Apropos of nothing in particular struck once more by how many people think that what they would *like* to be true about how a virus behaves, is somehow in any way relevant to how a virus *actually* behaves. It's a virus. It doesn't give a monkey's what you or anyone else wants
— Bill Hanage (@BillHanage) January 12, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court blocked an effort by the Biden administration that would have expanded a COVID-19 vaccine-or-testing mandate to large employers nationwide, undermining a major element of the president's plan to combat the pandemic https://t.co/TrRqGmy9al pic.twitter.com/nrCbkelqJB
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
The problem with Omicron isn't virulence (it IS milder), it's scale. 1000 cases at a 5% hospitalization rate is 50 admits. 10,000 cases at a 1% hospitalization rate is 100 admits. This is why I've been masking (despite notoriously disliking it). Every bit helps right now in SA!
— John Maverick (@JohnMaverickTX) January 13, 2022
A moment of silence for all the vaccinated workers in warehouses, factories, stores & restaurants, who now must spend large amounts of time beside unvaccinated employees. That's quite a stress if they're vulnerable or live with people who are. https://t.co/fVXsR82VEh
— Amy Maxmen, PhD (@amymaxmen) January 13, 2022
Between the vaccines being administered and the immunity acquired from infection, this wave should start to subside by the end of the month.
[Yes, BosWash, there's more to the country!] https://t.co/1Vc4D3lpnL— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) January 13, 2022
======
These 4 countries have the highest cases/capita Omicron in the world now. There are plenty of hospital and ICU admissions, not at peak, but showing what happens with massive surges of a virus spread, despite 60-70% less severity pic.twitter.com/XWoEVKDtDs
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 14, 2022
Vaccination rates, by regions worldwide. Charts from @HumanVacProject pic.twitter.com/KyJWomfl5l
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 13, 2022
China is tightening its anti-pandemic measures in Beijing and across the country as scattered outbreaks continue ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics in a little over two weeks. https://t.co/hMIXiIQ3n7
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 14, 2022
… Beijing has ordered children at international schools to be tested starting next week and is barring air passengers who transited via a third point. Citizens are being told only to travel if absolutely necessary, with no guarantee they will be permitted to return if found to have visited a city or region where an outbreak occurred.
The city of Tianjin, about an hour from the capital, has ordered a third round of mass testing starting Saturday morning to be completed within 24 hours.
A port and manufacturing center with 14 million people, Tianjin is one of a half dozen cities where the government is imposing lockdowns and other restrictions as part of a policy to track down every virus case.
It’s proximity to Beijing is particularly worrying and authorities have cut off all travel links between it and the Olympic host city following the discovery of 126 cases in recent days, all apparently of the highly contagious omicron variant.
Elsewhere, more than 20 million people are under lockdown, many restricted to their homes amid concerns over supplies of food and other daily necessities. Factories have been closed, affecting supplies of computer chips and other products…
Even the city of Zhuhai in the far south has suspended flights to Beijing and bus service with the Guangdong provincial capital of Guangzhou.
Zhuhai has ordered citywide testing and barred residents from leaving without good reason and a negative COVID-19 test, despite the National Health Commission reporting no cases of local transmission in the city, which lies just across the border from the gambling mecca of Macao.
China has also banned dozens of overseas flights from Europe, Canada, the U.S., Indonesia and elsewhere after passengers tested positive for the virus upon arrival.
The financial hub of Shanghai, which has recorded relatively few cases, has also suspended some travel links…
“China correspondent, BBC”:
#China is possibly on a collision course with #Covid19. It's hard to see how "Zero Covid" is sustainable in the long run, though the Government is officially still committed to it. How long can the lockdown of massive cities be maintained? + #Omicron has barely got out here.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) January 12, 2022
Although #China reportedly has a high rate of vaccinations, even a small % of this huge population needing to go to hospital could really stretch the health system here. If #Omicron really lets rip it’s going to be a massive challenge and it looks like this could be coming.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) January 12, 2022
BTW #China has many options in between "zero #Covid" and no restrictions at all. Already the responses in this country have differed from province to province, city to city, town to town, even community to community.
— Stephen McDonell (@StephenMcDonell) January 12, 2022
Chaos at Hong Kong's near-full quarantine camp has many questioning (once again) the sustainability of the city's Covid-zero strategy, which sees close contacts sent away for as long as 21 days and forcibly hospitalizes even asymptomatic individuals. https://t.co/GCIFfTgcuS pic.twitter.com/bfAwqxeq7Q
— Iain Marlow (@iainmarlow) January 14, 2022
India reports 264,202 new coronavirus infections in past 24 hours https://t.co/3YJCjPmSK3 pic.twitter.com/cyU7g0sbvy
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
Hundreds of thousands of Indians gather for holy dip, defying COVID-19 surge https://t.co/iovD4T2B76 pic.twitter.com/xWmuVATAc6
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
Hundreds of thousands of Hindu worshippers gathered on the banks of India’s Ganges river on Friday for a holy bathe despite a 30-fold rise in coronavirus cases in the past month.
Hindus believe a bathe in the holy river on the Jan. 14 Makarsankranti festival washes away sins.
A large number of devotees were taking a dip in the sacred river where it flows through the eastern state of West Bengal, which is reporting the most number of cases in the country after Maharashtra state in the west.
In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of devotees, few wearing masks, thronged the river’s banks in the holy city of Prayagraj…
Doctors had appealed unsuccessfully to the West Bengal state high court to reverse a decision to allow the festival this year, worrying it will become a virus “super spreader” event.
Last year, a big religious gathering in northern India contributed to a record rise in coronavirus cases.
On Friday, the health ministry reported 264,202 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, taking India’s total tally to 36.58 million.
Deaths from COVID-19 rose by 315, with total now at 485,350, the ministry said.
S. Korea will slightly ease its coronavirus gathering restrictions starting next week but continue to maintain a 9 pm curfew on restaurants and entertainment venues as it braces for a possible surge in infections driven by the contagious omicron variant. https://t.co/FUU62GwPGl
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 14, 2022
Indonesia approves Merck's COVID-19 pill for emergency use https://t.co/xREGpcG2Xj pic.twitter.com/CL95h21Lxy
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
Cambodia has begun a fourth round of vaccinations against the coronavirus in response to the omicron variant, with high-risk groups being among the first to receive the additional boosters. https://t.co/fd6dwZjTr0
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 14, 2022
Australia's worst-hit state says COVID-19 hospitalisations may plateau next week https://t.co/kSAUOE136a pic.twitter.com/wncpgYjoL9
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
Russia on Friday reported 23,820 new Covid-19 infections and 739 deathshttps://t.co/crnrLJviP7
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 14, 2022
Italy, Spain and other European countries are reinstating or stiffening mask mandates as their hospitals struggle with mounting numbers of COVID-19 patients. https://t.co/yUZmvp9907
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 14, 2022
Poorer nations reject over 100 million COVID shots as many close to expiry https://t.co/YTCcer7HYh pic.twitter.com/2NcJ56ETxr
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 13, 2022
======
This is an update on the announcement last month:
Oh, wow! Go, military super-vaccine! https://t.co/gJlz1x4oYy
— Claire Berlinski. (@ClaireBerlinski) January 13, 2022
“The single best decision you can make, if you are pregnant, is to get fully vaccinated.” New study from Scotland shows Covid's risk to pregnant people is high if they are unvaccinated. @_gaffknee reports. https://t.co/nyMEkep1xG
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) January 13, 2022
??? (Great news, if it can be replicated, but that’s a big ‘if’):
Has anyone else with #longCOVID received monoclonal antibodies to SARS-CoV-2? Please share your experience. More data will help justify a clinical trial. Thank you. https://t.co/E9aP3l7zRV
— Prof. Akiko Iwasaki (@VirusesImmunity) January 12, 2022
WHO recommends Eli Lilly, GSK-Vir's drugs, widening COVID-19 treatment pool https://t.co/P4FjF12oFJ pic.twitter.com/iB2zJGpG7R
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
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'It's too much.' Nurses say public hospitals in New York City are overrun with Covid patients. Nurses issued a public cry for help, describing crowded emergency rooms, hospital floors filled to capacity & nurses running themselves ragged https://t.co/YNMq9GJSxC
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 13, 2022
For the second year in a row, the coronavirus was by far the leading cause of deaths among police officers in the U.S. https://t.co/DnkovbekTY via @nytimes
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) January 13, 2022
It’s a classic case of moral hazard. People refusing an affordable treatment because they believe they can rest assured that a far more expensive treatment will be readily available if they need it.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 14, 2022
NFL officials said Super Bowl LVI will be played before a full house and shot down rumors the game might be moved elsewhere in light of the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant https://t.co/manKpmAURi pic.twitter.com/16vYVqs1Xa
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 14, 2022
Sen. RonJon is no longer the dumbest legislator in Wisconsin:
WI GOP State Rep. Treig Pronschinske, in support of a law banning business from requiring vaccines, says that there is no way to prevent covid since you “can’t physically see the virus.”pic.twitter.com/SLe2W3fhj2
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) January 13, 2022
On The Road – way2blue – SÜDTIROL – Hiking Jochtal in October
Baud
Can’t believe the Winter Olympics are only two weeks away. It’ll be a nice distraction.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
Monroe County website:
There were 2448 new cases of COVID-19 on 1/13.
They didn’t break down how many were PCR tests and how many were home test kits, but it usually runs about 55% lab, 45% home.
My nephew told my sister that he’s feeling better. I’ve got my fingers crossed that he actually is recovering and didn’t just tell her that to stop her fussing at him.
OzarkHillbilly
The Constitution is a suicide pact, doncha know.
danielx
I have no doubt the good senator is up to this challenge, give him a day or two.
lowtechcyclist
He got this information from the Lincoln – Frederick Douglass debates.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
Citibank already instituted a policy where the refuseniks will be put on leave without pay and then, if still unvaccinated, terminated at the end of January. I wonder if they’ll pull that back now?
lowtechcyclist
They really are out to destroy America. No nation of any size, including this one, can function without the ability of the national legislature to delegate substantial decision-making authority to the Executive branch. It just doesn’t work.
By the time they’re done, it’ll be like the Articles of Confederation were still in effect.
p.a.
One small plus from all this horror is the possibility it further discredits white fundy religion in the US. The whole “we’re oppressed unless we can institute oppression” combined with “science is a lie” is doing the job, but not fast enough.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Citibank is free to require any qualifications for employment they desire. Do they like having all their employees on the job as much as possible?
Every contractor I ever worked for did, but who knows? Maybe they’d prefer to find out if they can run their business with only 60% of their people.
Cermet
Once more the supremely corrupt Inferior court of the land has used politics to decide the law (like Gore vs. bushwack); the interesting aspect of this utterly wrong and total bull-shit ruling is that they hid behind a wall of identical protections to shield themselves from covid but demand the average working person be exposed for ‘freedum’ and to hurt President Biden’s election chances – tens of thousands will die needlessly for these ghouls.
Van Buren
You can’t “physically see” sperm, so I guess pregnancy is also unpreventable.
Important to know, be careful out there.
John S.
@OzarkHillbilly:
The current SCOTUS doesn’t care about the Constitution, jurisprudence or anything resembling legal precedent. They are a 100% political arm of the GOP, and everyone knows it.
OzarkHillbilly
@John S.: Or to put it another way, the Constitution is a suicide pact.
New Deal democrat
Over the last 5 days, cases in the Northeast have declined by about 8%, and in the Midwest have risen only 3%. In the South cases have risen only 2% in the last 4 days. Only the West shows a continuing increase of 50% in the last week, with no increase yesterday. Nationwide cases declined slightly yesterday, and are only up 4% in the last 4 days. It is safe to say we are at or near the Omicron peak. If so, this would be in line with the experience of South Africa and the U.K.
Hospitalizations are up a little over 20% in the last 7 days, compared with an increase of cases in the 7 day period starting 10 days before of 90%. Since hospitalizations lag cases by about 10 days, this is good news on severity.
In the past 7 days, there has also been an increase of 15% in ICU admissions. Since there last been little if no lag between these two metrics, it does look like Omicron is resulting in considerably fewer severe cases. Note that virtually all hospital admissions since January 1 should be Omicron.
Finally, deaths are still only at 1600.
If we take now as the peak, hospitalizations may rise to about 200,000 in the next 10 days, which will severely strain the system. But ICU admissions, currently slightly below the Delta peak, may not exceed them by much. If we follow South Africa’s pattern, deaths may peak by mid-February at about 2500 a day.
Since 4% of the entire US population has had a *confirmed* case in the past 4 weeks, to almost 20% of the population, a similar increase on the downslope from Omicron’s peak would take us to about 25%. If we (conservatively) figure only half of all cases are confirmed, that would mean half of the entire US population will have had COVID. If we figure 50% of the 37% unvaccinated population has contracted COVID (a conservative guess), that gives us nearly 85% of the population vaccinated or exposed. So the silver lining to this very dark cloud is that, by spring, COVID may have few immunologically “naive” people left to infect.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I think many companies were waiting for yesterday’s ruling to see if they could hide behind that mandate (“The government made me do it.”). I think other companies will follow Citi’s lead, but who knows with people anymore? ??♀️
Baud
@debbie:
Omicron cares not about the Supreme Court 6.
debbie
@Baud:
Frankly, they don’t even care about the damn law.
Van Buren
@New Deal democrat: Traffic on Long Island has picked up noticeably in the last 3 days. For a week and a half, you could actually rush at rush hour.
Ramalama
Quebec has had a surge in first round vaccinations in the past couple o days since our Premiere announced that unvaccinated Quebecers were going to get significantly taxed if they didn’t get at least one jab. Something like 12000 people stepped up.
dc
@debbie: I think businesses can institute this policy. Duke University and Medical center did last year and other hospitals and organizations did as well. But according to the Supreme Cons, the federal government can’t impose it on businesses.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@debbie:
@OzarkHillbilly: A lot of big employers have already put into effect plans for vax or test(the Home of the Orange Apron has), so this may be closing the barn door after the horses have run free. Having to deal with half of your staff being out is pretty hard on any business.
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/13 China reported 143 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Shaanxi Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed cases. 171 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 1,222 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Yuncheng in Shanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case, a person arrived from Xi’an in Shaanxi.
Guangdong Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 27 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region there currently are 17 active domestic confirmed (all at Dongxing in Fangchenggang) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 34 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, 19 mild & 15 moderate) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 142 active domestic confirmed & 21 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city, concentrated at Jinnan District. 3 residential compounds are currently at High Risk. 5 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
Dalian in Liaoning Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 Omicron cases in the city, both university students that returned from Tianjin.
Shanghai Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts of the imported asymptomatic case reported on 1/11, & all have been under centralized quarantine since that date. 3 are employees at a milk tea shop that the imported asymptomatic case visited. This is the 2nd time in Jan. that an imported asymptomatic case testing positive after the 14 days of centralized quarantine upon entry, & seeding a small cluster of domestic cases. Unlike most places in China, Shanghai only requires an additional 7 days of “at home health monitoring”, meaning daily reporting of temperatures, 2 additional RT-PCR tests, & request to avoid gatherings (which is loosely enforced) but not home quarantine. Given both imported asymptomatic cases returned from the US, it is highly likely that the clusters are Omicron Variant. The cases could have also been infected during centralized quarantine, which is known to happen w/ Delta & even easier w/ Omicron. Phylogenetic analysis would show one way or the other, but the authorities have not shared the data. Shanghai may have to tighten the quarantine requirements. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 19 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 shop has been elevated to Medium Risk.
At Jiangsu Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Nanjing) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all at Wuxi) in the province.
At Zhejiang Province 41 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 135 active domestic confirmed cases (spread across Shaoxing, Ningbo, Hangzhou & Jinhua) in the province. A factory & a village at Jinhua remain at Medium Risk. A factory & a village at Beilun District in Ningbo remain at Medium Risk.
At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining, a quarantine hotel worker.
Henan Province reported 98 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 677 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed (6 at Dehong Prefecture & 5 at Kunming) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic (2 each at Dehong & Sipsongpanna Prefectures) cases in the province.
Imported Cases
On 1/13, China reported 58 new imported confirmed cases (8 previously asymptomatic), 38 imported asymptomatic cases, 9 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 230 confirmed cases recovered (25 imported), 11 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 9 were reclassified as confirmed cases (8 imported), & 2,136 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,431 active confirmed cases in the country (1,198 imported), 11 in serious condition (2 imported), 748 active asymptomatic cases (693 imported), 13 suspect cases (all imported). 48,806 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 1/13, 2,923.698M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 5.449M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 1/14, Hong Kong reported 9 new positive cases, 6 imported & 3 domestic (all traced close contacts).
On 1/14, Taiwan reported 68 new positive cases, 57 imported (17 from the US, 5 from Canada, 4 from the Philippines, 3 each from Australia, Poland & Vietnam, & 1 each Brazil, Denmark, France, Portugal, Sweden, Indonesia & Turkey, 15 yet to be published) & 11 domestic.
debbie
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I work at one such place. I’ve got a team member freaking out about she’ll be forced to do. Pity. //
Another Scott
Re the SCOTUS, Fight for 15!
It won’t happen quickly, but it needs to happen.
Relatedly, Wonkette is looking to leave Montana.
Cheers,
Scott.
Guac
Here in Beaufort County SC, our 7-day average of daily new cases is 214 per 100K, and NYT says that our daily cases are up 623% over 14 days. Test positivity 31%.
Our HOA group decided that this week is a swell time to start up the big monthly indoor potluck party!
NotMax
Small potatoes within the panoply of COVID fallout, but noted as another consequence of the pandemic.
50 years ago today.
lowtechcyclist
Giving up on the dream of being a dental floss tycoon, then.
I don’t blame her. Western Montana is incredibly beautiful, but when you’re surrounded by plague rats, there’s a lot to be said for moving somewhere that hasn’t completely lost its grip on sanity.
YY_Sima Qian
As of 2 PM on 1/14, Tianjin Municipality reported another 14 domestic positive cases (11 from centralized quarantine & 3 from areas under lock down), for a total of 177 positive cases (all presumed Omicron).
Today, Zhuhai in Guangdong Province reported 7 new domestic positive cases. The city commenced mass screening of all residents this morning, as soon as the domestic confirmed case at the adjacent Zhongshan was reported yesterday, in a township bordering Zhuhai. Preliminary conclusion from genomic sequencing analysis is that the outbreaks is of Omicron Variant. Shenzhen reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (presumed Delta), a traced close contact.
Today, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a nurse at a hospital (non-COVID), found via regular screening of medical personnel.
As I expected, China will experience a winter of unease, which would have been true even w/o Omicron. Omicron & the Winter Olympic Games will make things that much more challenging.
Soprano2
I don’t understand why dying from Covid is considered a line of duty death, while a police officer dying by suicide because of service-connected stressors isn’t. Couldn’t you consider unvaccinated people who die of Covid people who killed themselves? Most of those deaths this year didn’t have to happen, police were among the first to be eligible to be vaccinated.
Oh, and my Covid test was negative, hooray! Vaccines work!
Scout211
Schools are now overwhelmed with cases and quarantines. Whole districts are closing schools for what amounts to a district-wide quarantine period. (Latest in NorCal, the Lake Tahoe school district). My daughter’s school district in Washington state has implemented a policy of closing individual classes if the number of students absent for the virus or quarantine is too many. Everyone wants to keep the schools open but this kind of virus spread was never planned for and all the school districts are scrambling to figure out how to manage this.
My daughter will be out of her classroom for five days and so will her kids from their classrooms because her 4 year old tested positive this week for the virus. (4 year olds can’t get vaccinated yet). Her middle child’s entire class will be closed for 5 days. It’s next to impossible to find open appointments for testing in her area (and across the country). At least they are eligible for testing because of close exposure and mild symptoms. Most people with zero symptoms don’t qualify to get tested right now but may actually be COVID positive and potentially spread the virus. But the demand is too high so they don’t qualify at most testing sites.
I know remote learning is not the answer, but maybe school districts should just close down for a week or two and then extend the school year like they would for ice and snow. Just a thought.
lowtechcyclist
My HOA isn’t quite that dumb and crazy, but when we have our board meetings, and I’m the only one wearing a mask, it drives home just what sort of territory I’m living in, even though I’m a mere half-hour from the DC Beltway.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Especially since the Supreme Court has now said that covid has nothing to do with occupational health.
Peale
@Van Buren: hah. I have a similar method of gauging the state of the virus based on listening to the Thruway traffic noise. Yesterday I noticed that it was back up near normal morning levels, so I assumed that meant fewer people were calling out sick.
Guac
@lowtechcyclist: yeah, I don’t understand it. The potluck has been cancelled in the 3 previous surges, and held outdoors when cases declined… Most of my neighbors have bought into the “It’s mild!” line, I think. I just hope attendance was low.
lowtechcyclist
I’m at the point where I think the government should go door-to-door offering the vaccine. And the deal for persons 18+ would be: you can get the shot, or you can show your proof of up-to-date vaccination, or you agree to be fully liable for all costs in being treated for Covid-19.
Only exceptions would be those with legitimate medical reasons for not getting the shot. Religious objections? Sorry, but if your faith is supposed to protect you from Covid-19, then rely on it to heal you if you come down with it. Either that, or just be OK with dying. “To live is Christ, and to die is gain,” as Paul said in Philippians. God said it, you believe it, that settles it.
WaterGirl
No response yet from Amir after sending him email on Tuesday morning. Be well, Amir.
Dave
@?BillinGlendaleCA: is there a master list of businesses not requiring full vaccination for Covid. I see a an opportunity for some serious boycott activity.
prostratedragon
I think I felt the room sway when I read that WI politician’s remark.
smith
@Dave: It’s really hard to get up enough steam for a boycott to actually significantly ding a business, but I do think we will see a lot of people voting with their feet when it comes to employment and place of residence. The labor shortage may give responsible people the latitude to choose to work where their covid exposure is reduced and plague rats will certainly gravitate to companies that don’t require the vax. And I would expect a fair number of people moving out of red areas as various governmental functions and health care systems are increasingly eroded. Some weeks ago, I saw an article (unfortunately, can’t find it now) that said MS had lost a significant proportion of its nurses in the past two years — really, why would they stay?
Scout211
An update on that national testing company that has been accused of fraud and is being called a scam. Source.
Their testing program is “paused” while several states now are investigating the numerous complaints from consumers who never got their results or were given false negatives.
Soprano2
This is what they should have done. Here they built 10 days into the calendar for snow; they should have used them to close schools for two more weeks, IMHO at least.
Ohio Mom
@Dave: The problem with this idea is the crazies would be able to figure out which places do have mandates, and they don’t stop at quiet boycotts when showing their displeasure.
Soprano2
@Baud: Yes, especially because of that!!! How can it count as “line of duty” when you could have not died by getting a free vaccine?
Ramalama
@Another Scott:
@lowtechcyclist: I didn’t know Wonkette had changed hands. I guess it’s been a while. Thanks for the link.
Bill Arnold
@John S.:
AKA “The Republican Supreme Court”. The court is so lopsided that it would need to have 4 Republican members removed for there to be a Democratic majority.
Bill Arnold
Am I reading the ruling and the proposed OSHA rules correctly? The Republican SCOTUS majority appears to me to misread the rules or are willfully mischaracterizing them, and parts of their logic are invalid, since the rules do not mandate vaccination. A policy of masks (face coverings) + testing, with an exception for people who are verified to be vaccinated, would be logically exactly equivalent. And (good) masks would protect against any respiratory infection in the workplace, both for the wearer and for source control, including partial (like omicron) or complete immune escapes. And masks can be taken off when one leaves the building at the end of the workday.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.501
Bill Arnold
@Cermet:
You are entirely too polite here. The Republican Supreme Court is solidly on Team Mass Murder for the political gain of the Republican Party.
They are not just partisan hacks. They are Partisan Hacks who have just committed Stochastic Mass Murder. (Again; there was a freedom for church members to infect people with a deadly virus ruling too). This needs to be said to their faces, and to the faces of any of their defenders.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon:
You rolled your eyes that hard?
laura
Sending out good wishes to Amir Khalid. Please get well soon and return when you can. You are missed.
Dan B
@Cermet: The 6 SC ‘conservatives’ seem to be walking a fine line between radical change to the law and promoting impediments to governance. Or their goal is chaos in the hope that they can reshape this country as a rigidly moral paradise for elites. Chaos is the “Leopard that won’t eat your face, unfortunately. They seem to believe that 40%+ of the population who are non-white, non-native born, not-straight, and not financially secure, and not male (let me increase the percentage to 70%++) will acquiesce to this harsh new state.
Their bubble includes elites and the wealthy. They hear little beyond the prevailing views of this out of touch cohort.
Sloane Ranger
Sorry about being late posting yesterday’s numbers from the UK. I overslept and then a member, who I believe has early stage Alzheimer’s phoned and I was on with her for a long time.
In fact I’m so late I can post today’s figures,where 99,652 new cases. This is a decrease of 29.5% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 87,857 (down 9913)
Northern Ireland – 2954 (down 26)
Scotland – 5977 (up 791)
Wales – 2864 (down 333).
Deaths – There were 270 deaths within 28 days of a positive test today. This is an increase of 66.9% in the rolling 7-day average. 221 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 41 in Scotland and 4 in Wales.
Testing – 1,413,468 tests took place yesterday. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 9.1%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs yesterday was 938,335.
Hospitalisations – There were 19,539 people in hospital and 777 people on ventilators yesterday. As of 10 January, the 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 1.4%.
Vaccinataions -As of yesterday, 52,051,876 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 47,836,785 had had 2 and 36,191,724 had had a 3ed shot/booster. This means that 90.5% of all UK residents aged 12+ have had 1 shot, 83.2% had had 2 and 62.9% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
Other news – Evidence of two new Downing Street parties has surfaced. These seem to have been staff parties and there’s no evidence that our PM attended but still, all rather embarrassing, especially as they both happened the night before Prince Philip’s funeral. Ouch! Downing Street has formally apologised to the Queen.