it’s a statement of fact, dummy https://t.co/77UMwgVQq6
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) December 20, 2021
I usually admire Nuzzi’s skills, but as a professional assassin, she should be better at recognizing a warning shot!
This is a note attached to the arrow that just thunked into the miscreants’ front door — GET SMARTER OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES…
This is the most important chart in the country right now, out of New York City, and I'm going to keep posting it until people get what it's saying. https://t.co/ZWsA4zc38v pic.twitter.com/ve8m9XnmoD
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) December 19, 2021
Yes, we're hitting record numbers here, but it's all highly concentrated among the remaining unvaccinated.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) December 19, 2021
Surging Covid cases are bringing a 2020 feel to the end of 2021. US health officials have intensified calls for the unvaccinated to get inoculated in the face of a new variant that has contributed to a record number of infections in New York & beyond https://t.co/ufg4GayCBa pic.twitter.com/SQLUkusWw2
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 19, 2021
On a flight now to Bay Area and it is one-hundred percent batty that the unvaccinated are allowed to fly. It’s unsafe in the cabin and we are transporting the virus. Requiring the vaccine to fly is the LEAST we can do to stop the spread.
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) December 20, 2021
======
Covid-19: Can freebies tempt Indians to get vaccinated? https://t.co/uaTw495XRl
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 20, 2021
… In the western state of Gujarat, a municipal corporation offered a litre of cooking oil to vaccine takers and found that it worked well, especially among the less well-off.
In the capital, Delhi, having vaccinated parents could boost a child’s chance to get into a good pre-school, a notoriously difficult task…
On 23 November, a local official in the central state of Madhya Pradesh announced a 10% discount on alcohol for people who had received both vaccine doses.
A day later, the order was withdrawn after a lawmaker from the governing Bharatiya Janata Party pointed out it could encourage alcohol consumption…
S.Korea's Moon urges more beds for coronavirus patients in a serious state https://t.co/TVus0oDmft pic.twitter.com/ZViUhOGaAE
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
… As the medical system is strained by a surge in new daily infections and serious cases, authorities restored tougher social distancing rules this week, just 1-1/2 months after having relaxed them in a policy of ‘living with COVID-19’.
“Over the past year, we have prepared for an increase in patients by nearly doubling the number of coronavirus treatment beds and expanding home treatment, but it was not enough,” Moon’s spokesperson, Park Kyung-mee, quoted him as saying.
Over the weekend, the occupancy rate of beds in intensive care for COVID-19 patients stood at nearly 88% in Seoul, and more than 79% for the country as a whole, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said…
The KDCA reported 5,318 infections and 54 deaths by midnight on Sunday, for a total of 570,414 cases and 4,776 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
The tally of serious cases stood at 997, just off Sunday’s all-time high of 1,025.
Coronavirus cluster linked to U.S. base in Japan grows to at least 180 https://t.co/kJMQrzD9bJ pic.twitter.com/ylbkMbSAJW
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
Thailand reports first local Omicron case, eyes reinstating quarantine https://t.co/1qeeuHRxNI pic.twitter.com/ZDahSXBSL1
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
Sydney shrugs off COVID-19 spike, resists calls to restore tough curbs https://t.co/wmuEz4RDig pic.twitter.com/4VlI0dxHhH
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
BREAKING: Israeli ministers have agreed to ban travel to the United States, Canada and eight other countries amid the rapid, global spread of the omicron variant. The rare decision to red-list the U.S. comes amid rising coronavirus infections in Israel. https://t.co/KSSaSbCO4a
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 20, 2021
The Netherlands went into lockdown and the possibility of more COVID-19 restrictions being imposed ahead of the Christmas and New Year holidays loomed over several European countries as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly https://t.co/t24gohXfXV
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
Why Denmark's omicron surge predicts harsh winter ahead. Many more tests than U.S., labs identify positives w/in 24 hrs, and by next day, they know which variant is responsible for every case. @chicoharlan https://t.co/UiJhz1VOUs
— LenaSun (@bylenasun) December 18, 2021
Of the 4 countries with highest documented Omicron case burden, Denmark looks like the outlier. But if you consider their current testing levels, they're pretty similar @OurWorldInData pic.twitter.com/SCzIMBkrFd
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) December 19, 2021
AP takes a rare look inside a German military hospital that was one of the first to treat COVID, and is still managing well as the country prepares for a tough Christmas. By @wirereporter https://t.co/bRHJfCHVgf
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) December 20, 2021
Italy's government is considering new measures to avoid a surge in COVID-19 infections during the holiday period, local newspapers reported, amid worries over the spread of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant https://t.co/NRemr8Vlyo
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
UK says 12 deaths and 104 people hospitalised by Omicron https://t.co/Zf25yyrQUO pic.twitter.com/8yqkz5eRSk
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
Covid-19: Omicron is now dominant variant in Ireland https://t.co/Scxj7iqKXn
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 19, 2021
Enhanced COVID-19 Surveillance at the Community Level in Africa – Africa CDC https://t.co/AB6lawTbnP
— John Nkengasong (@JNkengasong) December 19, 2021
======
Moderna has paused its application for a patent for the mRNA sequence of its #Covid vaccine, saying it is doing so to provide additional time to work out its dispute with the NIH about who should be credited on the patent, @pharmalot reports. ? https://t.co/tnqrBzWV7j
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) December 19, 2021
Deadly 'black fungus' infection that affected Covid patients in India earlier this year now spotted in US Covid patients. The Arkansas Health Dept has been notified about multiple cases of mucormycosis—black fungus—which strikes during or soon after Covid https://t.co/f2wajAo6dp pic.twitter.com/bDghcqJiN2
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 19, 2021
Sinopharm COVID-19 booster weaker against Omicron – study https://t.co/zs5SkCCCf8 pic.twitter.com/SjaBjvauWe
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 20, 2021
======
Well-stated risk assessment for #Omicron #COVID19 in New York https://t.co/XnTMyEnJw1
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 19, 2021
In-person attendance at houses of worship across the U.S. has slowly risen from dramatically low levels when COVID-19 took hold in the spring of 2020. But in many cases, attendance is still not back to pre-pandemic levels. https://t.co/GwuGCw9I6i
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 19, 2021
tl/dr – Extremists flood the phone system at a small hospital, creating a TDoS (telephony denial of service). https://t.co/C7MbVIRxdR
— plum (@chrisplummer) December 20, 2021
This is the only 24h ED in that part of New Hampshire. Faced with incredible disruption on top of you know what.
— plum (@chrisplummer) December 20, 2021
sometimes people end up getting exactly what they ask for. https://t.co/rbh8sydRNS
— ?? JINGLEBELLSMACHINE ?? (@golikehellmachi) December 19, 2021
if you spent the last year talking about “the radical left wants to shut down schools again” and biden says “we’re absolutely not shutting down schools again, also it’s gonna suck if you aren’t vaccinated”, maybe don’t tell on yourself over getting what you said you want
— kilgore trout, tucker carlson’s mailman (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 20, 2021
(here’s my half baked attempt at unpacking this crossover universe, the MAGA pundits are pissed off biden isn’t gonna set himself on fire endorsing school shutdowns, and they need to reframe the subject around nonsensical unvaccinated victimization)
— kilgore trout, tucker carlson’s mailman (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 20, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
There were 374 new cases of COVID-19 reported on 12/19/21.
We’re back to having mask mandates in public again, not that I ever stopped wearing them when I left the house this year.
NotMax
Number going the wrong way.
YY_Sima Qian
On 12/18 China reported 37 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
At Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 29 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 425 active domestic confirmed cases in the region.
At Heilongjiang Province 2 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 21 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Shaanxi Province reported 24 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There are currently 54 active domestic confirmed & 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Beijing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a person who traveled from Xi’an in Shaanxi on 12/15.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 1 residential compound is currently at Medium Risk.
At Jiangsu Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Nanjing) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (2 at Wuxi & 1 at Xuzhou) remaining in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 10 new domestic confirmed cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 477 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Suzhou in Anhui Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.
At Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
Guangdong Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Chengdu in Sichuan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
Xiamen in Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
At Dalian in Liaoning Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 21 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province there currently are 4 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 & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Henan Province there currently are 28 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (all at Zhengzhou).
Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Longchuang County (found via mass screening of residents at border zones). 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 45 active domestic confirmed & 21 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.
Imported Cases
On 12/18, China reported 65 new imported confirmed cases (5 previously asymptomatic), 31 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 51 confirmed cases recovered (17 imported), 13 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (11 imported) & 5 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 1,837 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,736 active confirmed cases in the country (622 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 511 active asymptomatic cases (463 imported), 4 suspect cases (all imported). 51,931 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 12/18, 2,684.29M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 10.602M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 12/19, Hong Kong reported 7 new positive cases, all imported (from Poland, the UK & the US, all have been fully vaccinated, including 3 boosted).
Cermet
I have warned about the fungus issue in the past; the use of steroids is a serious risk factor for fungus infections. Thanks to both human caused global warming and encroachment on eco-systems, fungus infections are growing. Worse, many fungi are getting more tolerate to higher temps so manuals best protection is weakening (higher body temp.) Far worse, we have only a few drugs that treat fungus infections and the fungus variants are getting immune to those drugs. Now covid is causing the increased use of steroids and this makes us far easier to infect by fungus.
Spanky
And there you have the report from Maryland. Would have been nice to have a guv who is a Democrat.
Snarki, child of Loki
Let’s Go Omicron!
Plenty of MAGAts to feed on.
Nom nom nom.
New Deal democrat
Big increases in new cases in HI, OH, NY, and NJ. Also substantial increases in IL and RI. This is almost certainly Omicron which, if it has continued to trend as forecast by Dr. Trevor Bedford, probably accounts for 25%+ of all US cases now.
Cases in the US have risen to 130,000, a 50% increase from their bottom almost 2 months ago. Deaths in the US have been stable in the past week at about 1200, up less than 10% from their 1100 bottom 4 weeks ago. Still no sign of any significant winter wave in the South and West – which already had major increases by this time last year.
Cases are also rising sharply in Canada, but deaths have actually continued to decline in the past week. The story is the same in the U.K. Most importantly, the 7 day average in cases has declined in South Africa, while deaths are still roughly 2.5x their recent (very low) low. Cases there had increased by 80x in the prior 4 weeks.
While the evidence is by no means decisive, the failure of deaths to increase more in the earliest countries hit by Omicron is increasingly noticeable. At least one expert I read occasionally, Michael Mina, thinks this is the beginning of endemicity:
https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1472387096371503105
He writes that “Symptoms appear earlier with Omicron because, due to vaccination or prior infection, our immune syepstems kick in earlier, and that is what is producing the symptoms.”
PS. I hate to say it, but by not requiring vaccines for planes or trains, by not using the emergency production act to mass produce surgical masks and rapid tests, and by failing to distribute them via the mail to every US household, the Biden Administration has really dropped the ball. Relying on a vaccine-only strategy in the face of determined resistance has been an increasingly obvious failure.
Baud
Nuzzi’s response is an example of how nervous people get when Dems talk to the GOP in less than warm and fuzzy terms. Republicans survive because their cultural reach extends beyond their numbers.
Kay
I don’t think that’s been true in public health anyway. For drunk driving, seat belts and smoking they alternated between scaring people, nagging them incessantly, fining them and taxing them and those public health campaigns were wildly successful.
Whta’s the example of the successful “coddling and gentle persuasion” public health campaign?
Cermet
@Cermet: Mammals not manuals lol; oops
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 2,589 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,721,544 cases. It also reports 19 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 31,092 deaths – 1.14% of the cumulative reported total, 1.16% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.92.
307 confirmed cases are in ICU, 142 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 3,810 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,638,191 patients recovered – 96.9% of the cumulative reported total.
Three new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,082 clusters. 251 clusters are currently active; 5,831 clusters are now inactive.
2,543 new cases today are local infections. 46 new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 78,205 doses of vaccine on 19th December: 1,325 first doses, 1,971 second doses, and 74,909 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 55,882,568 doses administered: 25,953,422 first doses, 25,548,541 second doses, and 4,575,798 booster doses. 79.5% of the population have received their first dose, 78.2% their second dose, and 14.0% their booster dose.
Brantl
Assassins don’t do warning shots, that’s bullies’ jobs and I am sure that they have a strong union, and professional curtesy is observed.
Baud
@Kay:
Right. But those campaigns took years.
Kay
I guess the kid’s diet and excercise public health campaigns are gentle, positive persuasion but that’s kids and I don’t know that they work and conservatives went absolutely insane when Michelle Obama tried that anyway.
Matt McIrvin
There’s been this stupid notion lately that Republican outrage is a reaction to Biden’s vaccine mandates, which is one of those things you can only believe if you intentionally wipe your own memory of the time ordering of all events prior to the last month, like Obama being responsible for 9/11.
NotMax
@New Deal democrat
In HI, delta still in the driver’s seat, per state Dept. of Health..
Kay
@Baud:
I think nagging works but you’re right- it takes a lot of nagging. Start nagging them now for the next pandemic. It’ll pay off down the road.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: And were shameless enough to then start yelling “what about obesity?” when people told them to get vaccinated against COVID.
DonnaK
@Spanky: The Northeastern blue state habit of electing “moderate” Republican governors, presumably to hold Democratic legislatures “in check,” is making less and less sense these days.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
I love how they completely ignored that kids loved it. It was a dance party.
“YOU have INSULTED us AGAIN” God almighty get over yourselves.
Steeplejack (phone)
Interesting thread from a Canadian physician. One hidden cost of Omicron will be excess deaths of people unable to get care for other conditions.
rikyrah
The Unvaccinated should not be allowed to fly
To ride Amtrak
Or Greyhound
debbie
Probably not the right sentiment for this thread, but maybe the lessening incidents about Karens throwing hissy fits in stores and Karls waving their AR-15s around wherever means the anti-vaxers and likeminded have begun dying off. Good.
YY_Sima Qian
Not sure why Reuters did not link to the study on SinoPharm BIBP booster against the Omicron Variant. Searching on Google, Baidu & Toutiao did not turn up the study. I got boosted w/ a SinoPharm vaccine, albeit the WIBP one, so I am very interested. 78.1% of cases retaining neutralizing activity against Omicron, 4 weeks post-boosting, is not great. On the other hand, that number is probably 0% before boosting, 7 – 8 mos. post-2nd shot. They should still be effective against hospitalization & death, however.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Child’s play.
rikyrah
Nuzzi can STFU ?
We should be making the lives of the lying unvaccinated a living hell for keeping us in this pandemic.
Phuck these tricks ?
NotMax
@debbie
I fear less attention being paid to the reporting of such incidents signals the behavior becoming normalized.
The Thin Black Duke
This isn’t substainable. If the county doesn’t go hardcore and slam the brakes on these Anti-Vaxxers, the hospitals are going to be making ugly decisions before too long.
Kay
@rikyrah:
All failures in the United States are the fault of national Democratic leadership, who can’t seem to come up with the magic combination of words and actions to persuade the GOP base to do or not do X.
It’s the Manchin negotiation, applied to everything.
HeleninEire
Extremely long lines this weekend at testing sites here in NYC. I’m hoping that it was because people are being cautious before traveling; not that they are feeling ill. And CityMD, one of the largest private testing sites, has a sign on the door that test results are backed up and now taking 4 days.
The Thin Black Duke
@debbie: I believe that’s the argument Beau was making in his latest video which I posted last night. COVID-19 ain’t scared of Karens going psycho on waitresses or Walmart Rambos waving their toys around. It’s actually gratifying to see assholes actually suffering genuine consequences for their stupidity.
Spanky
@The Thin Black Duke: Human nature is to pass the buck until the end of the line, and the hospitals are the end of this particular line.
Each wave of covid takes a sledgehammer to our medical system, and it sheds burnt out professionals. When the really resistant strain(s) hit, I’m afraid for what our system can handle.
Kay
@The Thin Black Duke:
They are, and they should.
I read yesterday about a far Right Washington state senator, dead of covid at 52. He was in Central America when he became sick and they moved heaven and earth to get him out of there and to Florida for treatment. I just don’t think they should expect this going forward. There are other people in this country and they need medical care too.
Baud
@Kay:
That idea is much older than the Manchin negotiation.
The Thin Black Duke
@Spanky: That’s an argument I had with a close friend yesterday. What happens when the hospitals don’t have the staff or the resources to take patients anymore? It’s a big mistake to imagine that It Can’t Happen Here.
lowtechcyclist
@DonnaK:
FTFY.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Omicron sure picked its arrival time well: people traveling and gathering for the holidays, and then spreading out everywhere.
debbie
@The Thin Black Duke:
I watched it and I agreed with him. I usually do.
debbie
@The Thin Black Duke:
Isn’t that why Cuomo was hiding bodies last year?
eclare
@Steeplejack (phone): I’ve put off a couple of screening tests because every time I schedule one, a new variant comes along and scares me.
The last stat I saw for my county, from a couple of weeks ago, was 47% vaxxed.
Cameron
@Kay: I agree with you about a hard line, but I’m not sure any particular approach will work. Seatbelts, anti-smoking, etc. had a variety of opponents, but I don’t recall an ideological attack by a major political party on public safety measures. It’s a new world.
Another Scott
@YY_Sima Qian: The US press seems to actually be getting worse about naming, nevermind linking to, original sources. E.g. people who want to read legislation for themselves have to waste all kinds of time searching. Biden’s “social spending plan” – the Build Back Better Act – HR 5376 – is just the latest and most egregious example.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
The Thin Black Duke
@debbie: COVID-19 is the wild card in the deck that blows up conventional political analysis. After the holidays, the virus is going to blow up in the red states. Fudging the grim statistics isn’t going to work anymore. I think there are going to be some electoral surprises because dead people can’t vote, dead people can’t harass people they disagree with, dead people can’t fund their candidate’s campaign. Hey, works for me.
Cameron
@Matt McIrvin: And he never confessed how he fumbled the ball over Hurricane Katrina….
Matt McIrvin
@DonnaK: fuck Charlie Baker
Matt McIrvin
@Cameron: They didn’t call it Obama’s Katrina for nothing!!
Cameron
@Kay: – just one more cut – just one more cut – just one more cut – hey, you fucked up, you trusted us.
Steeplejack (phone)
@eclare:
My own recent surgery was delayed because of COVID’s burden on the medical center, and my surgeon’s routine was previously disrupted when he himself got COVID a year ago.
New Deal democrat
@NotMax:
On HI, note that the 2% figure is from Dec 4, which in the case of Omicron means several aeons ago.
Here is a link to Trevor Bedford’s graphs of Omicron’s spread:
github.com/blab/rt-from-frequency-dynamics/tree/master/results/omicron-countries
The US as a whole only showed 2% of cases at the beginning of December. But if the tread has continued (we won’t know until the data is reported by about New Year’s Eve), Omicron is as I said above causing over 25% of the new cases now.
Now look at HI’s case number (at e.g. 91-Divoc). Two weeks ago HI’s average was 112 cases. Now it’s over 500. It has near *quadrupled* just in the past 7 days. That’s almost certainly Omicron.
Tony Jay
Got my Pfizer booster jab at a drop in centre here in Liverpool yesterday. I couldn’t wait until January 8th and my scheduled appointment.
It was cold standing outside, but hardly a 20 minute wait. Which was good, because since I scalded my thigh making boiled potatoes last week I’ve been wearing shorts to cut down on friction.
Currently slumped in the bath feeling like ten tons of dog shit in a hemp sack with booster-lurgy, so I guess I’ll have to neck those painkillers and get down to some serious present wrapping before I go pick Jay Jr up from school.
I’m feeling very sorry for myself, but blessedly not as sorry for myself as Flobalob and Co, which is yummy nourishment for my soul.
Matt McIrvin
@Cameron: Smoking/cancer denialism was pretty mainstream Republican stuff, and modern climate change denialism actually has roots in it. And most of the Republican Party wanted to just let AIDS rip.
They let C. Everett Koop do his thing on both subjects, though, I think because he was on their side on abortion. (Even there, he wouldn’t lie about health effects of abortion to support their party line.) Koop somehow had a degree of bipartisan political capital that, say, Anthony Fauci doesn’t have–the right didn’t turn him into a demon.
schrodingers_cat
Nuzzi is Nazi adjacent, she doesn’t deserve her platform or amplification.
different-church-lady
“You should get vaccinated against this deadly virus.”
“Not gonna vax.”
”There’s a much stronger chance you’ll die if you catch this highly contageous and deadly virus if you’re not vaccinated.”
“Not gonna vax.”
”The likelihood of death is clearly much much greater than those of serious side effects from the vaccine.”
“Not gonna vax.”
“We’d like you to stay alive for the well being of your children and loved ones.”
“Not gonna vax.”
“Okay. Fine. Die then.”
“WHY ARE YOU BEING SO MEAN TO ME?!?”
Steeplejack (phone)
@eclare:
Sorry about your county’s vaxed stat—that’s dismal. I need to check what it is currently around here. What is the preferred site that everybody uses?
Matt McIrvin
@Steeplejack (phone): The New York Times map probably has the best numbers, though part of that is that they’re willing to just go gray where they don’t have good enough data, so there are huge gray patches:
nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/covid-cases.html
Covidactnow has the CDC’s numbers:
covidactnow.org/
and, sadly, in many cases the data are so bad that it’s just impossible to say accurately.
danielx
@Kay:
As far as I can tell, conservatives go completely insane when a breeze goes by.
Another Scott
@Steeplejack (phone):
CovidactNow – Fairfax County VA is what I use for county stats. I still look at Worldometer.info for national numbers.
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
Cameron
A little apropos holiday cheer: youtu.be/vILiMFiR4gg
debbie
@The Thin Black Duke:
Yep, me too!
Soprano2
I’ll go you one higher
At least your state government isn’t yet actively trying to keep schools from protecting children from Covid.
Soprano2
I’m pretty sure they don’t want to waste money making and mailing things to households that are only going to throw them away. I agree that we need more and cheaper rapid tests, but at this point I think mailing face masks to people is useless. Pretty much everyone who wants them already has them. I also agree that we need a vaccine mandate for any public transportation that includes airplanes. No vaccine, no flying, period.
Cameron
Just to make this a very special Covid Christmas, Santa’s bringing along his new helpers, the Manchkins! These little pranksters don’t give a shit if you kids have been naughty or nice – they’ll take away your parents’ tax credits anyway! But they’ve got something special for you….every boy and girl gets their own lump of coal and a toy black lung kit to amaze your friends!
Cameron
@Soprano2: Maybe the Post Office might be the way to go for the free mask/test thing. Put a flyer in everybody’s mail advising you can pick up mask/test at your local PO or check off a box on the flyer requesting to have mask/test delivered. Might cut down on the waste, though I don’t like putting an additional burden on postal workers.
Soprano2
Except that 1) it’s not hidden at all and 2) this has been going on since summer of 2020 at least. Ask anyone who’s had to deal with a hospital for anything not Covid in the last year, or anyone who has to get any kind of medical procedure. I’m having to get a colonoscopy on December 28th (I used Cologard because I had nothing at my last one when I was 50, but it detected “something abnormal” which I suspect will be a little bit of blood from a hemorrhoid, so I have to do the thing I was trying to avoid). I was extremely surprised they were scheduling anything between Christmas and New Year’s, because usually the only doctors working then are ER and urgent care docs. I half expected them to call me and said they made a mistake and were going to have to reschedule my appointment. I attribute this to the probable buildup of people needing services who couldn’t get them because of Covid restrictions.
Steeplejack
@Matt McIrvin, @Another Scott:
Thanks. Probably should have bookmarked these ages ago, but then we weren’t going to need them for very long. ?
O. Felix Culpa
@different-church-lady: Nailed it. Well done.
Soprano2
@Kay: I’m with you, I’m extremely frustrated with the press framing that this is all Biden’s fault because he can’t persuade people who don’t even think he won the last election to get vaccinated! His administration has done almost everything humanly possible to persuade them, and has put mandates in place to try to make some of them get it even though they don’t want to, but he cannot have people physically hold them down while someone gives them the shot! What does the press expect Biden to do? I agree he’s not perfect, but he’s done a hell of a lot more than TFG ever did, or would have done if he had been elected.
Spanky
@Soprano2:
Probably not the best response to a guy who’s still nursing his privates from just such a procedure.
Soprano2
@Cameron: That would be better, because at least there wouldn’t be massive waste. For me, I don’t need face masks at all, but I would certainly take tests if they were offered.
Soprano2
@Spanky: True, I’m just saying I know from personal experience what Covid is doing to hospitals and medical procedures, as do most of the people I know. At this point it’s not hidden at all.
Steeplejack
I am concerned that my brother and his husband are still planning to go to London on
December 26Sunday. The situation with Omicron—both here and in Britain—is way too unstable, in my opinion.leeleeFL
@DonnaK: It NEVER made sense! At least not in the post-Reagan era. There was, one upon a time, reasonable politicians on the opposition team that did enough good for all their constituents to deserve being voted for by Democrats. That has not been true forever fucking ever now.
Lately, I am convinced we are on a Death-spiral ride at dystopian amusement park. If we survive, we better be better people, or we will not last long.
And, Good morning!
My note to the assholes who are still fighting the vaccine, ” Keep fucking around and finding out!”. I have Family in that group, and I am scared for them. Bit, they are unconvinceable, so I ask the Universe for mercy and hope for the best
Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
I think there is a large cohort of anti-vaxers and normies who focus mainly (or only) on mortality. “Deaths are down, Omicron is much less fatal, I probably won’t get it anyway, and who cares if I have to go to the hospital for a little while.” They don’t even think about other health-care issues or people who are staying home now and not even trying to get care.
New Deal democrat
@Tony Jay: Off topic, but what do you make of last week’s by-election in which Labour and Green voters voted strategically for a LibDem, to throw out the Tory? One off, or beginning of a trend? Is it likely (or not) that LibDem voters will reciprocate in another riding/district?
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2:
I disagree because, at this point, I think we need to be using better masks than most people have. N95s or KN95s at least, but those are sometimes nontrivial to get. The surgical masks are easy to find but they have those big gaps around the edges. Most people are either using disposable surgical masks or simple cloth ones.
lowtechcyclist
@Steeplejack (phone):
Didn’t that already happen here during our most recent wave? This shouldn’t surprise anyone if it happens here again.
@rikyrah:
This. This is something Biden could do right now, at least as far as Amtrak and commercial air travel are concerned. I think Greyhound might be a much greater challenge simply due to the large number of places that buses stop at. (I remember taking a bus from Brattleboro to St. Johnsbury, VT once, and it stopped at every tiny town along the way.)
@The Thin Black Duke:
And it really can’t be ‘first come, first served.’ The big problem with the Covid patients isn’t just how many beds they occupy, it’s how long they occupy them for. Unless they die quickly, each one can take up a bed for weeks. If a hospital is at capacity, that means each Covid patient is keeping several non-Covid patients from being treated there.
I really think we need to have the military or the National Guard set up regional field hospitals or something like that, where local hospitals can send their unvaccinated Covid patients that they expect will be hospitalized for, say, ten days or more.
This would free up the local hospitals for more of the regular cases, it would reduce the staff burnout at those hospitals, and the doctors and nurses being harassed by relatives of the really sick cases, demanding ivermectin and who knows what, would be harassing members of the U.S. military who have been through basic and are better able to deal with shit and give it right back, and could call the MPs to hustle their asses off the premises.
But we can’t keep on postponing care to other very ill people just because the unvaxxed Covid patients got there first and are clogging up all the beds.
Matt McIrvin
@Cameron: Our city got some free home test kits through a state program and is handing them out at the Citizen’s Center (where vaccination clinics also happen), and at some other places like the YWCA. So, similar model. I think they go through public libraries in Ohio.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: I think most people who want and use those kinds of masks already have them. I think it would be a massive waste of money and resources to mail face masks to people who will only throw them away. I like the idea of mailing a card that can be returned checked “yes” for masks or tests.
I don’t know where you live, but I think liberals who live in liberal areas really have no idea what the rest of the country is like re: Covid. If you mailed those face masks to people here, around 70% of them would go straight into the trash and never be used.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: I live in a working-class, barely-blue town adjoining Libertarian-Land where mask discipline is really spotty, though it’s improved lately.
I think something like the “hand them out at the post office/library/Citizen’s Center” model might work.
Alex
No, it’s not just “a statement of fact” or a warning to the willfully unvaccinated (who aren’t listening anyway). It’s a justification for why our state and federal governments plan to do nothing to limit the spread of the virus, because if we make people wear masks they might not do as much shopping, and businesses will complain if we make them upgrade ventilation, and nursing homes don’t want to have to coordinate boosters for residents or enforce staff vaccine mandates, and we’d have to pay workers to stay home if we closed nightclubs which might lead to pressure to raise taxes on the rich and strengthen the social safety net… The plan is to convince people that the people dying deserve to die, and that it would be too inconvenient to do anything about it.
But about 25% of covid hospitalizations in my state are vaccinated people. Elderly people, immune compromised people, kids too young to vaccinate, kids of antivaxxers who can’t get vaccinated themselves, pregnant women are all at risk of dying of covid. Anyone who needs a hospital for any reason in my state is at a high risk of dying for lack of care, and that is already happening. Over 500 kids have died of covid in the US since school started this fall. There will be no vaccines for kids under 5 until summer at the earliest. Prior infection doesn’t confer lasting immunity as variants evolve, so there will be multiple rounds of Russian roulette on death and disability for everyone.
And it appears that the plan is to do nothing but encourage people to get vaccinated, and give up on anyone who doesn’t and those the vaccine won’t protect. No sick leave, no free rapid tests, no free masks, few vaccine mandates, no mask mandates, no closures of high-risk venues, no relief for workers affected when people voluntarily stay home, no support for immune compromised and household members to stay home, no ventilation, no workplace safety standards, no massive rollout of testing or boosters, no intellectual property waivers to enable vaccine manufacturing worldwide. Just reassurances that the people who die brought it on themselves, as embodied in this statement from the White House.
RaflW
Just announced that there is one (1) available ICU bed in the entire Twin Cities metro area. Dozens of hospitals. Four million people.
One. Available. ICU slot.
Fuck the pearl clutchers. Goddamit.
And to Alex’s point above, yeah the lack of discussion about masking and mitigation is horrific. We’d be in far worse shape with TFG, but the mechanisms of government – by which I mean ‘provide for the common welfare’ – are pretty damn fucked.
Republicans bear the brunt, because they’ve made it relatively politically impossible for many needed measures to be resumed. But Dems are also cowards. Or they’re Manchin, and just Republican assholes with a (D) next to their names because history, I guess.
Goddamit.
satby
@Alex: it’s virtually impossible to enforce a mandate that about 50% of the population opposes, unless we lived in a totally different kind of country. The right-wing backlash to covid safety protocols has gone world-wide. Being angry at the Democrats for not solving the problem of a population that’s not willing to comply and an opposing party that has engaged in active sabotage is… kind of stupid.
satby
Absolutely true where I live. Including a lot of the supposedly educated folks at Toxic Masculinity University
RaflW
@satby: The anti-mask views are, I think, less than half the population. But they’ve been leveraged by opportunists.
Princess Leia
@lowtechcyclist:
I love this idea- maybe the only kind of setup that might save the mental health of HCWs.
Kim Walker
Quebec premiere announced free covid rapid tests to be available at pharmacies starting this morning. Each pharmacy was to receive 108 kits with 5 tests. When I went out this morning (before opening hours) I beheld the shit-show. The parking lot for the first pharmacy was crammed and a line around the building and down the alley. Second pharmacy was the same. Third pharmacy was inside the mini-mall and opened at 9:00. I was 26th in line at 8:35. Another 25 or 30 people showed up while I was waiting. A pharmacist inside the store was filming the line with her phone. At 9:00, another pharmacist came out to announce that the tests were only available by appointment and that all the appointments for the day were taken. One lady marched up and gave the pharmacist hell over it. And good for her. They should have put a sign up to say that tests were not available without an appointment. The federal and provincial governments have been working overtime to create a panic and have succeeded. I’m actually looking forward to Christmas in the US, away from here.
Fair Economist
@Another Scott: I’ve noticed the press is getting worse about linking to scientific sources too. A few years ago a media report on a new publication almost always included a link or reference to the paper. Now often it’s just “researchers at somewhere State University have found…”. And then I’ll Google up other news reports and *they* don’t say either. Grrrr.
gvg
@Soprano2: We have homeless and a fair number of poor/really tight budgets. They need no questions asked and really really easy. Other people have mostly got what they are willing to use. Work gave out the surgical masks from time to time, but they didn’t fit me well so I can’t trust them. I see a lot of people wearing masks that have gaps. People haven’t learned that fit is more important than what kind. Not sure how to solve.
I just managed to snag some official 3M N95’s size small. They are hard to find and most people don’t know they exist. I am hoping these will work better for me. Home Depot if anyone else needs some.
TheTruffle
@schrodingers_cat: Nuzzi was palling around with alt-right figures like Milo Yappadatta (or whatever his name is). I’d give her a side eye.
Fair Economist
@Tony Jay: I’m finding each booster milder than the one before. The first shot I was sick a day and a half. I’d had COVID so probably more like my second shot. My next shot I was sick a day, and the third a half day. Hoping for a linear trend!
Steeplejack
@TheTruffle:
Plus she used to be an Ann Coulter fangirl at some point.
Cermet
I very rarely see anyone mention a critical item everyone who can afford it should get – an oximeter! Could very well save your life when you absolutely should make a trip to a ER or even call 911! These devices also gives any medical people you talk to over a phone a heads up on your condition. Not to depend on it making the final call for or against an ER trip but a powerful bit of critical information if you are worried and want more information.
Everyone here should own one and use it from time to time to prove it works, and get a feel for your normal blood oxygen level.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: Then you know what I’m talking about. And yes, the “hand them out at the post office or library” would work here, too.
Citizen Alan
@lowtechcyclist:
You know the cretins would start screaming about concentration camps. They lost their shit in Texas over war games that have been scheduled years before Obama took office.
Matt McIrvin
@Cermet: I check my pulse ox pretty frequently. They’re cheap and will definitely be helpful if/when I catch this thing (I suspect it’s only a matter of time).
Soprano2
Are you fucking kidding me?! In my state, THE STATE GOVERNMENT IS ACTIVELY TRYING TO FORCE SCHOOLS TO DISCONTINUE THEIR MASK AND QUARANTINE PRACTICES. THEY ARE TRYING TO FORCE HEALTH DEPARTMENTS TO QUIT DOING ANYTHING RE: COVID. What in the everliving hell do you think Joe Biden or the federal government can to about that?!!!! You have an extremely strange idea of what the federal government could do. Honestly, do you think they could force businesses to close?
Soprano2
@satby: It’s this crazy Green Lantern theory of government, as if all it would take is for Joe Biden to keep talking about masks and distancing, and suddenly my state government would encourage or even mandate those things rather that doing what it’s currently doing, which is to discourage any measures whatsoever that would halt the spread of Covid!!!!!!! It’s huge wishful thinking that the CA mindset could somehow suddenly be spread across the whole U.S.
Soprano2
@Cermet: My husband’s doctor sent him one of those last year when he had Covid (this time last year). We use it a lot, and I agree – it’s a useful piece of medical hardware to have.
Steeplejack
@Soprano2:
Hell, they have problems with compliance even in California. Plenty of red enclaves out there, fortunately outnumbered.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@The Thin Black Duke: Hospitals are already having to ration care and make painful decisions:
Rationing medical care becomes a reality
Idaho: Jim Souza, chief physician executive at the state’s largest health system, St. Luke’s, described having to squeeze bags for up to hours at a time to provide oxygen for patients while awaiting a mechanical ventilator to become available; having to leave patients on oxygen treatments in unmonitored areas where staffers might not be able to hear alarms; and stopping all surgical procedures, including those they know may result in “permanent disability or pathology,” such as those for breast or endometrial cancer.
Alaska:
“Four patients needed continuous kidney dialysis, her colleague explained, but only two machines could be made available. How should I choose?”
“This is the worst it’s been for us,” Solana Walkinshaw said, and “it’s not over.”
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 6,700 new cases reported today as of 14:00 GMT. That’s more than double the daily number from a month ago. Test positivity is also up at 15%. Hosptialisation and ICU occupancy numbers are still low, considering but time will tell. The number of deaths of people within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 test is staying low too.
We have Xmas and then (really big in Scotland) Hogmanay aka New Year coming up. From what I can tell Edinburgh is gearing up for the usual festivities meaning lots of out-of-town visitors and a big uptick in hospitality footfall, hotel occupancy, AirBNBs etc. The fallout from that won’t be apparent until sometime in mid-January.
Brachiator
@RaflW:
It is ridiculously simple for most people to get masks, wear them, and socially distance. They don’t need government help. The Republicans and right wing media are malignant forces. Red state governors are beyond evil in many cases.
But people can protect themselves, if they choose to do so.
J R in WV
Wife and I are triple dose vaccinated, third dose was same as the first two as a local county health dept had vaccines nearing their expiration date, and decided to put those doses into arms rather than into a medical waste incinerator. We were glad to help!
Frankly, I’m to the point where I believe people who refuse vaccination should be quarantined into their homes, with delivery of groceries to the walk / hallway / steps / etc until they give in and get vaccinated. They spread disease with every exhalation, and typically refuse to wear masks or keep their distance.
I’m wearing a mask to protect myself from the plague rats, but I think the public health service should be teamed up with the cops to keep plague rats off the public streets. I can count the times I’ve been out in public for nearly two ears now w/o a mask on one hand…
Peale
@J R in WV: Given the makeup of the antivaxxers, I think if we did offer to bring them food, it should be clearly marked as Halal, since if I remember right from 12 years ago, they assume that Halal is poisonous for Christians to eat. Let them starve to death in a house full of edible food.
mrmoshpotato
Yes, I know Sarah Palin is a lying sack of shit for many reasons – including most likely lying about not being vaccinated, but Turning Point made me think about now turning a point from being alive to be an unvaccinated corpse.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Brachiator: Thank you, I remember friends of mine making masks for themselves and anyone of their friends who wanted them last year when it was hard to find them in stores at the start of this. There were and are lots of instructions on how to make them, on the Internet including how to sew them by hand and how to make ones you do not have to sew. Obviously the 3 layer paper ones and KN95’s are better but mask are literally available everywhere I go now, some places here will hand you one for free if you try to come in with out one.
dopey-o
IIRC, Soprano2 lives in the most backward, reactionary part of Missouri, home to John Ashcroft and Roy Blunt. I have good, beleaguered friends down there who report back regularly. And their reports scare the bejeezus outa me.
Police reports in that area regularly tell of large meth busts. One offender was caught with 98 stolen catalytic converters. Her second bust. Another Ozark jeenius had 25 guns / rifles, 120 stolen converters and $127,000 in cash.
And of course, local hospitals are full of covid deniers.
Alex
@Soprano2: It must be a great relief to live in the best of all possible worlds.
Tony Jay
@New Deal democrat:
Sorry, I’ve been slumped in a heap on the couch watching Hammer Horror films for relief.
I wrote briefly about the topic at the weekend, but I think there’s two main points.
1) It’s going to be necessary for not-Tory Parties to work together in some seats, especially the ones where the combined Labour and Lib-Dem vote totals are much larger than the Tory vote. Virulent Lib-Dem hostility to Labour before the last election was one of the major mistakes they made (according to their after-the-fact autopsy of why they did do badly) and cost both of them numerous seats.
2) I haven’t seen any post-vote studies of who voted for whom, so I could be farting in the wind, but there’s no guarantee that the Lib-Dem surge in Shropshire had much or anything to do with Labour voters swapping over in numbers. I’m sure some did, after all, the New Labour vote completely collapsed, but it seems to me much more likely that Tory voters are the ones who swapped to the Lib-Dems as a ‘safe’ protest vote. This seat used to have a lot of Lib-Dem voters (until 2015) so it’s not like they all died off.
Claiming the Shropshire vote was reliant on an unofficial electoral pact on the ground is convenient for all three main parties; Tories to pretend their voters just stayed home in protest, Lib-Dems to big up their credibility as a home for Labour votes in some majority centrist seats, New Labour to pretend the collapse in their vote was tactical rather than a protest against the Party’s direction, but there’s no real evidence it’s true.
Indeed, if you look back over the decades, the real successes for the Not-Tory parties come when the Labour Right can be convinced not to sabotage the Party from within and the Lib-Dems successfully cannibalise the Tory vote.
Tony Jay
@Fair Economist:
Afraid it’s the opposite here. I barely noticed the first two jabs, but this one’s absolutely wrecked me. The paracetamol is wearing off and I feel god-awful.
SectionH
@Tony Jay: I seem to be the only American ever who actually kind of liked Corbyn. Somehow I was in England when he got to be Labour leader or was soon gonna be or something, in the last decade or so. 2014, 15? and I kept reading the papers, I mean the Grauniad, mostly, sigh. I expected BS from the Times, and it was served, but in some ways rather less egregiously than I expected. Well, it was The Times… But there was some serious cog diss going on in the rest of the press too, it seemed to me, including in what I thought would be pro-Corbyn papers. Their actual stories and the headlines and the way the arkles were slanted didn’t remotely resemble the actual facts that I could glean about the man from their own stories. Corbyn may be the one thing Mr S and I have had to agree to not discuss.
My take on English politics is pretty ignorant, but yeah. I get the idea that anti-Tories should get together to kick the bums out, but Lib Dems? Seriously? Why in the AF should anyone ever trust Lib Dems ever again? Desperation, I suppose.
Tony Jay
@SectionH:
Yeah, the full-spectrum campaign of character assassination directed at Corbyn was a Clinton x 100 event. They basically invented an entirely fictional monster out of whole cloth and told people that if they voted for Labour they were neo-Nazi and the next worse thing to cannibal paedophiles, every day, over and over again, for years. Oddly enough that can drive down turnout.
Which gave us Tory Brexit, Flobalob Johnson, and all the garbage choking the UK today, but woe betide anyone who points out who was actually responsible they really don’t like that.
As for the Lib-Dems, if they can provide a home for less-radicalised Tories and take 50 seats or so away from the Tories even I’ll forgive them… partially.
steve g
Okay lets try this then:
If you get vaccinated, you will get a pony! Also you will get a brand new AR-15, with a laser sight! Also you will get a new pickup truck, with a smoke stack in the bed! Also you will get a MAGA tattoo, anywhere you want it! Except not there!
Soprano2
@dopey-o: Every bit of that is true. I just saw a story about police finding a woman in Joplin with $60,000 worth of stolen catalytic converters.
StringOnAStick
@Soprano2: Well, one thing about meth addicts is they don’t last very long among the living. Small consolation.