Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

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

T R E 4 5 O N

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

“woke” is the new caravan.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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

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

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

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

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Oct. 17-18

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Oct. 17-18

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… The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop.

Japan, unlike other places in Europe and Asia, has never had anything close to a lockdown, just a series of relatively toothless states of emergency.

Some possible factors in Japan’s success include a belated but remarkably rapid vaccination campaign, an emptying out of many nightlife areas as fears spread during the recent surge in cases, a widespread practice, well before the pandemic, of wearing masks and bad weather in late August that kept people home.

But with vaccine efficacy gradually waning and winter approaching, experts worry that without knowing what exactly why cases have dropped so drastically, Japan could face another wave like this summer, when hospitals overflowed with serious cases and deaths soared — though the numbers were lower than pre-vaccination levels.

Many credit the vaccination campaign, especially among younger people, for bringing infections down. Nearly 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated…

Many people are cautious about letting down their guard, regardless of the numbers.

Mask-wearing “has become so normal,” said university student Mizuki Kawano. “I’m still worried about the virus,” she said.

“I don’t want to get close to those who don’t wear masks,” said her friend, Alice Kawaguchi…

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Reader Interactions

37Comments

  2. 2.

    mrmoshpotato

    Just dance: Even in the depths of the pandemic, there were those who danced. Some danced alone. Some danced together over the internet. Some danced to be free from the coronavirus. Now, it seems that dancers everywhere are letting loose.

    Co-sign!

  3. 3.

    Rusty

    The New Hampshire vaccination rate lags all the other New England states, but or 100% Republican controlled government just turned down $27M of federal money to boost vaccinations, support vaccination record keeping and more.  For a small state of 1.3M, that’s a lot of money.  A few weeks ago they tried to have a public hearing on it and a horde of anti-vaxxers broke it up, threatened state employees and the Republican elected officials skipped out before the worst of the ugliness.  They decried what happened, but a few weeks later rewarded the crazies by turning down the money.  It particularly pisses me off because despite our family wearing masks at stores, work having a mask and social distancing mandate, avoiding social situations, and being careful, my wife and I tested positive.  She was mildly sick and I was neat asymptomatic (a few symptoms just like my regular fall allergies).  Thankfully our some stayed negative and could continue to attend school as we isolated from him.  No one we know was positive, so plain community spread.  It’s all so self defeating and the worst people are driving the agenda.  Ugh.  I can go back to work today after quarantine, hello mountain of work!

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    OC doesn’t report on the weekends and whenever they get away with it, like last week when they took the day off for Columbus Day, which is not a state holiday. Tuesday they reported 941 for the three weekend days, and 244 on Friday, with hospitalizations still going down. All the service people who’ve worked on the house have worn masks properly on their own (or their bosses’) initiative, and informed me that they are fully vaccinated, which is nice.

  5. 5.

    mrmoshpotato

    For 105 days, COVID’s death toll in Florida counties went missing

    The state and federal government could have shared the death toll in each county with the public, but didn’t.

    Garbage headline, Tampa Bay Times!

  6. 6.

    Cermet

    Very pleased to have had my booster; while it (after 18 hour wait) hit me extremely hard (glad, through) I’d get another (but only after 6 or more months and when/if determined it is needed.) I see that only mandates will be the only route possible to contain this epidemic thanks to the fascist party of hate mongers.
    While extremely glad treatments are being developed that are rather easy (over the counter!) and this/these new treatments might even be needed for the fully vaccinated (breakthroughs for older people) this illness is now a new long term virus that will – like flu, I fear – plague us from here on. Hope it evolves into a far less deadly illness (I’m looking at the extremely dangerous and deadly clotting factor letting up!)

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Rusty:

    It particularly pisses me off because despite our family wearing masks at stores, work having a mask and social distancing mandate, avoiding social situations, and being careful, my wife and I tested positive. She was mildly sick and I was neat asymptomatic (a few symptoms just like my regular fall allergies). 

    So damn frustrating.  You do your part to keep yourself (and others) safe, but because enough asshats out in public won’t put up with the tyranny of a piece of fabric across their selfish faces during a pandemic…

    Glad neither of you had serious cases, and your son was negative, but still…

  9. 9.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 10/17 China reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    At Fujian Province 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 36 active domestic confirmed cases remaining in the province.

    • At Putian there currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases remaining.
    • At Xiamen 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 31 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.

    At Heilongjiang Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province.

    • At Harbin 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed cases remaining in the city.
    • At Suihua there currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Erenhot in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases remaining.

    Xi’an in Shaanxi Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, members of a tour group from (from Haikou in Hainan Province & Shanghai) that had just traveled from Gansu Province on 10/17. The 2 cases had tested negative while at Ejina Banner in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region on 10/13, but tested positive (in batch testing) at Jiayuguan in Gansu Province on 10/15. They left for Xi’an on the same day before they could be re-tested. They tested positive again on 10/16 after arrival at Xian. On 10/18, Xi’an reported 4 more domestic confirmed & 1 more domestic asymptomatic cases, all members of the same tour group, will be included in tomorrow’s data dump. Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region also reported 1 new domestic positive case on 10/18, a person who had traveled w/ the tour group w/ the positive cases at Xi’an through Inner Mongolia & Gansu. Shanghai has traced 308 F1 & F2 close contacts of the members of the tour group, & collected 277 environmental samples, all have tested positive. (That is a good thing, as I am on business travel to Shanghai at the moment. I would prefer not get quarantined, again!)

    At Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.

    • At Ürumqi there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
    • At Yili Prefecture the 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation.

    Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both traced close contacts at centralized quarantine facilities, both each at Ruili. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 9 domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.

    At Henan Province there currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.

    Imported Cases    

    On 10/17, China reported 22 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 7 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 6 confirmed cases, 4 Chinese nationals returning from Russia & 1 each from France & the Ukraine (via Germany)
    • Tengchong in Yunnan Province – 4 confirmed cases, no information released
    • Mengla County in Sipsong Panna Prefecture, Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed & 1 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Ruili in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province – 1 confirmed cases, no information released
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 4 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Nigeria & 1 from the UK (all via Germany)
    • Yantai in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from South Korea
    • Dezhou in Shandong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, a Chinese national returning from Singapore & a foreign national coming from the US; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the UAE
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 1 Chinese national each returning from Egypt & Bahrain (via Cairo); 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Egypt
    • Xi’an in Shanxi Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Uzbekistan (off a flight diverted from Beijing)
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 26 confirmed cases recovered (21 imported), 16 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (13 imported) & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case (imported), & 684 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 516 active confirmed cases in the country (464 imported), 1 in serious condition (imported), 360 active asymptomatic cases (346 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 20,493 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 10/17, 2,232.088M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 1.521M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 10/18 Hong Kong reported 5 new positive cases, all imported.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 5,434 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, tfor a cumulative reported total of 2,395,821 cases. It also reports 63 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 27,921 deaths – 1.17% of the cumulative reported total, 1.21 % of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.88
    .
    622 confirmed cases are in ICU, 286 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 8,435 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,278,955 patients recovered – 95.1% of the cumulative reported total.

    15 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,687 clusters. 656 clusters are currently active; 5,031 clusters are now inactive.

    5,429 new cases today are local infections. Five new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 134,180 doses of vaccine on 17th October: 16,216 first doses, 115,302 second doses, and 2,662 booster doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 47,838,886 doses administered: 25,208,518 first doses, 22,767,241 second doses, and 21,476 booster doses. 77.2% of the population have received their first dose, while 69.7% are now fully vaccinated.

  11. 11.

    Matt McIrvin

    Finally, someone pays attention to Puerto Rico.

    But if the lesson of how they did it is “don’t have Republicans,” it’s useless for us.

  12. 12.

    raven

    University of Georgia students and faculty are mourning the death of a student who died this week from an apparent breakthrough COVID-19 case.

    The death was notable because almost all deaths from COVID-19 currently occur among the unvaccinated.

    Shawn Kuhn, 21, a stellar student who loved to play soccer and run cross-country, died Monday after battling pneumonia for six weeks. He had been fully vaccinated, said his older sister, Sharla Brook Kuhn, according to a report Thursday by The Red & Black, UGA’s student newspaper.

  13. 13.

    New Deal democrat

    @Matt McIrvin: As I pointed out once before, Fox News is not carried by cable in Puerto Rico.

    i am seriously considering taking a vacation there this winter, all because they have been so successful.

  14. 14.

    Kalakal

    @Rusty: Glad to hear you’re all ok. It’s so frustrating to hear how everybodys’ health is being endagered by selfish idiots

  15. 15.

    New Deal democrat

    As usual, lots of States did not report yesterday, so no reliable trends till tomorrow. But, fwiw, the decline in cases nationwide has continued to ebb, mainly due to States in the mountains and northern tier. OTOH, those States hit hard by Delta early in the South continue to see cases decline. Only Hawaii and Puerto Rico have less than 100 new cases per million (vs. many States at about 20 per million just before Delta). Finally, anomalously, deaths have also stopped declining – which only increases my suspicion that the data for the last week is suspect and distorted by holiday non-reporting.

    On another topic. I pointed out to my Sibling Unit yesterday that COVID will never be eradicated because, even if every single human being were vaccinated, it has now spread to wild animals and domesticated cats. So get used to periodic booster shots for the duration.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    @Matt McIrvin:

    As I recall, TFG didn’t even know Puerto was part of the US. I’m sure a lot of other Republicans aren’t tpp keen on acknowledging them as fellow Americans, either.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.

    Mysterious to anyone who is — somehow, despite being a reporter for AP — completely ignorant of the patterns of COVID waves that we’ve been seeing for over a year now.

    They remind me obliquely of the 1980s joke about how the Fed tried to control inflation; as being like a driver on an expressway who, finding himself scraping the left guardrail, swung the wheel hard right until he was scraping the right guardrail, then swung back to scrape the other side, later-rinse-repeat.  COVID response has something of the same “OMG it’s bad hide in our rooms and don’t go out — it’s good now let’s all go to parties where we lick doorknobs” feel at times.

  20. 20.

    Ken

    @Gvg: And did I see reports that it’s been found in pigs too?  That may be the only thing that will get the rural midwest serious about it — if it starts affecting the livestock.

  21. 21.

    OGLiberal

    Listening to some serious Colin Powell whitewashing on CNN right now.  I appreciate that he changed sides but this:

    https://www.ocregister.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/AP_03020507655-1.jpg

    This gave a bunch of folks in the media the green light to say, “yup, we need to do this”.  Yeah, they were going to do that anyway but this gave them a hall pass, “Well, General Powell thinks this is a real threat…it must be because he is an honorable man….so are they all, honorable men.

  23. 23.

    Caphilldcne

    @OGLiberal: agreed. He and Tony Blair were the key validators. Overshadows his entire legacy.

    I was in the Air Force almost entirely coincidental to his being Chief of Staff. I will say that he was an incredibly important figure for African American officers. Proof of concept that they could reach the top in the services.

  25. 25.

    sdhays

    @Amir Khalid: They voted in 2020 to become a full-fledged state, although it doesn’t seem likely that Congress will act on that this term (along with DC). Assuming that happens eventually, the GQP will start to take notice, I’m sure.

    @Matt McIrvin: Yeah, other places in the US seem to be just as good on the policy front as Puerto Rico, they just have this cancer known as the right-wing anti-vax cult screwing things up for everyone. “Don’t have the GQP cancer” isn’t particularly helpful, except to further highlight how damaging the GQP cancer is.

  26. 26.

    Betty

    @Matt McIrvin: It is a little more than just Republicans. It is the whole disinformation network. There is strong anti-vax sentiment throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. The arguments, voceriferously argues, range from conspiracy theories to healthy living is better than those suspect “chemicals” big Pharma is pushing.

  27. 27.

    Sloane Ranger

    Sunday in the UK we had 45,140 new cases. This is an increase of 15.1% in the rolling 7-day average and will be an undercount due to weekend office closures. New cases by antion,

    England – 38,543 (down 1081)

    Northern Ireland – 966 (down 252)

    Scotland – 2666 (up 85)

    Wales – 2965 (includes cases from Saturday when Wales did not report).

    Deaths – There were 57 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday but this will be an undercount due to the office closures mentioned above. The rolling 7-day average for deaths is up by 8.5%. 41 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 2 in Scotland and 10 in Wales (but this will include some deaths that happened on the Saturday).

    Testing – Not updated at weekends.

    Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.

    Vaccinations – As of Saturday, 16 October, 49,398,211 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine and 45,358,472 had had 2. In percentage terms this means that 85.9% of all UK residents aged 12+ have had 1 shot of a vaccine and 78.9% have had 2.

  28. 28.

    smith

    @mrmoshpotato: Speaking of garbage headlines, look at this from Politico:

    Covid-stricken states still struggle months after Biden’s surge

    Clearly it’s Biden’s fault that his efforts to stem the pandemic were sabotaged by the Goobers.

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    According to CDC among 187 million vaccinated Americans there have been roughly 7,000 breakthrough deaths, with >6,000 over the age of 65, as compared to >700,000 COVID deaths among the unvaccinated. So breakthrough deaths esp elderly can occur but rare https://t.co/loxb7UnBAg

    — Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) October 18, 2021

    Get the shots! Wear your mask!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    Fair Economist

    @Rusty:

    It particularly pisses me off because despite our family wearing masks at stores, work having a mask and social distancing mandate, avoiding social situations, and being careful, my wife and I tested positive. She was mildly sick and I was neat asymptomatic (a few symptoms just like my regular fall allergies).

    Totally agree with your frustration, but you still got some reward for your decent and smart mask-wearing. Lab studies in monkeys verified that lower viral doses result in milder cases, as people had suspected from very early on. So those masks were part of your mild symptoms. And, actual infection produces secreted antibody responses which the shots don’t so you’ll be even better protected in the future.

  31. 31.

    Fair Economist

    @New Deal democrat:

    Finally, anomalously, deaths have also stopped declining – which only increases my suspicion that the data for the last week is suspect and distorted by holiday non-reporting.

    I’m sure you noticed in the spring that it took a loooong time for deaths to follow cases down. Once the pressure is off the ICUs they can keep the doomed infected alive for weeks and sometimes months but if there’s been enough damage, typically to the lungs, they’re eventually going to die. Now, with a much slower case decline, deaths might not decline consistently and bumps are not a surprise with all those reporting variability issues.

  32. 32.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 2,194 new COVID-19 cases reported today. The test positivity rate is 11.5%. There were no new deaths reported (noting that Register Offices are now generally closed at weekends). ICU bed occupancy numbers are 44, down one from yesterday while hospitalisations are 857, up 38.

    There were approximately 5,000 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Sunday) with about 65% of these being first vaccinations. 91.8% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 85.3% are fully vaccinated. 74.0% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.1% from yesterday. 47.4% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.9% from yesterday.

    There were about 20,000 booster vaccinations carried out yesterday with a total of just under 320,000 boosters to date.

    Scotland is now requiring people to show proof of vaccination at large sporting events, music venues etc. where the attendance numbers typically exceed 500 people indoors or 10,000 outdoors. How well this will be enforced is another matter — I do part-time stewarding at rugby matches and I’m aware of the pressure to get punters through the turnstiles at times. We’ve got several big international rugby matches coming up soon with 65,000 spectators expected for each match and it’s possible I’ll have a front-row seat for how well or badly this goes. The requirement might get a lot of the Young Immortals who are still hesitant about getting vaccinated to change their mind. Winter is coming, after all.

  33. 33.

    Fair Economist

    @Cermet:

    Hope it evolves into a far less deadly illness (I’m looking at the extremely dangerous and deadly clotting factor letting up!)

    Sadly, that’s unlikely. The main driver of the clotting issue is that the virus replicates so ferociously it triggers generalized autoimmune responses that cause the clotting. The evolutionary advantage of very rapid replication is going to outweigh the small disadvantage of occasionally killing people late in the course of the disease.

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Fair Economist: I don’t think COVID is likely to evolve into a less-deadly illness, but I do think it will end up appearing that way because humans changed. At some point, the vast majority of adults will have immune systems with some prior preparation for COVID either due to prior infection or to vaccination (or both). And if COVID becomes part of the regular suite of childhood vaccinations we may even be able to make a dent in it as a childhood disease.

  35. 35.

    Torrey

    At least a little news for us J&J recipients:

    From Pharmaceutical Technology, but I’ve seen this quote in a few different places.

    President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser said he expects US regulators to consider whether people who got the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine should get an mRNA shot against Covid-19 as a booster. “If you boost people who have originally received J&J with either Moderna or Pfizer, the level of antibodies that you induce in them is much higher than if you boost them with the original J&J,” Anthony Fauci said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “But the data of boosting the J&J first dose with a J&J second dose is based on clinical data,” he said. “So what’s going to happen is that the FDA is going to look at all those data, look at the comparison, and make a determination of what they will authorize.”

    I’d really like to see at least some idea of a time frame for this: days? weeks? months?

  36. 36.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Torrey: I’d really like to see at least some idea of a time frame for this: days? weeks? months?

    It will take as long as it takes. The vaccine developers are terrified of making a bad mistake, saying “Of course this will be okay” and then having an avalanche of adverse effects pile up along with the associated press reports resulting in a loss of confidence in their vaccines and vaccination programmes generally. For that reason they are very cautious, as are the major government-level health advisory boards. Prove it first, get the data and only then make the decision.

     

    Vaccines have it hard, they’re preventative treatments for healthy people rather than being used to cure someone actually suffering from a disease. The Herman Cain Awards on Reddit are full of reports of folks who don’t trust vaccines, boast about their immune systems etc. but who get sick with COVID-19, spend time in hospital and the ICU getting assorted steroids, antiviral drugs etc. under medical supervision all the while they and their family members demand “alternative protocols” of antiparasitic drugs, antimalarials, vitamin supplements and the like. Multiply that level of distrust of vaccines by a hundred because of a screwup resulting in dead babies and things will get a lot worse.

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