Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

So many bastards, so little time.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

… among the most cringeworthy communications in the history of the alphabet!

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

People are complicated. Love is not.

In my day, never was longer.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

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

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Feb. 13-14

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Feb. 13-14

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  2. 2.

    Baud

    So far, no cases of reinfection of people who have survived

    But what’s the reinfection rate of people who died?

    I bet it’s 0%. Checkmate, liberals!

  3. 3.

    New Deal democrat

    Nationwide cases continue to decline, now down almost 80%, but at 175,000, nowhere near an objectively “good” level. Deaths remained at 2300, about 150 off peak. Since according to the CDC, Delta has been essentially eradicated (0.0% of cases in the latest week), the good news is that we can expect deaths to also decline by 75% or more in the next four weeks, down to about 600. That would be the best level during the pandemic except for brief periods at mid year 2020 and 2021.

    As usual, because of the weekend, most States did not report. Of those that did, including CA, HI, NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, OH, and ND, all showed slight declines. AL did increase slightly. The rate of decline generally has been averaging about 40% per week.

    If we consider 5 cases per 10,000 a reasonable point below which is a “good” situation, then it will take at least 2 more weeks for even MD, the “best” State currently, to cross that threshold.

  4. 4.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    129 new cases as of 2/13/22.
    Still no test kits in the mail.

    I’m still masking up, and I just got a fresh order of KN95 masks because I expect I’ll be masking for at least the rest of this year.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    Huh. I was just informed my Biden COVID tests will be delivered today. And me forgetting to bitch and moan about the time it’s taken to get them!

  6. 6.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Hong Kong plans to offer COVID-19 vaccines to children as young as 3 as infections rage through the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
    [snip]
    Immunizations using Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for children aged 3 and up will start being administered on Tuesday. Hong Kong has fully vaccinated 73% of its eligible population, not including children.

    With a population of about 7.5 million, Hong Kong currently has more than 7,000 people being treated for COVID-19 or awaiting admission to hospitals. Source

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 21,315 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 3,061,550 cases. It also reports 11 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,125 deaths – 1.05% of the cumulative reported total, 1.11% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 1.43.

    94 confirmed cases are in ICU, 47 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 8,517 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,860,954 patients recovered – 93.5% of the cumulative reported total.

    17 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,613 clusters. 435 clusters are currently active; 6,178 clusters are now inactive.

    21,234 new cases today are local infections. 81 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 118,875 doses of vaccine on 13th February: 35,441 first doses, 649 second doses, and 82,785 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 65,042,686 doses administered: 26,257,079 first doses, 25,732,151 second doses, and 13,258,893 booster doses. 80.4% of the population have received their first dose, 78.8% their second dose, and 40.6% their booster dose.

  14. 14.

    Mimi Haha

    I am fully vaxxed including the booster and will take another shot if it comes to that. I still have no idea why people won’t take the shots nor do I understand opposition to masking up. The mask keeps my face warm and I haven’t had a cold since all this started. I have no intention of taking mine off in public until it’s warmer and I’m satisfied with the numbers. I may be wearing them in the winter/during flu season from now on.

  15. 15.

    raven

    @NotMax: Not one bit. While it was a spinal injection my problem is in my leg, not my back

     

    eta  The test is negative so now I have to decide if I’m going to the dermatologist and tell him I didn’t do the fluorouracil he prescribed six months ago!

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    On line friend of mine lives down the street from the capital in Ottawa and said that Anti Vax protest was pretty much nothing as far as protests go and just vastly overhyped by the media. She also said it seemed like they were mostly Q-anon crazes, lots of alien conspiracy stuff.

  18. 18.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @New Deal democrat: One of the things that I find is a trip is by the number of people infected verses deaths, it’s almost a statistic abnormality to die from Omicron, yet so many people are infected at once it can overwhelm the medical system.

  19. 19.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Mimi Haha: I still have no idea why people won’t take the shots nor do I understand opposition to masking up.

    That’s where I am.

    Well, I understand RWNJ opposition to masks and shots; it’s sheer tribalism.  It’s the centrist ‘contrarian’ pundits like Mounk that I don’t understand.

    And I have no idea what they think still needs to be ‘reopened’ at this point, or who’s stopping them from having dinner parties with like-minded people.

    At least for the time being, the new normal is the old normal, only with masks when you’re indoors among strangers.  AFAIAC, anyone who feels that’s too much of an imposition can go fuck themselves.

  20. 20.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @debbie: No, and apparently noisy protests are pretty common around the capital there.  She was noting the anti war protests were 200,000 plus and this is only 5,000.

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @lowtechcyclist: In think this quote answers the question

    honestly seems like the impetus for writing this take again and again is frustration that they cannot control the behavior of other people

  24. 24.

    Audrey

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:  That will come as a surprise to all of the people who have been out of work at places like the Rideau Centre because it’s been closed for multiple weeks due to safety concerns down to the protest.  It isn’t the numbers that can necessarily make things dangerous, it’s the level of crazy.  Plus there’s the whole, cops on the side of the insurrectionists thing….  I’m glad your friend hasn’t had too bad a time of it, but her experience isn’t the only one.

  25. 25.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 2/13 China reported 26 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 8 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Guangdong Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic 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 15 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city.
    • Shenzhen reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a quarantine hotel worker, found via regular screening. 4 residential & 1 office buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Dongguan reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a person returning from out of province, found via voluntary testing. The case returned to Dongguan on 2/11, initially tested positive on 2/12, again on 2/13.
    • 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 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (1 each at Heyuan & Meizhou) cases remaining.

    Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 269 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Baise reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases, most in the rural Debao County, all part of the same transmission chain. There currently are 267 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.
    • The rest of the province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (1 each at Nanning & Chongzuo) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases remaining.

    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.

    Tianjin Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 27 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron). 1 High Risk & 2 Medium Risk residential buildings have been re-designated to Low Risk. 2 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 community remains at High Risk. 1 community, 1 village & 1 residential building remain at Medium Risk.

    Liaoning Province reported 18 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 63 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Huludao reported 18 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Suizhong County, all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 61 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 village at Suizhong County is currently at High Risk, & a residential compound there is currently at Medium Risk.
    • Shenyang did not report any new domestic positive cases.. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.

    At Shandong Province there currently are 1 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 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases (3 at Xiong’an, 5 at Hengshui & 5 at Langfang) 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 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Horgos) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic (both at 4th Div. of XPCC) cases at the border crossing. All areas in the prefecture are now at Low Risk.

    Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Heihe, from screening of persons under home quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed (all at Mudanjiang) & 40 active domestic asymptomatic (11 at Heihe, 25 at Mudanjiang & 4 at Qiqihar) cases in the province. 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 there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.

    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 Suzhou in Jiangsu Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city, an import logistics worker.

    At Tongren in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain spreading from Huludao in Liaoning.

    At Henan Province 17 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 126 active domestic confirmed cases in the province. 

    Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Malipo County in Wenshan Prefecture, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed (3 at Kunming, 5 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture & 3 at Wenshan Prefecture) & 13 active domestic asymptomatic (6 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture & 7 at Wenshan Prefecture) cases remaining. All of Mengla County in Sipsongpanna Prefecture is now at Low Risk.

    Imported Cases

    On 2/13, China reported 58 new imported confirmed cases (9 previously asymptomatic), 31 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:

    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 9 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 2 Chinese nationals returning from Singapore & 1 each from Bangladesh, Laos, Malaysia, Malawi (via Nairobi) & Turkey, & 1 foreign national each coming from Malaysia & Ghana (via Istanbul); 10 asymptomatic cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Malaysia & 1 each from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Kuwait, Kenya, Malawi (via Nairobi) & Russia
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 8 confirmed cases, all Mainland Chinese residents returning from Hong Kong; 1 asymptomatic case, a Guinean national coming from Hong Kong
    • Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 6 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, all coming from Hong Kong
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases (both previously asymptomatic), all Mainland Chinese residents returning from Hong Kong
    • Jiangmen in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases, both coming from Hong Kong
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 14 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Russia
    • Weihai Port in Shandong Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese crew members off a cargo ship w/ last port of call in Fiji 
    • Shanghai Municipality – 8 confirmed cases, 2 Mainland Chinese residents returning from Hong Kong, 1 Chinese national each returning from Canada & Montenegro, a Japanese national coming fro Japan, a South Korea national coming from South Korea, a Canadian national coming from Canada & a Danish national coming from Denmark; 2 suspect cases, no information released
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 2 confirmed cases,
    • Quanzhou in Fujian Province – 2 confirmed & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), ; 1 asymptomatic case,
    • Dalian in Liaoning Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), no information released 
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a South Korean national coming from South Korea; 4 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Egypt & Thailand, & 2 South African nationals coming from Thailand
    • Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region  – 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Laos, via land border crossings
    • Chongqing Municipality – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Singapore

    Overall in China, 83 confirmed cases recovered (39 imported), 33 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (28 imported) & 9 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 2,739 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,398 active confirmed cases in the country (691 imported), 5 in serious condition (1 imported), 801 active asymptomatic cases (727 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 33,653 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 2/13, 3,046.687M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 4.311M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 2/14, Hong Kong reported 2,071 new positive cases, 19 imported & 2,052 domestic. There are another ~ 4,500 cases who are preliminarily positive, awaiting confirmation. The major Omicron outbreak in the city, has also placed significant pressure on adjacent regions on Mainland China, as seen from the cases imported from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, Dongguan & other cities in the Pearl River Delta.

    On 2/14, Taiwan reported 54 new positive cases, 50 imported & 4 domestic.

  26. 26.

    Soprano2

    @Mimi Haha: Well, I have yet to find a mask that doesn’t make my glasses fog up at least when I first put it on, which is a PITA, and I hate the way the KN95 looks so much that I wear a cloth one over it. I wear them when I need to, but don’t ask me to rhapsodize about how much I like it or how great it is. I think mask wearing is wise when transmission is high, but don’t act like there is no disadvantage to it.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @Audrey: I think that Krugman quote is interesting, because it’s probably true, but since cameras can’t capture the damage for cable TV it’s invisible to people who aren’t directly affected by it like your friend. I’m sure if I tried to tell any of the RWNJ’s I work with that the white supremacist protest at the Canadian border (let’s call it what it actually is) caused more damage to the economy than the BLM protests did, they would flat out tell me it’s a lie because whole cities were destroyed by BLM! People just don’t believe things they can’t see pictures of unless they’re personally affected.

  28. 28.

    Heidi Mom

    @Mimi Haha: Same here.  I usually get one or two colds a year, but haven’t had any since mask-wearing started.  And if a yearly Covid booster is advisable?  Fine, I’ll be going for my flu shot anyway.  Why is this hard?

  29. 29.

    Freemark

    @Soprano2: hell, they don’t believe things they can see pictures of unless a random troll on the internet tells them to believe it. Or Tucker (RT) Carlson tells them too for those who can’t figure out how to use those series of tubes.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    What I’ve been hearing is that more children are upset about the potential lifting of mask mandates than about wearing masks. And I suspect that this is what is really killing the anti-maskers about it–that children now have an opinion they don’t share. They consider it a sign of insidious brainwashing.

    I’m thinking of that Naomi Wolf tweet about children having no facial muscle tone and being unable to smile. She thought they had been transformed into something like zombies.

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @different-church-lady: Yep, I agree with you. I think we have to acknowledge the truth that for most people mask wearing is uncomfortable and inconvenient but necessary.  That’s better than constantly seeming to yell at people as if masks are so wonderful we should all want to wear them constantly.

  34. 34.

    different-church-lady

    @Soprano2: The flip side is I will get involved in defending anyone who’s being harassed about choosing to continue with a mask.

  36. 36.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 5,118 new cases of COVID-19 and zero new reported deaths of people who have tested positive (noting that Register Offices are generally closed at weekends). As usual Monday’s numbers are a bit distorted due to the weekend effect. Starting this weekend there will be no reporting on case numbers at all on Saturdays and Sundays with the weekend totals being collated on Monday. The 7-day rolling average is usually a better indication of case numbers etc. anyway.

    884 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, with 18 people in intensive care beds. Another gradual reduction in serious case numbers, about half of the peak earlier in the Omicron surge (ca. 1500 or so with 60 ICU beds in use).

  37. 37.

    NorthLeft12

    Canadian governments and the LEOs that supposedly serve them, have not covered themselves in glory these last few weeks. The initial police response, particularly in Ottawa, was done in the belief that these people would move out after a weekend, and that nothing (no tickets, arrests, towing) was to be done that might “provoke” them.

    Police were calling their response a success because there was no violence…..yeah, ask the locals who have been harassed and abused for the last three weeks.
    I don’t blame the federal or provincial governments for this mess, although they should have advised/forced the municipal governments to act more assertively right from the start. They may have tried, but the police had their own ideas.
    It will be interesting to see what penalties are imposed on the protestors that have been arrested and ticketed. I have a bad feeling that those entitled idiots will be let off the hook. I believe this partly because the protestors believe it.

    Final thought, this is nowhere near over.

  38. 38.

    JML

    I’m really hoping that one of the last effects of this pandemic is that people in my office will actually stay home from work when they are sick. We get pretty generous sick leave that’s separate from our vacation time, but frequently people don’t use it unless they’re horribly ill/hospitalized or staying home with their sick kids. I’m hoping that allowing people to work from home when they stay home with the sick kiddo will help people take the sick leave for themselves. A culture of “powering through it” sucks. I prefer a culture of “hey, let’s not get other people sick”.

  39. 39.

    Audrey

    @Soprano2: It is all essentially an anti-democracy, white grievance uprising.  A slower rolling but ongoing attempt at a January 6th here.  They haven’t been coy about their actual complaints/goals.  It is enraging and frightening.  The almost complete lack of even basic enforcement of any laws against these people is I think the scariest part.  So hearing it all dismissed as hey, it’s not so bad, there aren’t that many of them (no matter how willing to be a**holes they are), it’s being overhyped etc. is also rage inducing.

  40. 40.

    The Moar You Know

    President Biden says he understands the frustration with wearing masks, but abandoning them now is ‘probably premature’

    As America abandons masks, vaccines, and science,  stomping its collective foot, whining “I’m done with COVID”

    Let’s hope so.  I have my doubts.

    I live in California, the State Of No Freedoms according to the usual suspects, and keep hearing people whine about reopening.  What’s not open?  Seriously.  EVERYTHING is open, including the real bad idea businesses, like schools and gyms and bars.  If people aren’t showing up – and they are not in anywhere near the numbers that they used to – that’s because people haven’t done a great job selling how awesome it is to get COVID, not because businesses are forbidden to open and do business.

  42. 42.

    Fair Economist

    After Gregg Gonsalves put out that tweet about Denmark’s soaring death rate, Denmark reported a new all-time high in deaths today. A crude analysis of “deaths follow 3 weeks after infection” would predict they are nearing their peak but will have a long plateau coming at that level. However, it will probably be worse – in the UK the death peak hung on to 5 weeks past the case peak and has only just started going down; in South Africa deaths were still increasing until at least the day before yesterday, 2 months after their peak.

  43. 43.

    Miss Bianca

    @Matt McIrvin: Naomi Wolf has been giving a credible impression of brain death for quite some time now.

    But Jesus Rictus-Grinning Christ, loss of facial muscle tone? She’s officially in “buggier than batshit” territory now.

  44. 44.

    Sloane Ranger

    Sunday in the UK we had 41,270 new cases. The rolling 7-day average is down 31.4%. Usual weekend warnings apply. New cases by nation,

    England – 32,316 (down 5485)

    Northern Ireland – 2158 (down 475)

    Scotland – 5301 (down 300)

    Wales – 1495 (does not report on Saturdays).

    Deaths – There were 52 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is down by 26.9%. 50 deaths were in England and 1 each in Northern Ireland and Wales.

    Testing – Not updated at weekends.

    Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.

    Vaccinations – There was no update on vaccination figures from England due to processing issues. The percentage of UK residents vaccinated remains unchanged at 91.3% having had 1 dose, 84.7% -2 and 65.6% a 3rd shot/booster.

  45. 45.

    Bill Arnold

    @New Deal democrat:

    Delta has been essentially eradicated (0.0% of cases in the latest week),

    For a high R0 virus, this is optimistic. An outbreak and exponential growth over a little time could bring descendant-of-Delta (maybe with some immune escape) back.

    If we consider 5 cases per 10,000 a reasonable point below which is a “good” situation, then it will take at least 2 more weeks for even MD, the “best” State currently, to cross that threshold.

    Personally, I’m tracking new cases per day per 100K locally. When that number gets below 3 (current 15-20) I’ll consider being unmasked indoors with other unmasked people. If there is a lot of at-home testing, I may wait until it gets below 2. We were there in July 2021.
    But active cases works too, if properly counted.

  46. 46.

    Ohio Mom

    @Soprano2: Have you tried the anti-fogging spray for glasses that skiers use? I found mine at Walgreens serendipitously but it was the last bottle — my first plan was to go to Dick’s Sporting Goods. I am sure it can be ordered online too.

    As far as the effect of masks on child development: there can’t possibly enough data yet to disprove this idea, just because you can’t do a longitudinal study in less than two years. But it’s not like kids wear masks 24/7. Their most significant interactions are going to be at home, with their parents, and that is a mask-less environment.

  47. 47.

    Bill Arnold

    @lowtechcyclist:

    It’s the centrist ‘contrarian’ pundits like Mounk that I don’t understand.

    Centrist “pundits” are members of a flock of sheep, each striving to be the bellwether. In the original sense: “The leading sheep of a flock, having a bell hung round its neck. ”
    See also A Word on Bellwethers

    Because of their emasculation, bellwethers were commonly used to lead their fellow sheep to slaughter. However, the bellwether never was killed: His skills, such as they were, proved too valuable to lose. Thus, early sheep slaughterhouses developed a “bellwether gate,” which was used to separate the useful-idiot bellwether sheep from the rest of the flock once he had led them into the slaughterhouse’s intake chute. The saved bellwether was introduced to a new flock and the process was repeated.

    And yes, I am insulting herd/flock mentality pundits. (H/T Kay, who drew a similar comparison here. )

  48. 48.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:

    And I suspect that this is what is really killing the anti-maskers about it–that children now have an opinion they don’t share. They consider it a sign of insidious brainwashing.

    That, and people, especially including kids, have been training for two years to read the eyes of other people, which will make lying to them more difficult for the next several decades. Habitual liars don’t like this.
    (1/2 serious, because the effect will be true if not the intent, and spreading this could grab a news cycle or two and get people to think. Idea stolen from Peale, yesterday.)

  49. 49.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m thinking of that Naomi Wolf tweet about children having no facial muscle tone and being unable to smile.

    Smiling with one’s eyes is a real thing. If Naomi does not know this, she is faceblind. If she does know this, then she’s upset that people won’t be fooled as easily by her fake smiles.

  51. 51.

    Tenar Arha

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Yeah. My reaction to Mounk’s

    * Resume playdates and dinner parties without guilt.

    is the guy is telling on himself. He’s certainly telling the world, including his friends & family, he’s incapable of even having his invitations honestly or politely declined.

  52. 52.

    Matt McIrvin

    @New Deal democrat: Their “nowcast” shows the BA.2 subvariant gaining throughout the US, but at this point, this is almost all speculative model extrapolation from tiny numbers. I do wonder if this is responsible for some of the “long tail” behavior we’ve been seeing in other countries.

  53. 53.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Miss Bianca: To be clear, that tweet was a while ago–she’s been banned from Twitter for months, and I haven’t been following Twitter closely of late either.

  54. 54.

    different-church-lady

    @Soprano2:

    That’s better than constantly seeming to yell at people as if masks are so wonderful we should all want to wear them constantly.

    Taking your point, but sharpening it: I don’t read it as yelling, more like a strange kind of toxic cheerfulness:

    INTROVERT: “I love my mask. Masks are wonderful. We should all wear them forever. Don’t you think masks are wonderful?”

    ME: “No, I don’t think masks are wonderful.”

    INTROVERT: “WHY DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO DIE??!!”

  55. 55.

    Central Planning

    @Ohio Mom:

    Their most significant interactions are going to be at home, with their parents

    Are you sure about that? The way those parents talk, it’s almost like they didn’t want to have children but felt like they had to. I’m not sure they even like their kids.

    We, on the other hand, love spending time with our kids and they haven’t really been “typical” teenagers where they avoid us or don’t want us to meet their friends/friends parents. I think it’s because we set those expectations early and were consistent with that. And, we always provide food when their friends are over.

  56. 56.

    JAFD

    @Bill Arnold: ​
     Been leading a hermit life lately – am not a winter person, even before Covid. But before I head out into the world, prepare myself by singing couple of choruses of “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”
    Anyway, Happy Valentine’s Day to all yon jackalettes !

  57. 57.

    dnfree

    @raven: Fluorourisil has worked for us for a number of suspicious and/or developing spots, including an area around my lips where I really didn’t want to have surgery.

  58. 58.

    Bill Arnold

     

    ME: “No, I don’t think masks are wonderful.”

    ME (extrovert): “No, I don’t think masks are wonderful.”

    FTFY (so that it is a little less insulting to introverts).

    Also, you may be misreading the concern.
    I am an introvert, and am personally concerned about certain forms of long-COVID, including debilitating brain damage and possibly-lethal cardiovascular system damage (including damage to controlling neurons), and I will start removing my (N95) mask indoors when the case rates in my area go under the  thresholds acceptable to me, which are similar to the thresholds defined by the CDC; currently new case rates in my area are about 5-10X that threshold. Now that NY State indoor mask requirements are gone (prematurely) and until the numbers fall below these thresholds (which now will take longer, because masks requirements are (prematurely) gone), I will be denied access to certain indoor spaces by mask-refusers spewing (possibly) infectious plumes, and will be extremely angry about this but generally won’t express it (introvert), and might not even break their arm (or worse; a couple of black belts) if they get physically obnoxious about it (e.g. try to remove the mask).

  59. 59.

    different-church-lady

    @Bill Arnold: Anyone goes for your mask, I’ll do the arm-breaking for you.
    I was exaggerating for effect, but just look up-thread to see a handful  of “What’s the big deal about masks?” posts.
    I was an introvert who learned how to come out of my shell, so I can get quite touchy about it, sometimes irrationally.
    As far as the mask wars, I’ve gone from weary to irritated to downright cranky. Obey the guidance, mask as much as you want beyond the guidance (forever if you want, I don’t care), don’t tell anyone not to wear one, and for god’s sake don’t tell anyone else we should all be happy about wearing one.​

  60. 60.

    JustRuss

    @Mimi Haha:I still have no idea why people won’t take the shots nor do I understand opposition to masking up.

    yeah, me neither.  I have one friend who’s always been anti-vax, so I sort of respect his consistency at least. Hope it doesn’t kill him, he just got Covid.

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