Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

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

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

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

The revolution will be supervised.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

Petty moves from a petty man.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, Dec. 24-25

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, Dec. 24-25

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Duh. Sometimes all you can do is spit into the wind:

… “Surround them with adults and siblings who are vaccinated, boosted if eligible,” advises Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

She also encourages taking COVID-19 home tests before gatherings…

Adults might also opt to wear a mask indoors in public to set an example for young children, the CDC says. But in virus hot spots, it says everyone should wear masks in those settings, regardless of whether they’re vaccinated…

Matthew Binnicker, an expert in viral infections at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says it might be a good idea to have everyone masked at family gatherings if unvaccinated children are present, since there’s still a chance vaccinated adults can spread the virus.

He also suggests limiting gatherings to 10 people or less…

In the U.S., children ages 5 to 11 can get kid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The company is testing an even smaller dose for babies and preschoolers.

Roche said on Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to its COVID-19 at-home rapid test that can be used by people as young as 14.

The test, which uses a anterior nasal swab sample, is “able to produce accurate, reliable and quick results in as few as 20 minutes” for SARS-CoV-2 and all variants of concern, including Omicron, the drugmaker said in a statement…

“Roche has the capacity to produce tens of millions of tests per month to help support the pandemic response,” the Swiss firm said, adding that the test will be available across the U.S. from January…

The test can also be used by for children aged 2-13 years under adult supervision, according to the company. “The launch will be in partnership with SD Biosensor Inc (137310.KS), with whom Roche has a global distribution agreement.”

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Remember the ‘Festivus Miracle’?

Ben Garrison spent the last five years (when he wasn’t getting covid) producing ‘cartoons’ of Trump as a fit, fantastic, world-conquering superman. If he’s actually turned against his god-emperor, well — rooting for injuries:

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  3. 3.

    There go two miscreants

    Adding my thanks for your daily posts, Anne Laurie! I hope you have a good Christmas.

  4. 4.

    gkoutnik

    Celebrating with about 30 of my wife’s family in one house. Two not vaccinated, a number not boosted. Only attending because her brother and wife, based in England, spent most of their carryon allotment on British quick-tests. Everyone tested neg yesterday. Reverse Marshall Plan? Only three of us are masked, though. I am skipping the all-in-one-room, present-opening shout-fest, though.

    On another note: Wouldn’t it be bizarre (and kind of oddly wonderful) if, in five years, we looked back and saw the reason that Trump was finally rejected by the base was because he started making sense?

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 3,160 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,738,401 cases. It also reports 25 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 31,290 deaths – 1.14% of the cumulative reported total, 1.16% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.90.

    253 confirmed cases are in ICU, 107 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 4,421 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,661,495 patients recovered – 97.2% of the cumulative reported total.

    Three new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,101 clusters. 223 clusters are currently active; 5,878 clusters are now inactive.

    3,004 new cases today are local infections. 156 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 140,443 doses of vaccine on 24th December: 2,207 first doses, 3,901 second doses, and 134,335 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 56,720,268 doses administered: 25,973,785 first doses, 25,578,911 second doses, and 5,363,641 booster doses. 79.5% of the population have received their first dose, 78.3% their second dose, and 16.4% their booster dose.

  6. 6.

    tom

    I know from personal experience that vaccines work. I’m 66, vaxxed and boosted, but woke up Thursday feeling like shit. The rapid COVID test came back positive. I felt a little better Friday, and quite a bit better this morning.

    I will miss Christmas with the family as I still must isolate, but I’m not in a hospital on a vent, so I’m very grateful for that.

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Ben Garrison  may have turned against TFG, but has he turned against TFGism? It seems to me that his cartoon is mocking TFG for getting on the pro-vax bandwagon.

  8. 8.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 511 new cases of COVID-19 on 12/24, which doesn’t surprise me because the parking lots have been full of cars any place I went this week for curbside pickup. You’d think it was 2019.

    Merry Christmas from my little corner of Monroe County.

  9. 9.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @tom: The kid’s boyfriend tested positive yesterday and the kid was showing signs of being infected too(big surprise), but hadn’t had her test results when she spoke to her mom.  So two less for dinner later today(so it’ll be 3 instead of 5).

  12. 12.

    Nicole

    Thank you, Anne Laurie, for all the work you put into these posts. The feeling that I have a source I can trust to give me the latest information on Covid, from dependable sources, does so much to reduce my anxiety. I’m really grateful.

  14. 14.

    New Deal democrat

    First of all, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Happy Dining Out Chinese Day to everyone else!

    DC exceeded ND’s all time record high per capita cases in a single day yesterday. Almost all States are showing exponential spread, and the US as a whole has exceeded its Delta peak. Deaths have risen to 1300/day.

    One down note about South Africa. Deaths have now risen to 5x their recent lows (vs. cases, which rose 70x at peak).

    If the US follows SA’s or the UK’s pattern, exceeding 250,000 cases a day looks like a slam dunk, and 1/2 million or even 1 million cases/day can’t be ruled out. I think we all need to brace ourselves for a really rough January, and take steps to keep ourselves extra safe.

    One tiny silver lining: by February most remaining unvaxxed MAGAts may have been infected and have developed some resistance.

  16. 16.

    Mokum

    @sab: 
    That was my first thought, too. I hope they did not just paint on the graphs with food coloring after baking and slicing. Any master pastry wizards around?

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    @Mokum: It has to be done after baking.  Potentially the baker could have cut the cake at a couple of different slopes and glued it together with thin red and blue icing, but it probably wouldn’t have worked.

    It’s painted on after slicing, it looks to me.

    Clever cake!

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  19. 19.

    lowtechcyclist

    Candace Owens is doing damage control after “so many donors and supporters” are upset over Trump’s vaccine comments. She says he is old, isn’t tech savvy, doesn’t keep up with or read obscure internet conspiracies, and only follows the main stream media so doesn’t have the facts.

    Sure, he no longer watches Fox News.  What color is the sky in that universe?

    @Amir Khalid:

    Ben Garrison may have turned against TFG, but has he turned against TFGism? It seems to me that his cartoon is mocking TFG for getting on the pro-vax bandwagon.

    This. Trumpism has roared on past Trump.  He can still be their symbol because trivial inconsistencies are as nothing to conspiracy theorists, but the movement he started will go where it will. Alas.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    Anyone know if the 40-day quarantine is still part of maritime law?

    (Enforcement is of course another matter, if the ports are greedy enough for tourism.)

  25. 25.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 12/24 China reported 87 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 69 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 223 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (218 at Manzhouli & 5 at New Barag Right Banner). 7 sub-districts are currently at High Risk. 2 townships & 2 sub-districts are currently at Medium Risk.

    At Heilongjiang Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed (all at Harbin)& 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases (4 at Qiqihar & 1 at Heihe) remaining.

    Shaanxi Province reported 78 new domestic confirmed cases (43 mild & 3 moderate). There are currently 342 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Xi’an reported 75 new domestic confirmed cases (61 mild & 14 moderate).  47 are traced close contacts already under home or centralized quarantine, 1 at fever clinic & 27 from mass screening. There currently are 330 active confirmed cases in the city. 1 university dormitory is currently at High Risk. 41 sites have been elevated to Medium Risk. 111 sites are currently Medium Risk.
    • Yan’an reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (1 mold & 1  moderate), both traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • Xianyang reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/22. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    Yuncheng in Shanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active dome asymptomatic case remaining, a person recently arrived from Xi’an in Shaanxi.

    At Shanghai Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 1 residential compound is currently at Medium Risk. 

    At Jiangsu Province the last domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Wuxi) remaining.

    Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 479 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • At Ningbo there currently are 73 active domestic confirmed cases remaining. 2 residential compounds & an office building remain at Medium Risk.
    • At Hangzhou there currently are 31 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • Shaoxing reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 375 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 4 communities & 1 supermarket are currently at High Risk. 2 sub-districts, 12 villages, 2 residential buildings & 5 corporate campuses remain at Medium Risk.

    At Tianjin Municipality there currently is 1 active confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain from Shaoxing in Zhenjiang.

    At Suzhou in Anhui Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain from Zhejiang. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.

    Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Fangcheng reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, a cluster seeded by a smuggling operation. A Medium Risk village has been elevated to High Risk. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Chongzuo there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case, infected by an imported positive case that had bypassed border control)

    Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 28 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Dongguan there currently are 25 active domestic confirmed cases, a secondary cluster spilled over from Xi’an in Shaanxi. 4 residential compounds, 1 residential building unit & 5 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Guangzhou there currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases, a family cluster seeded by an imported positive case & an airport worker.

    At Chengdu in Sichuan Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, a quarantine hotel worker.

    Xiamen in Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining, a quarantine hotel worker.

    At Dalian in Liaoning Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 8 active domestic 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.

    Henan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed (22 at Zhengzhou & 2 at Zhoukou) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Zhoukou).

    Yunnan Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 some asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 28 active domestic confirmed & 16 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Kunming reported 4 new dome confirmed cases (2 mold & 2 moderate), a family cluster. The presumed index case had been identified as an F1 close contact of a positive case elsewhere in China, & the rest of the family became F2 close contacts. The presumed index case entered centralized quarantine on 12/6, passed through the 14 days of centralized quarantine & tested negative 4 times. Upon release from quarantine on 12/20 the case returned home, testing negative again on 12/21, before testing positive on 12/23. The other 3 family members entered centralized quarantine on 12/7 & were released on 12/14.
    • Dehong Prefecture did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed & 16 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.

    Imported Cases

    On 12/24, China reported 53 new imported confirmed cases (9 previously asymptomatic), 20 imported asymptomatic cases, 6 imported suspect cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 15 confirmed cases, 4 Chinese nationals returning from the US & 3 from the UK (1 each via Frankfurt , Madrid & Zürich), & 1 each from Cameroon (via Addis Ababa), Congo-Brazzaville (via Paris CdG), the DRC (via Paris CdG), Côte d’Ivoire (via Paris CdG), Guinea (via Oaris CdG), Zambia (via Addis Ababa), & 2 Mainland Chinese residents returning from Hong Kong; 4 suspect cases, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 9 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from France & Poland no information released yet for the other 7; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from France & Hungary (via Warsaw)
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 8 confirmed cases (4 previously asymptomatic), the 4 new positive cases are 2 Chinese nationals returning from Belgium (off a flight diverted from Beijing) & 1 Chinese national each returning from South Korea & Uzbekistan (off a flight diverted from Beijing)
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 5 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from the US
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Australia; 3 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national returning from Iran & 1 foreign national each coming from Iran & Israel
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Saudi Arabia, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou 
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 5 confirmed & 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 4 confirmed cases (all previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Laos & Myanmar; 4 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Laos; all via land border crossings
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Brazil; 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Columbia; 2 suspect cases, no information released
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the US
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from South Korea
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Cambodia; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Algeria
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Beijing  Municipality – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Wuhan in Hubei Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Ethiopia

    Overall in China, 110 confirmed cases recovered (23 imported), 20 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 9 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 5,113 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,881 active confirmed cases in the country (696 imported), 9 in serious condition (3 imported), 492 active asymptomatic cases (452 imported), 10 suspect cases (all imported). 53,923 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 12/24, 2,745.877M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 13.128M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 12/25, Hong Kong reported 25 new positive cases, all imported.

  26. 26.

    Zzyzx

    This booster is kicking my ass today. I got it (and the flu shot) on Thursday, scheduled because I thought i was going to New York next week. I no longer am, but now I’m sitting here unable to eat or really walk much. Thankfully I’m Jewish so I just have to fake some interest in the holiday for Mel, but I feel like I did mid Covid.

  27. 27.

    West of the Cascades

    @lowtechcyclist: I suppose it goes without saying, but Candace Owens and Ben Garrison are two of the biggest pieces of shit on the planet, collectively responsible for probably thousands of unnecessary deaths and innumerable amounts of suffering. Fuck them both. Ho, ho, ho.

  28. 28.

    Betty

    If people choose to get on cruise ships, good luck to them. It boggles my mind that Caribbean islands are letting these people in based on a rapid test. It’s about politics mostly because so many depend on tourism, but the risks are obvious.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    Interesting new paper on surveys. Nature:

    The US Census Bureau, in partnership with various federal agencies, and the Delphi group at Carnegie Mellon University, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in partnership with Facebook, designed and performed massive surveys to forecast the spread of COVID-19 and measure its effects; questions about vaccination were added in early 2021. With more than 3 million and 25 million responses collected, respectively (as of November 2021; see go.nature.com/3dg0qvy and go.nature.com/3y2r1bk), these are now probably the largest US surveys relating to the pandemic. However, using a subset of responses, Bradley and colleagues demonstrate that the US Census Bureau–federal agencies survey (dubbed the Census Household Pulse survey) and the Delphi–Facebook survey overestimated the vaccination uptake compared with the benchmark data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Fig. 1).

    Figure 1

    Figure 1 | Big surveys can give biased estimates of population variables. Bradley et al.1 compared estimates of the uptake of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines among US adults, as reported by large surveys, with numbers of administered vaccine doses reported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 26 May 2021. Results from a survey carried out by the US Census Bureau in partnership with various federal agencies (Census Household Pulse), and another survey by the Delphi group at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in partnership with Facebook (Delphi–Facebook), overestimated vaccine uptake, but were useful in tracking the increase in vaccination over time in the first half of 2021. Bradley and colleagues explain how design choices in these surveys could account for the bias in the surveys’ absolute estimates of vaccine uptake.

    The authors conclude that having more data does not necessarily lead to better estimates. They discuss how design choices in survey-data collection can lead to error — in this case, the overestimation of vaccination uptake. Their findings are a reminder to researchers that statistical precision does not equate to unbiased population estimates.

    The authors conclude that having more data does not necessarily lead to better estimates. They discuss how design choices in survey-data collection can lead to error — in this case, the overestimation of vaccination uptake. Their findings are a reminder to researchers that statistical precision does not equate to unbiased population estimates.

    Bradley and co-workers focus on three elements that can contribute to the size of the error — that is, the difference between estimates from big surveys and actual population values. These elements are data quantity (the fraction of a population that is captured in the sample), problem difficulty (how much variation in the outcome of interest there is in the population) and data quality. The quality is very difficult to assess, because there is usually no independently verified ‘ground truth’ or ‘gold standard’ with which to compare survey data. In this case, the CDC’s reports of the numbers of vaccines administered provide benchmark data with which the estimates reported in the surveys could be compared. Under the strong assumption that these reports are indeed the gold standard and reflect the correct vaccination rates, the survey estimates can be compared with these official numbers (which the CDC frequently updates; state-level estimates updated more recently than those used by Bradley et al. can be found at go.nature.com/3dtrdit). Using this approach, Bradley et al. evaluated estimates from several surveys and found that they did not match the CDC’s reported rates of vaccination uptake.

    This isn’t terribly surprising, but it’s a good reminder. It’s very hard to do good surveys, and even huge numbers of respondents can give misleading results for policy makers.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  31. 31.

    Miss Bianca

    All I have to say about the blowback Trump is getting from (finally, belatedly) touting vaccine efficacy can be summed up thus:

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

    ETA: Thank you, Anne Laurie, for your service in these COVID threads. Happy Saturnalia to you!

  32. 32.

    smith

    @Another Scott: Long way to say a lot of people lie about being vaxxed. Not surprising, but at least it shows that “Yes I’m vaxxed” is the “socially desirable” answer, so there is that.

  33. 33.

    mrmoshpotato

    One amazing Christmas gift this year is all the MAGA heads exploding over Trump saying everyone should get vaccinated. Your tears make my hot chocolate extra delicious.— The Rude Pundit (@rudepundit) December 25, 2021

  34. 34.

    Another Scott

    @smith: It doesn’t even have to be people lying.  Whenever you’re not asking everyone and are extrapolating the answers to everyone then you have to worry about your sample being representative of the whole.

    E.g. people who respond to surveys can be different from those who don’t.  People on FB can be different from people who aren’t.  People who have land lines can be different from people who don’t.

    It’s a tough problem.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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