Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

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

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Giving up is unforgivable.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

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

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Feb. 10-11

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Feb. 10-11

by | 108 Comments

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======

… China has had scattered outbreaks in the past month, but none related to the Olympics. On Friday, health authorities reported 22 new cases in an outbreak in Liaoning province, east of Beijing.

None of the 450 confirmed infections inside the loop have spread to others in the bubble, Huang Chun, a pandemic control official, said earlier this week. And there have been no reports of anything medically serious.

The possibility of a large outbreak inside the bubble, potentially sidelining athletes from competitions, has been a greater fear than any leakage into the rest of China…

The final test will come after the Games, when thousands of Olympic staff and volunteers from China exit the bubble. They are expected to be required to quarantine for a week or more before leaving to try to forestall the effects of any latent infections they might have.

China’s zero-tolerance policy has kept the virus at bay. Health authorities have reported 4,636 deaths since the start of the pandemic, a tiny fraction of those in other major nations. Most date from the initial outbreak in early 2020 that overwhelmed the health system in the city of Wuhan…

China’s relative success may make exiting its zero tolerance strategy more difficult. Most of the nation’s 1.4 billion people have not been exposed to the virus, so they haven’t developed antibodies that way. And while the vaccination rate is high, the emergence of new variants such as omicron may make the vaccines in use less effective.

For at least the near future, that means anyone caught in an outbreak could face lockdowns and repeated testing — and those coming to China will be isolated in a hotel room for two weeks or more. The repercussions from the 2-year-old pandemic keep marching on.

======

‘Natural immunity’ is NOT A THING:

======

it’s this fantasy scenario that if everyone got paid a lot of money to stay home, indefinitely, forever, then everyone would stay home. it completely ignores the logistics of this (which are basically impossible to control), as well as the desire for it (no one wants this now).

a thing that never, ever gets addressed in these fantasy situations is the inevitable crackdown when people do not *want* to stay home, and the staggering number of powerful firearms that reside in the private homes of the people who do not want to stay home.

unless you are open and honest about the fact that any lockdown would, at this point, end up in a non-zero number of dead civilians, dead police officers, and dead members of the national guard, i don’t give a shit about your fantasies, you don’t know what you’re talking about.

if you’re *not* talking about lockdowns and checks and forced business closures, then, really, what you’re talking about are much smaller and probably localized efforts. which is fine. not sure how much they actually matter, but fine.

i’m just really tired of all covid discourses being primarily driven by hypotheticals that don’t bear any resemblance to reality. it’s been over two years. there’s no good reason for pretending we live in a world that’s very different from the one we all know that we live in.

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    282 new cases as of 2/10/22.
    Still no test kits in the mail.

    Hospitalizations:

    118 cases in the hospital; 68.6% unvaxed
    14 cases in the ICU; 71.4% unvaxed
    9 of these cases are intubated as well, 66.6% unvaxed

  2. 2.

    Cermet

    That an insane judge decides to over rule all other courts and violate the separation of powers clause in the constitution was inevitable considering the fascists’ grab for power of the minority rightwing. This plan has been developing since Nixon’s Sothern strategy and Ray-guns “drown the government” (i.e. eliminate social programs only).

  3. 3.

    lowtechcyclist

    “Republican strategists have described the pandemic to Nightly as a godsend…”

    Tell me you’re a sociopath without telling me you’re a sociopath.

  4. 4.

    Matt McIrvin

    What is the effectiveness of a prior COVID infection in preventing symptomatic reinfection?

    I assume they’re talking about any prior COVID infection at any point in the past, not prior Omicron infection specifically. Having recently gotten Omicron has to be more protective than that against Omicron, or we would never see the Omicron spike recede like it has–it would just perpetually infect everyone. Of course, this may not last long-term.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Locally,

    Hawaii Department of Health officials today reported six new coronavirus-related deaths and 1,195 new confirmed and probable infections statewide, bringing the state’s totals since the start of the pandemic to 1,239 fatalities and 229,531 cases.

    Three of the latest deaths were on Oahu and three were on Maui. No further information was immediately available regarding the latest deaths.
    [snip]
    Today’s new confirmed and probable infection count includes 815 new cases on Oahu, 131 on Hawaii island, 101 on Maui, 108 on Kauai, nine on Lanai and 31 Hawaii residents diagnosed outside the state. Source

    Elsewhere,

    Nevada and its casinos stopped requiring people to wear masks in public today, joining most other U.S. states lifting restrictions that were imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus.

    Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced that the state no longer required face coverings in most places, “effective immediately.”

    But to avoid having students rip off their masks in class, he said rules for schools remained in place until the end of the day.

    “Masks are not required for students and teachers and employees beginning tomorrow morning,” the governor said.

    The Nevada Gaming Control Board quickly followed with an order lifting the face-covering rule for casinos “unless a local jurisdiction still imposes such a requirement.”

    The governor said locations in Nevada where masks may still be required include hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities, at airports and on aircraft and on public buses and school buses. He said masks aren’t mandatory anymore in jails and correctional facilities.

    Sisolak, who is seeking reelection in November, had been under increasing pressure to relax regulations. He acknowledged a wide divergence of opinion about mask mandates and said employers and school districts can still set their own policies.
    [snip]
    In Las Vegas, administrators of the nation’s fifth-largest school district followed Sisolak’s announcement with a statement lifting the mask rule for teachers and students on campuses, but keeping the requirement for masks on school buses. Source

    Britain’s Prince Charles has tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating, his office said Thursday.
    [snip]
    Charles, 73, met dozens of people during a large reception at London’s British Museum on Wednesday evening. He was accompanied by his wife Camilla, and was in close contact with Britain’s Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, among others.

    Charles’ office, Clarence House, confirmed that he is triple vaccinated. It was not immediately clear what his condition was.

    Charles previously contracted the coronavirus in March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic. Officials said he had mild COVID-19 symptoms then, and Charles said later that Charles and Camilla isolated in Scotland at the time. Source

  7. 7.

    Matt McIrvin

    Not silly. But I would love to know if you could prove Putin took an American vaccine and not Sputnik via a furtive DNA sample.

    I am pretty sure you could not prove that.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    Based on the Kiwis I’ve met, I had no idea there was much anger in the country. Is there any information on who’s funding the NZ protest?

  9. 9.

    Kay

    Matthew Gertz
    @MattGertz
    ·19h
    UPDATE: Fox News spent at least 8 hours and 43 minutes covering the Canadian truckers protests against vaccine mandates through yesterday, with more than 4 and a half hours of it coming this Mon/Tues/Wed.

    No one has to pretend the US Right isn’t backing/promoting this. They are. Blaring out free advertising for hours and hours across all their media.

  10. 10.

    mrmoshpotato

    Germany’s highest court has refused to temporarily block the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care and nursing home workers that is due to take effect in mid-March.

    Nice to see Germany isn’t being a slapdick with vaccine mandates.

  11. 11.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports a whopping 20,939 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,996,361 cases. It also reports 10 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,075 deaths – 1.07% of the cumulative reported total, 1.12% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 1.51.

    86 confirmed cases are in ICU, 37 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 5,807 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,841,271 patients recovered – 94.8% of the cumulative reported total.

    20 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,575 clusters. 410 clusters are currently active; 6,165 clusters are now inactive.

    20,818 new cases today are local infections. 121 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 173,428 doses of vaccine on 10th February: 18,343 first doses, 1,739 second doses, and 153,346 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 64,611,898 doses administered: 26,161,500 first doses, 25,728,912 second doses, and 12,926,703 booster doses. 80.1% of the population have received their first dose, 78.8% their second dose, and 39.6% their booster dose.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I think they want everyone to stop talking about covid completely. They’re “over it”.

    Except for the Canadian trucker antivaxx protest, which they’re all promoting:

    Bari Weiss
    @bariweiss
    20h
    Justin Trudeau still hasn’t met with #FreedomConvoyCanada2022. But
    @rupasubramanya
    has. She spoke to more than 100 truckers and protestors ​​over the past 10 days. This is what they seek:

    It’s not enough that the US be “over” covid- they demand all other countries pretend it’s no longer happening too.

  13. 13.

    New Deal democrat

    Deaths in the US rose slightly to 2550. Cases are now down almost 75% from peak about four weeks ago, but at a little over 200,000 are still above every previous peak except last winter. Almost 24% of all Americans have had a *confirmed* case. Probably 50% have actually been infected at some point. With 65% of Americans having received at least 2 shots, that suggests that almost 85% have at least some resistance.

    All US Census regions are now down at least 2/3’s. The Northeast is down 89%, and is down YoY.

    The early affected States of the Northeast corridor are all down approximately to their levels of last mid-April. If they were to continue to decline like last year, they would match their pandemic lows in 2 months. If they continue to decline as they have since their Omicron peaks, that is only 4 weeks away.

    On the other hand, ID has been flat for the past 6 days. MS and MT have also been essentially flat. FL has been rising for the past week, but this may just reflect haphazard weekly reporting that may disappear in a couple of days.

    Internationally deaths are down from peak roughly 25% in Canada, Israel, and the U.K. Data is too noisy to tell for Ireland. Deaths have risen in South Africa by About 25% in the past week, but as noted yesterday, this may be due to that country’s haphazard and delayed reporting of this data.

    Cases continue to decline in Canada, Israel, Portugal, and (slightly) in South Africa and the U.K., but are rising again in Denmark. Ireland has been flat for over two weeks.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    Bari Weiss
    @bariweiss
    20h
    Justin Trudeau still hasn’t met with #FreedomConvoyCanada2022

    Weird how none of these people insisted Donald Trump meet with BLM protestors in the US. BLM protestors block a street for 4 hours, they’re outraged. Antivaxx protestors block an international bridge for days and throw thousands of people out of work and they’re cheering them on.

    Some protestors are just better than others.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I can’t imagine they have much of a future. They’re all independents and I’d bet the companies whose products aren’t getting out the door won’t be kindly disposed toward the truckers going forward.

  21. 21.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 2/10 China reported 56 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. As the province does not breakdown recoveries between domestic & imported cases, I cannot track the count of active cases in parts of the province.

    • At Zhuhai there currently are 16 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city.
    • Shenzhen did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 residential & 1 office buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Yunfu there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all part of the Omicron transmission chain spreading from Shenzhen.
    • At Huizhou there currently are 6 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, part of the Omicron transmission chain spreading from Shenzhen.
    • In the rest of the province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (1 each at Heyuan & Meizhou) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Guangzhou) cases.

    Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 33 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 220 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Baise reported 33 new domestic confirmed cases, most in the rural Debao County, all part of the same transmission chain. There currently are 219 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city, most of whom are residents in the same village, all part of the transmission chain spreading from Shenzhen in Guangdong. 1 village at Debao County is currently at High Risk, & a hotel is currently at Medium Risk.
    • In the rest of the province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Chongzuo) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic (1 each at Nanning & Chongzuo) cases.

    At Shaoyang in Hunan Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain spreading from Shenzhen in Guangdong.

    At Tianjin Municipality 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 32 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron). 2 residential buildings remain at High Risk. 5 residential buildings remain at Medium Risk.

    Beijing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. As Beijing does not separate recoveries between imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the number of active cases on the city. 1 High Risk village has been re-designated to Medium Risk. 1 community remains at High Risk. 1 Medium Risk community & 1 Medium Risk residential compound have been re-designated to Low Risk. 1 community, 1 village & 1 residential building remain at Medium Risk.

    Liaoning Province reported 22 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed& 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Huludao reported 21 new domestic confirmed cases, found via mass screening, all members of 4 family clusters at Suizhong County. There currently are 22 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. The genetic sequences of the outbreak there is highly identical to those at Mudanjiang in Heilongjiang. 1 village at Suizhong County has been elevated to High Risk, & a residential compound there has been elevated to Medium Risk.
    • Shenyang reported 1 new domestic confirmed (moderate) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. All are persons recently returned from Huludao, & have been under centralized quarantine since 2/8. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • At Dalian there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city.

    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 Fengtai District in Beijing.

    At Datong in Shanxi Province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.

    At Hebei Province there currently are 18 active domestic confirmed cases (5 at Xiong’an, 5 at Hengshui, 6 at Langfang & 2 at Baoding) in the province, all part of the transmission chain from the cold storage warehouses outbreak in Fengtai District in Beijing. 1 village at Hengshui remains at Medium Risk.

    At Yili Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 1 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (3 at 4th Div. of XPCC & 1 at Horgos) & 5 active domestic asymptomatic (3 at 4th Div. of XPCC & 2 at Horgos) cases at the border crossing. 2 residential compounds & 1 residential building were re-designated to Low Risk. 2 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.

    Heilongjiang Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Heihe, both found via mass screening. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed (all at Mudanjiang) & 49 active domestic asymptomatic (10 at Heihe, 34 at Mudanjiang, 4 at Qiqihar & 1 at Suihua) cases in the province. 2 residential buildings are Heihe have been elevated to Medium Risk. 5 residential buildings at Heihe are currently at Medium Risk. 3 residential compounds, 8 residential buildings, 3 residential building units, 4 office buildings & a produce market at Mudanjiang remain at Medium Risk.

    At Shanghai Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.

    Zhejiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. As the province does not regularly publish recoveries, I can no longer trace the count of active cases on there. 8 residential compounds, 4 businesses & 1 shop at Hangzhou remain at Medium Risk.

    At Huanggang in Hubei Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city, part 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.

    Suzhou in Jiangsu Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, an import logistics worker, found via bi-daily regular screening. The 246 traced F1 & F2 close contacts, as well as 14,316 related persons, have been identified & have all tested negative to date.

    Tongren in Guizhou Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (moderate), a truck driver who traveled from Huludao in Liaoning, entering Guizhou on 2/7. On 2/9, the case was identified a close contact of domestic positive cases reported by Huludao in Liaoning, & was directed to nearest service area & was sent to centralized quarantine, testing positive on 2/10.

    At Henan Province 38 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 222 active domestic confirmed cases in the province. 

    At Yunnan Province there currently are 8 active domestic confirmed (3 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 2/10, China reported 45 new imported confirmed cases (10 previously asymptomatic), 61 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:

    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 7 confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 2 Chinese nationals returning from Russia & 1 each from Japan, Kazakhstan (via Istanbul), Thailand & Turkey, & a foreign national coming from Japan; 20 asymptomatic cases, 6 Chinese nationals returning from Russia, 2 each from Japan, Turkey & Venezuela (via Istanbul), & 1 each from Cyprus & Singapore, 5 foreign nationals coming from Turkey & 1 from Cyprus (via Istanbul)
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Hong Kong & 1 from Japan; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Indonesia
    • Yangjiang Port in Guangdong Procaine – 2 confirmed cases (both previously asymptomatic), both Chinese crew members off a cargo ship w/ last port of call in the Philippines
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case (1 previously asymptomatic), coming from the UAE; 3 asymptomatic cases, 2 coming from Hong Kong & 1 from the UAE
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Hong Kong
    • Shanghai Municipality – 12 confirmed cases, 4 Chinese nationals returning from the US, 3 from Canada & 1 each Congo-Brazzaville (Paris CdG), Japan, Romania (via Vienna) & Serbia (via Vienna), & a Polish national coming from the US
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 10 confirmed cases, 9 Indian crew members off a cargo ship & a Singaporean national coming from Singapore
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 3 confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), the new positive case coming from Japan; 3 asymptomatic cases, 1 each from Canada, Japan & South Korea
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases (both previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Japanese national coming from Japan
    • Jinan in Shandong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national coming from the UAE; the case had entered China on 1/22, passed through the 14 days of centralized quarantine at port of entry & tested negative multiple times, upon release from quarantine on 2/5 the case flew back to Jinan & re-entered centralized quarantine, testing positive on 2/9
    • Rizhao in Shandong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Canada
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed cases, no information released, yet
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Myanmar; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Laos & Myanmar; all via land border crossings
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 6 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Beijing Municipality – 5 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals each returning from Cambodia & Russia
    • Chongqing Municipality – 2 asymptomatic cases, both coming from Singapore

    Overall in China, 105 confirmed cases recovered (49 imported), 48 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (44 imported) & 10 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 3,290 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,424 active confirmed cases in the country (636 imported), 5 in serious condition (1 imported), 832 active asymptomatic cases (746 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 38,682 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 2/10, 3,029.588M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 6.942M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 2/11, Hong Kong reported 1,325 new positive cases, 2 imported & 1,323 domestic.

    On 2/11, Taiwan reported 79 new positive cases, 61 imported & 18 domestic.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    Via reddit

    The Ontario government says it has successfully petitioned a court to freeze access to millions of dollars donated through online fundraising platform GiveSendGo to the convoy protesting COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa and at several border crossings

  24. 24.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Anti-vaxx protestors on the Right in Canada should get a formal meeting with the head of state to negotiate terms- maybe they’ll allow passage on that bridge if the Canadian goverment meets their demands-  anti police brutality protestors on the Left in the US should all be immediately arrested.

    The same group of people who demanded BLM be shut down to “restore order” are enthusiastically promoting anti-vaxx protestors shutting down the whole Canadian auto industry, with its thousands of hourly workers. These people understand that Canada is the largest trading partner for the whole Great Lakes region in the US, right? That this game they’re playing might affect their own country?

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: It’s up and down. We dropped off some soup and bread I made for them on Tuesday. She looked OK but mentioned that she had just woken up after sleeping for almost 20 hrs straight. My wife went to Walmart for them last night and said that K had been hammered hard the past 24 hours. I didn’t ask for details.

  29. 29.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Day after day of continous coverage on Fox and all across Right wing commercial media isn’t enough- the truckers are being cancelled, so the “contrarians” have taken up their cause. That the “contrarians” consistently take up the same causes all of Right wing commercial media are also promoting doesn’t matter. If it’s on Tucker they’re for it.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    In fairness, I would support Biden meeting with BLM and oppose him meeting with antivax truckers.  I don’t feel the need to treat both causes as if fhey have equal value.

  33. 33.

    Brantl

    So, when will the Canadian police start ticketing these vehicles, and then impounding them? I don’t understand why they don’t. Impound just one of those assholes’ semis, and I bet you they start moving out of there……..

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay: Yeah, I know.  Weiss is even more of a slapdick.

    Also,

    the truckers are being cancelled

    Aw man!  I loved that show! ?

  39. 39.

    Cermet

    @Kay: Racism runs deep in this country – to its very bones with its constitution built upon preserving slavery (i.e. rightwing extremism by a minority over a majority.)

  40. 40.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Of course it will. “The auto industry” isn’t just assembly. It’s huge and complex and all interconnected. If they’re not assembling them they’re not bringing in the parts that they would need for the next round of assembly.

  41. 41.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud: They don’t have equal value.  BLM has a legitimate concern (can’t think of a better description right now), and the anti-vaxx asshats are a bunch of plague rat brats.

  44. 44.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Brantl:

    So, when will the Canadian police start ticketing these vehicles, and then impounding them? I don’t understand why they don’t. Impound just one of those assholes’ semis, and I bet you they start moving out of there……..

    Don’t know for sure, but I’ve heard that the 14- and 18-wheelers are only a part of the problem, that a lot of regular cars and pickup trucks have joined in as well.

    I expect that towing a big rig requires a specialized tow truck, and there may be but so many of them, because how often do you see an 18-wheeler being towed?  But there are plenty of tow trucks that can remove ordinary cars and pickup trucks.  So to the extent that they’re part of the problem, you’d think they’d be cleared out by now.

  45. 45.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    Sure, but a fascist would come to the opposite conclusion. 

    True, but fuck ’em.  Fuck ’em off of the Ambassador Bridge into the Detroit River.

  46. 46.

    Peale

    @Kay: I would not be surprised to find out that the protest’s expansion to Windsor hasn’t been facilitated financially by a certain libertarian electric car company owner whose vehicles were just recalled because they ran stop signs.

  47. 47.

    Spanky

    Republican Governor to the core:

    BALTIMORE —

    As the push to drop mask mandates in schools grows, Gov. Larry Hogan is weighing in on the debate, asking the Maryland State Board of Education to rescind of its policy.

    The governor’s mask recommendation comes only a few days after a group of Republican lawmakers began applying pressure to state board to back away from masking.

    “We are making recommendations to the state Board of Education, which is also independent, you know, folks that represent the entire state, to say we think it’s time to take a look,” Hogan said at a news conference Tuesday.

    The governor sent a letter to the state Board of Education, writing, in part: “In light of dramatic improvements to our health metrics and the widespread availability of vaccines, I am calling on you to take action to rescind this policy.”

    As for the board’s response, it continues to rely upon “science, research and guidance from public health experts, including the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the Maryland Department of Health in its efforts to ensure schools remain safely open.”

    In a letter responding to the governor, Maryland State Board of Education President Clarence Crawford pointed to the so-called off-ramps to the board’s policy that local school districts can take if certain COVID-19 metrics are met.

    “The Maryland State Board of Education is watching with optimism as COVID-19 metrics improve in the state,” Crawford wrote.

    Good on the BOE.

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @lowtechcyclist: Yes, large tow trucks, not exactly uncommon along any interstate. The tow service in St. Clair MO has 6-8 of them on hand. It’s quite a show to watch them right a rolled big rig, especially when the terrain fights them.

  52. 52.

    gvg

    @NeenerNeener: I got mine 1 week after I ordered it. Of course I am in Florida where the weather is not a big factor and possibly our high case rates made us a priority.  At this point I think you should look on the website for info on how to report a lost order. It just doesn’t seem right. Many of us reported we got ours quickly. your order seems like an outlier.

  53. 53.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Greece: seems to have stabilized a bit, at the higher post-Omicron levels. Numbers from February 10 were 19,154 new cases, positivity rate of 6.02%, 93 dead, and 516 in ICUs.

    At least Greece doesn’t have an opposition party that’s actively sabotaging measures to fight the pandemic and then blaming the party in power for not overcoming their sabotage. Still any number of COVIDiots out there, but they’re fringe, unlike in the US where they’re fbeeping entrenched.

  55. 55.

    New Deal democrat

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I have wondered whether US-Canada crossings allow both countries’ police agencies to operate over the entire length of the crossing. If it is deemed a water crossing, maybe. Here’s the link:
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/cross-border-policing-provokes-sovereignty-worries-1.1162116

    “The Integrated Cross Border Law Enforcement Operations Act now makes it possible for American officers to cross the border into Canada where, as the act states, they have ‘the same power to enforce an act of Parliament as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.’ This means they’ll be armed and have the powers to arrest suspects in Canadian territory.”

    The Act was limited to water, but a provision for land crossings was said to be in the works.

    If Trudeau got a little creative, he could decide to apply the Act and allow the trucks to be towed off the bridge from the US side. I’m not sure how that would play with Canadian public opinion, though.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I don’t think Tesla can run Tesla, let alone shut down their competitors. Every single person I have spoken to who has worked there says it’s poorly run. Obviously anecdotal but they were recruited to work there and none of them stay.

  59. 59.

    Soprano2

    @Brantl:So, when will the Canadian police start ticketing these vehicles, and then impounding them? I don’t understand why they don’t. Impound just one of those assholes’ semis, and I bet you they start moving out of there……..

    I have wondered the same thing. The answer I’ve gotten here from Canadians is that the local and provincial governments where these protests are happening are Conservative, and are sympathetic to the protesters. I think it’s gone well beyond that, though – I can imagine how the average citizen of Ottawa feels about their city government at this point, and the provincial government that’s over the bridge to Detroit cannot be too popular at this point either. I think if you started writing tickets and towing off vehicles, a lot of people would leave. I’d be for fire hoses and teargas at this point, too.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    @Peale:

    I just think this is how it’s going to be every time the Right loses an election. They’ll deny they lost, then they’ll work against anything positive in the country until they’re in power again. These are people who actively and enthusiastically misinformed their own voters and viewers about a virus that could kill them, to stick it to the libs. That’s what they are. They probably cut the GOP vaccination rate by 20 points or better. It’s thousands dead- not liberals- Fox watchers. Awful to say, but that’s what happened. Fox knows their viewers are older then the average, they know older people are at higher risk. They don’t care. If it gives the GOP an edge in the midterms they’ll happily sacrifice some people.

  61. 61.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Spanky: Republican Governor to the core:

    Thank goodness we only have to put up with him for the rest of this year.

    I remain convinced that we were only able to keep Calvert County schools open over the past couple of months because of the mask mandate.  The kiddo’s high school had 52 students and staff test positive between the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks, and another 48 during January, even with our delayed (snow) return to classes after the break.

    If not for masks, those students and staff would have infected many others, and we’d have had hundreds of cases both before and after the Christmas break.  It would have been a shitshow.

    And there’s no reason to think that his high school was exceptional in this regard.

    I’ll be letting the state BOE know how I feel.

  63. 63.

    Another Scott

    The framing of stories like the AP news piece about China and the Olympics continues to infuriate me.

    “Yeah, only 4636 deaths (most very early on), and they haven’t had tens of millions get sick and miss work or school and thereby cost the economy trillions, but on the other hand, travelers have to spend an extra week in a hotel. Both sides!!1”

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  64. 64.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I asked one of the Trump supporters here if he thought any election where the Republican lost was legitimate. He hesitated a long time before he said “Well, sure”, but he also told me he only trusted the MO election result because Trump won. They have been convinced that if they don’t win an election it’s because there was rampant cheating (translation is that too many black people voted). I wonder if they realize that’s not how democracies work, not at all. That’s how dictatorships like Russia work.

  65. 65.

    Ken

    @Kay:  They’ll deny they lost, then they’ll work against anything positive in the country until they’re in power again.

    “Until” kind of implies they’d change after getting power…

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Ford is looking at flying in some auto parts to a plant in Windsor, Ontario that produces engines for popular models, an official with the union representing auto workers at the plant said on Thursday.

    Mike Stopay, director of Toronto-area cargo specialist Pacer Air Freight, said he had received requests from some auto-parts and pharmaceutical companies to transport products by air due to the protests on the vital Ambassador Bridge. Source

  67. 67.

    JMG

    @Soprano2: In 1971, Prime Minister Trudeau’s father invoked a 1914 law basically giving him the power to declare martial law in response to a series of kidnappings by Quebec separatists. Law’s still on the books.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @NotMax:

     an official with the union representing auto workers at the plant said on Thursday.

    Right wing populism! Deny thousands of people the ability to earn an hourly wage! The Party of the Working Class.

  69. 69.

    germy

    “I believe the children are our future…”

    https://wnyt.com/commit-to-kids/ballston-spa-mask-mandate-protest/6388146/?cat=10114

    Upstate NY high school students don’t want no masks.

    BALLSTON SPA – A number of high schoolers in Ballston Spa refused to wear masks on Thursday.

    The district says those students are now doing their schoolwork in the library.

    Superintendent Ken Slentz says “from a Civics instruction perspective, this is a really interesting day,” and that no students are being disciplined at this time. However, Slentz says he told students there has to be a level of reasonableness, so school operations aren’t disrupted. If it gets to that point, Slentz says they may have to make different choices as administrators. 

    There’s a photo of them in the link.  They don’t represent the views of all students, just the dumb ones.

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott: There is no way any Western government could have handled Covid the way China has. That can only be done in a dictatorship.

    I heard a story yesterday about more liberal states lifting their mask mandates. In the story, they said the governors were getting a lot of pressure from vaccinated people, who feel that they are being punished to protect the (idiots) people who refuse to get vaccinated and want the measures lifted. I don’t know that I believe that, but it’s what the story said. I also think the nature of Omicron contributed to this – several times I’ve heard “people get it even though they wear masks and are vaccinated and do other stuff, so why would you still wear masks?”.  There is also frustration that no one will say when the measures should end. I do think there is some validity to this – if you won’t give people a measurable way to know when the Covid measures should end, and instead say “not yet”, people start to feel that the authorities never want to end things. Unfortunately, I think this is a battle that our side has lost (it never even won in my state). I think the best people can do is protect themselves in whatever way they’re most comfortable with.

  71. 71.

    Fair Economist

    My mother and stepfather have both had COVID. Both are triple vaxxed, but dependent on 24/7 assistance, and as my mother says “with all the people that come through here every day it was inevitable”. My mother got molnupiravir and was over it in a week. My stepfather wouldn’t see the doctor and has had it 2 weeks and is still testing positive. Too late for molnupiravir.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    @JMG: I also read somewhere that the province where this is happening passed a law that makes it easier for them to disband protesters (in response to the pipeline protests), but refuse to use the law against this protest (I won’t call them truckers since I know most of them aren’t actually truck drivers).

  73. 73.

    NorthLeft12

    @Kay: The main goal of this convoy is to overthrow the recently re-elected government of Canada. What politician in their right mind would meet with these seditious anarchists?

    Oh right, the Conservatives would….because they are not the government being threatened and they feel like they will benefit from their protest.

    I see that the current temporary Con leader has changed her tune and is now “begging” the protestors across Canada to pull up stakes and go home. I think some of their corporate owners have explained to her how very bad this is for business. I would be willing to bet that they will not listen to her. They smell blood and most of them will not give up.

  74. 74.

    Kay

    @germy:

    Scott Morefield
    @SKMorefield
    · Feb 9
    Dr. Lucy McBride dismantles school mask mandates on CNN:
    “We don’t have good, clear, real-world evidence that masking kids in schools has a meaningful effect on transmission … It’s not appropriate to mandate it when the benefits aren’t clear and the harms are non-zero.”

    Cheered on and promoted by major media. “Ignore the rules at your school! No one is the boss of you!”

    Public schools should be run by the loudest and most obnoxious parents. That’ll work out great.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: Disagree.  Look at New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea.  There’s a lot of nuance in possible responses and the US has been particularly bad in too many areas.  And the framing matters a lot.  When the press relentlessly says that the economy is damaged because people can’t freely infect everyone they come in contact with (when the actual reality is the polar opposite), then it’s little wonder that people think that the pandemic is over…

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  78. 78.

    NorthLeft12

    @Soprano2: Yes Alberta did. They “encouraged” the local municipality to use this law, but said they just pass the laws and they don’t enforce them. This, of course, is total horseshit.

    It was a given that this law was only going to be used against indigenous and environmental protestors…..never against “real Albertans”.

  79. 79.

    NorthLeft12

    @JMG: That use was wrong and the biggest stain on P. E. Trudeau’s career. There is no reason to declare martial law. The protestors are breaking enough laws now to warrant arrest and serious charges.

    I think the challenge will be to get the trucks out of the way. It will take time, but they have to start right away.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @NorthLeft12:

    We give the Right wing a lot of credit in the US for their successful panics, political tactics, etc. but they throw so much shit at the wall some of it is bound to stick. There’s no guarantee this works out for them. It could easily backfire. If they really do manage to impact US industry in a meaningful way- and trade with Canada is particularly important in one region of the US, the Great Lakes states-  US governors will be under pressure to do something about it too.

    My approach would be to borrow a page from the Right and act is if the backlash is already occurring. Go out and announce you’re on the side of manufacturing jobs and cross border trade. It’s a strong position. Hell, given a choice is it even a question which side of that is more likely to prevail with the public?  Make them pick a side. They can be on the side of anti-vaxxers blocking a bridge. The pro manufacturing jobs and cross border trade “side” already exists. Announce you’re one of them. “I stand with the auto workers who want only to go to work and get paid”. Is that hard?

  81. 81.

    NorthLeft12

    @New Deal democrat: Apparently the US has offered assistance to remove the vehicles. If Canada accepts this help it will be tremendously embarrassing and potentially divisive, but it is getting to the point where something needs to be done to clear the border crossings.

    Chances are that protestors will set up farther away from the bridge if the bridge can be cleared and held open.

  83. 83.

    New Deal democrat

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Upon further thought, all that is needed is for US authorities to give Canadian police and tow trucks permission to cross into the US (presumably surreptitiously using another entry point), assemble, and then mount their operation from the US side.

    I doubt there would be any objection to that from the US or Michigan governments. Heck, the truckers might be so surprised, they might still have their keys on them when arrested, so tow trucks won’t be needed.

    ETA: this presumes Canada’s federal government has control over border crossings. If they don’t, that’s a pretty serious problem for Canada.

  84. 84.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 7,341 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday and 11 new reported deaths of people who have tested positive. These numbers have plateaued, pretty much.

    902 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19 with 21 people in intensive care. These numbers continue to fall, slowly.

  87. 87.

    New Deal democrat

     

    @NotMax: “And if the drivers in retaliation deflate (or worse, slash) the tires?”

    That would be a bitch for them when their damaged trucks are dragged to the US side and impounded.

    Also, as I said above, an operation mounted by Canadian police from the US side in the middle of the night would probably take them by such surprise that they wouldn’t have time.

  88. 88.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: Do you know how much a semi tire costs? I doubt very much they would fuck with their own vehicles, especially when the insurance won’t cover the damage.

  89. 89.

    lowtechcyclist

    Also, deflating isn’t hard to deal with. When I had a slow leak last year, I bought a gizmo for $20 that you hook up to the used-to-be-a-cigarette-lighter thing in your car, and it’ll pump up your tires.  I’m sure tow trucks carry bigger, faster, better versions.

  93. 93.

    Soprano2

    @Another Scott: Three of those are islands, and South Korea is relatively physically isolated. I agree that it’s a lot easier to control Covid when you’re an island, and when the people trust the government. We fail at both metrics.

  94. 94.

    Sloane Ranger

    Thursday in the UK we had 66,638 new cases. This is a reduction of 25.2% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,

    England – 53,993 (down 5200)

    Northern Ireland – 3609 (down 228)

    Scotland – 7275 (up 3479)

    Wales – 1761 (up 373).

    Deaths – There were 206 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is a reduction of 20.1% in the rolling 7-day average. 170 deaths were in England, 7 in Northern Ireland, 24 in Scotland and 5 in Wales.

    Testing – 1,170,469 tests took place on Wednesday, 9th. The rolling 7-day average is down by 8.9%.

    Hospitalisations – There were 13,126 people in hospital and 432 on ventilators on Wednesday, 9th. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 10.7% as of 6 February.

    Vaccinations – As of 9th February, 91.2% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 84.6% had had 2, and 65.5% had had a 3rd shot/booster.

  95. 95.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    @Kay: But
    @rupasubramanya
    has. She spoke to more than 100 truckers and protestors ​​over the past 10 days. This is what they seek:

    Rupa (who works for the right of centre agitator National Post) has also had some numbing levels of stupid takes during the occupation.

    For example, last weekend she amplified a stupid take that hotel rooms were not available and that it must must mean that the government has booked them all up. She was subsequently ratioed by Twitter users showing booking availability the next day from various travel sites.

    This comes after her previous stupid takes about Ottawa’s downtown being a haven for drugs, and being a stenographer for BJP stories out of India.

    So yeah I guess if Bari Weiss supports her it’s not a surprise…idiotic kindred spirits hanging out together.

  96. 96.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    @JMG: but he has to get the go ahead from the provincial premier. Pierre Trudeau got it from the premier of Quebec in 71. Fucknut conservative premiers aren’t doing so with Justin.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2:

    I also think the nature of Omicron contributed to this – several times I’ve heard “people get it even though they wear masks and are vaccinated and do other stuff, so why would you still wear masks?”.

    That also reduces the sense that the unvaccinated are the main danger, though. If vaccinated people are a large number of those getting infected and pumping out virus, and vaccination mostly keeps them from getting really sick, can we still say that? It seems to me that it instead validates a “defense in depth” posture where even vaccinated people need to take additional precautions.

    (Yes, vaccination DOES reduce your chances of infection and likely the amount of virus you’ll transmit if you do get infected. But it’s a less sure thing than it used to be.)

  99. 99.

    Kalakal

    Mrs Kalakal is now 16 days post knee replacement and is now on the masses of prednisone phase. Florida is not a good place to be slammed full of immunsuppressants so trying to isolate her as much as possible. Fortunately it’s only a week but It’s a very worrying prospect. She’s been doing wonderfully so far with the recovery and excercises despite the pain. Me, I’m exhausted.

  100. 100.

    leeleeFL

    @Peale: Surely, you don’t mean Musk!  Perish the thought!  Or perish his company, I’m good either way.  Piece of crap, that one!

  101. 101.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: Great Britain is an island, also too.  :-/

    Remember when the world was shocked at Trump's dangerous demands to stop testing people so the Covid numbers would go down and he would look like a more successful leader and now it's normal UK government policy.

    — HappyToast ★ (@IamHappyToast) February 10, 2022

    Yeah, geography can make it easier, but competent leadership matters most.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  102. 102.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kalakal: Huh, they never gave me steroids in the aftermath, though I’m not 100% clear on the witch’s brew I had in the hospital.

    For anti-inflammation it was just huge doses of Advil, which they took me off of when the interaction with the aspirin they gave me as an anti-clotting measure caused me to bruise all over.

  103. 103.

    Kalakal

    @Matt McIrvin: For the first week or so it was a lot of acetomenaphin, some baby aspirin and meloxicam. The swelling and bruising was/is very bad. What surprised us both was how fast they got her to be excercising. They practically dragged her off the operating table to a walker. The first week was very rough but it’s a lot better now. How long is it since your op?

    I’m really worried for the next week about her and Covid.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @Kay: 
    I wonder if there may be financial leanings from wealthy conservatives that really, really do not like having to give money to the government for people like me that no longer produce any profit whatsoever. I imagine that with their shitty concepts of life and all that if I can’t/don’t produce – for their benefit – that I should just die, times all the retired folks in the land.

  105. 105.

    sab

    @debbie: Our office manager wants to start back up with the monthly birthday party. I am allowed to work remote. The February birthday girls are me and the receptionist. We both are still wearing masks. So we are supposed to sit in a room with ten other people for an hour. One of them is an anti-vaxer. Sigh.

  106. 106.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kalakal: It’ll be a year next week. I had horrible swelling and bruising and my left knee still looks a little odd, but the amount of mobility I have relative to before the operation is just amazing.

    As I recall, they kept me in a hospital bed overnight after the operation (which happened in the afternoon), but the next day they were teaching me how to get around with a walker. I had a couple weeks of in-home PT at the end of which I was walking with a cane, then some outpatient PT that more or less ended in my ditching the cane. And then I started taking longer and longer walks. Which reminds me, I need to get back on those–with the snowy and icy weather it’s been hard.

  107. 107.

    Kalakal

    @Matt McIrvin: Thanks, that sounds very similar so far. She tends to prefer the walker still, to the cane, but she’s improved amazingly in 2 weeks. We’ve started going for short walks which is lovely. One very noticable result is that her leg is now straight. She was looking knockneed because her right leg was splayed out so far below the knee.

    I’m glad to hear you got such an improvement, it’s a real life changer

  108. 108.

    debbie

    @sab:

    I’m still working remote, but most people were back in the office as of Wednesday. We all received an email invite to come over and grab a cupcake to celebrate returning to the office. I felt queasy just reading it.

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