Trick-or-treaters and Halloween fans can breathe a little easier this year with coronavirus cases around the U.S. generally on the decline. A new poll finds that Halloween participation is rebounding, but still short of pre-pandemic levels. https://t.co/xzsXZk88ls
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 29, 2021
U.S. administers over 420 mln doses of COVID-19 vaccines – CDC https://t.co/f1fFY3IRCX pic.twitter.com/mXu2yDkc5T
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 31, 2021
CDC says unvaccinated foreign travelers under 18 don’t need to quarantine on arrival https://t.co/JPH8IulP15
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 31, 2021
Seems like one of the largest ritual human sacrifices in history, possibly the largest.https://t.co/GjXNDYcW5w pic.twitter.com/eEyzPynlKg
— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) October 30, 2021
This is why I think McConnell suddenly wants people to be vaccinated. https://t.co/CKsRguSrYP
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) October 31, 2021
======
It’s not over. https://t.co/Q4PV1P2z3r
— Edward Nirenberg (@ENirenberg) October 31, 2021
Universal Studios Beijing says close contacts of COVID patients visited park https://t.co/iIQwk14B8q pic.twitter.com/VJHARtmvTg
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 30, 2021
Bangkok lost some of its most venerable street-food vendors to COVID-19. At least seven sidewalk chefs have died in recent months, according to a Reuters count https://t.co/I9DTGASFYW pic.twitter.com/XZr5hC3yAl
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 29, 2021
As the global COVID-19 death toll nears 5 million, volunteers make sure all of Britain's victims are remembered by painting pink and red hearts to represent each loss on a wall along the River Thames in London. By @PanPylas https://t.co/vfkpzIEhDq
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) October 30, 2021
Mexico receives 6 mln COVID-19 vaccines as pressure grows to up jabs https://t.co/tXjWOjNjQw pic.twitter.com/bympRPNwUx
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 31, 2021
======
New genome sampling of #COVID19 cases shows #DeltaVariant is now responsible for 99-100% of infections everywhere in the world, except Latin America — where it's 93%. Delta has out-competed against every other form of #SARSCoV2 — so far.https://t.co/kOxRo7phCZ pic.twitter.com/nfby5TKuqF
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) October 30, 2021
What is fluvoxamine, the drug that shows promise in treating Covid? Basically, it's a common antidepressant used for obsessive compulsive disorder, but it may join an arsenal of Covid treatments after it showed promise in clinical studies https://t.co/gnJG6mwhHP
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 31, 2021
Seeing lots of vaccine-for-kids pearl clutching and fearmongering on my timeline, so I guess it’s time for me to share that my 6-year-old daughter has been in the Moderna trial for the past several months. Our experience. ?
— Nadine Jolie Courtney (@nadinecourtney) October 29, 2021
Not every parent will run out to get a shot for their kids, which I understand—though if you’re on the fence, I hope you’ll consider it. I’m here to tell you she had a very mild, NBD reaction: sore arm after 1st shot; chills/fever that vanished with Tylenol 12 hours after 2nd.
— Nadine Jolie Courtney (@nadinecourtney) October 29, 2021
Children are not mini adults, and they very much get this, which is why they took their time making sure the age dose was safe and they could properly understand and feel comfortable with the potential side effects.
— Nadine Jolie Courtney (@nadinecourtney) October 29, 2021
I should add! My daughter WANTED the shot, especially because she has a baby sister. When we told her she had a chance to participate (but it would of course be okay if she didn’t want to, too) when I say she *leaped*. Kids are smarter and braver than adults give them credit for!
— Nadine Jolie Courtney (@nadinecourtney) October 29, 2021
======
Air Force is first to face troops’ rejection of vaccine mandate as thousands avoid shots https://t.co/53feVropFU
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 29, 2021
Comply now, complain later
— |—6ft—|The Littlest Cretin|—6ft—| (@DLittlestCretin) October 30, 2021
It *would* be Staten Island…
Man, Trumpers are spoiled children who wouldn’t know a real hardship if it bit them on the ass. https://t.co/NTV4gK3S1X
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) October 30, 2021
Mena, pharmacist in northeast Staten Island
After the city announced its mandate, things picked up. That $500 incentive is pushing people in, too. But nobody is thrilled that they’re being forced to get it… Basically, they come to complain a little and then storm out — or hope that I’ll give them a card without actually giving them a vaccine. That’s happened about five times in the past few weeks. The first person who did this was a man who had a couple of hundreds poking out of the breast pocket of his shirt. He was talking to me, saying, “Oh, I want to get the vaccine,” and then he was pointing at the money. But I didn’t understand because no one has ever asked me that before, and I didn’t think that anyone would. I was absolutely shocked when I realized what he was trying to say. I said absolutely not. After that, some other people came in and hinted at it, offering me money, saying things like, “We’ll take care of you,” or “How much do you want?”…
Vaccinated seniors navigate life in mostly unvaccinated rural America https://t.co/eLvKsNiTBO
— Mike Walker (@New_Narrative) October 29, 2021
… For Marge Loennig, 87, the COVID-19 pandemic has stirred up many old memories. The most vivid is of a childhood friend who was stricken with polio…
Back then, everyone seemed to know someone with the disease, and when the vaccine became available Loennig remembers people eagerly lining up to get it. Today, she believes COVID is still being downplayed, its deaths and illnesses underreported. Today the laws are also different and health officials are prevented from being as open about who is sick and who is dying from the virus.
“It has been a secret and so people have not feared it the way we feared polio,” she says. “I think that if people had been open, some of the anti-vaccine people would have not been so reluctant to get shots.”
There is plenty of vaccine reluctance, if not outright outright defiance, in Loennig’s hometown of Baker City, Ore., the historic first stop on the old Oregon Trail in the heart of the state’s deeply rural and conservative eastern side.
Sitting on an antique chair in the living room of her historic Victorian home, the wall above her adorned with paintings and her 9-year-old granddaughter’s art, Loennig says today her town is deeply divided and just like almost everywhere else, COVID is political.
It’s the opposite of what she remembers as a little girl when families had to lock down often during polio. In the 1930s when she was 3, she also had to stay indoors for three months after contracting scarlet fever. Her father even had to temporarily move.
So taking precautions and living carefully throughout 2020 until the COVID vaccines became available was not a big deal, Loennig says. Back when she was a girl quarantines were strictly enforced by health authorities. For most people, it was a fact of life.
“They did not have this anger that just seems to overwhelm,” Loennig says. “Somehow we have to get at the root of that anger if we are going to face — and we will face — future episodes of this kind.”
For now, Baker City seniors like Loennig are kind of on an island, still moving cautiously, avoiding the unvaccinated as much as they can. Only about 45% of the 16,000 people in this county have gotten both shots.
But among the 70 and up demographic, it’s 25 points higher…
the coming I QUITAPOCALYPSE is going to be especially brutal on and deadly for rural communities, who will have their elected leaders and themselves to blame. https://t.co/0mzVtRluIU
— ? ? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ? ?⬛ (@golikehellmachi) October 19, 2021
these people have been lied to and misled by their leaders, but their leaders aren’t telling them anything they don’t want to hear.
— ? ? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ? ?⬛ (@golikehellmachi) October 19, 2021
all of these things, by the way, are major, serious challenges to the implementation of any kind of universal health care that i have not seen a lot of discussion of or solutions for.
— ? ? GHOSTLIKEHELLMACHINE ? ?⬛ (@golikehellmachi) October 19, 2021
Eric Boehlert, Press Run, “Who Cares If Anti-Vaxxers Quit Their Jobs?”
… As we watch a parade of unreasonable people needlessly blow up their careers and walk away from good paying jobs with excellent benefits, the questions that linger are, should we care, and should this trend be breathlessly treated as Big News by the media? Should we care that a tiny percentage is embracing rabbit-hole conspiracies about a vaccine that nearly 200 million Americans have safely taken? Should we care that they’ve decided to believe non-stop lies to the point where they’ll likely be unemployable for months, and maybe years to come?
It’s true that Covid dead-enders affect us all because epidemiologists estimate that 85 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated before the virus is truly under control.
But the media’s specific fixation on anti-vaxxers quitting their jobs seems misguided and out of place. And the coverage clearly feeds off a lack of context. That Journal’s weekend report looked at anti-vaccine nurses who once worked at Virginia and West Virginia-based Valley Health System. But nearly 6,000 of the company’s 6,200 employees have complied with the vaccine mandate…
It’s true that the irrational quitting is news in that the trend is novel and quite unusual. Often in the past when these types of jobs (police, firefighters, etc.) made news it was because groups of people went to court to sue because they were denied access to the payrolls based on race and gender. Now anti-vaxxers are giving up these previously coveted jobs.
The problem is that the constant coverage allows anti-vaxxers a platform to spread more misinformation, as they relay their unsupported reasons for refusing to get inoculated…
The anti-vaxxer coverage also creates the false picture that Americans are deeply divided over vaccines, and that the inoculation push under President Joe Biden has been a failure. Neither are true. Yet the press can’t stop framing the issue that way. And they can’t stop pushing vaccine critics to the front of the line.
When a new poll showed Americans by nearly 20 points approve of the vaccine mandates that Biden has put into place, the first person quoted in an Associated Press story about the poll was an anti-vaxer Republican who denounced the policy…
As toddlers do https://t.co/5stTrd3RoI
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) October 30, 2021
YY_Sima Qian
On 10/30 China reported 48 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 10 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 165 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic suspect cases in the region.
Xi’an in Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
Ningxia “Autonomous” Region reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 30 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
Gansu Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases (7 mild & 2 moderate). There currently are 95 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Hebei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active confirmed & 3 active asymptomatic cases in the province.
Hunan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zunyi in Guizhou Province did not reported any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine since 10/23. There currently are 30 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 community remains at High Risk & 1 community is currently at Medium Risk.
Rizhao in Shandong Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 9 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 residential compound is currently at Medium Risk.
Zigong in Sichuan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
Qinghai Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Tianmen in Hubei Province there currently are 2 domestic confirmed cases (1 mild & 1 moderate) in the city.
Heilongjiang Province reported 19 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 55 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Shangrao in Jiangxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a worker at a local resort. Unclear whether case is related to any of the ongoing outbreaks. On 10/31, Jiujiang in Jiangxi also reported 1 new domestic positive case, a coworker of the case at Shangrao.
Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (both at Longchuan County, both found via screening of persons under centralized quarantine), & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases (at Ruili, found via mass screening of areas under lock down). There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed & 28 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.
At Henan Province there currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.
Imported Cases
On 10/30, China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases (6 previously asymptomatic), 21 imported asymptomatic cases, 3 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 20 confirmed cases recovered (all imported), 9 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 11 were reclassified as confirmed cases (6 imported), & 7,241 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 814 active confirmed cases in the country (282 imported), 33 in serious condition (all domestic), 399 active asymptomatic cases (355 imported), 3 suspect cases (2 imported). 42,333 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 10/30, 2,268.362M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 6.136M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 10/31 Hong Kong reported 1 new positive case, imported.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
Monroe County website takes the weekend off now.
NYSDOH says 237 new cases yesterday.
NotMax
FYI.
Mousebumples
Re fluvoxamine –
The study that’s getting all the publicity was wholly conducted in Brazil and didn’t show any change in mortality. It did appear to lower the risk of hospitalization in symptomatic patients, however.
There was a Phase 3 study on fluvoxamine from the US & Canada that was supposed to have results back in September. To the best of my knowledge, that has not yet been published (nor is available as a pre-print – eg shared prior to the peer review process being completed before publication).
I’m hoping the no change in mortality is different in the US/Canada study, but please don’t run out and ask your doctor for fluvoxamine… If you’re not needing an antidepressant treatment, anyhow.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 4,979 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, tfor a cumulative reported total of 2,471,642 cases. It also reports 44 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 28,876 deaths – 1.17% of the cumulative reported total, 1.20% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.96.
501 confirmed cases are in ICU, 220 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 6,127 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,374,761 patients recovered – 96.1% of the cumulative reported total.
Six new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,771 clusters. 428 clusters are currently active; 5,343 clusters are now inactive.
4,956 new cases today are local infections. 23 new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 75,874 doses of vaccine on 30th October: 6,312 first doses, 49,192 second doses, and 20,370 booster doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 50,012,681 doses administered: 25,479,010 first doses, 24,411,588 second doses, and 291,409 booster doses. 78.1% of the population have received their first dose, while 74.8% are now fully vaccinated.
germy
satby
@Mousebumples: I’m really curious about the mode of action there.
New Deal democrat
On that clickbait Air Force headline:
“Up to 12,000 Air Force personnel have rejected orders to get fully vaccinated against the coronavirus despite a Pentagon mandate and officials say it is too late for them to do so by Tuesday’s deadline …. The vast majority of active-duty airmen, 96.4%, are at least partially vaccinated, according to data from the Air Force.
“The Air Force declined to say how many airmen appear to be outright refusing vaccination versus those seeking exemptions or those who have opted out because they are nearing their scheduled exit from the military.”
Mousebumples
@satby: yeah, I’m not really sure either. Though it wouldn’t be the first time an antidepressant has an unexpected effect. Buproprion (Wellbutrin) surprising helped study participants quit smoking (without being a planned part of the mood related trial) – marketed under the name Zyban, though both are now available in generic forms.
Anne Laurie
@Mousebumples: To be honest… just as some people (with untreated bipolar disorder) found themselves more balanced in Taos (where there’s lithium in the drinking water), I kinda hope some of the anti-social anti-vaxxers who demand fluvoxamine may find themselves less obsessed with their imaginary terrors!
(And I say this as someone with — fortunately mild — OCD myself.)
Dorothy A. Winsor
“People are coming in crying”
I picture stationing my mother at one of these crybaby sites. Over and over, she says, “That should be the worst thing that ever happens to you.” Sometimes she varies it with, “Stop that or I’ll give you something to cry about.”
Mousebumples
@Anne Laurie: yeah, fair enough! And at least there’s isn’t any horse fluvoxamine for them to try to get – so far as I know, anyway!
sab
@YY_Sima Qian: The whole of China, with 1 1/2 billion people, has dramatically fewer cases than my one state of Ohio. We are at 3500 new cases.
p.a.
@Dorothy A. Winsor: huh. Watch these assholes blame everything from a hangnail up for the rest of their lives on the vaccines. MSM coverage? Maybe. Ambulance chaser-led lawsuits? Prolly.
NorthLeft12
The worst thing about the anti-vaxxers is that they also do not believe in taking any precautions to prevent the transmission of Covid. That includes washing hands.
I know this sounds harsh, but they have outed themselves as filthy, germ ridden ignoramuses. Removing themselves from their jobs (whatever they do) is a net positive for society.
Although I know they will continue to attempt to socialize and thereby infect others.
Ken
If only the complaining were later. It’s more “complain continuously”.
Suzanne
Look, I hope these crazy anti-vaxxers realize that the goal of these mandates is to protect public health, but marginalizing these people and reducing their engagement in society is not an unwelcome bonus. They’re toxic to the common project of creating a society that has an ethos of mutual care and respect, and I don’t mind if they all quit their jobs or start boycotting the places I request. In fact, please do.
lowtechcyclist
Now I’m trying to imagine how a horse with OCD would behave. Take him out of his stall, and he goes back and checks a dozen times to make sure it was really closed behind him? Washes his hooves in every puddle he comes across until his horseshoes rust?
Scout211
In the county where my youngest grandchildren live (in Washington), the county vaccination site scheduled their first (tentative, depending on final authorization) vaccination clinic for 5-11 year olds for next Saturday from 9-4. It is FULLY BOOKED!
So why don’t you interview all those parents, news media people? That clinic filled up immediately. I mean, right away! Where are those parents in your parent-on-the-street interviews, huh? Too boring? Too normal? Too concerned about their kids’ health? What?!
Sigh.
sab
Nobody wanted to interview me or our receptionist when we both quit jobs we loved because our RWNJ co-workers wouldn’t take the most minimal steps to reduce Covid risk in our office. Boss was onboard, but he met almost utter resistance below. We were the “almost” and we had to quit to be even moderately safe.
Suzanne
@sab: Same. I left an office because the job site I was assigned to work on was a disaster… AND THE JOBSITE IS IN A HOSPITAL. Where’s the NYT?!
smith
Funny how 96% compliance turns up again and again in these stories. I’m guessing we can easily absorb the loss of 4% of workers, especially from good jobs that many people are eager to have. It gives me hope that ratcheting up mandates might get us to a high enough vax rate overall to finally get ahead of the virus.
Ksmiami
@Anne Laurie: Taos; Seriously? No wonder I’m always at peace when we go to our place there?!!!
evodevo
@lowtechcyclist: Actually, it manifests itself as behaviors like gnawing obsessively on stall doors and fencing (“cribbing”); tearing at horse blankets; shifting weight from one side to the other while standing still in a stall; pawing the ground constantly; etc.
Gvg
I wonder if various modern medical privacy laws that we have now, made it harder or impossible for current media to simply do sensationalist stories with video of people waiting for treatment in emergency rooms or dying in ICUs that showed relatives wailing and busy busy hospitals, morgues etc with people’s faces. It seemed to me very little news ran showing what was really happening as a result of covid. In the past, stories like this would have run. It was obvious click bait. Think of old magazine and newspapers with victims faces during polio. Think of Vietnam and bloody wounded pictures. This didn’t happen this time and I haven’t seen that for a long time, even for the non Covid events like local car accidents, shootings or meth heads. I am not sure it is all the media, I am speculating that privacy laws mean they can’t film stuff that they used to and that is preventing more people from comprehending the actual facts.
This is just my idea. But our click driven media should have been doing this and they didn’t. I don’t think even a Republican slant can explain this.
Cermet
@smith: That 4% is also made up of those that are leaving anyway (for a number of reasons.) So those actually refusing due to the vax is likely much, much lower. They mention that in the article but not the headline. The guard units are having real issues but those units really do need weeding out.
bluegirlfromwyo
@Suzanne: This. I love it when the trash takes itself out.
Scout211
@Gvg:
Last night I saw a psa by (I think) the CDC on a cable channel I was watching. It was a black man who was very sick with COVID and as I think he said, he died twice while he was in the hospital with COVID for many weeks. There were clips of him in the ICU that were very graphic and he was very candid in his description of his hospitalization. It was a short psa, but I thought it was really well done. So maybe the CDC is trying to do what you are suggesting.
I just now tried to find it but I wasn’t able to.
smith
Re all the media panic about losing a lot of cops in NYC, many years ago when I was in grad school there, the cops did go on strike for a few days, and…nothing happened. Life went on as normal, there was no big crime wave, the strike was settled. I think we indulge in a lot of hope when we assume that the presence of cops somehow prevents crimes. The actions of cops are generally reactive, and, assuming they do their jobs appropriately, the impact of crime may thereby be reduced in the aggregate, by arresting bad actors and cooling hot situations. But what prevents most crime is the fact that the overwhelming majority of people voluntarily obey the law whether there’s a cop watching or not.
smith
@Scout211: The alarming PSAs are a service now performed by the Goobers themselves on Twitter and Facebook. You can see on the Herman Cain Awards reddit the blow-by-blow descriptions of slow, agonizing deaths from covid posted by the patients and their families. They are hard to read, and apparently have convinced some people to get vaxxed.
Wvng
After getting my Moderna booster yesterday, I spent my 15 minute wait next to a gentleman wearing a bright red Trump 2024 hat, so it’s not entirely correct that the divide is purely Trump/not Trump, although vaccine resistance is disproportionately among Trump voters.
The Pale Scot
@Mousebumples:
That’s behavioral. I have a hard time accepting that a drug that works on neurotransmitters has any affect on a virus that affects the cardio-pulmonary system.
Except perhaps reducing stress levels that are diminishing the immune system
DanielsBob
Was pleasantly surprised to learn that my zip code in a very Republican, very Trumpy northern Illinois county is just over 70% fully vaccinated. Surrounding zip codes are all in the 40 to 50% range. No idea why.
YY_Sima Qian
@sab:
Wait! What?!!
You were ostracized by prospective employers because of you took COVID-19 seriously?
I recall early in the pandemic a Chinese Australian, working as a senior level manager for a major Germany multi-national’s China operation, was fired from her job because she went out jogging the day after she landed at Beijing when she was supposed to be under home quarantine, & then hurled abuse at security guards & police officers who tried to coax her back home. The Germany multi-national promptly fired her, & she was quickly deported out of the country. Her case helped push China toward the system of centralized quarantine for overseas arrivals.
Sometimes I feel the decade+ that I have large been away from the US means I do not quite have a feel for the current level of crazy.
Eunicecycle
@Scout211: I just saw that not 30 minutes ago on The Weather Channel. It is well done.
The Pale Scot
@Suzanne:
I understand landscapers are in short supply. Small co., no mandate. Sounds perfect for them. Lots of exercise.
Peale
Got my booster Friday. The lump on my arm let’s me know my immune system is working. But I wonder if my immune system is smart enough for the task. All my jabs were in my left arm. I’m hoping that if the virus is found elsewhere, the body police still recognise it. Don’t go “hmm. What’s this? Must be harmless. Not like that thing we keep meeting in his left arm. Good day, Mr. Virus. Have a safe trip”. I’m not immunodeficient. I might be immunodumb, though.
p.a.
I Q for Adam actually, but there were resignations when Truman desegregated the US military. Don’t know if the numbers were ever quantified.
YY_Sima Qian
@sab:
Most parts of the US seems to be relying upon vaccination (despite the anti-vaxx dead-enders) to mitigate the pandemic, & not much else. Cases are starting to rise in a number of states, in advance of Halloween & Thanksgiving. At least Europeans countries are re-instituting distancing & mitigation measures when cases surge again, though compliance may be uneven.
Even w/ China’s successes so far against the Delta Variant, I am concerned about what winter season will being, particularly in the northern parts of the country. I am sure the CCP regime will not allow the situation at any jurisdiction to remotely approach that of Wuhan or Hubei Province during the 1st wave again, not after that harrowing experience, will the Winter Olympics coming up in Feb., & Xi Jinping looking for a smooth path to a 3rd term. However, the risk of getting caught up in lock down or quarantine could increase significantly.
The booster shot campaign that is ramping up should help, as is the campaign to vaccinate children aged 3+. Both should be largely complete by early winter.
Robert Sneddon
Lots of old people? From what I’ve seen here in the UK and in other countries older folks were first in the queue for vaccinations when they came out, possibly because they are frequent flyers at their doctors surgery and they’re used to getting worked on like a prize cow. They may also have memories of polio and other endemic childhood diseases to prod them into getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Here in the UK it’s the city centres that have low takeup of vaccination, areas full of younger people who also go out pubbing and clubbing, partying and attending music events, sports, cafes, gyms etc. while thinking “it will never happen to me”. Cough cough.
The bad news is that, as mentioned in Annie Laurie’s invaluable postings above, the Delta variant of SARS-nCoV-2 is now nearly 100% of all new cases everywhere pretty much. Delta is a lot more transmissable than its predecessors and to really stop it spreading requires something like 85%-plus of the population to be fully vaccinated. Here in the UK we’re at about 80% fully vaccinated (aged 12+) and the number of new cases is remaining stubbornly high as we move into winter. The only saving grace is that hospitalisations and ICU bed numbers are remaining under control indicating we’re probably getting a lot of breakthrough infections of vaccinated people that don’t turn for the worse and can be treated at home, like a “bad flu”.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 2,513 new COVID-19 cases reported today and the backlogged data from a national Lighthouse lab which was temporarily elevating the numbers has been cleared. The test positivity rate is 9.6%. There were no new deaths reported but note that Register Offices are generally closed at weekends. ICU bed occupancy numbers are 64, down one from yesterday while hospitalisations are 910, sixteen less than yesterday.
There were about 3,600 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Saturday) with about 45% of these being first vaccinations. 92.1% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 85.8% are fully vaccinated. 75.3% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination and 54.1% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination.
There were about 28,500 booster vaccinations carried out yesterday in Scotland with a total of about 685,000 boosters carried out to date.
Cameron
I apologize if this has been posted before, but I can’t help comparing the anti-vaxxers and their enablers with the people described here. Particularly in light of the enormous strides in medical research since then. It’s almost like the country is going backwards.
https://www.history.com/news/smallpox-george-washington-revolutionary-war
DanielsBob
@Robert Sneddon: I’m probably the oldest (69) in my immediate area. Lots of families with school age kids living in former farm houses on a small acreage that were separated from the original associated farm land. Most of the farms these days are 1000 acres and up of not necessarily contiguous land.
smith
@DanielsBob: Vax rate is also highly correlated with educational level. Do you have a lot of professionals living in your area?
Mousebumples
@The Pale Scot: yes, but I’m not aware of any other antidepressant that helps people quit smoking, so it’s not as correlative as you might presume. There are lots of unexpected effects based on drug mechanism, but I’m not sure on the proposed path of usefulness here yet.
Another Scott
Re the FDNY vaccination news:
Kinda apples to oranges, but the numbers are stark.
Cheers,
Scott.
Fair Economist
@DanielsBob: Dones your county have a large prison? They cause +vax analogies in many rural areas.
Tony Gerace
@NorthLeft12: Anecdotes are not data, but in my decades on this earth I’ve observed a lot of guy who don’t wash their hands after using the men’s room. I suspect that there’s a significant overlap between these guys and the adamant anti-vaxxers.
marklar
@The Pale Scot: A lot of psychotropic drugs have ‘side effects’ that alter function of the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous systems. For instance, caffeine (psychological stimulant) has adrenergic effects than help with asthma at a local level.
These secondary effects (at least according to the drug developers) are not examined in the development process all that much– the focus is on the intended use. The side effects only become evident once enough anecdotes accumulate, resulting is research directed towards the side effect– Kind of like the blood pressure medication that had a side effect of penile turgidity, with the medication later marketed as Viagra.
Tony Gerace
@smith: Unfortunately it doesn’t surprise me that a lot of cops are part of the Trump/Qanon death cult, but I remain genuinely shocked when I see teachers and medical workers refusing to get vaccinated. They should all be fired. They’re identified themselves as being people who shouldn’t have those jobs to begin with.
Bill Arnold
@Tony Gerace:
Hand washing protects against other diseases, some very nasty/deadly, but does not protect much if any (almost no case studies) against SARS-CoV-2. It’s mostly airborne spread (including ballistic) from and to nasal epitheliums. (sp?)
I look for masks. A mask (covering both nose and mouth) is an indicator that somebody takes slowing spread of infectious disease seriously. Absence of a mask means that somebody may be a homicidal psychopath (perhaps also gullible) and that close and/or lingering proximity should be avoided because they may be a physical/mortal threat.
DanielsBob
@smith: I’m guessing here somewhat, but I think mostly high school graduates with blue collar jobs , either self-employed or commute to the larger towns in the area. Professionals tend to be nurses and teachers (the ones I know are all women married to men with blue collar jobs) and a few men and women with agriculture related degrees employed either as farm managers or work for one of the major seed companies. Lots of corn and soybean seed grown in the area and a seed processing facility nearby.
DanielsBob
@Fair Economist: Nope
Tony Gerace
@Tony Gerace: The little that I understand about the management of workers indicates that if people are permitted to get away with behavior that is detrimental to the organization as a whole (e.g., nurses who refuse covid vaccinations) it leads to deterioration of the morale and effectiveness of the organization as a whole. Fire their asses. Back up a truck, as the saying goes. In the short run there may be under staffing, but the organization will be better in the long run after getting rid of the worst people. And, most of these jerks will reluctantly get vaccinated once they realize that their “careers” are really in jeopardy.
VOR
@Bill Arnold: I continue to be astonished by people who can’t put their mask on properly. C’mon, we are about 20 months into this pandemic. It’s not that hard. Plus the mask was meant to be worn over the nose so it’s almost certainly more comfortable when you wear it properly.
Ksmiami
@YY_Sima Qian: I fully think we are in meltdown mode. You are lucky to be away and in an area where masking is second nature. Plus amazing food- grr
Ksmiami
@Gvg: I think the disease has been completely sanitized by the media to our detriment. Oh your afraid of a jab, or a little fabric; well here’s Mrs. May getting intubated….