Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

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

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

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, Jan. 19-20

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Wednesday / Thursday, Jan. 19-20

by | 63 Comments

This post is in: ,


======

BRUSSELS, Jan 20 (Reuters) – A U.N.-backed agency has struck a deal for nearly 30 generic drugmakers to make low-cost versions of Merck & Co’s (MRK.N) COVID-19 pill molnupiravir for poorer nations, widening access to a drug seen as a weapon in fighting the pandemic.

The antiviral drug, which in December received emergency approval in the United States, reduces hospitalizations and deaths of high-risk patients by around 30%, according to clinical trial results.

The agreement, negotiated by the U.N.-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) with Merck, allows 27 generic drugmakers from India, China and other countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East to produce ingredients and the finished drug.

The MPP said on Thursday the deal stipulated the pill would be distributed to 105 less-developed nations…

======

James Palmer is not a scientist, but he is a survivor, and I think he has a good perspective on Long Covid:

I had a severe but not quite hospitalizable case of covid in March 2020; I had periods of exhaustion that lingered for far longer than the three weeks I was seriously sick, but that had largely vanished by the next year.

but it was also *extremely* difficult to tell some of that apart from the stress and exhaustion of 2020!

‘self-reported symptoms in fall 2020’ are not going to be a good indicator for ‘permanently disabled by covid.’

this is also going to take a lot of skill and sensitivity from doctors, because diagnostic criteria are going to be *really* difficult, and medical history shows how easy it is to dismiss people – especially certain groups of people – as hysteric.

the thing for docs to remember I think is that even ‘long covid’ symptoms that probably *aren’t* covid related reflect real problems for the patient!

======

GOVERNOR DEATHSANTIS WILL NOT BE IGNORED!

Not that I disagree with the judge here, but isn’t this just gonna be one for excuse for the anti-vaxxers to stay stubborn?

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 604 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 1/19.
    There were 714 new positive COVID home tests reported on 1/19.

    69.8% fully vaccinated. We’ve been stuck here for awhile.

    Hospitalizations as of 1/17:
    180 cases hospitalized, 65.5% are unvaxed.
    32 cases are in the ICU, 81% are unvaxed.
    24 of those 32 case in the ICU are also intubated, 79% are unvaxed.

  3. 3.

    NotMax

    Locally,

    The state Department of Health is reporting a COVID-19 count of 3,929 new cases today. This comes following a record high of 6,252 new cases reported on Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

    Todayʻs count includes 397 cases on Maui, 240 on Hawaiʻi Island, 198 on Kauaʻi, 20 on Molokaʻi, 17 on Lānaʻi, and 31 out of state, as the omicron surge spreads across the state. There are 3,026 new COVID-19 cases on Oʻahu.

    The latest data represents a total of 56,558 “active” cases statewide over two weeks, far surpassing the delta peak of 11,500. Maui County’s seven day average of cases is now 347.1 cases per 100,000, surpassing the delta peak of 57.6 per 100,000 reported on Aug. 25.
    [snip]
    In Maui County, the seven day average for new cases daily is 581. The countyʻs test positivity rate was last listed at 23.9% on Saturday, Jan. 15, before a bottleneck in testing temporarily suspended reporting of this metric. For every 100,000 residents in Maui County, there have been an average of 347.1 newly reported cases per day over a seven day period.
    [snip]
    There are now 40 people hospitalized in Maui County with COVID-19 (as of 9 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2022), near the 41 reported during the height of the delta surge in August 2021. Eighteen of the current Maui COVID-19 hospitalizations are in vaccinated, and 22 are in unvaccinated individuals. There are now five Maui COVID-positive patients in the ICU (2 vaccinated/3 unvaccinated) and one vaccinated COVID-19 patient on a ventilator. Source

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    NBC will not be sending its announcers and most hosts to the Beijing Olympics due to continued concerns about rising COVID-19 cases worldwide and China’s strict policy about those who test positive.

    It will be the second straight Games for which the broadcast teams will work mostly out of NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, rather than the host city. Source

    Quaff at your own risk?

    Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.

    In a memo sent Tuesday to employees, the Seattle coffee giant said it was responding to last week’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 6-3 vote, the court rejected the Biden administration’s plan to require vaccines or regular COVID testing at companies with more than 100 workers. Source

  6. 6.

    Baud

    From that prisoner story, that prison doctor needs to get his license revoked and go to jail.

    Karas also touted ivermectin to treat COVID-19 through his health care facilities, the lawsuit says.

    “Guess we made the news again this week,” Karas Health Care said in a Facebook post on January 15. “Still with the best record in the world at the jail with the same protocols. Inmates aren’t dumb and I suspect in the future other inmates around the country will be suing their facilities requesting the same treatment we’re using at WCDC – including the Ivermectin.”

    A week earlier, Karas said “there’s a lot of COVID out there” and recommended that adults load up on Vitamin D, Vitamin C, zinc and “a little salt water gargle twice a day” for the next month.

    Karas has said that he started prescribing ivermectin to patients more regularly, and took it himself, after reading information from Frontline Covid Critical Care Alliance — a controversial group that originated at the beginning of the pandemic and has become known as a source of COVID-19 disinformation

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “Much better days may be ahead. But as the world has learned over the past two years, only fools with short memories make promises in a pandemic.”

    I’d like to see Bill Hanage⁩ or Jeremy Faust run for office in the 2022 because, “Yeah, as long as Republicans are playing to the bottom of the barrel populist politics telling people to not get vaxed and not wear masks because “FREEDUMB!”, we’ll probably never get this fully in hand. We’ll probably be wearing masks in public for the rest of our lives and getting 3 vaccine shots a year just to keep up with the variants.” is such a winning message.

    There is science guys, and then there is politics. Sometimes their paths diverge, but hopefully end up at the same destination..

  10. 10.

    Cermet

    @germy: Certainly hope this is true in general but is based on incomplete data – and it is incomplete since these are reported results (not carefully screen with controls) and that means many people are missed in all groups. That all said, this is still good news overall but don’t take it to the bank.

  11. 11.

    lowtechcyclist

    A Florida public health official has been “put on leave” for recommending that his staff get vaccinated. Less than half the staff was fully inoculated. Dr. Raul Pino— Florida’s top public health official in Orlando—sent the email Jan. 4 as #Omicron surged

    Dear Covid: We surrender.

    – Florida

  12. 12.

    Cermet

    @OzarkHillbilly: What worries me is the infamous 1918 flu had a fairly common level infection/death rate its first major year (before 1918). Then mutated and became the super deadly flu afterwards. So certainly I hope it stays less deadly but with virus mutations one can’t bet on it. Best to get the world vaccinated, wear masks and get this thing to burn out entirely (yes, utterly wishful thinking.)

  14. 14.

    Matt McIrvin

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hey, wearing masks in public and getting 3 vaccine shots a year is a world I can live with. I’m more concerned that when the assholes get total political power back, I won’t be ABLE to wear masks or get vaccines.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Cermet: Then mutated and became the super deadly flu afterwards.

    Pointing at Omicron and saying, “See? Covid is becoming less virulent.” is a bit like counting your chickens before they hatch. The mutation arrow doesn’t always point in the lesser direction.

  16. 16.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 1/19 China reported 43 new domestic confirmed (7 previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 142 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 596 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Xi’an did not report any new domestic positive cases. 140 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 595 active confirmed cases in the city. 1 sub-district remains at High Risk. 4 sub-districts have been re-designated to Low Risk. 5 sub-districts remain at Medium Risk.
    • In the rest of the province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the rest of the province (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 2 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 55 active domestic confirmed & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Shenzhen did not report new domestic positive cases. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed (1 Omicron) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all but 1 in the same transmission chain. 1 residential compound & 3 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Zhuhai reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Nanping Township, all traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city, all part of the same transmission chain. 3 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk. 
    • At Zhongshan there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases (both Omicron) in the city, part of the same transmission chain as the cases in Zhuhai. 1 residential building is currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Meizhou there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case (Omicron) in the city, a traced close contact of domestic positive cases at Zhuhai.
    • Guangzhou did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, both custodians responsible for cleaning international flights at the airport, both have been living inside of the “closed loop” during their rotation.
    • At Dongguan there currently are 10 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, a secondary outbreak seeded by travels returning from Xi’an in Shaanxi.

    At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed (10 at Dongxing in Fangchenggang & 1 at Ningming County in Chongzuo) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province.

    Tianjin Municipality reported 14 new domestic confirmed cases (6 previously asymptomatic, 12 mild & 2 moderate, all at Jinnan District), all from persons already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 340 active domestic confirmed & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city (320 at Jinnan District, 12 at Qingxi District, 6 at Hexi District & 1 each at Hongqiao & Dongli Districts). 12 residential compounds are currently at High Risk. 23 residential compounds & 3 villages are currently at Medium Risk.

    Beijing Municipality reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic, all mild), the 2 new domestic positive cases are cold chain logistics workers, part of the cluster of 5 positive reported yesterday (all found via weekly screening, the other 3 cases are still yet to be diagnosed as confirmed or asymptomatic). There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed cases (half Omicron & half Delta in 3 separate clusters, likely via 3 different introductions) in the city.

    At Dalian in Liaoning Province there currently are 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all Omicron) in the city, part of the transmission chain from Tianjin.

    At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 20 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 shop is currently at Medium Risk.

    At Jiangsu Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Nanjing) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Wuxi) in the province.

    At Zhejiang Province 12 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 85 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. A factory & a village at Jinhua remain at Medium Risk.

    At Xiamen in Fujian Province the domestic confirmed case recovered.

    Henan Province reported 24 new domestic confirmed cases. 13 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 969 active domestic confirmed cases in the province. As the province does not break down the recovered cases by location, I can no longer track the counts of actives cases at different cities in the province.

    • Zhengzhou reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, from persons already under centralized quarantine. 3 residential compounds have been re-designated to Low Risk. 9 residential compounds & 3 residential buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Xuchang reported 4 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Yuzhou, all from persons under centralized quarantine. 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 19 new domestic confirmed cases (all at Tangyin County), 18 from persons under centralized quarantine & 1 from home quarantine. 1 township & 1 school at Tangyin County are currently at High Risk. All of Tangyin County (except High Risk areas) is currently at Medium Risk, as are 1 district, 1 village, 1 residential compound & 1 residential building elsewhere in the city.

    At Yunnan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed (2 at Dehong Prefecture & 5 at Kunming) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic (1 at Dehong Prefecture & 2 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) cases in the province.

    Imported Cases

    On 1/19, China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 26 imported asymptomatic cases, 3 imported suspect cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 14 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from the US, 2 each from France & Russia, & 1 each from Germany & Jamaica (via Frankfurt), 2 French nationals coming from France, a US national coming from the US, a Japanese national coming from Japan, & a Taiwanese resident coming from Taiwanese; 3 suspect cases, no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 3 confirmed cases (all previously asymptomatic); 2 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Iraq
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from the France & Vietnam; 4 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Vietnam, France & the US, & a foreign national coming from Japan
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from France, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Singaporean national returning from Singapore
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases, both Chinese national returning from Myanmar; 10 asymptomatic cases, 7 Chinese nationals returning from Laos & 3 from Myanmar; all via land border crossings
    • Beijing Municipality – 1 confirmed cases, a Chinese national returning from Germany; 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Dalian in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Jinan in Shandong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the UAE
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Nigeria
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from India
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 223 confirmed cases recovered (54 imported), 30 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 10 were reclassified as confirmed cases (7 imported), & 3,623 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,297 active confirmed cases in the country (1,244 imported), 16 in serious condition (all domestic), 755 active asymptomatic cases (710 imported), 10 suspect cases (all imported). 57,442 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 1/19, 2,951.846M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 4.71M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 1/20, Hong Kong reported 14 new positive cases (12 are suspected to be Omicron), 4 imported & 10 domestic (w/ further expansion of the pet store cluster). Another 20 cases are preliminarily positive.

    On 1/20, Taiwan reported 37 new positive cases, 24 imported (10 from the US, 3 from Vietnam, 2 each from Australia & France, & 1 each from Paraguay & Saudi Arabia, 5 yet to be published) & 13 domestic (1 w/o source of infection identified, yet).

  17. 17.

    germy

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My only memory of starbucks (other than the taste of the burnt shit they called coffee) was the “barista” palming the entire top of my coffee cup before putting the lid on.

    This was about a decade before covid, but I decided after that I’d rather just make my own coffee.

  18. 18.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Cermet: COVID will never burn out entirely because it has many animal reservoirs. We can’t eradicated it by just wiping it out in people. As long as some people are susceptible, there will continue to be outbreaks from cross-species transmission, and some of them might be nasty mutant versions.

    But humans won’t be immunologically naive like we were in 2020. So the overall toll may never be as large as the first waves. The new antivirals and better vaccines (there’s talk of cross-variant coronavirus vaccines, which would protect against even SARS and coronavirus colds) will help too.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    Not that I disagree with the judge here, but isn’t this just gonna be one for excuse for the anti-vaxxers to stay stubborn?

    Could be worse, considering jury duty ranks somewhere around colonoscopies on many people’s lists of “things to avoid”.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Matt McIrvin: Well, that’s one, OK *2* votes, that they would get with that message. Unfortunately 2 votes aren’t enough and most people are going to vote for the person who says,”I have a plan for ending it and we will succeed.” whether they do or not.

    **I’m the other vote. I’m sure most Jackals feel the same.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Where have Republicans prohibited voluntary mask wearing?  I don’t put anything past them, but I don’t believe they have taken that step yet.

  23. 23.

    New Deal democrat

    US cases still down from peak yesterday, and down week over week. Cases in the NYC and DC metro areas are declining fast, with cases down 50% in NY and NJ, and down 15% in DE and VA, and 50% in MD and DC. Deaths are still increasing slowly, now at 1800. I do not trust the downturn in hospitalizations, which did not lag cases at all and may reflect hospitals at capacity.

    In Canada, Ireland, and the U.K., cases are also down sharply (but are still rising in Denmark and Portugal). The first several weeks after peak in all places seems to follow the same pattern of very sharp declines, close to or equal the previous rate of increases. After 2 weeks in South Africa, the rate of decline became much more gradual. The same thing may have started in the U.K. in the last several days.

    Meanwhile, via Naked Capitalism here is a quote from a New Republic article. The Biden Administration may reformulate an OSHA mandate specifically tailored to accommodate the objections of Justices Barrett and Roberts:

    “Biden Misread the Supreme Court’s Ruling Against the OSHA Vaccine Rule” [Simon Lazarus, The New Republic]. “In last week’s case, the Roberts-Kavanaugh-Barrett opinion did not question the constitutional validity of the OSH Act’s broad grant of authority for OSHA to enact emergency regulations to combat ‘grave [workplace] danger’ and ‘new hazards.’ Moreover, the court’s opinion indicated that OSHA could constitutionally implement that authority with regulatory approaches more precisely targeted than the vaccination rule at issue.” For example, Barret cites meatpacking plants. More: “Thus the language in the opinion would seem to countenance a new OSHA vaccine-or-test-and-mask emergency rule targeted to particular workplace-specific risks. Presumably, that tack could wind up covering a significant chunk of the nation’s workers. Indeed, the day after the decision, President Obama’s OSHA Administrator David Michaels recommended just such a revamp, to “ensure it fits the Court’s suggestion that it be risk-based” but “cover all workers in higher risk jobs, not only those employed by large employers”—in that respect actually reaching more broadly than the existing standard spurned by the court…. [The Biden Administration should] take yes for an answer and take due advantage. That means: re-up the OSHA rule, embracing Roberts’s and Barrett’s call for a targeted, risk-based approach.”

    I very much hope they do this.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy: My one and only purchase from a Starbucks was at an airport and that’s because it was the only place selling coffee in that terminal of the airport. After perusing the menu for 3 minutes or so I had to ask, “Do you sell coffee?”

  25. 25.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: So far, just in some private establishments. But lots of places had laws forbidding wearing masks in public before COVID, sometimes originally passed as anti-Klan measures, and I could see those eventually coming back with a crime-prevention justification (but really red meat aimed at hassling people who wear COVID masks). It might only happen in deep-red areas, though.

  27. 27.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:  most people are going to vote for the person who says,”I have a plan for ending it and we will succeed.” whether they do or not.

    All too true.  Remember how TFG said while running for President in 2016 that he had a plan to get health insurance for everyone, and it would be better than and cost less than the ACA, and it would be easy, so easy.

    If any of his followers care that there was no such plan, I sure haven’t noticed it.

  28. 28.

    YY_Sima Qian

    WTF Starbucks?!! No federal mandate does not prevent the company from making a unilateral decision to require vaccination of all employees!

  30. 30.

    lowtechcyclist

    The thing that ticks me off about Starbucks is that they didn’t have to change their policy, just that the Bogus Scotus’ ruling meant that they could.  So they did.

    (Beaten to it by YY_Sima Qian :-)

  33. 33.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Baud:

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Yeah, but our voters would care if our president lied like that.

    Tru dat.  But it works for them.  All the way back to Nixon’s “secret plan to end the war” in Vietnam.  (I’d still like to see Henry Kissinger’s 98 year old ass hauled in front of a court to be tried for war crimes.)

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist:

    The thing that ticks me off about Starbucks is that they didn’t have to change their policy,

    Haven’t several states, like Texas and Florida, actually banned vaccination mandates by state law? Without a federal rule overriding that, they may have been legally required to change it in some states, and it’s easier for them as company policy to just lift it everywhere.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: Anyway, I was thinking more about federal manipulation of the supply of vaccines and N95s, like Trump was doing with medical masks back in 2020. Trump, or someone as shameless as Trump, could easily ensure that to get the vaccines, you need to be a state that is nice to Trump. You can see the projection in his blatant lie about Democrats denying vaccination to white people. He’s got it on his mind.

  36. 36.

    WereBear

    I find that last tweet fitting right into my most recent thinking on the MAGAts, which is that they really cannot — except in age — pass much of any adulthood test we might devise. I doubt many of the worst could pass a competency hearing.

    Shouldn’t we start treating them as what they evidently are? Extremely mentally ill?

  37. 37.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Haven’t several states, like Texas and Florida, actually banned vaccination mandates by state law? Without a federal rule overriding that, they may have been legally required to change it in some states, and it’s easier for them as company policy to just lift it everywhere.

    I can’t see it being that heavy a lift to have it as their policy except in those states where it’s explicitly forbidden.  It’s not like they don’t know which states their stores are in.

  38. 38.

    Jay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    and several States have enacted Employment Insurance protections for the unvaxxed/laid off.

    If there isn’t a Federal Mandate/OSHA requirement, then it’s State by State, grievance rules and wingnut lawsuits.

    How quickly did people forget that the SCROTUS “judges” ruled that “yeah, Hospitals, ‘cause we might get sick” and “airplanes, ‘cause Cancun is nice this time of year”, but bugger the proles who have to work for a living,……

  39. 39.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin: You can see the projection in his blatant lie about Democrats denying vaccination to white people.

    And that’s some quality projection there, seeing how the problem is more one of white people denying themselves the vaccine.

    Hell, maybe if that bullshit actually caught hold among his followers, they might start barging into CVS and Walgreens and demanding to be vaccinated.  Won’t happen, of course, but it sure would be a sweet turnaround if it did.  Own the libs by getting the shot!

  43. 43.

    WereBear

    Also, in terms of unsafe jobs that Republicans are busy underlining so no one should miss it, not doing vaccine mandates makes all your employment shortages worse, even if it’s “merely” people out sick constantly.

  46. 46.

    Jay

    @WereBear:

    My “choices” are Starbucks, where the staff is masked, there is no sit down and I like the people,

    Tim Hortons, with the unmasked and sit down, Midwest Coffee with corn syrup,

    MickyD’s, say no more.

    Coffee for me these days is work fuel. Pre-Covid it was social, and taking the time and distance to hang in a good local coffee shop, with maybe some nice sweet treats to go with it, was different.

    Now all I want is a safe experience, edible food fuel, caffeine and real sugar. I get that at both my Starbucks, plus they know me by name and I know them. Even though I am a front facing, disposable worker, I don’t get a lot of “human” contact. I do at both my “local”, ( one home, one work) Starbucks.

  47. 47.

    sdhays

    This is from over a week ago, but I don’t remember seeing it. This is the important bit to me:

    Dr. Hartman says he believes Moderna’s COVID vaccine will be approved for emergency use for kids 6 months and older sometime in April.

    I had been thinking we’d be hearing results any time now, but it sounds like it’s probably going to be a few more weeks until results are released. Still, I like that they feel confident, and the Moderna very young children dose is 25% of the adult dose, which, as I recall, was already a much larger dose of the active ingredient than Pfizer. So, hopefully that all points to success this time.

  48. 48.

    Scout211

    A Canadian restaurant was forced to close their dining room until they stopped accepting dog photos instead of proof of vaccine.

    I rate them 10.0 for creativity but 0.0 for accuracy and honesty.  :(

     

    CNN)A restaurant in Alberta was forced to briefly close its dining room after the health department found patrons were showing photos of dogs instead of proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test, as mandated by the Canadian province.
    Alberta Health Services ordered The Granary Kitchen in Red Deer to temporarily close last Friday after the department received complaints and launched an investigation January 11.
    During the investigation, the health department sent two test shoppers at different times and both were able to enter and dine in after showing a photo of a dog and personal identification, in lieu of meeting requirements, the health agency said.
    As part of the Restrictions Exemption Program, restaurants and bars are required to ask Albertans 12 and older to show proof of vaccination, a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of service or documentation of a medical exemption.

  49. 49.

    NorthLeft12

    As usual, you seem to save one of the best tweets for last. Kudos to the judge for stating out loud and publicly acting on the fact that anti-vaxxers/pro-COVID folks are essentially proclaiming their ignorance, stupidity, and incompetence to the world. How can you trust these people to serve on a jury and make such an important decision?

    I am glad that I am retired and don’t have to work or associate with any of them. Effing fed up.

    My wife and I are at my sister’s cottage on the shore of Georgian Bay for the rest of this week. It is minus twenty degrees C and a light snow is falling…..perfect for cross country skiing.

  50. 50.

    Ramalama

    @Baud: Gross. My friend who had covid early days and also runs a horse farm saw the early signs of ivermectin madness on a couple of facebook covid groups, and stocked up on the medication for her horses. Other farms near hers had a tough go of it, finding ivermectin for their horses.

  52. 52.

    The Moar You Know

    The Rebecca Robbins story is some kind of bullshit.  The Pfizer med won’t be fully released to market until this fall.  And even then Pfizer has made it very clear; there won’t be enough of it for a while to come.

  53. 53.

    The Moar You Know

    As a former Starbucks employee, the news that they’ve thrown out a rule to protect employees the moment it wasn’t legally mandatory to do so is the least shocking news ever.

  54. 54.

    M31

    @Ramalama:  I remember when farm supply stores started to require customers show a picture of themselves WITH THEIR HORSE before they’d sell ivermectin. Someone on twitter said “who the hell has a picture of themselves with their horse on their phone” and hundreds of replies followed of horse owners who OF COURSE had beloved horse pictures with them at all times LOL

  55. 55.

    Fair Economist

    Antivax may become a useful way to exclude wingnuts from juries.

    I’m going to boycott Starbucks as long as they allow plague rats to fix coffee and food there. I don’t go there often though; my preferred coffee shops are a local coffee roaster and a Coffee Bean on my bike path that I’m not going to anyway until I get an Omicron vaccine. Have to check their vax policy as well before I go back.

  56. 56.

    Kelly

    Our 9 old grandson tested positive yesterday. Probably picked it up at school in Tigard. He and siblings are double vaxed, parents are boosted household is as ready as it can be. Symptoms limited to sore throat. His parents and 2 siblings still negative. ?

  57. 57.

    Brachiator

    @NotMax:

    Starbucks is no longer requiring its U.S. workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a plan it announced earlier this month.

    I see that Starbucks is also extending the length of time that people can keep the stars for free food that accumulate with purchases. Clearly, there has been a decline in foot traffic.

    I used to stop by Starbucks all the time. It was convenient and the staff at the stores I went to were exceptionally friendly and efficient.

    Most recently I would stop by a Starbucks on the way to some essential medical appointments after the lock down eased up in Southern California. The employees were masked up and the store rigorously followed county guidelines.

    This new change in policy about vaccination is not good. Especially with Omicron still running wild.

  58. 58.

    Ramalama

    @M31: Oh wow. Yes of course.

    My friend has photos of long gone horses on the walls in her house. Her mother and aunts were also horse people who competed in whatever show riding. They weren’t western riders, and I don’t know the proper terminology, but their lives were very horsey. But photos of these old ladies with their own horses, yes, also adorn the walls at my friend’s house. Horse people are very special.

    I consider myself to be horse-adjacent

    And ivermectin avoidant.

  59. 59.

    Ruckus

    @lowtechcyclist:

    They are not surrendering. They are volunteering. Hell they are asking for Covid. Surrendering is when you have no choice or no fight left, they never fought in the first place, because they don’t get to make the rules, the disease makes the rules. They have to prove that they are better than science, than reality, than death itself. And of course they are not.

    Measured by maturity, these are the idiot children of conservative politics.

  60. 60.

    IdahoGoatGirl

    I posted this late yesterday so I thought I should post it again today.

    I know this is late in the day but I have been thinking of Amir a lot and wondering how we might be able to find someone local to him that knows something. I found this facebook page that I thought might be his, but I am not sure. Is there anyone out there that knows the language that might be able to contact someone from this friends list to find out if this is our Amir and if so, how he is doing?https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100061260014166

  61. 61.

    Feathers

    @NotMax: Update on Olympics story. Apparently, if on-site people test positive for Covid, they would have to immediately quarantine and thus be unable to work. So… the big ticket on camera people are staying in the US.

    It felt really gross to see all the fancy people traipsing around Tokyo, when you knew the locals didn’t want them there. I wonder if this will be better.

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