Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

So many bastards, so little time.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Let me file that under fuck it.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Come on, man.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

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

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Jan. 13-14

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Jan. 13-14

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This post is in: ,


======

… 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”:

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.

======

This is an update on the announcement last month:

??? (Great news, if it can be replicated, but that’s a big ‘if’):

======

Sen. RonJon is no longer the dumbest legislator in Wisconsin:

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  2. 2.

    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.

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    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

    The Constitution is a suicide pact, doncha know.

  4. 4.

    danielx

    Sen. RonJon is no longer the dumbest legislator in Wisconsin:

    I have no doubt the good senator is up to this challenge, give him a day or two.

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    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.”

    He got this information from the Lincoln – Frederick Douglass debates.

  6. 6.

    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?

  7. 7.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:  The Constitution is a suicide pact, doncha know.

    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.

  8. 8.

    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.

  9. 9.

    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.

  10. 10.

    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.

  11. 11.

    Van Buren

    You can’t “physically see” sperm, so I guess pregnancy is also unpreventable.
    Important to know, be careful out there.

  12. 12.

    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.

  14. 14.

    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.

  15. 15.

    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? ??‍♀️

  19. 19.

    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.

  20. 20.

    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.

  21. 21.

    ?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.

  22. 22.

    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.

    • Xi’an reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild), all from persons already under home or centralized quarantine 166 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 1,209 active confirmed cases in the city. 1 High Risk university campus has been re-designated to Low Risk. 1 university campus & 1 sub-district remain at High Risk. 12 sub-districts & 2 communities have been re-designated to Low Risk. 22 sub-districts & 1 community remain at Medium Risk.
    • At Yan’an 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. All areas in the city are now at Low Risk.
    • In the rest of the province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases in the rest of the province (6 at Xianyang & 1 at Weinan)

    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.

    • Shenzhen did not report any new domestic positive cases. There are 12 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all in the same transmission chain. 2 residential buildings have been elevated to Medium Risk. 1 residential compound & 3 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Zhongshan reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, found at fever clinic, which typically indicates that a cluster has already developed there.
    • At Dongguan 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, a secondary outbreak seeded by travels returning from Xi’an in Shaanxi.

    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.

    • Zhengzhou reported 4 new domestic confirmed cases. There are 129 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 residential compounds have been elevated to Medium Risk. 11 residential compounds & 2 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Xuchang reported 25 new domestic confirmed cases, 19 from persons in quarantine & 6 from areas under lock down. There are 328 active domestic confirmed cases (252 mild & 73 moderate & 4 serious) in the city, all at Yuzhou. 1 township, 1 sub-district, 4 villages, 3 residential compounds, 1 community, 1 residential building & a school are currently at High Risk. All of Yuzhou is currently at Medium Risk (except for the High Risk areas there).
    • Anyang reported 69 new domestic confirmed cases. There are 198 active domestic cases in the city (all presumed Omicron). 6 cases previously reported by Anyang has been reassigned to other locations in Henan Province to align w/ place of permanent residence. 1 township & 1 school at Tangyin County are currently at High Risk. All of Wenfeng District has been elevated to Medium Risk. All of the rest of Tangyin County is currently at Medium Risk, as are 1 district, 1 village, 1 residential compound, 1 residential building & 1 residential building unit elsewhere in the city.
    • Xinyang did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, all persons who returned from Zhengzhou in Henan.
    • In the rest of the province there currently are 19 active domestic confirmed cases (10 at Luoyang, 7 at Zhoukou & 2 at Shangqiu). 1 community & 1 village at Luoyang are currently at Medium Risk.

    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:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 30 confirmed cases, 6 Chinese nationals each returning from the US, 5 from UK (3 via Zürich & 1 each via Copenhagen & Helsinki), 3 from Mexico (all via the US), 2 from Canada & 1 each from Brazil (via Paris CdG), Côte d’Ivoire (via Paris CdG), the DRC (via Paris CdG), Tanzania (via Amsterdam Schiphol), Czechia, Denmark, France, the Ukraine (via Frankfurt), 2 British & an Indian nationals coming from France, a French national coming from France, a Taiwanese resident coming from Taiwan, & a US national coming from the US; 9 suspect cases, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 6 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 3 Chinese nationals each returning from Canada & Iraq; 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Timor Leste & 1 from Iraq
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 1 each coming from Australia & Ecuador, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Singapore
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 4 confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Tianjin Municipality – 3 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 3 Chinese nationals returning from the Philippines & 1 from the DRC (via Paris CdG)
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 3 confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 17 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Dalian in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 3 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the UK, the US & the Ukraine (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Japan
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 3 confirmed cases (all previously asymptomatic); 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each from Japan & Qatar
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 1 Chinese national each returning from Israel & Russia; the case from Israel had arrived at Shanghai on 12/22, passed through the 14 days of centralized quarantine & tested negative multiple times, upon release from quarantine on 1/5 the case flew back to Chengdu & re-entered centralized quarantine, testing positive on 1/13
    • Beijing Municipality – 1 confirmed cases, a British national coming from France
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 6 asymptomatic cases, 5 Chinese nationals returning from Laos & 1 from Myanmar, via land border crossings
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    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.

  25. 25.

    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!

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    Small potatoes within the panoply of COVID fallout, but noted as another consequence of the pandemic.

    50 years ago today.

    Denmark’s 81-year-old Queen Margrethe has so far escaped contracting COVID-19 and is fully vaccinated. But the pandemic is once again spoiling an important party for the popular monarch.

    In 2020, it killed public celebrations for her 80th birthday. Now, two days of major celebrations for her 50th anniversary on the throne of Europe’s oldest ruling monarchy, scheduled to start Friday, have been postponed until September.
    [snip]
    On Jan. 14, 1972, her father, King Frederik IX, died after a short illness. The following day, a red-eyed Margrethe, aged 31, stood on the balcony of the downtown Christiansborg Castle and was formally proclaimed queen before a crowd of thousands. Source

  28. 28.

    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.

  29. 29.

    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!

  30. 30.

    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.

  31. 31.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Guac: Our HOA group decided that this week is a swell time to start up the big monthly indoor potluck party!

    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.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Soprano2: 

     don’t understand why dying from Covid is considered a line of duty death

    Especially since the Supreme Court has now said that covid has nothing to do with occupational health.

  33. 33.

    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.

  34. 34.

    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.

  35. 35.

    lowtechcyclist

    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.

    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.

  39. 39.

    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?

  40. 40.

    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.

     

    The pause was expected to take effect Friday through Jan. 21 at all Center for COVID Control testing sites. The Illinois-based company’s website says it has more than 300 locations in the U.S. across several states. Two of those, Massachusetts and Washington, took action this week to shut down several of the company’s testing centers in their communities.
    In an internal company memo addressed to “all location owners and managers” and obtained by USA TODAY, the Center for COVID Control cited “increased scrutiny by the media into the operations of our collection sites” over the past week. The company says it processes 80,000 test requests per day.
    “This, coupled with various customer complaints, resulted in various state health departments and even Department of Justice taking a keen interest in our company,” the notice said.

  41. 41.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211: 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.

    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.

  42. 42.

    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.

  43. 43.

    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?

  45. 45.

    Bill Arnold

    @John S.:

    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.

    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.

  46. 46.

    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

    1910.501(d)(1)
    The employer must establish, implement, and enforce a written mandatory vaccination policy.
    1910.501(d)(2)
    The employer is exempted from the requirement in paragraph (d)(1) of this section only if the employer establishes, implements, and enforces a written policy allowing any employee not subject to a mandatory vaccination policy to choose either to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide proof of regular testing for COVID-19 in accordance with paragraph (g) of this section and wear a face covering in accordance with paragraph (i) of this section.
    …

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    @Cermet:

    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.

    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.

  49. 49.

    laura

    Sending out good wishes to Amir Khalid. Please get well soon and return when you can. You are missed.

  50. 50.

    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.

  51. 51.

    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.

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