Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Let there be snark.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

He really is that stupid.

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

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

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, Sept. 29-30

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, Sept. 29-30

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64Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    U.S. blows past 700,000 reported deaths.

    Bulgaria and Bolivia now the 56th and 57th countries to report more than 500k total cases.

  3. 3.

    p.a.

    Why do tRumpturds push the ‘China made it’ bs? To me, that makes their god-king’s incompetent and viscious response even more condemnable than if the virus is the result of natural processes.

  6. 6.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    Monroe County web site: 240 new cases yesterday. 4% test positivity.
    NYSDOH says 250 new cases.

    I’m not seeing any signs of Delta cases waning in these numbers.

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    “It’s very low,” was Erdogan’s response after Putin reported his antibody level (“around 15 or 16”). My antibody level, for example, is above 1,000”

    They can both suck an ass’s ass.

  8. 8.

    OzarkHillbilly

    US hospitals outfitting nurses with panic buttons to prevent assaults

    Now hospital administrators plan to provide more than 300 panic buttons to healthcare staff over the next two months, which Paul thinks could help avoid such potentially dangerous situations. The hospital is buying the buttons with a $132,000 grant from a local charity, the Skaggs Foundation, because of increasing concerns about violence against its staff, a problem that predates the Covid-19 pandemic but appears to have since worsened at hospitals around the country.

    Indeed, across the US – as America’s hospitals and clinics have strained under the impact of Covid-19 – there have been reports of staff facing increased threats and violence, making an already difficult and dangerous job even more so.

    Lynne Yaggy, who became a nurse in 1991 and is now chief nursing officer and vice-president of clinical services at the Branson hospital, said: “There has always been violence against healthcare workers, but what I have seen is an escalation of that in intensity and in the number of incidents.”
    …………………….
    Arnetz attributes the reported spike in violence in part to the increased volume of patients and Covid patients’ inability to be with their loved ones because of quarantines.

    “The violence can come both from patients themselves and from [their] loved ones,” said Arnetz. “There is a lot of frustration. Patients can be in great discomfort, in pain.”

    Here’s an idea, don’t go to the hospital. Stay home and die.

  10. 10.

    John S.

    Authorities in religions that have historically refused medical treatment and vaccination, like Jehovah’s Witnesses…

    Since I have quite a few JWs in my family, I can definitively say this is misleading.

    There is only one medical procedure that Jehovah’s Witnesses have ever refused based on doctrine: blood transfusions.

    They have never refused any other form of medical treatment or vaccinations in particular.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    @p.a.:

    For the same reason they freak out about critical race theory being taught in preschool. Fear of things that don’t exist has been their calling card for decades.

  15. 15.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    There are passages in the Bible (Old Testament) which forbid eating blood. Orthodox Jews also maintain this standard, which is why Kosher meats have to be slaughtered and prepared in a very particular way.

    As fundamentalists, JWs consider intravenous consumption of blood to be “eating”, and therefore forbidden.

  22. 22.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 9/29 China reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 40 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 318 active domestic confirmed (75 mild, 241 moderate & 2 critical) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    • At Putian 22 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 127 active domestic confirmed (34 mild, 92 moderate & 1 critical) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. Fengting Township (except for 11 villages & 1 community at Low Risk, & 4 villages at Medium Risk) remains at High Risk. 3 zones, 1 residential compound, 1 school, 1 community & 8 villages remain at Medium Risk.
    • At Quanzhou 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed cases (including 1 critical case being treated at Xiamen). 1 village has been re-designated as Low Risk. 3 villages remain at Medium Risk.
    • Xiamen did not report any new domestic positive cases. 16 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 174 active domestic confirmed cases (38 mild, 136 moderate) in the city. Xinmin Township remains at High Risk. 1 zone, 5 villages, 2 communities & 3 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Zhangzhou 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There is still 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, though actually being treated at Xiamen. The Medium Risk community has been re-designated as Low Risk.

    Heilongjiang Province reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 74 active domestic confirmed & 7 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Harbin reported 6 new domestic confirmed (5 mild & 1 moderate; 5 at Bayan County & 1 at Nan’gang District; 5 are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine & 1 from mass screening). There currently are 73 active domestic confirmed (61 at Bayan County, 7 at Songbei District, 2 at Mulan County, 2 at Nan’gang District & 1 at Xiangfang District) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Bayan County) in the city. The Xinglong Township in Bayan County is currently High Risk. 2 residential compounds & 1 residential building have been elevated to Medium Risk. 13 residential compounds, 1 residential building & 1 village are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Suihua did not report any new domestic positive cases. The currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city (all at Beilin District). 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 the last 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered.

    At Henan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.

    Imported Cases

    On 9/29, China reported 16 new imported confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), 21 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:

    • Yunnan Province (locations not specified) – 5 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar; 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Laos; via land border crossings
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 3 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Bangladesh & 1 from the UK; 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Bangladesh & 1 from the UK (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 coming from Turkey & 1 from Jordan, off flights that landed at Guangzhou
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 coming from Singapore & 1 from Gabon, off flights that landed at Guangzhou 
    • Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the DRC (via Paris CdG), France & the UK (via Helsinki); 1 suspect case, no information released
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Dalian Liaoning Province – 1 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning South Korea
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), coming from Mexico
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Romania (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Pakistan
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) –  1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 63 confirmed cases recovered (21 imported), 7 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases (both imported), & 672 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 908 active confirmed cases in the country (504 imported), 4 in serious condition (1 imported), 354 active asymptomatic cases (342 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 27,283 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 9/29, 2,208.921M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.867M doses in the past 24 hrs. As of 9/28, 1,047.872M individuals have been fully vaccinated, or 74.2% of the total population.

    On 9/30, Hong Kong reported 3 new positive cases, all imported (from France & Pakistan).

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 12,735 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,245,695 cases. It also reports 208 new deaths as of midnight, for a cumulative total of 26,143 deaths – 1.16% of the cumulative reported total, 1.26% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.89.

    849 confirmed cases are in ICU, 387 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 17,725 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,054,824 patients recovered – 91.5% of the cumulative reported total.

    15 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,477 clusters. 1,088 clusters are currently active; 4,389 clusters are now inactive.

    12,718 new cases today are local infections. Sarawak reports 2,487 cases: 25 in clusters, 1,313 close-contact screenings, and 1,149 other screenings.

    Selangor reports 1,936 local cases: 112 in clusters, 901 close-contact screenings, and 923 other screenings. Johor reports 1,239 cases: 107 in clusters, 614 close-contact screenings, and 518 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,232 cases: 29 in clusters, 798 close-contact screenings, and 405 other screenings. Kedah reports 1,033 cases: 38 in clusters, 584 close-contact screenings, and 411 other screenings.

    Sabah reports 988 local cases: 13 in clusters, 492 close-contact screenings, and 483 other screenings. Perak reports 913 cases: 81 in clusters, 399 close-contact screenings, and 433 other screenings.

    Penang reports 763 cases: 15 in clusters, 267 close-contact screenings, and 481 other screenings. Terengganu reports 726 cases: five in clusters, 568 close-contact screenings, and 153 other screenings.

    Pahang reports 696 local cases: 311 in clusters, 302 close-contact screenings, and 83 other screenings.

    Kuala Lumpur reports 254 local cases: three in clusters, 106 close-contact screenings, and 145 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 194 cases: 22 in clusters, 76 close-contact screenings, and 96 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 131 local cases: two in clusters, 73 close-contact screenings, and 56 other screenings.

    Perlis reports 97 cases: 38 close-contact screenings and 59 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 28 cases: 21 close-contact screenings and seven other screenings. Labuan reports one case, found in a cluster.

    17 new cases today are imported: five in Sabah, four in Selangor, four in Kuala Lumpur, two in Johor, one in Pahang, and one in Negeri Sembilan.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 338,661 doses of vaccine on 29th September: 190,599 first doses and 148,062 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 43,367,580 doses administered: 23,369,913 first doses and 20,093,678 second doses. 71.5% of the population have received their first dose, while 61.5% are now fully vaccinated.

    The Federal Government is now requiring that all government staff get vaccinated – unless they get a medical exemption. Dang, scooped again by Anne Laurie.

  27. 27.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @mrmoshpotato: Makes as much sense as loony tune nutjobs gobbling down horse paste when there are three viable vaccines available. I did not think this lunacy would be on my 2021 Bingo card.

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @Baud: Do JW follow all the OT dietary restrictions?

    Not that I know of… (googles) Harumph. Yes, based on my extensive research, they don’t follow any of the OT dietary restrictions.

    I suspect bacon factored into the original decision.

  31. 31.

    John S.

    @Ken:

    I never had a problem with the logic of viewing taking in intravenous fluids as “eating”. But I could never understand why a Christian faith that believes Jesus as the messiah overturned the “old laws” would still adhere to some (but not all) of those old laws.

    It always seemed a bit picky/choosy to me.

  32. 32.

    Chetan Murthy

    @John S.: As much as I understand that some of the kosher laws are ancient food safety rules, …. even still, the idea of expecting any sort of consistency from *religion* seems pretty hopeless.

  34. 34.

    John S.

    @Baud:

    No. But back in the 80s, a doctor pioneered “bloodless” surgery whereby a machine is used to recycle the blood back into the body. That’s the only thing they consider acceptable. Which also feels a bit picky/choosy to me.

    JWs actually carry “No Blood” cards that forbids medical practitioners from giving them a blood transfusion under any circumstances. They would rather die than get one.

  35. 35.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I’m thinking of all the blood within the liver, which is more than a little. Do they somehow clean it out? And how thoroughly?

  36. 36.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud: [choking on the dust covering memories of confirmation classes] As I recall, that was Paul’s interpretation. He and Peter had a big disagreement about whether it was necessary for Gentile converts to be fully Jewish (circumcised) first, and I think the notion that the dietary laws need not be obeyed followed from Paul’s interpretation that the first conversion was not necessary. It’s in the book of Acts.

  37. 37.

    Peale

    On the Meh News home front, cases in my immediate area have been stable for the last few weeks. If there was going to be a spike from schools reopening and people spending more time inside, we would have started to experience it by now. That said, cases have not been declining either. So daily new cases are still 12-15x higher than June and have been for two months.

    On the good news front, there doesn’t seem to be a new variant in the pipeline that will make us go sideways. So at least for awhile, we’re good. Whatever’s coming is not different enough to make me think we’re in for a new wave.

  38. 38.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Nah, they just rationalize that the liver isn’t “blood” even though it contains a lot of blood. Their official position is that organ transplants are fine as long as there is no blood transfusion during the surgery.

    Faith and science don’t usually overlap.

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    @p.a.:

    Why do tRumpturds push the ‘China made it’ bs? To me, that makes their god-king’s incompetent and viscious response even more condemnable than if the virus is the result of natural processes.

    Same thought here.  If Covid is a Chinese attack, Trump’s response was to leave the nation undefended, and encourage his minions to fight any locality that tried to to defend itself.

    Sounds like treason to me.

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ken:

    Judaism and Islam both allow preservation-of-life exceptions for kosher and halal dietary restrictions. Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses and other such groups also allow this kind of exception?

  42. 42.

    topclimber

    @Peale: Your good news is good news indeed.

    As to declining case rates, I think we will see news of long hauler effects among younger  patients, kids especially, will be next to saturate public awareness.

  44. 44.

    Cermet

    As I have pointed out a number of times, no religion (we are talking non-local cults) prohibit vaccines. So the exemptions is utter nonsense.

  45. 45.

    Nelle

    My state ‘s positivity rate is about 9.5% (Iowa) but my county, Polk, is at 14.12% for the last seven days (CDC numbers).  Keeping close to home.  My four year old granddaughter wears a mask all day, except meals, at pre-K/daycare.  “That’s how we keep everyone safe, Grandma.”

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @p.a.: the China conspiracy theory supports their “we’re an oppressed minority that everyone hates” LARP and also explains why Jesus isn’t protecting them; because the Libertards made the virus with the evil magic of science!

  48. 48.

    WaterGirl

    If you sign up for a booster at CVS, and you are not over 65, they make you attest that you are immunocompromised AND they make you attest that you are eligible for a vaccine under the CDC recommendations.

    I wonder.  Is this CYA (cover your ass) for CVS?  Attempt to dissuade  people who are signing up for the booster but are not eligible yet?  Would this set the state for there be consequences for anyone who signed up for wasn’t allowed under the CDC guidelines?

  49. 49.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Amir Khalid:  ‘Young’ religions and especially offshoots of established religions are often more ‘pure’ than their forebears who learned the hard way through plagues and famines that religious dietary and hygiene rules are more like strong suggestions in some situations.

    JWs can be hard-core opposed to blood transfusions in part because only a few individuals would suffer and die because of this decision and modern medical science has ways to get around even that limitation to treatment options in many cases. If there was a widespread disease or plague that could best be treated by blood transfusions then either the JW community would suffer appalling numbers of fatalities and/or the doctrine would change.

    See also the original 19th-century Mormon doctrine regarding dark-skinned people (the Sons of Ham?) and the superseding revelation in the mid-20th century that actually black folks were real human beings all along, funny that.

  50. 50.

    sab

    @debbie: My 97 year old dad used to be very good at prying things from the hands of toddlers. He said he learned the techniques as a doctor in training in emergency rooms.

  51. 51.

    New Deal democrat

    The question for the next few weeks is likely to be whether the Delta wave continues to recede or not. There is some cautionary news there, as the decline has slowed in the last week, and in particular the last 5 days, which have had only a 4% decline (measured from peak), as opposed to a 22% decline in the prior week. OTOH, there have been several such slow short periods of decline since the peak one month ago.

  52. 52.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 2,911 new cases reported today. The test positivity rate is 6.7%. There were 35 new deaths reported overnight. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 74, up three from yesterday while hospitalisations are 998, down 22.

    There were over 5,500 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Wednesday) with about 55% of these being first vaccinations. 91.4% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 84.4% are fully vaccinated. 71.4% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.2% from yesterday. 13.7% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination, up 1% from yesterday. Reverse-engineering that last figure, there are about 200,000 12-15 year olds in Scotland so about 2,000 of them received a vaccination yesterday, about two-thirds of all first vaccinations that day.

  53. 53.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Amir Khalid: JW consider anyone not in their group a satanist so that includes science. If you get a vaccine you are having Satan injected into you in the JW world view, and what is month of misery dying from COVID next to an eternity in Hell?

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    This is good news, because we’re going to need effective treatments for Covid-19 as well as vaccines. I wonder if the people who are taking ivermectin will accept drugs like this as a treatment.

     Sept 29 (Reuters) – Laboratory studies show that Merck & Co’s experimental oral COVID-19 antiviral drug, molnupiravir, is likely to be effective against known variants of the coronavirus, including the dominant, highly transmissible Delta, the company said on Wednesday.

    Since molnupiravir does not target the spike protein of the virus – the target of all current COVID-19 vaccines – which defines the differences between the variants, the drug should be equally effective as the virus continues to evolve, said Jay Grobler, head of infectious disease and vaccines at Merck.

  55. 55.

    Scout211

    @WaterGirl:

    All the sign-up sites in California (state, counties, pharmacies) have a menu that includes a check-list that links to the CDC standards and makes you attest that you fit into the current categories of eligibility.  I assumed that this was coming straight from the CDC and all of the administering agencies are required to comply with the standards.

    The question of consequences for the people who lie and claim they are eligible but are not? It sounds like the responsibility is on the individual who lied, not the agency administering the shot.  Maybe it’s CYA but it’s also good medical practice IMHO.

  58. 58.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Peale: ​
      It’s a press release from the drug makers touting in-house lab results. Lots of drugs and treatments work “in the lab”, even bleach works against a virus like COVID-19 in the lab. Pardon my cynicism.

  59. 59.

    Abnormal Hiker

    @Amir Khalid: I think the answer is no exceptions. There have been cases in Canada where JW children were made wards of the state to allow a blood transfusion

  61. 61.

    Ruckus

    @p.a.:

    Are you attempting to use common sense in your questioning of trumpturds? Because they have no grasp of, no understanding of, no desire to, no concept of any kind of idea of common sense, or ideal of reality.

  62. 62.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Robert Sneddon: ​See also the original 19th-century Mormon doctrine regarding dark-skinned people (the Sons of Ham?) and the superseding revelation in the mid-20th century that actually black folks were real human beings all along, funny that.

    For that matter, go farther back – the Federal government refused to admit Utah to the Union until its Mormon-dominated government outlawed polygamy in 1890, even though it qualified by population size a couple of decades earlier. You have to suspect that the “revelation” that multiple wives was now a no-no was, mmm, strongly encouraged by the general desire of the Latter-Day Saints** not to remain forever a territory with neither Congressional representation nor the right to vote for Presidents.

    (When I toured the Temple complex in SLC some years back, my young Mexican guide said that after 1846 polygamy was justified because so many of the men had perished during the great migration, and in LDS culture women “needed” to be under the protection of a man; once the gender balance was restored it was no longer necessary. Nice try…with no mention at all of anything prior, certainly not the Joseph Smith connection…)

    ** As opposed to the rest of us, the “Later-the-Same-Day Sinners” they call “Gentiles.” (Only the Mormons could turn Jews into Gentiles with straight faces.)

  63. 63.

    Fair Economist

    @New Deal democrat: The UK’s record, with a long run of high transmission rates, indicates that without hygienic measures Delta will just keep grinding on and on. Crudely, if everybody caught it once a year, which seems very plausible comparing it to cold viruses, we’d get about 150,000 infections per day, which would be about 50,000 recorded based on estimates I’ve seen of the percentage that get recorded.

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