Lotta people out there dedicated to calling you crazy for wanting society to take organized steps to reduce the risks of COVID for everyone. Pandemics are proof that rugged individualism isn’t enough, and that scares them.
Cheers to all of you who still care about other people.
— Josh Rosenau (@JoshRosenau) January 30, 2022
America’s split-screen pandemic: Many families resume their lives even as hospitals are overwhelmed https://t.co/pIphTUo69Y
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 28, 2022
Both sides… except when you read the whole story, one side is a bunch of overstressed hospital staff and desperate relatives, and the other is blithely inconsiderate ‘did my own research’ citizens who don’t want to be inconvenienced in the slightest way, until / unless it’s their loved one in the ICU…
HOUSTON — The El Campo Impact 13-and-under girls volleyball team was down by one point in their opening tournament of the year. It was Kamryn Thompson’s turn to serve, and it was a winner. Cheers and screams rose from the packed crowd of hundreds of maskless coaches, parents and siblings in a mid-January gathering that felt as if the coronavirus had never hit.
About 15 miles away, Gabriela Hernandez was trapped behind a glass partition in a pediatric intensive care unit jammed with severely ill children battling covid-19. Her daughter, Kimberly, who is immunocompromised, had tested positive for the virus, and now her body was going haywire. Hernandez and the hospital’s medical teams were frustrated about the choices that have helped propel the virus’ spread and put vulnerable people like Kimberly at risk…
“I know people who have died because of this and people don’t believe it,” Hernandez said. “You have to believe it. You have to know that this is happening.”
The point at which a pandemic ends is not a discrete event marked by a celebration in the streets, like at the conclusion of a war. It’s more of a gradual process in which humans who have developed some immunity learn to live alongside a virus that has become less lethal. Some argue that time has come, citing evidence that the omicron variant is causing less severe disease than the delta variant in many people. Other people point to overwhelmed hospitals and a climbing death toll to implore people to continue taking precautions to get through this surge and then reassess.
Those dueling perspectives are playing out as the United States set a record for new coronavirus infections this month, surpassing 800,000 a day for the first time, according to The Post’s seven-day tracking average. The number has fallen to just below 550,000 as of Friday. Hospitalizations have plateaued, but deaths are rising — surpassing more than 2,300 a day on average. The last time the numbers were so high was in February 2021 when the country was emerging from the worst of last winter’s wave…
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Friday found that big majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans said they feel “tired” and “frustrated” about the state of the pandemic. People were more worried about omicron’s impact on the economy and local hospitals than its impact on their personal lives, the poll found.
Fear is giving away to inevitability, among those who feel protected from the virus’ worst effects because they are vaccinated as well as those who believe covid’s risks are exaggerated. Empathy toward the vulnerable is giving way to worries about jobs and the strain on family and friends…
Nicole Leathers, an intensive care nurse, said that during the pandemic’s early days, they had a lot of staff and few pediatric patients. Now they are inundated with sick children and are short-staffed as a result of burnout and colleagues leaving the industry or out sick with covid. She said it has been jolting to see so many young children, especially those younger than 5 who are not yet eligible for vaccines, coming in to the hospital lately…
Chris Crouch, 38, has been on both sides of the pandemic’s split reality. Until his pregnant wife found herself in intensive care battling covid, he had been adamantly anti-vaccine and only wore a mask when required. Now, after nearly losing her, he is angry about people who not only refuse to wear masks themselves but also mock others for doing so.
“We don’t know their reason on why they’re socially distancing or why they’re wearing a mask. So don’t judge them,” he said. “Just accept it and just respect it, because you don’t know what they’ve gone through or what their family members are going through.”…
#Omicron will likely recede more slowly in the U.S. than in other countries, according to at least one expert, who underscores that the continued high coronavirus positivity rate is also concerning https://t.co/1qmiIBNYCX
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 30, 2022
For the data enthusiasts:
2019-2020 data: https://t.co/4bX9ouuxTF
2020-2021 estimate: https://t.co/JDRVdEGkCp
2021-2022 estimate (to date): https://t.co/2wtGOh1dh0
CDC Covid Data (~30k deaths) https://t.co/M0pYPySXq6— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) January 31, 2022
T-Mobile to terminate corporate employees who aren't vaccinated by April -memo https://t.co/b55x8JKyFV pic.twitter.com/PUKJx0JyMi
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 30, 2022
======
Beijing reports its highest number of Covid cases in 18 months, five days ahead of the start of the Winter Olympics
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 30, 2022
China punishes cold-chain managers for 'obstructing' COVID prevention https://t.co/tF5hk8vHsA pic.twitter.com/KlfMSlzMKJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2022
… The Beijing branch of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) accused several people involved in the cold storage business of management and supervisory failures when it came to controlling COVID-19.
It accused one manager in an industrial park in southwest Beijing of “poor leadership and non-standard management that led to the spread of the epidemic”…
After linking a number of local cases to the cold-chain industry, Beijing also promised earlier this month to tighten its screening procedures…
China has been an outlier in asserting that COVID-19 can be transmitted via cold-chain imports such as frozen meat and fish, even though the World Health Organization has played down the risk.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last year that the relative risk of coronavirus infections through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects is considered low…
China reports 37 new COVID-19 cases among Olympics personnel on Jan 30 https://t.co/FynUe2scWo pic.twitter.com/7kdda6l1yp
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2022
COVID-19 cases mount among Olympic athletes, personnel arriving in Beijing https://t.co/DPqdC9i9CY pic.twitter.com/jONEySNlku
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2022
New Zealand PM Ardern's COVID test returns negative result https://t.co/viXAJN5OA2 pic.twitter.com/Q66NiWXxYg
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2022
Russia reported more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day with 121,228 new Covid-19 infections Sunday https://t.co/X0XVaElwIe
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 30, 2022
Thousands of Czechs protest against COVID curbs https://t.co/e3BE8GMc8Y pic.twitter.com/nU2i5Me5u2
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 30, 2022
UK could change mandatory COVID vaccination for health staff – minister https://t.co/4qmdBUL6Y7 pic.twitter.com/sXEG7XPNPx
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 31, 2022
Freedom Convoy truckers cause chaos in Ottawa after second day of protests https://t.co/5CoR4BUfq8
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 31, 2022
Another clot in the US/Canada trade system:
Anti-vax truckers blocking other truckers (which is most truckers) from doing their jobs, preventing shipments crossing the border and impeding emergency vehicles.
Alberta premier says massive blockade preventing access to U.S. border 'must end' https://t.co/Vo5q4v8cS2
— Grant LaFleche (@GrantRants) January 31, 2022
… Truckers and motorists travelling to and from the United States from southern Alberta have been caught up in gridlock as an extremely large blockade of vehicles tied to an ongoing nationwide protest over COVID-19 public health measures continues to jam border traffic.
Vehicles have been blockading the highway from south of Lethbridge, Alta., to the Canada-U.S. border crossing in the village of Coutts since Saturday afternoon.
That means that traffic to and from the border crossing has largely come to a standstill…
It’s been frustrating for professional long-haul trucker David May, who’s been driving for 15 years and is fully vaccinated.
May picked up a load of meat in Brooks, Alta., to deliver to Portland, Ore., before running up against the blockade on Saturday. He’s been stuck in Milk River, Alta., since then.
“The protest makes no sense at all,” he said. “Came back here and parked with a lot of other truckers who are all vaccinated and ready to head south and do our jobs. It’s really frustrating.”…
The RCMP previously had concerns about emergency access to the village of Coutts, but earlier Sunday, an ambulance arrived to ensure it was able to access the area. The vehicle is able to get into the community on a dirt road.
“They are able to get into town, but it’s certainly not ideal,” RCMP Cpl. Curtis Peters said.
What is of concern to the RCMP at this time is the fact that Coutts has a volunteer fire department, which is also supposed to service the community of Sweet Grass, Mont., on the U.S. side. With the highway blocked, firefighters are unable to respond to an emergency or fire were one to occur…
Alberta’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, established in 2020, allows the province to enact punishments for trespassing, interfering with operations and construction or causing damage to essential infrastructure, which includes highways.
Individuals found guilty under the legislation can be fined up to $10,000 for a first offence and up to $25,000 for subsequent offences, and sentenced to six months in jail, or both.
In his statement, Kenney said the current blockade violates the Alberta Traffic Safety Act, and he cited the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act as being among the tools available to police and prosecutors.
“I urge those involved in this truck convoy protest to do so as safely as possible, and not to create road hazards which could lead to accidents or unsafe conditions for other drivers,” he said.
“If participants in this convoy cross the line and break the law, I expect police to take appropriate action.”…
From what I’ve read, Kenney’s party pushed through the ‘Critical Infrastructure Defence Act’ to punish the feelthy heeppies protesting the Keystone pipeline project. (His own colleagues are now Standing With Canada’s Brave Freedumb Fighters, of course.)
======
The physics of the N95 face mask. You’ve seen them a million times. You might be wearing one right now. But do you know how they work to block a potentially virus-carrying respiratory blob? https://t.co/A0Qi4NwxLU pic.twitter.com/RcBgpAApPM
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 31, 2022
Scientists are racing to pinpoint the cause of long COVID and find new treatments before a potential explosion of cases. https://t.co/HQl4ipj7az
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 31, 2022
A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that adult COVID-19 patients with disabilities had 36 per cent longer hospital stays and a 77 per cent increased risk of readmission within 30 days. @MelissaCoutoZ https://t.co/C1cu1mo7e3
— Ashis Basu (@BasuAshis) January 31, 2022
#LongCovid & the brain: UC San Francisco report preliminary evidence suggesting a cerebrospinal fluid abnormality after mild Covid. The change may help explain the "brain fog" reported by many patients in the weeks & months after SARSCoV2 infection https://t.co/v974KMfbVk pic.twitter.com/NU7YzpH3yy
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 30, 2022
Can the Novavax vaccine help us win the Covid war? For some reason a growing number of people think the vaccine's more traditional technology may sway the vaccine hesitant to get inoculated https://t.co/z3dTBCInNE
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 30, 2022
======
New York City is offering free home delivery of antiviral pills, though supply is limited. The mayor says oral antiviral pills will be made available for same-day at-home delivery starting for eligible New Yorkers who receive a prescription https://t.co/LToai5NI5T
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 31, 2022
Thank you for this link, Momsense! — from the ‘Director, Maine CDC (@MEPublicHealth)’:
1/Welp, I spent last night continuing my research into the #blizzard2022 #hoax.
Thankfully, @Twitter and Facebook have helpful algorithms that pointed me in the direction of *real* experts who helped me round out my thinking.
— Nirav D. Shah (@nirav_mainecdc) January 29, 2022
2/I studied poignant, analytical memes from leading thinkers in finance, technology, and art sales.
To my surprise, their insights actually CONFIRMED all of my pre-conceived notions about this storm.
Thanks for the research help @twitter!…
4/First of all, @CDCgov says blizzards are no big deal so long as you’re financially stable, don’t have to leave your house for work, have food, can afford heating and internet, and don’t have to worry about power outages.
Those apply to me. So why should I care about others?…
9/I also find it deeply suspicious that their “models” change all the time. I thought this was “science”, which does not change (see, e.g., gravity).
Who pressured them to change the models? My hunch: follow the $$$ and we’ll find out…
11/Now I’m watching @weatherchannel and they’re telling people to wear gloves if they go outside.
Do we know what the long-term side effects of gloves are? How do we know that gloves won’t cause skin infections? Or vitamin D deficiency?
We need randomized trials. #facts
12/And gloves DON’T WORK!
The “experts” say that good gloves help prevent frostbite. That’s nonsense.
I know a guy who got frostbite even though he was WEARING GLOVES. #CHECKMATE
13/Plus, I did the research and frostbite only happens about 1% of the time.
And my buddy who got it was FINE after his ER visit and skin graft…
16/Here’s how I see it: I don’t need gloves.
Treatments for frostbite are SO GOOD now. I’ll be fine.
I am warm blooded and have a skin system that is perfectly capable of keeping me warm, thank you very much. #Factsnotfear
17/I went out for a drive this morning and the entire town is on lockdown!
This is a completely ridiculous overreaction to something that is seasonal, and will literally melt away. It will assuredly be gone by Easter. #blizzard2022
Click over to read the whole thread, which is hilarious.
On The Road – Albatrossity – It’s Not Always a Redtail
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
NYSDOH says 401 new cases on 1/30/22.
New cases still on the way down…
New Deal democrat
As most States don’t bother to report their Sunday numbers on Monday, US data is largely useless today. In the aggregate, cases are down about 40%. All regions are down, with the Northeast down nearly 75%. Of the States that did report, only AL is up over 10% for the week. All of the earliest hit jurisdictions that did report are down 50% (CA, HI), nearly 75% (DE, PR), or even 80% or more (NY, NJ, MD). But no jurisdiction has returned to its pre-Omicron levels, except for ME, which fascinatingly, never had an Omicron wave at all! Deaths were flat at about 2400.
Internationally, all of the earliest hit countries that hit their peaks have or are now leveling off at levels far below their peaks, but well above their pre-Omicron levels, with the sole exception of Ireland, which has declined all the way back to its pre-Omicron levels.
As I speculated the other day, this “fat tail” may be due to the even more infectious BA2 subvariant. I read at least one expert yesterday reporting data that a “mild” case of Omicron gives virtually no protection from an Omicron re-infection, but we’ll see.
NeenerNeener
By the way, my nephew appears to have come through his bout of COVID ok, but his doctor told him he’ll test positive for several months. That’s the first time I’ve heard that.
NotMax
Locally,
Elsewhere,
Wvng
It is a remarkable thing to know that, every morning before 0800, Anne Laurie will have collected a remarkable trove of information on covid from around the world to share with us. Anne, you have been a lifeline for me for the past two years. Can’t thank you enough.
Baud
I can’t believe Biden hasn’t sent the Marines to Canada to open up the roads.
Baud
@NotMax:
Boris Johnson laughs.
Wag
@Baud: Agreed. Free up the supply chain after the antivaxxers are responsible for breaking it.
Kay
Anti-vaxxers are going to be a measurable, actual political constituency on the Right. Small! But fervent and perhaps able to swing low turnout primaries. It could end up as a required Right wing position, like gun worship or opposition to women having bodily autonomy.
Van Buren
Anyone have thoughts on Denmark dropping all COVID restrictions? Did Bari Weiss get elected PM?
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/30 China reported 40 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
At Xi’an in Shaanxi Province 14 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 34 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Guangdong Province 6 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 56 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Ningming County in Chongzuo) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 11 new domestic confirmed cases (1 mild & 3 moderate), 8 at Hebei District & 3 at Binhai New District (all from persons under centralized quarantine). 17 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 78 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron). All areas in Jinnan District are now at Low Risk. 1 residential building is remains at High Risk. 3 residential buildings remain at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (2 mild & 1 moderate), all from persons under centralized or home quarantine, all related to the Delta outbreak at cold storage warehouses in Fengtai District. There currently are 90 active domestic confirmed cases & 12 active domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 communities & 1 village are currently at High Risk. 2 communities, 3 residential compounds, 1 residential building & 1 warehouse are currently at Medium Risk.
At Liaoning Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Shenyang) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic (3 at Dalian & 1 at Shenyang) cases in the province.
Shandong Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently at 2 active domestic confirmed (at Jinan) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Liaocheng) cases in the province, all part of the transmission chain from the cold storage warehouses outbreak at Fengtai District in Beijing.
Shanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (2 at Datong & 1 at Yuncheng).
Hebei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed cases (5 at Xiong’an, 4 at Langfang & 2 at Baoding) in the Province, all part of the transmission from the cold storage warehouses outbreak in Beijing. 1 village at Xiong’an is currently at Medium Risk.
Yili Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic cases was released from isolation. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed (12 at Horgos & 3 at 4th Div. of XPCC) & 32 active domestic asymptomatic (26 at Horgos & 6 at 4th Div. of XPCC) cases at the border crossing. 4 residential compounds & 1 residential building are currently at Medium Risk.
Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed & 44 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 15 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 village remains at Medium Risk.
Zhejiang Province reported 24 new domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron), all at Hangzhou, all from persons under centralized quarantine. 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 101 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. 1 shop at Hangzhou is currently at High Risk. 8 residential compounds & 4 businesses at Hangzhou are currently at Medium Risk.
Huanggang in Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city, party of the transmission chain from Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
Anshun in Guizhou Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, party of the transmission chain from Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
At Shangrao in Jiangxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case, part of the transmission chain from the factory outbreak at Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
Henan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (previously asymptomatic). 40 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 636 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (4 at Kunming & 5 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) & 6 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) cases remaining. 1 zone at Mengla County in Sipsongpanna Prefecture remains at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 1/30, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 48 imported asymptomatic cases, 3 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 147 confirmed cases recovered (66 imported), 36 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 4 were reclassified as confirmed cases (3 imported), & 3,721 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,937 active confirmed cases in the country (868 imported), 10 in serious condition (1 imported), 812 active asymptomatic cases (687 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 38,879 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 1/30, 3,000.198M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.314M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 1/31, Hong Kong reported 92 new positive cases, 12 imported & 80 domestic.
On 1/31, Taiwan reported 55 new positive cases, 38 imported & 17 domestic (1 of whom does not have source of infection identified, yet).
Jeffery
@NeenerNeener: Read somewhere the virus can linger in the body for 8 months.
raven
@Kay: Kemp has taken a woman and Indian-American off the University System Board of Regents and replacing them with white dudes paving the way for Sonny Perdue to become Chancellor.
Matt McIrvin
Some antivaxxers say that they would happily use some vaccine technology other than mRNA. These people also seem to think all existing vaccines are mRNA and have a really unclear grasp on what that means. But I recall Peter Hotez say he’s had vaccine-hesitant people tell him they’d use the vaccine he’s been working on.
I strongly suspect it’s a goalpost-moving situation along the lines of “I will vote for a woman, just not that woman”–the vaccine they always want is one that’s not currently available, and there’s always something wrong with the one that is.
debbie
@Kay:
It’ll be amusing to see how Trump addresses that, since he’s always claiming credit for the vaccines. Will his cult continue booing him? //
laura
Thinking of Amir Khalid this morning. Wish he’d return soon. He’s missed.
Baud
@raven:
I hope he interviewed all possible replacements first.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@debbie: Go read that thread about the blizzard, the pandemic denialist are chiding the guy who started it for the high Covid infection numbers in his state. These twats are more than capable of holding dozens of contradictory positions at the same time.
Kay
@debbie:
If you oppose vaccine mandates based on “freedom” then you oppose all vaccine mandates. The far Right Supreme Court voided a vaccine mandate that wasn’t even a vaccine mandate- it was a testing mandate. You didn’t have to get vaccinated, but you did have to get tested if you wouldn’t get vaccinated.
Matt McIrvin
At long last, daily new cases in Essex County, Massachusetts have dropped below the worst of the winter 2020-21 wave. Deaths have risen to near the peak of that wave, and hospitalizations are higher.
Covidactnow has started tracking boosters. I think some of the standard measures of vaccination in a given place are pretty much useless by now because of waning immunity and the low usefulness of just getting one mRNA shot (which was pretty protective with wild-type COVID and Alpha). The telling number is that the county is about 34% boosted and the curve is bending in a direction that suggests majority boosting will be unlikely. I don’t think people anywhere in the US are making a really widespread effort to stay up to date on their shots, even if they got vaccinated early last year. And this is fairly cross-partisan.
HeleninEire
Chris Crouch, that husband of the pregnant woman in the WP article, can fuck all the way off.
Kay
@raven:
Ugh. Going back 50 years.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: He didn’t interview me.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: He did. They’re still at Tim Horton’s waiting for the fresh brew.
Kay
@Van Buren:
My son lives there and he says it’s not as much of a reversal as it seems to those outside Denmark, because they rolled back restrictions in the summer of the 2021 too and then put some back in with the next wave. They see it as shifting back and forth based on conditions. They have an 80% vaxx rate too.
I wonder if 80% is the best you can get. 15% of people in the US still smoke and we tax smoking, ban it most places, and have conducted a blanket anti smoking public health campaign for decades.
Kay
@Van Buren:
There’s that 20% :)
The US is about 15%. I think you need some goal for what can be realistically accomplished, so maybe 80% is that number.
lowtechcyclist
The real advantage of Novavax is that it doesn’t need special refrigeration. Consequently, it’s a good vaccine to use in much of Africa and other underdeveloped areas of the world that don’t have many facilities for keeping mRNA vaccines super-cold.
We really need a big push to make Covid vaccines available to everyone in the world this year. WHO says it would cost ~$50 billion, and if the U.S. funded it, it would be worth every penny, because the fewer unvaccinated people there are, the fewer opportunities there are for new variants to emerge and inevitably find their way here. Novavax could certainly be a big part of that, along with that open-source vaccine whose name I can’t remember.
Nicole
@NeenerNeener:
So glad your nephew is on the mend! The doctor probably meant he could test positive on a PCR test for quite a while, which is true. The PCR test doesn’t distinguish between live and dead virus; it reads both as the same, and it takes the body a few months to shed out all the dead virus.
My son’s school randomly PCR tests 25% of the student body every week, but if a student tests positive for Covid, once they’re recovered and back at school, they’re taken off the testing list for 90 days for just this reason. Likewise if someone has had Covid in the previous 90 days and needs to take a flight somewhere they should get proof of their positive result and a note from their doctor saying they’re okay for travel to use in lieu of a PCR test.
New Deal democrat
@Kay:
“If you oppose vaccine mandates based on “freedom” then you oppose all vaccine mandates. The far Right Supreme Court voided a vaccine mandate that wasn’t even a vaccine mandate”
With the possible exception of Gorsuch and Thomas, even this Supreme Court isn’t that nuts. Remember, they upheld the Medicare mandate and the military mandate. They’ve also upheld State level mandates. A majority indicated they would uphold a federal OSHA mandate if it were specifically targeted to higher-risk situations.
It has surprised me that the Biden Administration hasn’t yet taken up the Supreme Court’s OSHA suggestion. And surprised me even more that they haven’t tried to galvanize Blue State mandates for employment and schools – they haven’t even tried! To reiterate, public health has *always* been recognized as an issue that is a State power.
lowtechcyclist
My assumption is that they’re working on it, but they’re taking the time to make absolutely sure that they’re doing it the way the Bogus Scotus implies would pass their scrutiny, and that they don’t include anything else by accident that might cause the FedSoc Six to give it the thumbs-down.
Soprano2
@Kay: Yep. I have a friend who runs a music organization for homeschoolers – she has an orchestra, choir, and offers music lessons. They suspended for over a year because of Covid. When they started back, her only requirement for students and teachers was that they wear face masks when they are playing, singing or taking lessons (yes, there are special face masks for musicians!). She had over 400 teachers and enrolled students before Covid; now, she has about 120. These people will deprive their children of music lessons and orchestra because they don’t even want to wear face masks, let alone get vaccinated. My friend says she’s lost friends she’s had for decades over this. She said a couple of the mothers were talking about starting their own group, and she laughed – they have no idea of all the work that’s involved, finding teachers and facilities, getting insurance, and so many other things.
Matt McIrvin
In the US, we need to shift emphasis from being “fully vaccinated” to being “up to date”.
I suppose one thing that complicates it is that a lot of international health authorities are still opposed to boosters because they see booster campaigns as taking resources away from vaccinating the rest of the world. But vaccine supplies are not really the limiting constraint here–we can do both.
NorthLeft12
Thanks again Anne for this amazing collection of information. I always get a good laugh from at least one tweet, and today I had three;
1. The blizzard parody tweets.
2. The Novavax tweet that surmises that many/some/a few vaccine “hesitant” will take this traditional vaccine rather than the other newfangled vaccines. Spoiler alert: they aren’t that “sophisticated”.
3. The southern Alberta blockade which may be broken up by use of a Kenney Conservative law that was designed to target indigenous and environmental protests. Oh, the irony….especially when the right wing anti-vax nut jobs realize what is happening.
When you throw in the win by the Canadian mens soccer team over the USA yesterday, in addition to Matthew Stafford leading another comeback to advance to the Super Bowl (I am a long time Detroit Lions and Stafford fan) I am feeling pretty good ? right now.
Heading off to baby sit my youngest grandson with my wife and thirteen year old chocolate Labrador. Should be fun.
Soprano2
@Kay: I’ll be doing cartwheels if we ever get to 60% fully vaccinated here. We’re a little over 52% right now. It’s insane! I never thought the most selfish people in the U.S. would make it an essential part of their identity to not protect themselves from a deadly disease. I thought they would rush to do something that helped themselves more than other people, since they were so unwilling to do anything simple to help others.
Chief Oshkosh
It’s not “rugged individualism” that drives any of the anti-vaxx shitheads. It’s never really “rugged individualism” on any topic for these people. They simply are not rugged. They’re wusses.
lowtechcyclist
My WAG is that that depends a lot on when state legislatures are in session.
lowtechcyclist
You misspelled ‘assholes.’
Chris
@Chief Oshkosh:
Rugged individualism has pretty much always been bullshit, as the pioneers and frontiersmen these people claim to admire and emulate depended badly on community living to survive.
Starfish
@Matt McIrvin: As odd as it is, there are people who took J&J who refuse to take the mRNA boosters. It is kinda nutty.
Booger
I am concerned, nervous actually, that while the world at large seems to be relaxing in the thinking that Omicron appears to be a ‘diminished’ version of COVID, what is there to prevent the next variant-pi, rho, whatever–from being both more virulent and more lethal?
Folks are talking about a disease’s natural evolution from more deadly to less deadly as a natural and inevitable process. But that doesn’t preclude some ‘speed bumps’ along the way, which could make things much worse before they stabilize at an endemic level.
This is a particular concern given the immense number of human petri dishes and vector blenders walking around glib, belligerent, maskless and unvaccinated. This could get real ugly real soon…uglier than it is now.
Someone say something to make me feel better.
Starfish
@Soprano2: That’s not just people who do not want to wear masks. It may be people who also have kids under five and are playing it more conservatively, too.
The relief that people with kids under five are feeling when their kids turn five and can get vaccinated has been something to watch. Neil Gaiman had. a picture on his Twitter of his 5-year-old just getting his first vaccine.
Matt McIrvin
@Starfish: Some of the people fretting about mRNA are the same ones who call the vaccines “the Clot Shot”–but the clotting incidents were with viral-vector vaccines, not mRNA vaccines.
Matt McIrvin
@Booger: Evolution doesn’t have a direction and there is nothing inevitable about the virus getting less severe.
However, these waves do increase the general level of immunity from coronaviruses in the population, which makes it less likely that we will get back to the level of the initial Spring 2020 wave in terms of death and disease.
We will also get better vaccines and treatments over time–especially if the efforts to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine pay off.
What slim hopes I have mostly rest on that.
Sloane Ranger
Took the weekend off but here are Sunday’s figures from the UK. They are, as usual, unreliable due to weekend office closures, Scotland no longer reporting new cases over the weekend and Wales not reporting on Saturday’s. Add to this an issue with Northern Ireland’s figures and the numbers I’m about to type are probably highly misleading. Nonethe less…
Sunday in the UK we had 62,399 new reported cases. The rolling 7-day average is down by 6.5%. New cases by nation,
England – 59,559 (down @9500 from Saturday)
Northern Ireland – Did not report due to an issue
Scotland – No longer reports on weekends.
Wales – 2840 (did not report on Saturday).
Deaths – Sunday figures are also unreliable but, for what they’re worth, there were 85 reported deaths within 28 days of a positive test. The rolling 7-day average is down by 1.9%. 75 deaths were in England, 2 in Scotland and 8 in Wales. Northern Ireland did not report due to the same issues as for case numbers.
Testing – Not updated at weekends.
Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.
Vaccinations – As of 29th January, 91% of all Uk residents aged 12+ have had 1 shot, 84.1% have had 2 and 64.8% have had a 3rd shot/booster.
Robert Sneddon
@Booger: The Omicron variant of SARS-nCOV-2 is very much an outlier since it’s a lot more virulent than previous COVID-19 virus variants. This is probably because it replicates more in the upper respiratory tract hence every time someone infected coughs, talks or just breathes out more virus particles are expelled into the surrounding air than from infected tissue deep in the lungs. However that localisation of the virus means it doesn’t do as much deep damage to the lungs so it is less harmful and less lethal, statistically speaking. This, sadly, is counteracted by it being more commonly spread, statistically speaking. Epidemics are statistics.
The bad news about Omicron is that it’s very different to original Wuhan strain, Alpha and Delta, almost like a totally different disease — I’ve seen it referred to as COVID-21 by some people with Ph.Ds after their name. That makes predicting forward from Omicron difficult and the only significant variant detected as yet, the B.2 variant doesn’t seem to be going anywhere or doing anything different to Grandpa. The really good news is that there hasn’t been a Son-of-Delta variant detected that’s reached Variant Of Concern status. Yet.
Rachel Bakes
11 year old and I tested positive yesterday. My cold was obviously not a cold. Since he tested negative at school last week then came home sick Friday, I assume I gave it to him. Now we isolate with us on the 2nd floor, husband sleeping in first, presumed positive daughter sleeping in basement. Remote work and school for husband and daughter. So sick of our nation being in this mess
and Thank You for these daily reports. So helpful to knowing where we really stand!!
Chris
@Rachel Bakes:
Oof, that sucks. Hope it passes quickly and with a minimal amount of discomfort for you both.
Starfish
@Matt McIrvin: I am not telling the people who took the J&J vaccines but refuse the mRNA ones that the vaccine they took was the one that increased the risk of clotting in women of childbearing age.
Starfish
@Rachel Bakes: I hope you feel better soon.
Scout211
Even local news is frustrating. There is so much going on in the nation and the state, but leave it to the news to highlight anything the promotes more controversy and political division when it comes to the pandemic. On KCRA this morning, under the news that the Rams beat the 49ers is a story about Governor Newsom and other officials attending the game maskless!
IMHO that was stupid of Newsom and his group. Especially it was stupid since they have already announced all attendees at the Super Bowl would be given an N95 masks and told to wear them at SoFi stadium, where the game was played yesterday. Yes stupid, but near top billing above on all possible news in NorCal?
Chris
@Scout211:
I mean, it pisses me off that it suddenly becomes a scandal when a Democratic governor does it, but the fact that every Republican governor in the country not only does the same thing but is actively working against safety measures in all kinds of ways is just… shrug. HillarzEmailz all over again.
WaterGirl
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, you’re white and you’re male so you have two of the three top qualifications already. I think you should sue because they aren’t considering you!
WaterGirl
@Booger: Sorry, Booger, I wish I could make you feel better.
The anti-vax people are a threat on multiple levels. Spreading the disease, and putting others at risk. Crashing the healthcare system. Increasing the likelihood of new variants by a factor of a zillion.
WaterGirl
@Rachel Bakes: I’m sorry.
The Moar You Know
@Scout211: I lived in SF while Newsom was mayor. I have now voted for him to be governor twice, grinding my teeth with rage every time, because he was the shittiest mayor I’ve ever lived under anywhere and he has a rare gift: managing to be a walking PR disaster everywhere he goes and still getting elected.
He wins because people like me won’t let Republicans win and he knows that. FUCK
Frank Wilhoit
It’s not “rugged individualism”. It’s unaccountability. Never call it anything else. Never frame it any other way.
Kent
@The Moar You Know: Sometimes I think he is our Boris Johnson.
I mean Kimberly Guilfoyle? What the fuck?
Kent
@Frank Wilhoit: It is more than being unaccountable. That is sort of a neutral term. You can be unaccountable and still get some things right on accident. We are talking about people who are deliberate assholes on purpose. Douchebaggery?
Just One More Canuck
the trucker convoy in Canada earned the nickname “Flu Trucks Klan”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
My impression of anti vaxxing it’s more a white privilege symbol. I’ve seen the same thing at work were middle managers refuse to wear safety and clean room equipment because that’s what the little people do.
Chris
@The Moar You Know:
I just wish more people were like you.
Virginia is pretty blue at this point. Unfortunately, it seems determined to be a Maine or New Jersey (or even Maryland) kind of blue that feels compelled to regularly elect Republican politicians because “hey maybe this one’ll be a real moderate!” as opposed to what’s become the California standard of “do not vote Republican. It never helps.”
VOR
I think anti-vax, anti-mask, and anti-lockdown are already the standard position for the Republican party. Forget that TFG wants credit for the creation of the vaccines. Look at DeSantis. Even if these positions are not part of the official platform, there will be strong, vocal, and well-armed constituencies for them, just as there is for QAnon.
Texas is usually a bellwether for bad ideas added to the Republican platform. Their 2020 platform is posted online http://texasgop.org/platform/
laura
@The Moar You Know: My mother and I were in SF that beautiful February day when Newsom directed the Clerk-Recorder to begin allowing same sex couples to process paper work for civil marriages. I’ll cling to that joyous event till the end. He’s a well-connected hot mess, but Larry Elder, so yes, I’ll be backing his reelection as Governor because the alternative is a steaming pile of retrograde numpties.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 5,887 new cases of COVID-19 reported yesterday, down a bit again over the past week or so. Zero new reported deaths of people who have tested positive (noting that Register Offices are now generally closed at weekends). Tuesday’s figure will be more representative, including those who died over the weekend.
33 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, about the same as before while 1,206 people were in hospital, down a little again.
Vaccinations continue but slowly. The percentage of the Scottish population aged 12-plus that have received their first vaccination finally reached 92%, mostly driven by takeup in the 12-17 year old age bracket. 73.9% of those aged 18-plus and thus eligible have received a third/booster dose at a rate of roughly 0.1% of the population a day. There is still no news about any future fourth vaccination booster campaign.
The Moar You Know
@Chris: It took over forty years of mismanagment by such luminaries as Wilson and Deukmejian, and then true Republican moderate Arnold Schwarzenegger, who only tried to bust every union in the state during his first term (he got two, twelve years). We’d been a blue state since the 1970s, but kept thinking bipartisan could work. Arnold left us 26 billion in the hole by the time he got tossed, and then we got insanely lucky with Brown. Nobody else could have fixed this state’s fiscal situation in one term, hell, I didn’t think he could, but he did.
There are a lot of people who think California will be a blue state moving forward, forever without end, amen…I am not one of them. Because of Dems like Newsom, and the even increasing percentage of Latinos who vote GOP. He’s been very lucky with this state’s economy. We get a few bad years in CA, we’ll elect another “moderate” Republican governor. And then the bullshit starts all over again.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
My impression was it only got fixed because the Democrats got a supermajority in the state assembly and that only happened because the Cal GOP committed suicide by opposing any and all attempts to balance the state budget.
mrmoshpotato
Someone please tell me the replies are filled with that stupid “We built it” song and zero self-awareness.
opiejeanne
@Kay: 15% of Americans still smoke? All of them were in Vegas two weeks ago, and the air filters in the casinos were not keeping up at all.
Skepticat
I love that! I’ve been calling it the covidiot convoy, and I’m depressed that Canada has caught the idiotic mental contagion.
I’ve also been sharing Dr. Shah’s excellent and witty Tweets. He’s a true treasure, and we’re very grateful to have him in Maine.
Frank Wilhoit
@Kent: I was not talking about the effects of unaccountability, but about the demand for unaccountability. You are quite right to point out that the latter is only one manifestation (among many) of sadism.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
Immature children do not like to be told what to do, how to do it, or that they need to do it. It being whatever it is that they don’t want to do, which can change at any moment. Note that it’s not their age that labels them as immature children, it’s their maturity.