COVID-19 infections and deaths in the Americas are still increasing, but the rise in infections seems to be slowing down in places hit earliest by the Omicron variant, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday. https://t.co/c9ZuPy5bxr
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) February 2, 2022
COVID-19 vaccines for children under 5 in the U.S. could be on the way, but some questions remain. Here’s a look at what happens next. https://t.co/bU2WUzaVvl
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2022
"Since December 1…the share of Americans who have been killed by the coronavirus is at least 63% higher than in any of these other large, wealthy nations."https://t.co/WaPjwA9P98 pic.twitter.com/cC96XBa962
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 2, 2022
One thing this useful article only kind of hints at is the extreme regional divide within the US, driven by Republican anti-vaccine propaganda and policies 1/ https://t.co/J6fcjUPp2H
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 2, 2022
New York looks like a major European country in terms of vaccination level; it's red America dragging the average down 4/ pic.twitter.com/mRwTftY2FF
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 2, 2022
The U.S. has lost 13.5 million years of life during the pandemic. 100s of 1000s more people died since 2020 than expected. Scientists know this based on a metric called excess deaths—a comparison of the recorded number of deaths vs. what would be expected https://t.co/B0V9kZ63M0
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 3, 2022
Infuriating that America's low vaccination rates are treated as some sort of unexplainable paradox rather than the predictable outcome of relentless anti-vaxx propaganda being spread by our most popular cable network. https://t.co/VTcfKbUGJO
— Michael Hobbes (@RottenInDenmark) February 2, 2022
======
Yesterday (2/1) there were 3,352,849 new #COVID19 cases worldwide & 14,303 deaths.
France reported the largest daily increase in cases (+399,668) followed by:
United States: 398,914
Germany: 211,277
Brazil: 171,251
India: 161,386
Japan: 142,451https://t.co/jhvFmFJf9a pic.twitter.com/L8OPKbZycS— KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) (@KFF) February 2, 2022
China reports 39 new COVID cases for Feb 2 vs 63 a day earlier https://t.co/NXjiozZpqU pic.twitter.com/583O38FW0W
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Beijing Games see 55 COVID-19 cases on Feb 2, highest daily tally https://t.co/Z5Nw74RJS3 pic.twitter.com/zfkuQs8oK9
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
S.Korean companies take precautions to block COVID-19 spread after holidays https://t.co/biu5s2rVF0 pic.twitter.com/b4rSbKEL1Q
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Japan is starting mass Covid boosters as #omicron cases soar. Shots are being administered at a temporary center operated by the military. Demand is intense: Online reservations started Friday but all slots for ~4300 doses were filled in 9 minutes https://t.co/BuEvYF3S0g
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 2, 2022
Hundreds of thousands of foreigners have been denied entry to study, work or visit families in Japan, which has kept its doors closed to most overseas visitors during the pandemic. Foreign students and scholars say the measures are unfair. https://t.co/Hn95VwuWFJ
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 3, 2022
New Zealand announced a phased reopening of its border that has been largely closed for two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but travel bodies said self-isolation rules need to be removed to revive the struggling tourism sector https://t.co/ZTCecDVjFL pic.twitter.com/qDhE83s3Bm
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Bali to welcome first international tourist flight amid cautious reopening https://t.co/ommTU9bJxR pic.twitter.com/49t2VVZS78
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Streets of tsunami-hit Tonga empty on first day of COVID lockdown https://t.co/POnmXY8KOz pic.twitter.com/qwTjxoyzS7
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Countries are rushing to ease pandemic restrictions, but WHO says: "Not so fast." Denmark's nightclubs are reopening. Norway is dropping its testing rule for vaccinated travelers. France says masks are no longer needed outdoors https://t.co/l75AOoakME
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 3, 2022
German vaccine commission to recommend fourth COVID-19 shot https://t.co/NU0wPmHRO4 pic.twitter.com/3dE9vXwpki
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Italy set to ease COVID restrictions, Draghi says https://t.co/csnkkvxtGj pic.twitter.com/rZXck7trYu
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 2, 2022
France's COVID vaccine pass to stay until ICUs are 'emptied', says health minister https://t.co/MXUgTDRLfe pic.twitter.com/VjyduNWfTM
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 2, 2022
Uganda:
Nearly two years after the government shut down bars, nightclubs, banned outdoor musical performances and other entertainment activities to combat COVID-19, the country's nightlife is roaring back https://t.co/GxPYL9cj71 pic.twitter.com/dyhPGUS3ds
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Mexico tops 5 million total coronavirus cases https://t.co/Rf8bcj4Qak pic.twitter.com/oeOFawyCTo
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 3, 2022
Canada police warn of guns at Ottawa anti-vaccine mandate trucker protest https://t.co/J7SdKIGToW pic.twitter.com/gNyXtITGF9
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 2, 2022
======
One nasal droplet is all it takes to become infected w/#Covid19, any variant, according to study in which volunteers were intentionally dosed.
Also, people developed symptoms very quickly – on average, wit/in 2 days – and are most infectious at Day 5.https://t.co/hswLkuGsXQ— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 2, 2022
The Covid vaccine we need now may not be a shot. Nasal vaccines under development around the world may make better boosters by stopping the coronavirus in the airways https://t.co/rb8JSQpT4K
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 3, 2022
Omicron is unlikely the end of the pandemic. The variant’s rapid spread, different vaccine strategies and varying levels of immunity worldwide make the pandemic’s future difficult to model https://t.co/Blreimu0np
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 2, 2022
Why does Covid rob people of their sense of smell? A team at NYU's med school & Columbia Univ found SARSCoV2 dials down activity of olfactory receptors, proteins on nasal nerve cells that detect odor molecules. Aggressive immune activity also plays a role https://t.co/M79aT42XDP pic.twitter.com/DUaproqqkR
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 3, 2022
======
The Army said it will immediately begin discharging soldiers who have refused to get the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine, putting more than 3,300 service members at risk of being thrown out soon. https://t.co/31O6jvDyhX
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2022
.@amymaxmen @oni_blackstock let's be clear this narrative of libs quavering behind their masks is about people, well, journalists and some docs, with privilege wanting out of the collective work of keeping others safe. https://t.co/cCRglazLQy
— Gregg Gonsalves (@gregggonsalves) January 31, 2022
This is an excellent thread as to why the minimizers of the meaning of "endemic" are wrong.
Their prescriptions will keep us in the pandemic for longer than we need to be. https://t.co/EBaNvJ8ShR
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) February 2, 2022
Glenn, here's one who died from taking Rogan and his guests' advice. Comedian Christian Cabrera, who was a big Rogan fan, died last week at age 40 from covid. He told his brother he regretted not getting vaxxed. His wife and three-year-old regret it too.https://t.co/g7RouKYc7q pic.twitter.com/YsMAHXH4zj
— Joshua Frank (@joshua__frank) February 2, 2022
Baud
A universal truth.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
There were 320 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 2/2/22.
There were 222 positive home COVID tests reported on 2/2/22.
I still haven’t seen the free COVID tests I ordered on 1/18.
lowtechcyclist
“All the news that’s fit to
printnot offend conservatives”lowtechcyclist
@NeenerNeener:
Me either. And it seems like some people received theirs a week or more ago.
Tony Jay
Ah, Glen Greenwald, the absolute nicest spin anyone can put on your poisonous squirming is that those missing porn shorts you filmed while out of your face on blue-pill and meth cocktails must be epically embarrassing. Like, “I can’t make out whose leg that is but I definitely recognise that school tie he’s using as a blindfold on the third-act piglet” embarrassing.
Meanwhile, here on Plague Island, 534 human beings died of Covid yesterday despite our Tory Government vanquishing the pandemic through a combination of pretending it’s not there and just generally being awesome and suchlike. I guess choking off the supply of tests really only made one line of the “OMFG what the f#%k have they gone and f#&#$#g done now!?!” spreadsheet fit into the column. Enough to give their Infotainer chums a mediocre woody, but not really the Dawn of Freedom they were hoping for.
lowtechcyclist
Alabama, you’ve got the rest of the Union to help you along.
What’s going wrong?
-Neil Young, half a century ago
And of course it isn’t just Alabama.
p.a.
@lowtechcyclist:
Tangental, but what has happened to the DumpDeJoy movement?!?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NeenerNeener:
I’ve not either.
Steeplejack
Redacted because read the whole post, damn it.
Nelle
@lowtechcyclist: We got ours on Monday. I first got an email saying the tests would be delivered this coming Friday, followed by an update that they would arrive on Monday. Since it’s well below freezing, I appreciated the notice so that we could grab them right away.
Texasamc
I’ve been reading here – quietly – for over a decade now and almost never, ever comment. But I wanted to thank you and the community for this daily update. It’s one of the first things I read daily and I’ve come to rely on it as a source of verifiable information about what’s happening. Thanks for your work!
Texasamc
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Mine arrived yesterday, about a week after I ordered them. I live in Orlando.
debbie
The Ohio AG turned down a citizens’ petition to put an anti-vaccination provision on the ballot for the third time. They’re as persistent as cockroaches.
Betty
@p.a.: The last thing I saw indicated that his Board approved of his plans. It’s up to Congress now, it seems.
Baud
@Betty:
I believe Biden’s nominees are still waiting Senate confirmation.
Scout211
Crosby, Still and Nash pull their music from Spotify. Source.
New Deal democrat
No State data today, as 91-Divoc has not updated. According to Our World in Data, US cases fell fellow 400,000 yesterday, meaning a decline of over 50% from peak. Deaths decreased slightly below 2500. Deaths will still probably not peak for about another 10 days.
Internationally, every country that peaked early is now showing a long tail. Only Ireland has returned to its pre-Omicron level, but has flatlined there without any further decrease. South Africa has also flatlined for over a week, at a level much higher than before Omicron. The U.K. and Canada are still declining but more slowly than before.
Matt McIrvin
The pandemic will “end” when the Republicans get back in power nationally and declare it over. Then it’ll be gone, like magic, as Donald Trump imagined, because we won’t be counting the sick or the dead. We’ll just pretend they’re not dying.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
That can’t happen before 2025. I doubt we’ll still be in pandemic conditions by then.
YY_Sima Qian
On 2/2 China reported 21 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
At Xi’an in Shaanxi Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Guangdong Province reporter 9 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 1 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 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 9 new domestic confirmed cases, 3 at Hebei District & 2 each at Binhai New District, Hedong District & Hongqiao District (7 from screen of residents in area under movement restriction & 2 found at fever clinic, all connected to the outbreak at Hebei District). 11 domestic confirmed cases recovered . There currently are 61 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron). 1 residential building was elevated to High Risk. 2 residential buildings are currently at High Risk. 2 residential buildings were elevated to Medium Risk. 5 residential buildings remain at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed case (both mild), both from persons under centralized or home quarantine, all related to the Delta outbreak at cold storage warehouses in Fengtai District. There currently are 96 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.
At Shandong Province 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 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 16 active domestic confirmed cases (5 at Xiong’an, 5 at Hengshui, 4 at Langfang & 2 at Baoding) in the province. 1 village at Hengshui was elevated to Medium Risk. 1 village at Xiong’an is currently at Medium Risk.
At Yili Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed (9 at Horgos & 3 at 4th Div. of XPCC) & 25 active domestic asymptomatic (20 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.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 12 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 village remains at Medium Risk.
Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (presumed Omicron), at Hangzhou, from persons under centralized quarantine. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 111 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.
At Henan Province 31 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 539 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Yunnan Province 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 2/2, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 95 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 100 confirmed cases recovered (51 imported), 47 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (42 imported) & 4 were reclassified as confirmed cases (1 imported), & 6,824 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,741 active confirmed cases in the country (776 imported), 8 in serious condition (1 imported), 855 active asymptomatic cases (740 imported), 0 suspect cases. 40,589 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 2/2, 3,000.893M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 290K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 2/3, Hong Kong reported 142 new positive cases, 21 imported & 121 domestic (31 of whom do not have sources of infection identified).
On 2/3, Taiwan reported 56 new positive cases, 34 imported (10 from the US 2 each from Australia , Mainland China, the Philippines, Japan & the UK, & 1 each from Thailand, Germany, Spain, Sweden & Turkey, 9 still under investigation) & 22 domestic (including 15 from the Kaohsiung Port outbreak & 6 at Taoyuan).
NorthLeft12
In the North, the pro-COVID crowd is coming out and demanding an end to any and all mandates, restrictions, masking, and any other public health guidelines to prevent the transmission of COVID. This includes the heads of any politician or public health officer who recommended/passed them.
Fortunately, the great majority of Canadians recognize these people as crazy, entitled, selfish, and dangerous. Very little public support despite what they are saying, and completely disproportionate to the amount of attention they are receiving.
In a humorous note, the “Freedom” convoy went to Ottawa to take out our PM, and ended up accelerating the ouster of the Opposition (Conservative) leader…..who met with them and was somewhat supportive of their goals. I wish his support caused his ouster, but that is definitely not the case. O’Toole was removed as their leader mainly because he lost the last election.
Conservatism cannot fail, it can only be failed…..blah blah blah.
OzarkHillbilly
TBH, I don’t. The virus has a big say in it and some strong allies in the GOP and it’s own personal propaganda outlet at FOX.
lowtechcyclist
A year ago, I thought we wouldn’t be in pandemic conditions in 2022. But here we are.
I just don’t see anymore what’s supposed to bring it to an end.
ETA: Plus what Ozark Hillbilly said about the virus’ allies.
Scout211
Remember a few days ago when those pictures of Magic Johnson and Governor Newsom (and other officials) posing with no masks on at the NFC championship game went viral? The Governor tried to defend himself by saying he had his mask on the whole time except when Magic asked him to pose for the pic. Mayor Garcetti defended himself by saying the same thing and added he held his breath the whole time he was posing for the pic.
This was really an own goal for the Governor and Mayor and has energized the anti-mask and anti-vaxx Californians. Source.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
@lowtechcyclist:
The virus will always be with us. Pandemic conditions will not be.
ETA: I don’t believe so, anyway.
Steeplejack
@lowtechcyclist:
I haven’t received my tests either. I ordered them when the news broke here, one day ahead of the official debut of the site.
OzarkHillbilly
This is true, absolutely no argument. I’m just not putting a timetable on it.
lowtechcyclist
No argument there, but it could be a while before they go away. Since Covid has adapted to reinfect people fairly soon, and kills lots of people but not enough to either slow itself down or get us to do much about it…well, from the POV of the virus, it’s found a ‘sweet spot’ that could keep it going for years.
Suzanne
@Baud: Seriously. I read “red America drags the average down” and I think, “Must be TUESDAY”.
Kay
Fox news pushed the Iraq War more than any other media outlet and Glenn Greenwald appears on Fox constantly and crows about how Fox’s ratings beat CNN and MSNBC on Twitter:
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne: Must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
NotMax
Locally,
Elsewhere,
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: The Omicron wave will end in a couple of months. I’m no virologist, but given the huge landscape of mutations I don’t see how we don’t get another wave like it from a new variant every year for the foreseeable future.
At some point, we might have something like a pan-coronavirus vaccine–but not if an antivax federal administration denies it to us.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay: Fox News is an unabashedly pro-death network, and if that GG guy were a LOTR character, he’d be Wormtongue.
Baud
@Kay:
GG is going to have a field day today. Biden took out an ISIS leader on Syria.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
There will also be better treatments.
ETA: Predicting what the virus will do is as foolish as predicting what the stock market will do.
Ken
Except Wormtongue had actual political influence.
Baud
@Baud:
On = in
Kay
@Baud:
I don’t know how he can appear on Fox after their Iraq coverage. It bled over to the sheep who run the other cable channels too. They saw that Fox was making a killing on pro war propaganda and all jumped on board. There’s an entire book about “the Fox Effect”.
Fox lagged the other networks in admitting that they didn’t find any WMD and admitting that US casualties were rising and the insurgency was taking off, too. Fox viewers believed the war was going much better than it was. They blatantly ran cover for the Bush Administration.
Glenn’s favorite cable channel was the undisputed leader in Iraq War lies.
Soprano2
I got an email saying my tests will be here on Monday. In other news, I can’t go to work because I can’t get my car out, the snow is too deep. I should have moved my husband’s vehicle last night so I could park behind it (we park on the side of the side street). Then I could have backed into the street in front of our house, which is more traveled. On well, it’s a day off.
Another Scott
@p.a.: We’re probably stuck with him.
Repost of GovExec story:
But everyone has to choose their battles.
Grrr…,
Scott.
Baud
@Kay:
Yes you do. It’s because he has no principles other than himself.
Geminid
The masking controversy made it to my small rural/exurban Greene County,* Virginia this week. In response to Governor Youngkin’s order making school masking optional, the Geeene County School Board voted 3-2 to change their policy from requiring mask wearing to “encouraging” it. Not long after the meeting, Vice-Chair Jason Collier resigned, saying that he felt his experience helping steer the school system through the pandemic was being ignored. Also that
. *Greene County lies twenty miles north of Charlottesville, and has a population of about 14 000 people.
Baud
@Another Scott:
USPS also agreed to a consent order on delivering election mail. FWIW.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Speaking of better treatments, have you seen this?
Hmmmm… Engineering our immune systems…
Guess we won’t have to share this life saving treatment with all the anti-vaxers. Who knows what this treatment does to a person 30 or 40 years later. Regardless, it’s a game changer.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
?
Another Scott
@Baud: Everything depends on what is done to end community spread. As it has from the beginning.
It’s infuriating to me that most of the reporting on the pandemic seems to imply that we can want it to be over without doing the minimal amount of work to end community spread – and it will somehow be over.
It’s a corona virus. We have experience with 4 others that infect humans. Immunity wears off. Everyone will need boosters every 5-6 months at least until community spread is crushed. Masks work to reduce spread and severity of infection. We know this. We’ve known this since around April 2020.
When the pandemic ends depends on the community. The GQP can and will make things worse given the opportunity. Look at Youngkin (Gov) and Miyares (AG) in Virginia.
Grr…,
Scott.
New Deal democrat
@lowtechcyclist:
“I just don’t see anymore what’s supposed to bring it to an end.”
This may not make me very popular, but I think a great deal of this pessimism results from the fact that both Biden and Blue State governors appear to have thrown in the towel as to COVID. No school or employment vaccination mandates from the States (remember, States absolutely have plenary public health power), no interstate travel vaccination mandates or coordination with Blue States from Biden, no revised OSHA emergency employment mandate get get Roberts and Barrett onside, no use of the Defense Production Act, no use of Presidential emergency powers at all (Trump blazed the trail here, declaring a state of emergency to erect a border fence).
When the good guys abandon the field, yeah it’s pretty depressing.
Cermet
@lowtechcyclist: Think of this virus continued spreading as training for the many other variants and new virus’s that will occur in the coming years thanks to AGW and population growth. We’ll be better prepared for the more lethal ones with better drugs and vaccines.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: My Blue State governor is a “moderate” Republican. He’s not gonna do it.
The political buzz manufacturers say that COVID control measures are politically unpopular. The people want the pandemic to be over but they REALLY don’t want to do anything to bring that about–or so the kind of people who write op-eds say.
(Personally, I think it’s more like gun control or abortion–opinion is more nuanced and there may be a plurality for stronger controls, but the other side is way more intense and will fill your voicemail with death threats, so the feeling of the vox populi leans to their side.)
That’s why I think the ultimate solution will be to retreat into lies and denial–just declare victory and be done with it.
Matt McIrvin
@Cermet:
We may be WORSE prepared because COVID has supercharged the anti-vaccine movement and caused sentiment against all vaccines. I expect to see old plagues like measles and mumps making a big comeback.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: “The political buzz manufacturers say that COVID control measures are politically unpopular”
I think we are kind of in violent agreement. I agree with the above sentiment. GOP leaders react to present public opinion by actively moving to shape and change it going forward, while Dem leaders sigh and throw up their hands.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 8,210 new cases of COVID-19 and 31 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive. Note that there were no deaths reported yesterday due to a technical issue with data collection so that figure is cumulative. At the moment there are about a hundred deaths occurring due to COVID-19 each week in Scotland.
1,083 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, with 29 people in intensive care.
Vaccinations continue but slowly, with about 0.1% of eligible people getting booster shots each day resulting in the 18+ age group creeping up towards 75%. Germany recently announced a fourth vaccination dose rollout, the Scottish government will take JCVI advice on whether to go ahead with a fourth dose in the near future. It’s likely this will happen but not soon.
Tenar Arha
@NeenerNeener: @lowtechcyclist: @BillinGlendaleCA:
? Be interesting to track where there’s slower deliveries. For reference I live in the Boston area, & I ordered the tests as soon as the website was listed on Twitter on Jan 18th. They came on Jan. 26th, a day earlier than the email I received said I’d get them. (Definitely a good thing that they arrived early before the Blizzard last weekend).
Peale
@Matt McIrvin: Yep. I doubt we’ll be able to find out that much information about the next pandemic to even take personal self-preservation measures. That’s really going to be the end game here. Or there will be an outbreak and we’ll all want to stay home, but we’ll be forced to go out and eat in restaurants because it is apparently the role of the state to guarantee business for bars and nightclubs. We’ll be fined for not doing things to catch the next plague.
Peale
I did get my tests yesterday, as did my mom. So they are getting delivered. Going to guess by next Friday, those of us who ordered them will all have them.
My girl scout cookies that I ordered were delivered in two days, though. So the GSA does appear to have more sophisticated logistics in place at the moment.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: I have repeatedly seen the inevitability of more waves used as an argument for ending all NMIs. “If we have to do this forever, why bother? Just accept that mass death from COVID will be a reality for the foreseeable future, because we can’t go on like this.”
With “like this” including simple things like wearing masks, which is the thing I really don’t understand.
The Moar You Know
@NeenerNeener: Got mine day before yesterday. Don’t be afraid to use them, expire date on mine was June 2022.
Miss Bianca
@Scout211: Good, good. May many other artists follow suit.
The Moar You Know
@Baud: I’d like an explanation of your reasoning. I’m not seeing how we get from here to there. It’s not going to be “herd immunity” (which does not exist with a virus that churns out variants like this one) or vaccinations, which a lot of the world hasn’t gotten yet and about 35% of our populace will not take.
smith
The anti-vaxxer shrieking makes it look much worse than it is: For the entire population, less than 25% are totally unvaxxed. For those who can make the decision for themselves — those over 18 — the totally unvaxxed are only 13%. Our simple-minded media, as usual, focuses on the shiny, or in this case loud, object, and gives the impression that anti-vax is a huge nationwide movement, but the numbers say otherwise.
Bill Arnold
Glenn is asserting a causal connection between media warmongering and war deaths, but denying a causal connection between working hard to convince an audience of millions that public health measures against an deadly pandemic are worthless, and the resulting pandemic deaths.
He appears to believe that nobody (or perhaps just nobody he cares about) notices his dishonesty in argumentation. Both caused mass death. People damaging public health measures against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic caused and continue to cause a very large number of human deaths, more than most wars, even if one tries to downplay COVID-19 deaths by measuring loss of life-years. Joe Rogan is committing stochastic mass murder for selfish gain (the audience size guarantees this beyond a statistical reasonable doubt), as is the Republican Party (that plus power, for the GOP). That this is difficult to prove (and perhaps even legal) in current legal systems is simply showcasing major flaws in such systems. (Tobacco companies. Sacklers. Fossil fuel extraction companies. etc)
Steeplejack (phone)
@Another Scott:
Ruckus
@Baud:
I’d say in every possible way – and some that even the most jaded wouldn’t have expected.
Ruckus
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I got mine on Tuesday.
I managed to order very shortly after the start time, I’d bet that a few million people ordering all at once and given the initial problem with apartment numbers on the ordering form, it is going to take a bit longer to get them all delivered.
Ruckus
@Matt McIrvin:
Many countries wear have a lot of people wearing mask anytime there is an air disbursed illness active within the population. They may mind the masks but they mind dying and killing others a lot more. Not our conservatives, they take the live free or die mantra to a much farther degree than was originally intended.