Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

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

I really should read my own blog.

He really is that stupid.

No one could have predicted…

The words do not have to be perfect.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

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

Let there be snark.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Sept. 27-28

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Sept. 27-28

by | 62 Comments

This post is in: ,


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Apparently stupidity is contagious, too:

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… The US Food and Drug Administration has received 49 reports of poisoning and other serious reactions linked to human consumption of ivermectin to treat Covid so far this year. The equivalent figure for the whole of 2020 was 23 cases, according to data released to the Financial Times. Of those 49 cases, 14 resulted in deaths. However, the FDA said due to limited data it could not determine whether the cause of death was directly linked to the use of ivermectin or other causes.

It follows a surge in ivermectin use following its promotion by some conservative commentators as a potential treatment for Covid-19, even though it has not been approved by regulators to treat the virus. Outpatient prescriptions of the drug have increased 24-fold on pre-pandemic levels, reaching 88,000 in the week ending August 13, according to data from IQVIA, a research firm…

And in a sign that adverse reaction reporting to the FDA may underestimate the scale of the problem, there have been 26 overdoses on the drug in New Mexico since the start of December, compared to just two in the previous 11 months…

“Coma, seizure hallucinations, dizziness, nervous disorders like tingling. Those are what we’re seeing from these very high doses,” she said…

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Reader Interactions

62Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    Monroe County web site: 184 new cases on Sunday. 3.8% test positivity.
    Last week: 403 cases among children ages 0 – 19, 214 cases among 20 year olds, 232 among 30 year olds,180 among 40 year olds. 372 cases among people 50 and up, case numbers declining as the age goes up.

    Deaths now at 1406, up from 1396 last week.
    62.4% are fully vaccinated. 66.9% have had at least 1 jab.

  4. 4.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 9/27 China reported 13 new domestic confirmed cases & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Fujian Province reporter 2 new domestic confirmed cases. 32 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 385 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    • Putian did not report any new domestic positive cases. 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 168 active domestic confirmed (54 mild, 112 moderate, 1 serious & 1 critical) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. Fengting Township (except for 7 villages at Low Risk, & 8 villages & 1 community at Medium Risk) remains at High Risk. 8 villages & 1 community at Fengting County have been re-designated from High Risk to Medium Risk. 5 zones, 1 residential building, 1 residential compound, 1 school, 2 communities & 12 villages remain at Medium Risk.
    • Quanzhou did not report any domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed cases. 4 villages remain at Medium Risk.
    • Xiamen reported 2 new domestic confirmed case (both mild, 1 each at Tong’an & Jimei Districts), both traced close contacts. 20 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 197 active domestic confirmed cases (50 mild, 147 moderate) in the city. Xinmin Township remains at High Risk. 1 zone, 5 villages, 2 communities & 3 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Zhangzhou did not report any new domestic positive cases. There have been 3 active domestic confirmed cases reported in the city, though they are actually being treated at Xiamen. 1 community remains at Medium Risk

    Heilongjiang Province reported 11 new domestic confirmed. There currently are 60 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Harbin reported 11 new domestic confirmed (6 mild & 5 moderate; 8 at Bayan County & 3 at Songbei District), 10 are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine & 1 from mass screening. There currently are 59 active domestic confirmed (51 at Bayan County, 5 at Songbei District, 2 at Mulan County, & 1 at Nan’gang District) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Bayan County) in the city. The entire Xinglong Township in Bayan County has been elevated to High Risk. 7 residential compound are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Suihua did not report any new domestic positive cases. The currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 residential compound remains at Medium Risk.

    Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province, all at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture.

    At Hunan Province 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Zhangjiajie

    At Henan Province there currently are 8 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.

    At Shanghai Municipality there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.

    Imported Cases

    On 9/27, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 7 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Yunnan Province (locations not specified) – 10 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar, via land border crossings
    • Kunming in Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Thailand
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 3 confirmed case, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Bangladesh & 1 from Iraq; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Vietnam
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases, both coming from the Philippines
    • Changsha in Hunan Province –  1 confirmed (previously asymptomatic) & 1 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), no information released, yet
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Guyana & Indonesia

    Overall in China, 61 confirmed cases recovered (26 imported), 11 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 3 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 799 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 982 active confirmed cases in the country (518 imported), 9 in serious condition (4 imported), 337 active asymptomatic cases (327 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 25,183 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 9/27, 2,203.185M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.983M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 9/28, Hong Kong reported 13 new positive cases, all imported.

  6. 6.

    Matt McIrvin

    Is that the explanation for Florida? That a lot of the vaccinated are snowbirds/tourists who aren’t actually there now?

    The cape and the islands in Massachusetts had kind of a reverse version: very highly vaccinated on paper, but that was the permanent residents, and they had terrible outbreaks during the summer high tourist season, which freaked everyone out. In hindsight, the trigger was probably unvaccinated outsiders coming in and mingling in crowds. Now that that’s over, suddenly their infection levels are lowest in the state.

    I figured Florida was more just the consequences of having a state government actively hostile to any preventative measures other than just asking people to get vaccinated. And the fact that high-vaccination areas in FL are right next to low-vaccination areas.

    In the previous waves, we kept grasping for explanations of why Florida got off comparatively easy (yes, they had a big wave in summer 2020 but people were comparing that to New York City in spring 2020). Some of this is just luck. Coming into this wave, California may have had a slightly higher proportion of people with prior infections.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    I agree that the number of resignations due to mandates will be low.  But even if there’s some disruption, we just need to suck it up.  Sometimes doing the right thing is inconvenient or burdensome.  There’s a bit of privilege in believing everything can be accomplished without any pain or sacrifice.

  9. 9.

    Low Key Swagger

    Is the word out with respect to a Moderna booster?  I’ve seen conflicting info.  Should I wait?

  11. 11.

    debbie

    What comedy writer came up with the anecdote that smoking lessened risk of COVID? Weakened lungs vs. a disease aiming for the lungs? That’s ivermectin-level stupid.

  12. 12.

    Matt McIrvin

    It does strike me that the pattern of infection now lends itself much more to a morality tale than what we were seeing through the pandemic’s first year. Non-medical interventions (masking, distancing, restrictions) alone were somewhat effective, but without a vaccine they faced a strong headwind, and some areas that ignored all that benefited from pure dumb luck–the pandemic just hadn’t gotten there yet (it took time to penetrate into lower-density areas), or weather conditions helped.

    Now, we’re seeing this situation where, yeah, if your neighborhood voted for Trump it’s probably got a lot of people dying of COVID, if it voted for Biden it’s got less. 80% of that is just down to vaccination levels, but there are some areas on the margins where other things are contributing.

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think luck has much to do with it at all.  NY and FL had virtually identical first waves, a few months apart, and had virtually identical second waves at the same time.  Along come vaccines, and the third waves couldn’t be more different.

    Vaccines aren’t foolproof, obviously, but my thinking is that between higher vaccination rates, greater amenability to wearing masks, and the nonrandom distribution of unvaxxed in the populations are allowing New England to maintain a slower burn.

  14. 14.

    Matt McIrvin

    @debbie: To be fair, what I’ve heard is that it’s more complicated than that–smoking seems to lessen the risk of getting infected (for incompletely understood reasons) but increase the risk of getting seriously ill or dying (for fairly obvious reasons).

  15. 15.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dr. bloor: But on paper, at least, my county in Massachusetts has a lower vaccination rate than the most highly populated parts of Florida. Also, I can tell you from personal experience that a minority of people around here are wearing masks in public. Yet, in this wave, we haven’t been hit nearly as hard.

  16. 16.

    New Deal democrat

    After the weekend hiatus, all States have updated their reports. We are now down to only 2 States in clear uptrends: ND and AK. But Alaska’s 7 day average is the worst ever recorded for any State except for ND one day last autumn. Four more States are in  equivocal or very small uptrends: MI, MN, NE, and RI.

    More broadly, all 4 US regions are in downtrends. In the US as a whole, cases are down 30% from peak. Deaths peaked early last week just under 2100/day, and have trended slightly down.

    I suspect we will continue this downtrend until colder weather brings more indoor get-togethers.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 11,322 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,220,526 cases. It also reports 258 new deaths as of midnight, for a cumulative total of 25,695 deaths – 1.16% of the cumulative reported total, 1.26% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.90.

    848 confirmed cases are in ICU, 369 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 14,160 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,020,098 patients recovered – 91.0% of the cumulative reported total.

    15 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,447 clusters. 1,151 clusters are currently active; 4,296 clusters are now inactive.

    11,309 new cases today are local infections. Sarawak reports 2,356 local cases: 106 in clusters, 1,321 close-contact screenings, and 929 other screenings.

    Johor reports 1,319 cases: 123 in clusters, 605 close-contact screenings, and 591 other screenings. Selangor reports 1,219 local cases: 61 in clusters, 612 close-contact screenings, and 546 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,088 cases: 23 in clusters, 729 close-contact screenings, and 336 other screenings.

    Sabah reports 964 local cases: four in clusters, 566 close-contact screenings, and 394 other screenings.

    Penang reports 895 cases: 55 in clusters, 310 close-contact screenings, and 530 other screenings. Kedah reports 818 local cases: 574 close-contact screenings and 244 other screenings.

    Perak reports 678 cases: 85 in clusters, 325 close-contact screenings, and 268 other screenings. Pahang reports 677 cases: 169 in clusters, 358 close-contact screenings, and 150 other screenings. Terengganu reports 626 local cases: two in clusters, 483 close-contact screenings, and 141 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 302 local cases: 50 in clusters, 107 close-contact screenings, and 145 other screenings.

    Kuala Lumpur reports 237 local cases: four in clusters, 95 close-contact screenings, and 138 other screenings.

    Negeri Sembilan reports 89 cases: 31 in clusters, 21 close-contact screenings, and 37 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 19 cases: 13 close-contact screenings and six other screenings. Perlis also reports 19 cases: five close-contact screenings and 14 other screenings. Labuan reports three cases: two in clusters and one other screening.

    23 new cases today are imported: 12 in Selangor, three in Kuala Lumpur, three in Terengganu, two in Sarawak, one in Sabah, one in Kedah, and one in Melaka.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 323,335 doses of vaccine on 27th September: 172,388 first doses and 150,947 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 42,699,197 doses administered: 23,007,292 first doses and 19,784,628 second doses. 70.5% of the population have received their first dose, while 60.6% are now fully vaccinated.

  18. 18.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Yet, in this wave, we haven’t been hit nearly as hard.

    …though I will add that Essex County’s ICUs are under stress, not so much because they’re completely filled with COVID patients, as that we don’t have enough beds in the first place and the COVID patients that are there are eating into a smaller margin.

  19. 19.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Matt McIrvin: Statisticians are all over this pandemic, torturing the data until it confesses. Last year, the limited number of cases and deaths suggested that areas with low numbers of smokers had higher incidence of infection than those regions where more people smoked. Ergo, smoking helped prevent infection in individuals. QED! (Insert GIF of every clinical statistician on the planet face-palming simultaneously).

    COVID-19 is everywhere now, the regional effects have disappeared and smokers with compromised respiration (COPD etc.) are now seen to have worse outcomes than non-smokers when they do get infected, vaccinated or unvaccinated. Of course vaccinated smokers don’t get infected as much as unvaccinated smokers.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I agree. The pattern emerged. One thing I noticed early on was that people who generally take care of their heath continued to take care of their health, and people who didn’t, didn’t. I think that’s reflected in the high infection and sickness and death rate in Trumpy counties like mine and the risk factors stack- so more of them smoke, are overweight, don’t exercise and they also didn’t take any precautions against covid or get vaccinated.

  22. 22.

    Cermet

    @Matt McIrvin: The CDC said that the initial belief was that data did not prove it either way; a research paper a few months ago concluded:

    “Data on whether COVID-19 has a greater incidence in smokers than non-smokers is thus far, contradictory and inconclusive.”

    So smokers do get covid much worse and there is no direct proof they get it less often as far as data available to draw conclusions.

  23. 23.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Robert Sneddon: Also, the idea that smoking is protective against COVID is the kind of counterintuitive “bad things are good for you” story that always has legs, so any fragmentary indication of that is going to be absolute catnip for reporters and retweeters regardless of the degree of truth. Kind of like the whole subgenre of stories about alleged health benefits of chocolate.

    I first heard of the smoking thing through a retweet that commented “I think I’ll light up a cigar” (even though the actual story was careful to note that smokers were more likely to go to the hospital).

  24. 24.

    New Deal democrat

    @raven: Completely off topic, but in re ”All Things Must Pass.”

    A deeply contemplative statement about the human condition?

    No. George Harrison wrote it about breaking up with his girlfriend.

  25. 25.

    dr. bloor

    @Matt McIrvin: Those thirty percent unvaxxed in Miami-Dade are living on top of each other, frequently live and work in the same communities, front-line jobs, and apartment buildings.  I’m guessing that’s not the case in Western MA (correct me if I’m wrong), and that the unvaxxed have more physical distance.

    Similar for Rhode Island–Providence County has had the highest case rates and (relatively) lower vax rates, but you can quickly identify three zip codes that are responsible for most of the cases.

    Obviously I’m guessing and it’s almost certainly a multiple-variable issue, but I don’t really get the hand-waving minimization of proven, effective public health measures like vaccinations and masking, and emphasizing the “luck” element here.  It’s the opposite of Occam’s razor.

  26. 26.

    Nicole

    @Robert Sneddon: Thank you for that explanation.  I remember the news about smoking from last year and it seemed so completely crazy I couldn’t understand it- smoking offering protection against an illness, especially a RESPIRATORY illness?

    Your post makes it all make sense.

  28. 28.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dr. bloor: I’m in northeastern MA, near the NH line. A lot of our unvaxxed have been urban, living in places like Lawrence and Lowell, and I think the reason the current wave isn’t so bad there now is that many of the people at highest risk already got infected last winter.

    The more urban parts of western MA have actually been having a bad outbreak lately. The Berkshires, on the other hand, are actually fairly highly vaccinated–the CDC’s numbers are wrong.

  29. 29.

    LiminalOwl

    @Matt McIrvin: Could it be that smokers are less likely to be infected because they are outdoors more (since smoking indoors  is less available)? Or even that people are very slightly more likely to keep their distance?

    (I can’t stand the stench of smoke, and it triggers my asthma—so if I have to be around someone whose smoking habits I can smell, I stay more than six feet away if at all possible. I don’t know whether that is at all generalizable.)

    I’m also wondering whether the red states have a higher per capita rate of smokers.

  30. 30.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Matt McIrvin: the Pandemic in Cal is very uneven, more like certain hot spots getting hit over and over again.  I live in Alameda county and most of it is, South Oakland, Hispanic, every wave.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay:

    One thing I noticed early on was that people who generally take care of their heath continued to take care of their health, and people who didn’t, didn’t.

    That’s true, though there’s also an oddball but loud population of “wellness” aficionados who exercise a lot, eat healthy (to some extent–they can be into bad fad diets) and appear to be in great health but shun conventional medicine. They are a small minority in most places, though.

  32. 32.

    New Deal democrat

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Consider the issue from another angle. If you were a senior citizen  snowbirding in FL last winter, would you wait until you got home in the spring to get vaccinated, or would you get the jab asap? The answer seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it?

    And it isn’t just the retiree havens in FL. Beaufort Co., SC, where Hilton Head Island is located, also has a very high vaccination rate (close To NYState’s). So does Williamsburg-James City County, VA.

    DeSantis is all in favor of counting snowbird vaccinations. Just not their cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    @debbie: In the 1930’s, European professional bicycle racers believed that smoking “opened up the lungs” and was beneficial. Views have evolved.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    @debbie: What comedy writer came up with the anecdote that smoking lessened risk of COVID?

    A French research team, early in the pandemic (like, a year or more ago).  I remember the ‘it *would* be the French, they have so many research volunteers’ jokes.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @Baud: From the other articles linked above, we may end up seeing more healthcare resignations because doctors and nurses don’t like being cursed at and assaulted, than because of vaccine mandates.

  37. 37.

    Platonicspoof

    @Low Key Swagger:

    I had been assuming Moderna and J&J boosters were awaiting approval by Federal agencies, but apparently there are local jurisdictions and doctors supplying boosters for those groups now:

     

    GANDHI: Though we couldn’t officially recommend it, we supplied Pfizer mRNA booster shots to anyone who had gotten Johnson & Johnson vaccines over the last two months.

     

    And as Gandhi points out, there’s data from the U.K. showing that mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer, can be safe boosters for other types of vaccines. So, she says, if you got the J&J vaccine and want a booster, go see a doctor.

     

    GANDHI: They will likely recommend, even while we’re waiting, a booster shot with either an mRNA vaccine or, if available, they could get a second Johnson & Johnson.

     

    If you have risk factors, received J&J and live in an area with surplus vaccines, etc., I’d certainly ask my doctor.

  42. 42.

    Low Key Swagger

    @Platonicspoof: Right, but I got Moderna.  My son will be asking for a booster because he got J&J, and he’s a policeman.  He recently transported a suspect of a crime who tested positive for Covid.  I think I’ve read that Moderna recipients do not need a booster at this time.  But if it’s available, I’m thinking of getting it.

  43. 43.

    Sloane Ranger

    Monday in the UK we had 37,960 new cases. This is an increase of 13.4% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 29,329 (up 3791)

    Northern Ireland – 903 (down 117)

    Scotland – 2069 (down 487)

    Wales – 5659 (up 2356).

    Deaths – There were 40 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is a decrease of 3.5% in the rolling 7-day average. 23 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 1 in Scotland and 12 in Wales.

    Testing – 1,126,440 tests took place on Sunday, 26 September. This is a decrease of 1.5% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 885,686.

    Hospitalisations – There were 6865 people in hospital and 878 on ventilators on Friday, 24 September. As of 21 September, the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 16.1%.

    Vaccinations – As of Sunday, 26 September, 48,736,534 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine and 44,764,324 had had both (Figures do not include Wales due to a technical issue). This means that as of that date, at least 89.7% of all UK residents aged 16+ had had 1 shot of a vaccine and 82.4% were fully vaccinated.

  44. 44.

    Another Scott

    @zhena gogolia: Branswell has been covering SARS, Ebola, Marburg (sp?), and other nasty infectious diseases for years.  She’s a straight shooter.  Biden and the CDC / FDA / NIAID / etc. do need to improve their processes and communications.  She wants them to do better.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  45. 45.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 2,370 new cases reported today. The test positivity rate is 10.6%. There were 16 new deaths reported overnight. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 73, down three from yesterday while hospitalisations are 1,027, up four.

    Vaccination reporting for Monday is delayed due to a data processing issue.

  46. 46.

    Taken4Granite

    @debbie: I remember from very early in the pandemic, when it was still considered mostly a Chinese problem, that smoking prevalence could explain why men were much more likely than women to die of COVID-19. The prevalence of smoking among Chinese men is about an order of magnitude higher than the prevalence among Chinese women. So many Chinese men smoke that I have seen advice that people traveling to China on business might want to have some cigarettes with them to offer as gifts to business contacts.

    I also recall a belief (I don’t know if this has ever been checked rigorously) that smoking would reduce your chances of getting malaria. At least in this case there is a plausible causal mechanism: the mosquitos that carry the malaria parasite might avoid the cloud of smoke around a smoker. But that doesn’t work for viruses.

  47. 47.

    Patrianakos

    @New Deal democrat: Two personal observations:

    1) There was no snowbird season last winter. The roads were no more crowded than in a normal summer.

    2) The health authorities did do a good job of reaching out to elderly Floridians where they live to get them vaccinated this spring. About the only good thing I can say about this whole mess.

  48. 48.

    Barbara

    That tweet from Dr. Jha makes me angry. Saying that “we” need to do better assumes that the unvaccinated feel any kind of connection to the rest of us that makes them and us some kind of collective “we” at all. It comes across as hectoring, lumping people like me who have been doing as much as I possibly can with all the others who laugh and point at people like me in derision.​

  49. 49.

    smith

    @dr. bloor: NY and FL had virtually identical first waves, a few months apart, and had virtually identical second waves at the same time.

    Thanks for pointing this out. I guess because of the tongue baths helpfully provided by Politico and others, there seems to be a misconception that until the delta surge, FL had escaped the worst of the pandemic. If you look at cumulative per capita cases across the whole duration, however, you can see that FL has never been better than middle of the pack, and of course is now the champion of the delta surge. It’s not even true that FL, or the South in general, fared better than Northern states during last winter’s surge. The South had almost exactly the same peak as the Northeast last winter, and FL had almost the same as NY.

  50. 50.

    Chris T.

    In counties where Donald Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote, the virus has killed about 47 out of every 100,000 people since the end of June …

    Not enough.  Need to convince these clowns that a combination of strychnine and cyanide is a cure for COVID.

    (Snark, but angry snark.)

  52. 52.

    dr. bloor

    @smith:  Some of the perception is because the states did differ significantly in terms of mortality, but that’s probably a function of NY’s (and New England’s) elderly and other residential placement folks getting wiped out during the initial phases of the pandemic.

  53. 53.

    J R in WV

    Wife and I got our first Moderna shots last Feb, during the local shutdown from the ice storm that attacked most of the eastern half of the nation that month. The Primary Care Clinic was the only open business in the county seat that week, running on giant Kohler diesel generators connected to a natural gas main through town. Was indoors, very pro quality shot clinic with some National Guard folks around helping out.

    Second Moderna shot at the same rural clinic in mid-March 27 days later, but outdoors on a beautiful spring day. Staff had ponchos and jackets in case but weren’t wearing them. Went even quicker than the first shots, drive-thru one shot giver on each side of the car, then park on the other side of the building for 15 minutes. Person watching for adverse effects told us that no one had required medical intervention after a vaccination since they started in ? January or so.

    Booster Moderna shot at the county Health Dept in “urban” Charleston, a city of less than 50K people, largest city in the state, capital of the state, late August when a neighbor who works there as an inspector told us they had vaccine doses that were nearing expiration and were doing boosters and offering shots to everyone. Yes, they were.

    At a front desk they looked up our first two shots in the State Database, filled out a 2nd CDC shot card, sent us to sit in a small waiting area. Soon a clinic staffer came to get us, took us into a hall way where EMTs were giving shots with syringes filled by a nurse. First the EMT asked us which vaccine we needed — there was our chance to get the other vaccine on top of the Moderna shot, we didn’t do that — was right back with our booster shots.

    I hear that they caught some static for administering shots not yet approved by CDC and FDA, but during a plague I’m all over with putting vaccine in arms rather than discarding expired doses — the vaccines have been given to hundreds of million of people with virtually no negative side effects compared to earlier vaccination drives for polio, measles, etc.

    Our arms were slightly sore for 3 or 4 days, that was it for side effects. Still wearing masks when away from the home hermitage. Outraged when jackass anti-maskers refuse to wear a mask properly! Or enraged, both I guess!

  54. 54.

    Bupalos

    @debbie: it pretty clearly doesn’t lessen it but shockingly it also pretty clearly doesn’t enhance it either. Some of that surprising result, given that smoking enhances the risks of almost every other respiratory or cardiac disease, is that covid appears to be pretty unique in the way that it moves through lung tissue.

  55. 55.

    JaneE

    I think our drop in the vaccinated ratings is largely due to the GOP refuseniks.  It isn’t as if they haven’t been trying to reduce us to third world status for decades, one measure at a time.

  57. 57.

    Bupalos

    @Taken4Granite: I can imagine periodically coating your respiratory system in nicotine might well offer some protection. Nicotine is a pretty broad spectrum killer, offhand I’d expect it to stomo viruses.

    What I’d like to see is a comparison between long term smokers (with current degraded lung capacity and cardiovascular health) with new smokers.

    Not that any of this really matters at this point.

  58. 58.

    dopey-o

    @Chris T.: Not enough.  Need to convince these clowns that a combination of strychnine and cyanide is a cure for COVID.

    (Snark, but angry snark.)

    And Warfarin. Megadoses.

    Not snark. A plan forward.

  59. 59.

    H-Bob

    @Robert Sneddon: Also, non-smokers will stay more than 6 feet away from smokers due to the awful stink cloud. The COVID-infected non-smokers would have maintained social distancing from smokers, which would have reduced their ability to infect smokers.

  60. 60.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland vaccination update — about 5,500 new vaccinations were carried out on Monday, about 60% first doses. 91.4% of 16+ adults in Scotland are now vaccinated with their first dose and 84.2% are fully vaccinated. 71.1% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.2% from yesterday.

    The vaccination results for the first week of eligibility for 12-15 year olds have been published with 12.1% of those eligible having received their first (and at this time their only) dose of vaccine. This rate of takeup is promising but of course includes those kids and their parents who were keen to get vaccinated, the early adopters. The bad news is that vaccination of the Young Immortals aged 18-40 has stalled out at about 80% first vaccination and 67% fully vaccinated.

  61. 61.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Bupalos: ​
    I can imagine periodically coating your respiratory system in nicotine might well offer some protection. Nicotine is a pretty broad spectrum killer, offhand I’d expect it to stomo viruses.

    I was thinking that the thick layer of tar lining the lower esophagus and lungs might have been the reason smokers weren’t being infected quite as easily as non-smokers, sort of like wearing a mask internally. Ewwww.

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