Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Everybody saw this coming.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

The words do not have to be perfect.

A Senator Walker would be an insult to the state and the nation.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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

Infrastructure week. at last.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Tick tock motherfuckers!

No one could have predicted…

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Feb. 1-2

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Feb. 1-2

by | 64 Comments

This post is in: ,

More details on yesterday’s big news:



Informed opinion from the historian responsible for The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History:

Most histories of the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed at least 50 million people worldwide say it ended in the summer of 1919 when a third wave of the respiratory contagion finally subsided.

Yet the virus continued to kill. A variant that emerged in 1920 was lethal enough that it should have counted as a fourth wave. In some cities, among them Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Kansas City, Mo., deaths exceeded even those in the second wave, responsible for most of the pandemic’s deaths in the United States. This occurred despite the fact that the U.S. population had plenty of natural immunity from the influenza virus after two years of several waves of infection and after viral lethality in the third wave had already decreased.

Nearly all cities in the United States imposed restrictions during the pandemic’s virulent second wave, which peaked in the fall of 1918. That winter, some cities reimposed controls when a third, though less deadly wave struck. But virtually no city responded in 1920. People were weary of influenza, and so were public officials. Newspapers were filled with frightening news about the virus, but no one cared. People at the time ignored this fourth wave; so did historians. The virus mutated into ordinary seasonal influenza in 1921, but the world had moved on well before.

We should not repeat that mistake…

Signs of weariness — or misguided hope — are everywhere. Although more than 70 percent of the adult population is fully vaccinated, progress has stagnated, and as of Jan. 27, only 44 percent had received boosters, which provide vital protection against severe illness. Although most of us, especially parents, want schools to stay open, parents have gotten only about 20 percent of children ages 5 to 11 fully vaccinated. As in 1920, people are tired of taking precautions.

This is ceding control to the virus. The result has been that even though Omicron appears to be less virulent, the seven-day average for daily Covid-19 deaths in the United States has now surpassed the Delta peak in late September…

… Vaccines, the new antiviral drug Paxlovid and others could end the pandemic, once billions of doses become widely available globally and if the virus does not develop resistance. But the end is not going to arrive anytime soon. The immediate future still depends on the virus and how we wield our current arsenal: vaccines, masks, ventilation, the antiviral drug remdesivir and steroids and the one monoclonal treatment that still works against Omicron, social distancing and avoiding crowds. As a society, we have largely abandoned the public health measures on that list. As individuals, we can still act.

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More numbers, charts & graphs:

… If every death since Nov. 3, 2020, was a Republican, the average state-level shift is 0.4 percentage points to the left. The biggest shift is in New Mexico, obviously not changing the results of that Biden-voting state. At the county level, the biggest movement is 3.2 points to Biden — but only three counties in the country would actually flip. (If you’re curious, those are New York’s Orange and Warren counties and Rice County, Minn.) The effect of 634,000 Republicans dying is that the 2020 election looks much as it did previously.

On average, even if every covid death was of a Republican, the reduction in Republican votes in a county would equal about 2.4 percent of the total number of Democratic voters in the county. So in a county with 10,000 Democrats and 11,000 Republicans, the Republican advantage would fall from 1,000 to 760 votes. Only in close elections even at the county level would that make a difference.

In reality, of course, the effects here would be even smaller. After all, not every person who died of covid-19 was old enough to vote, nor was every death of someone who was registered to vote. Not only is our calculus rough, it’s also inherently overestimating the importance of those deaths…

Reader Interactions

64Comments

  3. 3.

    Matt McIrvin

    My great-grandmother died of flu in 1921, resulting in my grandfather’s adoption. I always think about that when people mention the end of the 1918 pandemic.

  5. 5.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 229 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 2/1.
    There were 388 positive home COVID tests reported on 2/1.

    Hospitalizations:

    162 people hospitalized, 70% unvaxed
    23 of those are in the ICU, 79% unvaxed
    14 of those are intubated, 77% unvaxed.

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    FYI #1.

    Tonga will enter a lockdown Wednesday evening after finding coronavirus infections in two port workers helping distribute aid arriving in the Pacific nation after a volcanic eruption and tsunami.
    [snip]
    Ships and planes from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain and China have been delivering aid. Those nations had promised to drop off their supplies of fresh water and medicine without coming into contact with anybody on the ground in Tonga, which usually requires incoming travelers to spend three weeks in quarantine.

    But the threat was underscored when dozens of sailors aboard the Australian aid ship HMAS Adelaide reported infections after an outbreak. Crew members aboard aid flights from Japan and Australia also reported infections. Source

    FYI #2.

    An Alexandria lawyer who’s lost several legal challenges to COVID restrictions is taking aim at New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s rules in a lawsuit filed Monday.

    The state lawsuit, brought on behalf of more than 100 plaintiffs, accuses Cantrell and city Health Director Jennifer Avegno of taking “authoritarian actions under the pretext of an emergency without end.”

    The plaintiffs, mostly from Orleans and Jefferson parishes, seek an injunction blocking the city from enforcing vaccinate-or-test rules and masking requirements in bars, restaurants and other public spaces. The rules now include participants in Carnival and marching club parades.
    [snip]
    A Cantrell spokesman defended the city’s policies at a press conference Tuesday.

    “Traditionally, we do not comment on active or pending litigation,’ said City Hall spokesman Beau Tidwell. “However, in this case I think it’s worth noting that the guidelines that we put in place saved lives, full stop. The vaccine mandate and the mask requirements are going to remain in place throughout Mardi Gras. And that’s the extent of the comment we are going to have.”

    Faircloth has crafted a string of lawsuits targeting COVID restrictions, with little success thus far. In 2020, two federal judges in separate cases shot down bar owners’ challenges to Edwards’ rules that barred on-site consumption early in the pandemic. Last month, the Louisiana Supreme Court said that Ochsner Health was within its rights to force employees to receive a COVID-19 vaccine or lose their jobs. Source

  7. 7.

    Mai Naem mobile

    There are a lot of those strip center food plazas that have popped up in Phoenix in recent years. For several months now when I drive by these, the parking lots are packed full. Many of these places do not have outdoor seating. Its possible that people are doing pick up orders but it doesn’t seem like that.

    I am wondering what professionals who study this kind of stuff think about how permanent some of these behaviors will be. Everything from people not eating out to people cutting their own hair. Couples living on one income, people not traveling occasional long distance trips for work and remote work. So many societal/financial consequences if these end up being permanent.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Unless the next variant is much, much more lethal than past variants, no one is going to care about covid after Omicron now that we have vaccines and, soon, treatments.

  10. 10.

    raven

    @Mai Naem mobile: Here’s what the author of the Times article above thinks.

     

    “As a society, we have largely abandoned the public health measures on that list. As individuals, we can still act.”

  14. 14.

    New Deal democrat

    In the US, deaths have risen to over 2500. Deaths will probably rise to close to 3000 before peaking in about 10 days. Cases have continued to decline sharply, down over 45% from their peak 2.5 weeks ago, and are falling sharply in all four Census regions. Cases are rising in only 3 States: WA, SC, and TN. In the 3 States in the NYC metro, MD, DC, and Puerto Rico, cases are down 80%-90% from peak, but still roughly double their pre-Omicron levels.

    Of the countries that were hit early by Omicron, only Ireland has declined to its pre-Omicron levels, and all including South Africa continue to show evidence of fat tails. Remember, the optimistic scenario in which essentially nobody is left to infect after Omicron means that cases should drop *below* pre-Omicron levels. They’re not.

  15. 15.

    Cermet

    Just read that a retrovirus’s (yes, not the covid family at all) were responsible for vertebrate evolution! They supplied the critical sequence to generate a set of proteins that are essential for nerves (a sheathing)  related to animals being able to develop  vertebrates with nerve bundles. Add to the fact that mammalian evolution was also enabled by a virus (created the tools/proteins sequences that created the placenta ) and virus’s appear to play a major and decisive role in animal evolution. Guess can’t live with them or without them – still, amazing for a parasitic chemical agent or semi-lifeform.

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I’ll take the scolding tone of Bump’s article as an admission the covid deaths will have an effect.  Losing around 1-2% of your voters permanently isn’t a good thing on top of the GOP an’t getting any new ones and biggest part of their voter base is Boomers who are starting to die in numbers as it is.  Not to mention the people who did most of the dying were also the most committed Republicans (Might be why Bump admitted this would have an effect on county elections which most people ignore)

    My personally theory the whole “America is threw with the pandemic” theme from the press lately is because the pressed realized by treating the pandemic as partisan issue the Republicans committed mass suicide to POWN the libertards and when that piss drinking idiot America base realizes it, they aren’t going to go “Oh, we were fools”, no instead they will just blame the press likely start attacking reporters.  So the press is try to correct the problem by trying to shame the liberals into acting as stupid as the conservatives so liberals start dying in numbers and voter balance is restored.

    Booth Sides taken to its’ fatal extreme.

  18. 18.

    lee

    I had covid19 right after the New Year (PCR positive 14 Jan). Since vaxxed and boosted it was like a mild cold.

    Yesterday I got hit hard with something. Lots of congestion and a mild fever. Since I might still test positive from the earlier  infection a PCR test would be rather pointless, correct?

    The weird thing is I have no idea who I might have gotten this from as I have been mostly at home and masked up whenever I have to go out.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    From the link that Cheryl linked to:

    What is the acceptable amount of illness? What is an acceptable number of long COVID cases? What is an acceptable number of deaths? Regarding the latter, in D.C., over the last month, 21% of deaths were among the vaccinated. That doesn’t mean vaccination is bad, but there are vulnerable people and what is the acceptable price in their lives?

    I don’t know. I think this is all being rushed. Not only is my work ending WFH for most employees, they’re ending social distancing, requiring masks at desks, and ending daily health checks for the unvaxxed. I just don’t see much success in this new strategy.

  20. 20.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: We’re still using vaccines formulated for wild-type COVID, and even with pharma companies working full-tilt, an Omicron-tailored one isn’t going to be available until the Omicron wave is largely over, a month or two from now. If that’s the rate mismatch we can expect from future variants, vaccines aren’t going to be that good at controlling infection any more, only (if we’re lucky) at preventing severe illness. It’s endless Whac-A-Mole.

    And that in turn leads to “vaccines don’t work” stories and politicized denialism. Unless there’s a miracle that greatly improves that situation, like a pan-coronavirus vaccine, I expect most people to lose interest in getting boosters. They’ll keep getting sick at close to pandemic rates, but it will be largely ignored unless you actually work in a hospital. And the treatments require early enough intervention that they might not work well unless people are more on the ball than that.

    So people may not care, but they’ll keep dying.

  25. 25.

    Another Scott

    @raven: Don’t get discouraged by the noisy outliers that get amplified by the press that is desperate for clicks.  People are still getting vaccinated.  People are still buying and wearing masks.  Home test kits are free and being used to change transmission rates. Yes, not as many as there should be, but we’re not giving up on public health.  Localities aren’t tearing up their sewer lines and paving over their water treatment plants.  Lawsuits against mandates often fail.

    Good people are still working and fighting to do sensible things to end the pandemic sooner.

    Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  26. 26.

    New Deal democrat

    Just venting . . . I occasionally wind up walking through the neighborhood for exercise together with a Trumpy neighbor, who has refused to get vaccinated. I hadn’t seen him in awhile, and wondered if he’d been infected. Yesterday he told me his wife got infected a month ago, spent 8 days in the hospital, and is still very weak. At the hospital she was told that her potassium levels were so low, her heart could have stopped at any moment.

    After she was discharged, their doctor asked them if they were willing to get vaccinated now.

    They both refused.

    Too experimental, and unsure of the long term side effects.

    Well, I’m pretty sure that none of the side effects will be worse than dying because your heart stops.

    AAARRGH!!! Of course, we taxpayers helped to pay for that hospitalization.

    I asked him if he had gotten the polio vaccine as a kid. “Yes.” Well, by his definition wasn’t that ‘experimental’, too? “No,” because it had already been used for about 7 years. So, how long till the COVID vaccines are similarly not ‘experimental.’? “Three to five years.” That was the most headway I made.

  27. 27.

    John S.

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    That entire screed is Bump trying to convince himself that he everything is going to be all right. Which it will be if voting laws do not pass.

    The GOP are doing everything they can to ensure they stay in power with the lowest amount of votes. In which case, it really doesn’t matter how many voters they actually have.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    Right. So that 21% is meaningless.  If you click on the link you’ll see that DC has more than a 90% vaccination rate (70% fully). 

  29. 29.

    lowtechcyclist

    @NotMax: From the quote box:

    Faircloth has crafted a string of lawsuits targeting COVID restrictions, with little success thus far.

    First name, Jimmy, according to the link.

    So if any of the Northern Virginia jackals know a lawyer named Jimmy Faircloth, feel free to tell him to go fuck himself.

    ETA: Never mind, nola.com surely meant Alexandria, Louisiana.  I’m just so used to Alexandria automatically meaning Alexandria, VA.

  31. 31.

    Cameron

    @New Deal democrat: My anti-vaxx buddy back in Philadelphia is against all vaccines (he’s into the natural healing thing).  I asked him about childhood vaccinations, and he said he had them but pointed out that that wasn’t his decision to make.  I don’t think vitamin C and zinc will carry the day, but at least he doesn’t have a problem with wearing a mask.  So that’s something, I guess.

  33. 33.

    sab

    One of my essential worker step-sons works in shop where the workers are so resistant to vaxxing that they openly  mock those who are vaxxed and who wear masks.

    So he had covid in the round before vaxxing was available. Then he got vaxxed. Then he got a breakthrough case. Then he got a booster. Now he has some sort of crud with congestion and a fever, so he is waiting for test results.

    All his covid has been mild. He masks everywhere he goes outside of work and as much as possible at work.

    The other step-son, also an essential worker, works in a company that is strict on masking and vaxxing.  He got covid once, before vaxxing.

    I know, anecdotal isn’t data.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Cameron:

    Unvaccinated people who get covid get quite sick, even if they aren’t hospitalized, and a lot of them are getting sick- like, a week in bed sick, where someone else has to take care of them and another week where they feel like shit. I think a portion of those who may have been loosely attached to “anti-vaxx” may get vaccinated just to avoid reinfection.

  35. 35.

    frosty

    @Baud: I have a friend, vaxxed and boosted, who is more cautious than I am. She was infected on 12/31 and is still dealing with brain fog and fatigue; can only work half days. No one is paying much attention to the longer term effects and I think that will be the next focus of concern. Or maybe I hope it will.

  36. 36.

    Soprano2

    The trend here is now unmistakable – we’ve gone from a high daily cases of 1,121 on January 20th to 243 on Monday. Hospitalizations are still up, but they lag so I think in a couple of weeks they’ll start going down too. Vaccinations continue to creep up slowly, perhaps today we’ll reach 53% fully vaxxed!

  37. 37.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @debbie: I’m so sorry your workplace is throwing caution to the winds.

    Denver’s mayor is allowing all vaccine and mask mandates for the city to expire tomorrow. While cases are falling here, they are still higher than previous waves. The only “way out”, we’re told, is vaccination while the percent vaccinated in our state has remained flat for months.

    Just when the federal government started the programs of giving out masks and tests, our workplaces and municipalities are shunning these mitigations.

    The op Ed by the Great Influenza author is a sobering reveal. As is the fact that the US has logged more deaths than any other wealthy country.

  38. 38.

    Soprano2

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I think this is a way out there theory. Most of the people I know feel done with Covid, whether they’re careful liberals or uncaring conservatives, and everything inbetween. Weariness with hearing about it and being affected by it is real, so the press is just reporting something that is happening.

  39. 39.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 2/1 China reported 36 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    At Xi’an in Shaanxi Province 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 15 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    At Guangdong Province reporter 6 new domestic confirmed & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the province does not breakdown recoveries between domestic & imported cases, I can no longer track the count of active cases in the province.

    • At Zhuhai 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city.
    • Shenzhen reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both moderate) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts of the domestic positive case reported on 1/31 (which is confirmed to be Omicron, so the entire cluster is presumed Omicron). 1 office building has been elevated to Medium Risk.
    • The rest of the province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (1 each at Huizhou, Meizhou, Heyuan & Yunfu) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Yunfu) cases, all part of the transmission chain spreading from Shenzhen (all presumed Omicron).

    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 12 new domestic confirmed cases, 6 at Hebei District (all from persons under quarantine), 4 at Binhai New District (all from persons under quarantine) & 2 from Hedong District (both found at fever clinic, connected to the outbreak at Hebei District). 17 domestic confirmed cases recovered . There currently are 63 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron). 1 residential building is remains at High Risk. 3 residential buildings remain at Medium Risk.

    Beijing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed case (1 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 94 active domestic confirmed cases & 13 active domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 communities, 1 village & 1 residential building are currently at High Risk. 2 communities, 3 residential compounds & 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 reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, at Gucheng County in Hengshui, a traced close contacts of domestic positive cases reported by Tianjin. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed cases (5 at Xiong’an, 5 at Hengshui, 4 at Langfang & 2 at Baoding) in the province. 1 village at Xiong’an is currently at Medium Risk.

    Yili Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed (11 at Horgos & 3 at 4th Div. of XPCC) & 28 active domestic asymptomatic (23 at Horgos & 5 at 4th Div. of XPCC) cases at the border crossing. 4 residential compounds & 1 residential building are currently at Medium Risk.

    Heilongjiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed & 44 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Mudanjiang did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed (28 at Suifenhe & 1 at Dongning) & 39 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city (33 at Suifenhe, 4 at Dongning & 2 at). 5 residential compounds, 8 residential buildings, 3 residential building units, 1 produce market & 4 office buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Baiquan County in Qiqihar did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the county, all part of the transmission chain spreading from Suifenhe.
    • At Zhaodong in Suihua there currently is 1 active asymptomatic case in the city, part of the transmission chain from Suifenhe.

    At Shanghai Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 12 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 village remains at Medium Risk.

    Zhejiang Province reported 15 new domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron), all at Hangzhou, all from persons under centralized quarantine. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 110 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 did not report any new domestic positive cases. 36 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 570 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • At Anyang there currently are 204 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 township at Tangyin County remains at High Risk. 2 townships at Tangyin County remains at Medium Risk.
    • At Sanmenxia there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, a traced close contact of domestic positive cases reported by other provinces.
    • At Ruzhou in Pingdinghsan there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain spreading from Hangzhou in Zhejiang.

    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 2/1, China reported 27 new imported confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), 24 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 18 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Germany, 2 each from Japan & the US, & 1 each from Guinea (via Paris CdG), Mauritanian (via Paris CdG), Finland, France, New Zealand & Sri Lanka, 2 Japanese nationals coming from Japan, an Austrian national coming from Austria, a German national coming from Germany, & a South Korean national coming from South Korea
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese national returning from Turkey (both via Tehran) & 1 each from Mongolia (via Tehran) & Thailand; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Mongolia (via Tehran) & Thailand
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case (1 previously asymptomatic), coming Saudi Arabia, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Beijing Municipality – 1 confirmed case, a British national coming from Singapore; 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Changchun in Jilin Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from South Korea
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 1 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Chongqing Municipality – 3 asymptomatic cases, all coming from Singapore
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Iraq
    • Jinan in Shandong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Bangladesh

    Overall in China, 145 confirmed cases recovered (74 imported), 30 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (27 imported) & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases (both imported), & 1,964 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,802 active confirmed cases in the country (809 imported), 9 in serious condition (1 imported), 810 active asymptomatic cases (688 imported), 0 suspect cases. 44,522 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 2/1, 3,000.603M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 71K doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 2/2, Hong Kong reported 116 new positive cases, 13 imported & 103 domestic (30 of whom do not have sources of infection identified).

    On 2/2, Taiwan reported 53 new positive cases, 37 imported (including 6 from the US) & 16 domestic (including 6 from the Kaohsiung Port outbreak & 7 from a new cluster at a logistics company at Taoyuan).

  40. 40.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: The Army is working on a vaccine like that. I’m hopeful that it will work, and eventually we’ll be able to take it and stop worrying about having to get a booster every 6 months. People are going to continue working on this, because it affects the whole world.

  41. 41.

    Sloane Ranger

    Tuesday there were 112,458 new cases. This is a decrease of 2.2% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 103,353 (up @10k)

    Northern Ireland – 4622 (up @450)

    Scotland – 2848 (up @800)

    Wales – 1635 (down @3000).

    Deaths – There were 219 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is down by 12.3%. 185 were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 30 in Scotland and none in Wales.

    Testing – 1,217,791 tests took place on Monday, 31st. The rolling 7-day average is down by 6.7%.

    Hospitalisations – There were 15,669 people in hospital and 511 on ventilators on 31st January. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 11.9% as of 28th January.

    Vaccinations – As of 31st January, 91% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 84.2% had had 2 and 64.9% had had a 3rd shot/booster.

  42. 42.

    Soprano2

    @Sure Lurkalot: I think the omicron wave has caused a lot of the lifting of pandemic measures, which I know sounds contradictory. At least from the reporting and anecdotal data, it seems like people are going to get it no matter what we do, whether they are vaxxed and boosted and wearing a KN95 mask all the time when they’re around others or unvaxxed, so a lot of people have decided that doing all that stuff is just a PITA that has no actual result. (I had someone tell me he has a friend who’s a nurse who says vaxxed and unvaxxed people are dying of Covid at the same rate. I told him I haven’t heard that anywhere else, and I don’t believe it.) Here at the city they extended the mask requirement to February 21st, but there is no requirement that it be a surgical or better mask so most people are just wearing cloth masks, which is better than nothing. Which leads me to a question – I wear a cloth mask over the KN 95’s I got from our safety guy, because I hate the way they look but I like that they’re more protective. Am I right in thinking that will extend their useful life?

  43. 43.

    Peale

    I did get my haircut yesterday, so I’m feeling a little elated and not so afraid to look in the mirror. Cases continue to fall in the county and are at pre-omicron levels. Even with the new sub variant, I’m thinking that I can relax a bit.

  44. 44.

    lee

    @sab:

    Now he has some sort of crud with congestion and a fever, so he is waiting for test results.

    That is exactly what I have. The symptoms started yesterday. I PCR tested positive 14 Jan and had a really mild case.

  46. 46.

    Soprano2

    @Mai Naem mobile: I’ll be surprised if any of these behaviors become common and persist past the next year or two. I think some people will continue to wear masks in public when they’re sick, but otherwise I think eventually people will go back to the way they did things before. I do believe remote work will become more common, but some jobs were already trending that way before the pandemic; it gave them a big push. Most people are social and want to get together with others outside of their houses; I expect that to continue.

  48. 48.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2:

    I think this is a way out there theory. Most of the people I know feel done with Covid, whether they’re careful liberals or uncaring conservatives, and everything inbetween. Weariness with hearing about it and being affected by it is real, so the press is just reporting something that is happening.

    Hell, I’m feeling it. We’ve gone back to planning to attend lots of live music performances, which generally have vaccination and mask mandates for entry. We figure at least some of them are going to happen. We’ll wear our N95s and go. The few public events we’ve been to since the beginning of the pandemic were huge boosts to our mental health, though we knew were taking a calculated risk and one of them literally had an early Omicron outbreak that was all over the news.

    I still won’t go to movie theaters unless we can do the “rent out the whole theater for your friends” thing, because they’re completely uncontrolled and eating popcorn is part of the experience. And I’m back to thinking it’ll be a while before I will eat indoors at restaurants again.

    The weariness doesn’t necessarily mean “throw all caution to the wind, YOLO”. There are reasonable ways to manage risk if you’re up to date on vaccinations.

  49. 49.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @John S.: The GOP are doing everything they can to ensure they stay in power with the lowest amount of votes. In which case, it really doesn’t matter how many voters they actually have.

    Which is an admission that the GOP knows their voting base is eroding.  I would also point out the California GOP were it’s all about protecting their little fiefdoms.

  50. 50.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Soprano2:  I wear a cloth mask over the 95s too, because it fits better. I have a narrow face. I think it will make the 95 mask last longer but I don’t work, so the length of time I wear a mask is short.

    I realize mitigations can be relaxed at some point…even the careful Dr. Jha agrees, but he doesn’t think that is quite now and I tend to concur. Especially for our health care workers…

  51. 51.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2:

    (I had someone tell me he has a friend who’s a nurse who says vaxxed and unvaxxed people are dying of Covid at the same rate. I told him I haven’t heard that anywhere else, and I don’t believe it.)

    From all actual statistics I have seen, that is 100% false–unless the nurse is talking about raw death rates in a population where the vast majority of people are vaccinated, so our old friend the base rate comes into play. And it’d have to be a VAST majority.

    The anecdotes underplay even the extent to which being vaxxed and recently boosted cuts down on Omicron infection. It’s a factor of several. Just being “fully vaccinated” but not boosted recently, that’s not so great.

    But people want 100% and there’s a kind of folk notion of probability that divides all events into “will certainly happen”, “will certainly not happen” and “fifty-fifty”. Once you’re reasoning on that level it’s hard to even talk about these things.

  54. 54.

    The Moar You Know

    Missing and missed-Amir Khalid. Hoping for his return soon.

    @laura: I did some internet sleuthing yesterday.  Hopeless.  WAY too many people with that name in Kuala Lumpur.  I did find his account on one of the guitar forums, squier-talk.com – his stated DOB is July 17, 1961, but I put little credence in that; I don’t post my real DOB online and I don’t know why anyone would.

    His last post on the guitar forums was back in early 2020.  His last post here was Jan 4, 2022.

    Unless one of the admins has any contact info for him, and I doubt they do, I don’t think we’re going to find out anything more about the man.  He is missed.

  55. 55.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 8,310 new cases of COVID-19 reported. For technical reasons the number of deaths yesterday is not being published. 1,116 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, with 28 people in intensive care.

    These numbers are roughly stable over the past week or so, indicating a plateau of infectivity and cases requiring healthcare interventions has been reached.

    Vaccinations continue, but slowly compared to even two months ago — any adult who’s not received their first vaccination isn’t going to get vaccinated now, by the looks of things. At least some of the daily first vaccinations will be children reaching their 12th birthday and becoming eligible at that time.

  57. 57.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I still won’t go to movie theaters unless we can do the “rent out the whole theater for your friends” thing, because they’re completely uncontrolled and eating popcorn is part of the experience. And I’m back to thinking it’ll be a while before I will eat indoors at restaurants again.

    That’s pretty much where I’ve been, but starting a few weeks ago, DC started requiring proof of vaccination to get into restaurants, movie theaters, and the like.  So I’m giving some consideration to meeting with my sisters at a D.C. restaurant soon, because I do miss dining out.

  58. 58.

    West of the Rockies

    I believe that tiny, incremental shift leftward due to Republican C19 deaths could tick a bit higher.  I suspect there are those ludicrously ignorant people, happy fence-sitters, who just might now move left because Uncle Bobo and Aunt Judy croaked needlessly.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    @Matt McIrvin: Well, my husband would tell you that the death rate is 100% because we’re all going to die eventually. LOL I’m not really sure where this man is on the Covid seriousness scale, but I know he’s not a denier. I think he’s one of those who believes it’s not as serious as many health people think it is. I have a really hard time believing any nurse said that vaxxed and unvaxxed people are dying of Covid at the same rate. I’d love to talk to that person. No nurse I know has ever said anything like that to me.

  60. 60.

    The Moar You Know

    I eish we had secondary sources for people.  Are regular commentors here connected on social media, such as FB?

    @Nelle: some are but most are not.

    If I died tomorrow, not that anyone would miss me, but if I did there would simply be no way to find me or find out what happened.  I used a fake email to sign up, have never used my real name, have no social media presence and my nym here is not used anywhere else.  And I’m not the only one who does that.

  61. 61.

    Bill Arnold

    @New Deal democrat:

    After she was discharged, their doctor asked them if they were willing to get vaccinated now.
    They both refused.
    Too experimental, and unsure of the long term side effects.

    What are the long-term side effects of a novel virus that, e.g., infects different types of cells than all previous pandemic viruses? Is it better to allow such a novel virus to turn a large number of cells in one’s body into virus factories than to get vaccinated with a vaccine that causes a patch of muscle cells to express a small part of the whole virus to trigger/train the immune system?

  62. 62.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2:

    I have a really hard time believing any nurse said that vaxxed and unvaxxed people are dying of Covid at the same rate. I’d love to talk to that person. No nurse I know has ever said anything like that to me.

    I don’t have a hard time believing a nurse said that–while many nurses are medically astute people (e.g. my mother-in-law, who is a former perinatal nurse and in the pandemic has been a volunteer vaccinator), there’s also a surprising amount of alt-med lunacy in the profession. IIRC nurses were much, much less likely than doctors to run and get vaccinated when the option became available to them, and they’re more likely to be antivaxxers.

  64. 64.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @West of the Rockies: I think the folks who will move left because of COVID are much younger… folks who are kids now and grow up either with health issues from COVID or with the distruction of families thanks to the disease. If anything, the pandemic restrictions have radicalized some people who previously leaned left. This is especially true of folks whose livelihoods depended on offering in person services, like yoga or massage therapy.

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