meant that to keep the classrooms at normal temperatures, windows were kept open from the top all year long.
That building was built for ventilation.
Yes, it was quite energy-inefficient and we sweltered during the final weeks of the year in June. Which may also have been beneficial. Wilted children are docile — incapable of end-of-the-year restlessness and hijinks.
I can’t help thinking our forebears had wisdom we abandoned.
matt
They are now saying that Ebola case was not an Ebola case:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/who-ebola-ivory-coast-new-test-1.6160741
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: …Also, I suppose the other possible caveat there is that there seems to be some fraction of people who get mild COVID cases and recover quickly but never develop detectable levels of antibodies. Young people, especially. I don’t think this is well-understood.
Just Chuck
Indoor mask mandates are back in Denver. Good job Denver, thanks and FYVM Covidiots.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — There were 6,152 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday with 11 new reported deaths of someone who had tested positive. Test positivity rate is 12.9%. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 58, down two from yesterday while hospitalisations are up 46 to 670.
There were just under 11,000 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Friday) with about 25% of them first-doses. This brings the total in the adult (18+) population to 91.2% first-dose and 83.5% fully vaccinated. The first-dose vaccination rate for 16 and 17-year-olds is now 53.0%, an impressive achievement over the past three weeks of open access to vaccination to that part of the population.
Sloane Ranger
Enjoy your time off A/L.
Friday in the UK we had 42,076 new cases. This is an increase of 0.4% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 31,726 (up 3040)
Northern Ireland – 1248 (up 225)
Scotland – 6711 (up 311)
Wales – 2391 (up 116).
Deaths – There were 121 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. This is an increase of 5.6% in the rolling 7-day average. 96 deaths were in England, 9 in Northern Ireland, 10 in Scotland and 6 in Wales.
Testing – 1,155,929 tests took place on Thursday, 2 September. This is an increase of 11.8%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 720,242.
Hospitalisations – There were 7541 people in hospital and 1038 on ventilators on Thursday, 2 September. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 4.1% as of 30 August.
Vaccinations – As of Thursday, 2 September, 48,171,998 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 43,142,747 had had both. This means that 88.6% of all people aged 16+ had had 1 shot as of that date and 79.4% were fully vaccinated.
debbie
@Ohio Mom:
I remember teachers using a pole with a hook at the end to open the tops of windows in my grade school.
Kent
Trust me, there are hundreds more to go.
sdhays
My wife took my son for a doctor’s checkup yesterday and to get his flu vaccine. She said that the doctor told her that they have a supply of vaccine for kids his age (under 5) but that obviously they couldn’t administer it yet until it was approved by the FDA, probably sometime next year.
I found that odd. Why would pediatricians’ offices already have doses of the vaccine for kids who won’t be able to get it for possibly another 6 months? I thought maybe my wife misunderstood and they just meant that they have the vaccine for older kids, but that also doesn’t sound right – why would they say they couldn’t administer it yet?
Any ideas?
Kent
Absolutely not true except for recently hired cops. Every pension has a vesting period. For teachers here in WA it is 5 years. After that you are entitled to your pension no matter the circumstances of your departure. Even if you are fired with cause. Most pension payout formulas are a combination of the number of years you worked multiplied by a percentage of your final or average highest salaries. So someone quitting after only a few years on the job and a long time from retirement age will get a tiny pension, but they will get one.
Many cops try to goose their pensions by working loads of overtime their final couple of years on the job to elevate their highest average salary in the pension formula and lock in a higher pension for life.
Most cops won’t quit because they fear losing their pension. Most won’t quit because they don’t have nearly enough years in to be eligible for a big enough pension to live on comfortably. And working as a low wage security guard in a job without benefits for their final few years won’t help matters either. They need to keep that police job until their pension is high enough to live on as most don’t have big 401(k)s and such.
Kent
@sdhays: Unless the formula is different, why would they have separate vaccines for little kids and older people? It’s all the same vaccine. There is talk of using lower dosages for little kids, but they would still be drawing the dosages out of the same vaccine vials, just using smaller syringes.
As far as I know, there is no separate kids vaccine, it is all the same exact vaccine supply they give to everyone else. So no reason they would be keeping a portion of it in deep storage for 2022 just for kids. Makes no sense. They can just use new deliveries then.
Bill Arnold
@New Deal democrat:
Pretty sure (and I believe CDC is too) that the level of vaccination + natural disease-caused immunity (or partial immunity) in the unvaccinated, plus NPIs (masks, etc), have much of the US at or above the herd immunity threshold for the original “wild type” SARS-CoV-2, which is now mostly gone, replaced by the much more contagious Delta variant.
That the spike is almost entirely due to the much more contagious Delta and a simultaneous (insane) serious relaxation of NPIs. Mask usage in stores in my NY State county (mid Hudson valley) went from 100 percent to about 50 percent as soon as the mask requirement was lifted. I do not feel safe shopping, now. Also, people have been socializing as if there were no pandemic. Much of it outdoors, since it is summer, but it is getting cooler/indoor season in the NE is approaching.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Geminid: That’s is good to hear.
I will point out I have been in work 40 hours a week threw most of the pandemic and that combination of masks and good air as kept us all healthy.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Indeed, Right Wing Radio hosts have been over breading for decades and this is just nature’s way of restoring balance, like with deer.
sdhays
@Kent: I guess I was thinking they had a different mix for kids, but that makes sense. Thanks!
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Baud: might be a special cutout for deaths in the line of duty
survivors will say their dead cop relative died from onjob exposure
Another Scott
I’m pretty sure Ebola is not a coronavirus. Ebola is transmitted through infected fluids (blood, etc.) while the SARS viruses are primarily transmitted as respiratory viruses.
Ebolavirus at Wikipedia.
You’re right though that viruses can be sneaky and hide for months/years!
Cheers,
Scott.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Lapassionara: but as with terri sciavo’s cognitive ability, the good doctor frist remains an armchair diagnostic fiend
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Brachiator: for many, they are single radio market lifers & pushing plandemic disinformation is just no different than saying hillarykilledvincefoster thirty years ago
i know that’s the case in my old hometown milwaukee, where there’s always a seat for mark belling & jeff wagner… & if he gets some sense back, charlie sykes
Chris Sherbak
@Ohio Mom: re: tall windows. I was reading a archi review of buildings built around the time of the flu epidemic (?) It was generally believed that fresh air would help with health and the boilers/radiators were designed with continuous fresh air available so “over” heated spaces. As they were torn down and retrofitted with “good windows” we went with more sealed environments. So yes, our ancestors (of blessed memory) did have some thoughts on respiratory illness and ventilation, esp. in the built up Eastern parts of the country.
Geminid
A Harrisonberg Virginia radio station that I listen to carries West Virginia news. Yesterday morning they played part of W. Va. Governor Jim Justice’s news conference. Justice spoke of the success of the state’s lottery that incentivises Covid vaccination. Then he went on to say, “But there is another lottery- the death lottery [for those who are not vaccinated]. Yesterday 32 West Virginians lost the death lottery.”
Freemark
@Chris Sherbak: The extreme heating from water radiators in older city apartment buildings is part of that. They were designed to provide enough heat so people could leave apartment windows open some in winter to fight respiratory infection spread.
Royston Vasey
In September 2020, New Zealand’s COVID death toll stood at 25
In February 2021 it was 26
Today it is now 27, following a woman in her 90s with underlying health issues fell ill in late August
Two deaths in about a year isn’t too bad a record.
#teamof5m
steve g
How does that work again? I know it is the 21st century and we say testes-havers and such, but I still don’t get it.
Chris T.
@NotMax:
They should have been immediately vaccinated. Have staff with needles standing by the revolving doors, jabbing as they revolve.
Suddenly the whole thing becomes a self-solving problem!
Chris T.
@Suzanne:
Even in older buildings that have been retrofitted this way, it can be difficult. Sometimes they’re welded shut. (I participated in some subversive sealed-window altering, back in the day….)
LiminalOwl
@steve g: Sexual contact, I’m guessing? Ebola spreads via body fluids.
Anne Laurie
@steve g: His Ebola-carrying sperm, passed to a new lover, infected & killed her.
This was earlier this year — not the most recent thought-it-was-Ebola case in the news.
Matt McIrvin
I looked it up–ebola isn’t a coronavirus; it’s also an RNA virus, but it’s not that similar to SARS-CoV-2 otherwise. Its RNA is negative-sense, which means it needs to be transcribed to positive-sense mRNA before being expressed, whereas a coronavirus’s RNA is positive-sense.
Matt McIrvin
@Bill Arnold: I’m in the least-bad corner of the US, but It’s still a bit surreal now to see case rates creeping up every day, ICU capacity getting a little stressed, and when I go out to run some errand, most people are still just acting as if it’s all over. They’re done.
I just went to pick up some takeout food at a bar-restaurant downtown. Seemed like I was the only person wearing a mask on the whole downtown strip. Normal eating-out and socializing going on. At least nobody gave me any shit about it.
I guess we’ll see if things change if things get really bad like they are down south. Probably won’t get that bad because of higher vaccination, but the experience of higher-vax areas in Florida suggests to me that that’s not enough if there’s just a lot of virus coming in.
bbleh
Police Unions are part of the problem
Well there’s a widely applicable principle.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am sure the police unions are spining it they were quitting because the public outrage at police behavior but I would think a large number of them are quitting just because of health risk from COVID. Some cop near retirement can quite easily decide it’s not worth the risk of waiting a few more years.
Richard
@Baud: 
Oh you are lucky! You probably wouldn’t believe what it is like living around here. I won’t leave because this is home, and where would i go?
YY_Sima Qian
On 9/4 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangzhou in Guangdong Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a worker at a quarantine hotel for arrivals/returnees from overseas, discovered during daily screening of such employees. The case had started her rotation at the hotel on 8/30 & been living in the facility since. Apparently the worker was accidentally exposed while handling garbage on 9/1. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the domestic asymptomatic case shares the same sequence as an imported confirmed case (reported on 9/4) who had stayed at the quarantine hotel, both having the Delta Variant. 55 F1 & 122 F2 close contacts have been traced so far, all have tested negative.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 1 Medium Risk community at Ruili has been re-designated as Low Risk. 2 villages at Ruili remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases. 15 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 40 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently are 76 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 52 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 9 domestic confirmed case recovered & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 45 active domestic confirmed (20 mild & 25 moderate) & 30 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
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. All areas in the city are now at Low Risk.
Imported Cases
On 9/4, China reported 28 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 22 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 60 confirmed cases recovered (23 imported), 23 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (10 imported) & 3 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 756 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 876 active confirmed cases in the country (626 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 421 active asymptomatic cases (380 imported), 0 suspect cases. 15,324 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 9/4, 2,100.387M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 8.213M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 9/5, Hong Kong report 8 new positive cases, all imported (from the Philippines, Kyrgyszstan, the UK & the US, all had been double vaccinated w/ the BioNTech or Sinovac vaccines).
YY_Sima Qian
On 9/5 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangzhou in Guangdong Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact. There currently are 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 2 villages at Ruili remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 32 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There are currently are 75 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 9 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 43 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 domestic confirmed case recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed (18 mild & 23 moderate) & 28 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
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.
Imported Cases
On 9/5, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (5 previously asymptomatic), 17 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 54 confirmed cases recovered (29 imported), 18 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (16 imported) & 5 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 554 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 840 active confirmed cases in the country (615 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 416 active asymptomatic cases (376 imported), 0 suspect cases. 15,237 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 9/5, 2,107.445M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 7.06M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 9/6, Hong Kong report 2 new positive cases, both imported (from Indonesia & the US, both had been double vaccinated).
YY_Sima Qian
On 9/6 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed cases & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangzhou in Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, both associated w/ leak at a quarantine hotel for overseas arrivals.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 2 villages at Ruili remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 24 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hunan Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. 7 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently are 68 active domestic confirmed (including 1 serious) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive case. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 6 domestic confirmed case recovered & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 35 active domestic confirmed (14 mild & 21 moderate) & 25 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 8 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
Imported Cases
On 9/6, China reported 36 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 10 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 50 confirmed cases recovered (26 imported), 22 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (17 imported) & 3 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 1,431 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 826 active confirmed cases in the country (625 imported), 7 in serious condition (all imported), 401 active asymptomatic cases (366 imported), 0 suspect cases. 14,217 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 9/6, 2,113.08M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 5.638M doses in the past 24 hrs. 1,095M individuals have received at least 1 shot, 969.72M individuals are fully vaccinated.
On 9/7, Hong Kong report 6 new positive cases, all imported (from Indonesia & the US, both had been double vaccinated).