Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

In my day, never was longer.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

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

Republicans in disarray!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

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

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

The willow is too close to the house.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

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

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Dec. 12-13

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Dec. 12-13

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Tragically, IMO, refusing to wear a mask has become such a public symbol for the MAGAts that it’s probably impossible to enforce a mandate, at least at the federal level. Vaccinations, boosters, pop-up clinics, surge response teams, and sending more vaccines to the countries that need them most are “invisible” on a one-to-one basis, so yeah, it makes more sense to spend the money & energy where it’ll do more than stoke more angry social-media clips…

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… During the second wave earlier this year, India was criticised for not telling the world early enough about Delta, which quickly became the dominant variant across the globe. What has changed since then?

“We’ve learnt a lot from that,” says Dr Priya Abraham, Director of NIV. “We know that the more we allow a virus to spread, the more the likelihood that we will have a new variant. I think we will be much more proactive now, much more prepared.”

Given the size of India’s population though, Dr Abraham says there are limitations…

More than half of India’s adult population is fully vaccinated. That still leaves hundreds of millions at risk. Doctors warn that if an Omicron-fuelled third wave hits, medical facilities could still be overrun very quickly.

“In the second wave, hospital capacity didn’t just get exceeded by a little bit, it was exceeded by several times what it was capable of. So even if we have a small third wave, which I think is definitely a possibility, it could still overwhelm our health system,” says Dr Swapneil Parikh, a physician in Mumbai…

The government says it is putting preparations in place. But Dr Parikh in Mumbai says more needs to be done.

“I think we really need to get as many people fully vaccinated as possible. Let’s also start rolling out third doses for the elderly and the clinically vulnerable, especially individuals who are immunocompromised, as also for healthcare workers and frontline workers,” he said.

“In this country, we’ve played pandemic roulette during the second wave, and lost. So this time, let’s do the opposite. Let’s over-prepare.”

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Reader Interactions

34Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 393 new cases yesterday. The NYSDOH doesn’t report at home tests so I have to assume these are all lab tests.

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    Greece reporting total cases over one million now.

    Official reported case numbers from Russia* slide past 10,000,000.

    *I know, I know, no need to say it.

  3. 3.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Maybe I missed it, but is anyone like Fauci or Walensky pointing out that, even though omicron may be less life-threatening for the individual who has it, it can still mutate into a superkiller, and therefore we should be concerned that it is so transmissible? I see that the head of the NIV mentions concerns about new variants, but the statement does directly link transmission rate with possible development of new variant. Seems like this is an important consideration…

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 3,504 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,695,143 cases. It also reports 17 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 30,879 deaths – 1.15% of the cumulative reported total, 1.17% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.95.

    325 confirmed cases are in ICU, 137 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 4,401 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,606,309 patients recovered – 96.7% of the cumulative reported total.

    Six new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,043 clusters. 246 clusters are currently active; 5,797 clusters are now inactive.

    3,480 new cases today are local infections. 24 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 67,376 doses of vaccine on 12th December: 1,472 first doses, 2,005 second doses, and 63,899 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 54,904,339 doses administered: 25,924,439 first doses, 25,509,098 second doses, and 3,663,587 booster doses. 79.4% of the population have received their first dose, while 78.1% are now fully vaccinated.

  5. 5.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 12/12 China reported 80 new domestic confirmed (25 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 5 new domestic confirmed cases. 19 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 520 active domestic confirmed cases in the region. 

    • Hulun Buir reported 5 new domestic confirmed cases (all at Manzhouli), all are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. 19 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 518 active domestic confirmed cases (509 at Manzhouli & 9 at New Barag Right Banner) in the city. 7 sub-districts are currently at High Risk. 2 townships & 2 sub-districts are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Tongliao there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.

    Heilongjiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 40 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Harbin did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 40 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 residential buildings & 27 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Heihe the last domestic confirmed case recovered.
    • At Qiqihar the domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. However, the city reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, in residents in the same village in the same district as the domestic asymptomatic case just released from isolation, including a family cluster of 4 cases. All 5 cases have been tested regularly since 11/28, all last tested negative on 12/4, & all tested positive on 12/11, re-tested positive on 12/12. None have left the village since 11/28. The cases will be included in tomorrow’s data dump. 1 village has been elevated to Medium Risk.

    Shaanxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild). There are currently 3 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Xi’an reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a staff at a hospital out-patient clinic, found via regular screening. There currently are 2 active confirmed case in the city.
    • At Xianyang there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk. 

    Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Nanjing did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed cases there.
    • Wuxi did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Xuzhou there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.

    Zhejiang Province reported 74 new domestic confirmed cases (25 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 173 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Ningbo reported 14 new domestic confirmed cases (11 previously asymptomatic), all 3 new domestic positive cases have already been centralized quarantine. There currently are 47 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, all found within a single sub-district. 2 residential compounds & an office building are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Hangzhou reported 5 new domestic confirmed cases (all previously asymptomatic). There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 residential building is currently at Medium Risk.
    • Shaoxing reported 55 new domestic confirmed cases (9 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 107 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all but 2 at Shangyu District. At least 20 cases are associated w/ a supermarket. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.

    Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city.

    At Guangzhou in Guangdong Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city. 1 quarantine hotel is currently at Medium Risk.

    At Dalian in Liaoning Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 28 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 5 active confirmed cases remaining.

    At Rizhao in Shandong Province there currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Chongqing Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Henan Province there currently are 37 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (32 at Zhengzhou & 5 at Zhoukou).

    Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 54 active domestic confirmed & 29 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture. 1 zone at Longchuan County is currently at High Risk.

    Imported Cases    

    On 12/12, China reported 21 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 17 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 5 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the DRC (via Addis Ababa), Ethiopia, Serbia (via Vienna), South Korea & Thailand
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Laos; 4 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese national returning from Ethiopia
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Kazakhstan, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 4 confirmed & 1 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Myanmar & Laos; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Myanmar & Laos; all via land border crossing
    • Suqian in Jiangsu Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Zimbabwe
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic); 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Bosnia-Herzegovina
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 6 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Nigeria (via Frankfurt) & Uzbekistan (off a flight diverted from Beijing)
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Egypt

    Overall in China, 43 confirmed cases recovered (20 imported), 21 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (19 imported) & 26 were reclassified as confirmed cases (1 imported), & 814 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,381 active confirmed cases in the country (505 imported), 27 in serious condition (4 imported), 444 active asymptomatic cases (398 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 51,333 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 12/12, 2,612.218M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 9.515M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 12/13, Hong Kong reported 5 new positive cases, all imported.

  6. 6.

    Matt McIrvin

    So many people seem really viscerally mad that their children have to wear masks in school and seek convinced that this, masks in school, is THE one thing that will put Republicans back in power.

    I haven’t seen evidence that the children themselves are too fussed about it. But their parents are apoplectic.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    creating political problems for politicians who think it’s bad that over 1,000 Americans are dying from COVID every day

    It was bad before there was a vaccine. Now it’s just a choice.

  9. 9.

    Soprano2

    My state is busy telling local governments to quit doing anything re: Covid except vaccinations. What does Dr. Jacobs think Biden is supposed to do about that? They’ve made new mask mandates basically illegal in Missouri.

  10. 10.

    Percysowner

    @Matt McIrvin: ​
    Yeah. I’m reasonably sure that a certain percentage of kids under 5 will eventually feel that going out without a mask is like going out without pants, you just feel a little naked.

    The kids at my granddaughter’s preschool all wear their masks from the second they get out of the car until they get back in at the end of the day. They don’t complain, it’s just part of going to school.

    @Soprano2: My state too. Our cities are basically saying “home rule, bitch” and everyone agrees that the Ohio constitution lets them set mask mandates.

  12. 12.

    Platonicspoof

    . . . Nicola Sturgeon, a health official in Scotland said.

     

    She makes a lot of major health decisions, but I think the statement would have more impact if Delthia Ricks and/or the WaPo would refer to her as First Minister of Scotland.

  13. 13.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Percysowner: As with many things about schools, the fact that the kids don’t feel the same way the parents do likely makes the parents madder. It’s a loss of authority on their part.

  14. 14.

    JMS

    I’m less fussed about the school mask mandate now that all school age kids can be vaccinated. It’s still bad from a public health standpoint, but if you are a responsible parent you will (or already have) get your kids vaccinated and are less likely to suffer from impotent rage or your kids getting Covid.

  17. 17.

    New Deal democrat

    I follow Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding because, if there is bad news, he is sure to find it. I follow Dr. Scott Gottlieb for the opposite reason: if there is good news, he is sure to find it. Today he writes:
    https://mobile.twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1470195474875441159

    Summary: Omicron appears to be very unstable, and may be becoming less fit for wide transmission. (I wonder: if that is true, it may explain several earlier instances of a ‘proto-Omicron’, like in Minnesota in early autumn, that were not sustained)

    No real news in US case reporting today, mainly because so few States posted new information. West still flat, South has begun to increase, Midwest *may* be peaking, Northeast continuing to increase, and may become the worst region in a few days.

    According to Trevor Bedford’s daily update:
    https://github.com/blab/rt-from-frequency-dynamics/tree/master/results/omicron-countries
    trend in Omicron cases continues to increase at very low, but exponential, rate, as of last reports, which lag several weeks. If trend has continued, perhaps 10% of all US cases are now Omicron.

  18. 18.

    Robert Sneddon

    Via BBC reporting, one person in the UK with the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has died and ten others are hospitalised.

  19. 19.

    Matt McIrvin

    @New Deal democrat: I don’t follow Eric Feigl-Ding because he spins everything in the most negative way possible and sometimes inflates spurious bad news. I can do that myself, I don’t need him to do it.

    I think it’s fascinating that Chise and Feigl-Ding can link to the same tweet and Chise will describe it as encouraging news while Feigl-Ding calls it the crack of doom.

  20. 20.

    Peale

    @Robert Sneddon:  yeah. It drove me a little nuts the way the “mildness” of Omicron has been reported in South Africa. There were patients in hospitals in SA and the message was that the cases were mild, some on oxygen and some in the icu. By definition, a mild case can’t be one where the patient is hospitalized. Most Delta cases are mild, too. I’m not surprised at all that the UK has started to have hospitalized cases. They were happening on SA.

  21. 21.

    Cermet

    So how did west virginia go from near the bottom to near the top in vaccinations in three weeks? That seems strange – did they fail noting vaccinations for the past year, now count boosters as first shots? Or something worse? Can’t see how their pharm’s could handle vaccinating many hundreds of thousands in three weeks.

  22. 22.

    VOR

    I’m really warming to this concept of Caste as an explanation for the virulence of the anti-mask, anti-vaccine reaction to COVID. There was a Twitter thread about this concept over the weekend and IIRC, it was discussed in another BJ post a couple days ago.

  23. 23.

    New Deal democrat

    @Matt McIrvin: If what you are referring to is evidence of vaccine efficacy against Omicron, Feigl-Ding got called out by Dr. Carl Bergstrom  for making a screenshot that deleted a footnote specifically warning against drawing the conclusion he went ahead and drew anyway.

    https://mobile.twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1469648745071403008

    “Eric Feigl-Ding [ ] spins everything in the most negative way possible and sometimes inflates spurious bad news. I can do that myself”

    Not like him you can’t!

  24. 24.

    Reboot

    @VOR: Yes, that thread on the concept of caste and how it gives an explanation for what to me is inexplicable–anti-vax belligerence–made me decide to order the book Caste, by (I think) Isabel Wilkerson.

  25. 25.

    Anonymous At Work

    Rep. Swalwell’s idea is getting bypassed and sells itself short. What are other Federal Government touch-points where vaccination requirements can be mandated? Military, FAA, ports(?) for cruises is tied up in courts. Border checks?

  26. 26.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Peale: The proportions of the severity of Omicron-variant cases still hasn’t been properly verified — if the Omicron variant is extra-virulent and spreads more easily than Delta it will infect more people, vaccinated or not. However, if only 1 percent of those infected with the Omicron variant require hospitalisation and only 1 percent of those die that’s a lot better than the current odds for the Delta variant, even if more people do catch the disease.

    We don’t know the numbers yet but it’s now been more than three weeks since the first Omicron outbreak was recorded here in the UK and only one death now is, if not welcome, it is at least somewhat reassuring that Omicron is not the unstoppable super-killer variant of COVID-19 some gloom-and-doom merchants have been anxiously anticipating.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    @Amir Khalid:

    Today I am feeling nostalgic for the days when there were so few Covid patients in your country that you could give us each one’s medical history.

    I am also feeling rueful about the early months of the pandemic when we thought we could and would flatten the curve into oblivion.

    Now Covid is like the weather. Always something to think about, must be dressed for, some periods of time — lovely spring days, low local transmission and case numbers — allow for more active and happier moments. Others — snow storms, high stats — force us to hunker down and wait.

  28. 28.

    Sloane Ranger

    Sunday in the UK we had 48,854 reported new cases. The rolling 7-day average is up by 11.9%. As usual, any figures reported out over the weekend must be taken with a pinch of salt due to office closures. Cases by home nation,

    England – 40,713 (down 7827)

    Northern Ireland – 1548 (up 102)

    Scotland – 4002 (down 85)

    Wales – 2591 (Does not report on Saturdays’ so this will be a mixture of Saturday cases and new cases).

    Deaths – There were 52 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. Usual weekend warning applies. The rolling 7-day average is up by 0.5%. 44 deaths were in England, 3 in Northern Ireland, 5 in Wales and none in Scotland.

    Testing – Not updated at weekends.

    Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.

    Vaccinations – As of Saturday, 11th, 51,254,510 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 46,742,069 had had 2 and 23,124,829 had had a 3rd shot/booster. This means that, as of that date, 89.1% of all UK residents aged 12+ have had 1 shot, 81.3% have had 2 and 40.2% have had a 3rd shot/booster.

    General – Boris has said he wants everyone to have had a booster by the end of the year. It looks like he’s going to fail as it’s been reported in the press that the earliest dates being offered to people going on the website to book their shots are in January. Also, people going on the website to order home testing kits are being told they are out of stock. Someone on the news has said this is because people who have been in contact with COVID no longer have to self isolate if they test daily. This is a recipe for disaster since it relies on people to actually do the test and accurately report the result. If I wanted to game the system, I could easily just go on the website and input the number of the test without going to the bother of taking it!

  29. 29.

    charon

    @VOR:

    Or you could call it Herrenvolk tribalism – it is performative, not masking etc. being a way to proclaim membership in the master race of “Real Americans;”

  30. 30.

    Nelle

    @Ohio Mom: This analogy is helpful.  Thanks.

    This thread may be dead but if not, I would appreciate a link to looking at anti-mask in the framework of Caste and amplified thought on this.  I’ve read Caste and yet I’m slow this morning and am not getting a full connection.  But I’m very interested.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Peale: It does seem that the per-case numbers are much lower than with Delta for both hospitalizations and deaths. But South Africa is a very different population from the UK or US–much younger, but also much less vaccinated. It’s hard to say how that affects the results.

    I’d seen some claims that the case fatality rate was something like 0.05%, which would be more flu-like than COVID-19-like. I am not inclined to trust those numbers very much, both because it’s early, and because the populations are so different. They’re back-of-envelope calculations based on poor and premature data. But I do think that if this were the doomsday variant we’d be seeing obvious indications of worse already.

  33. 33.

    karen marie

    My problem with Fauci is his apparent compulsion to make statements based on anecdotal evidence. It’s a mistake to baselessly tell people “omicron isn’t as bad” when we don’t know. Death is not always the worst outcome.

    His discouragement of mask wearing at the pandemic outset set the stage for the mask resistance that morphed into vaccine refusal. Trump was a fuckup but Fauci should know better than to speak without any basis.

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