All ages 18+, US update for vaccination and booster protection from death during Omicron wave
2-shot vaccination 85% reduction of death
3-shot (w/booster) 96% reduction of deathhttps://t.co/HGyjNwCm0v pic.twitter.com/QCjd0kLGs4— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 18, 2022
The @CDCgov has posted new data showing COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates by age, comparing fully vaccinated to those with an additional/booster dose (and to the unvaccinated). The lowest hospitalization rates? Among the boosted.https://t.co/BKi5MiyVAy
— Jen Kates (@jenkatesdc) February 18, 2022
======
Some countries are lifting all public health and social measures despite high numbers of #COVID19 cases/deaths. @DrMikeRyan and Dr @mvankerkhove explain why slow approach is better ?? pic.twitter.com/hS3aJLNJcJ
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 17, 2022
China reports 137 new coronavirus cases on Feb 18 vs 87 day earlier https://t.co/ncXTV8HM5g pic.twitter.com/SIfWGVVO1J
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
China allows COVID boosters of different technologies than primary shots https://t.co/qg1MnZn2qr pic.twitter.com/nLOXYGQcug
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Scientists around the world are baffled: Why hasn’t China approved an mRNA vaccine? Some point to politics. Regulators were once weeks away from approving Pfizer-BioNTech. Now they seem to be focused on a homegrown option. https://t.co/1U0TTV5FxO
— Alexandra Stevenson (@jotted) February 18, 2022
Beijing 2022 reports no new COVID cases on Feb 18 https://t.co/aTRe72qhDz pic.twitter.com/mNyL1RjJJb
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
BREAKING: Hong Kong has reported 15 coronavirus deaths and more than 6,000 confirmed cases for a second day as the government announced plans to ease crowding in hospitals by building more isolation units. https://t.co/nhiE6h9mTF
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 19, 2022
Hong Kong ramps up isolation facility plans as COVID infections climb https://t.co/0ThQYHn74j pic.twitter.com/JxdAYUT401
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Analysis: Hong Kong's 'zero-COVID' success now worsens strains of Omicron spike https://t.co/B8rxnOOapE pic.twitter.com/I4OjGjpyzQ
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Hong Kong residents are divided over proposals to mass test a majority of the population each day, as the global financial hub battles a surge in COVID-19 cases https://t.co/boy3ONTOuM pic.twitter.com/GRfvu2ZJKb
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2022
Data suggests pandemic fatalities in India were much higher than reported. When a Covid wave hit last year hospitals were overwhelmed. Funeral pyres burned around the clock. Gov't data put the death toll under 1M. Now, new research reports 3.2M died https://t.co/FqcvNfv6mh pic.twitter.com/s3UIZBoW2Y
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
While other nations have catastrophically floundered in their #COVID responses, #SouthKorea has emerged as a “paragon of resilience governance.”
In these COVID times, that has become a synonym for success and soft power, writes @UriLF. https://t.co/8MpOavgDNY
— Global Health NOW (@ghn_news) February 18, 2022
Tokyo daily coronavirus cases up from a week earlier to 13,516 -NHK https://t.co/iSq8MivfWf pic.twitter.com/RuAJwHSTWu
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Russia reported 179,147 new Covid-19 infections and 798 deaths Saturday. https://t.co/hEWnjxG9Bt
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 19, 2022
Answer: Both (plus racism) https://t.co/XDBfvEjWcI
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 18, 2022
Delighted to announce 6 African countries that will receive technology from the ?? hub to produce mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa & Tunisia. @WHO will help develop a roadmap for training & production, based on their needs & capacities. #VaccinEquity https://t.co/7o4NPKnocW
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2022
Carnival Cruise Line to ease mask mandate for guests from March 1 https://t.co/sNh5n2G7vS pic.twitter.com/rgHmRgwv4o
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
======
Increased infectivity & antibody evasion are driving SARSCoV2 evolution. Scientists are trying to better understand how SARS2 evolves in order to predict vaccine breakthrough potential https://t.co/68i0GniKq5
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
Data suggest BA.2 variant is "30-50% more contagious than Omicron" & new preprint showed "that BA.2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants of Covid-19, incl. Delta."
"detected in 74 countries & 47 US states"https://t.co/jEpuHSfH44— Dr. Alex Huffman (@HuffmanLabDU) February 17, 2022
Some researchers say BA.2 should not be considered a subvariant of #Omicron, but should have its own Greek letter. BA.2 should be considered a VOC, a variant of concern based on lab data hinting at greater severity https://t.co/trys33TJRV
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 19, 2022
Animal virologists explain why the coronavirus is cropping up in animals and why humans need to worry https://t.co/9jOxVvrnRu pic.twitter.com/ZXn5xf5LNN
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
Low Omicron efficacy behind delay of Pfizer COVID vaccine for kids under 5 – WSJ https://t.co/JF19g1oSk2 pic.twitter.com/YwDaw4698K
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2022
Ivermectin flops again for Covid, this time in high-risk adults. Malaysian trial finds no difference in progression to severe disease over standard of care.
Time for wing nuts to stop pushing Covid 'cures' https://t.co/BEP4PmMAZP— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
FDA to allow export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine lots made at Emergent plant https://t.co/90e21O9QZ2 pic.twitter.com/UzzADqfAdN
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
======
BREAKING: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that he and his young family have COVID-19 despite their best efforts to avoid infection by getting vaccinated and taking other precautions. https://t.co/1S2f4I7K1D
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 18, 2022
From a thread he posted:
So if you’ve done everything you can and gotten COVID-19 anyway, don’t beat yourself up. A lot of us are doing the best we can. And let’s not assume those who get sick are careless. We don’t know people's circumstances. They may not be able to protect themselves the way we can.
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 18, 2022
Red Covid, an Update https://t.co/VBRYDjTWKj
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 18, 2022
#COVID Case and Hospitalization Update:
-4,847 New Cases
-2,876 Hospitalizations (-189)
-42 New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS pic.twitter.com/jnrt7ZBVQU— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 18, 2022
This decision, though expected, will still come as a great relief to the city's hotel industry, which was seeing some cancellations caused by the vaccine mandate, as well as the restaurants losing business to nearby communities. https://t.co/xVsb7FDa7F via @BostonGlobe
— Jon Chesto (@jonchesto) February 18, 2022
Science! The Biogen superspreader event back in February 2020 gave Boston an early warning on how quickly & unpredictably this coronavirus could attack:
… Previously, city officials said that the vaccine mandate could be dropped when Boston met three conditions: a 7-day community positivity rate below 5 percent, fewer than 200 COVID-19 hospitalizations a day, and an intensive care bed occupancy rate of less than 95 percent.
Recently, authorities said Boston’s pandemic numbers were trending in the right direction, and Friday’s public health data showed that the city crossed all three of those thresholds. Wu’s statement said the city’s positivity rate was 4 percent, while the ICU occupancy rate was 91 percent and the 7-day average of adult COVID hospitalizations was 196 per day.
“The public health data shows that we’re ready to take this step in our recovery,” Wu said in the statement. “This news highlights how much progress we’ve made in our fight against COVID-19 thanks to vaccines & boosters — which have always been our most effective weapon against the pandemic.”
She called the development “a win for every Bostonian who’s done their part to keep our communities safe, and we have to keep going. I want to thank all of our small businesses who have been working to keep our communities healthy through challenging times.”…
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
There were 114 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 2/18.
There were 17 positive home COVID tests reported on 2/18.
Hospitalizations:
91 cases in the hospital, 66% unvaxed
12 cases in the ICU, 58% unvaxed
No cases currently intubated (yay!)
My test kit order is coming this Tuesday! Yay!
germy
New Deal democrat
Deaths in the US are just below 2200. Cases declined further to 111,000. This is the best level since December 2. So long as Omicron remains the sole variant, I expect deaths to fall to about 350 in about a month.
All Census regions continued to decline. The 10 worst States vary from 60 per 100,000 (TN) to ID, the worst State at 90 cases per 100,000. The 10 best jurisdictions vary from PR and NE at 14 to IN at 21.
The US as a whole continued to decline at a rate of 40% for the past week. KS has increased. CT has only declined 5%. ID and SD have declined less than 10%. All other jurisdictions have declined by more than 10%.
There is some slight evidence of a slowing pace of decline. If it is a true signal, it will spread to more jurisdictions. In an absolute sense, both cases and deaths are very high compared with the average in 2020.
NotMax
FYI.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 27,808 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 3,166,023 cases. It also reported 36 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,276 deaths – 1.02% of the cumulative reported total, 1.10% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt standss at 1.27.
92 confirmed cases are in ICU, 55 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 12,488 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,900,682 patients recovered – 91.6% of the cumulative reported total.
16 new clusters were reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 6,692 clusters. 486 clusters are currently active; 6,206 clusters are now inactive.
27,689 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 119 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 158,399 doses of vaccine on 18th February: 43,236 first doses, 1,570 second doses, and 113,593 booster doses. Tthe cumulative total is 65,864,979 doses administered: 26,485,062 first doses, 25,741,669 second doses, and 13,844,963 booster doses. 81.1% of the population have received their first dose, 78.8% their second dose, and 42.4% their booster dose.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: The other thing worth emphasizing is that, from everything I’ve heard, even the myocarditis risk to teenagers, alone, from getting COVID is far greater than from vaccination.
But this is one of those things where many people seem to intuitively rank a risk from a voluntary intervention as far scarier than even a much larger risk from “natural” happenstance.
Baud
@NotMax:
I wish he had just killed himself so I could mock and scorn him.
Cermet
@New Deal democrat: Why does the NYT show MD and NE both well below PR but you indicate PR is the lowest? In Hospitalizations – yes, PR is lower. In cases, no.
YY_Sima Qian
On 2/18 Mainland China reported 80 new domestic confirmed (8 previously asymptomatic) & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed 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.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. 17 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 242 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
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.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 46 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 78 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Tianjin Municipality 3 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron).
Liaoning Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 129 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
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 is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining in the city.
At Hebei Province there currently are 8 active domestic confirmed cases (3 at Xiong’an, 4 at Hengshui & 1 at Langfang) remaining in the province, all part of the transmission chain from the cold storage warehouses outbreak in Fengtai District in Beijing.
Heilongjiang Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Heihe, both found via regular screening of persons in high risk occupations. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 4 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (all at Mudanjiang) & 31 active domestic asymptomatic (13 at Heihe, 15 at Mudanjiang & 3 at Qiqihar) cases in the province. 5 residential buildings at Heihe are currently at Medium Risk.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 1 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.
Jiangsu Province reported 19 new domestic confirmed (6 previously asymptomatic) & 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron). There currently is 66 active domestic confirmed & 30 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a person who returned from out of province (not specified) on 2/11, was traced as a close contact of a domestic positive case elsewhere, has been under centralized quarantine since 2/11.
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 10 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 39 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 4 new asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed & 26 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province.
Imported Cases
On 2/18, Mainland China reported 57 new imported confirmed cases (6 previously asymptomatic), 22 imported asymptomatic cases, 4 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 78 confirmed cases recovered (33 imported), 35 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (29 imported) & 14 were reclassified as confirmed cases (6 imported), & 2,772 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,482 active confirmed cases in the country (764 imported), 8 in serious condition (1 imported), 694 active asymptomatic cases (592 imported), 4 suspect cases (all imported). 30,913 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 2/18, 3,075.752M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 6.133M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 2/19, Hong Kong reported 6,063 new positive cases, 4 imported & 6,059 domestic. There are another ~ 7,400 cases who are preliminarily positive, awaiting confirmation.
On 2/19, Taiwan reported 81 new positive cases, 73 imported & 8 domestic.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
To be fair, the chance of getting the shot Is 100% for people who decide to get the shot. The chance of getting Covid is less than that. The shot is still clearly the better risk to take, but it’s not 1 to 1.
Kay
They thought that result was weird, so they rephrased:
Lapassionara
@Matt McIrvin: This! My daughter’s entire family had COVID during Christmas, 2019. She evidently caught it while teaching, and brought it home.
Her oldest, a girl, developed myocarditis. It has apparently resolved now, thank goodness.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
It wasn’t accidental though. Alex Berenson, formerly of the NYTimes, now of Right wing grifter promoted that relentlessly on Fox and elsewhere- that the vaccine caused myocarditis in male teenagers and young men. I heard it from people who aren’t even anti-vaxx.
germy
I got two pfizer shots and then my booster. My booster was months and months ago, when they first became available.
Should I still be worried about getting very sick from covid?
Cermet
The question of China not using the Western mRNA vaccine is likely because 1) It works fairly well but isn’t high enough to prevent the hospitals from being overwhelmed 2) cost per person isn’t low for that huge population 3) logistics – China would likely struggle handling the number of doses and knows time would be an issue 4) Chinese, learning how far better the mRNA is compared to the Chinese vaccine would want it more – this would likely cause Xi to feel he has lost face. A rather significant issue for him.
I find it hard to believe that China couldn’t quickly copy and produce mRNA vaccines but total lock down does make great sense to keep their hospitals from being overwhelmed and people getting angry that Xi didn’t prevent this.
NorthLeft12
@Baud: The inclusion of close family members in their suicide/death fantasy is what enrages me. I understand that there are very serious mental health issues involved here, but it is impossible to feel any empathy for them…..I’ll save it for the people he murdered and the family and friends who are grieving for them.
Unfortunately, this scenario happens far too often, and it is always fucking men.
p.a.
Jeebus anti-vax, anti-Semitism meets Thanos?
NeenerNeener
I had my booster back in August and I’m wondering if I should have another one as well. I see my GP this coming Friday so I’ll ask then. I’ve got an MRI coming up in mid-March. Even with Valium I can’t tolerate wearing a mask inside the machine once they put the face guard on; my claustrophobia is that bad. Last year I managed to come through it without getting infected, but that was pre-Omicron. If I need a 4th booster I’ll need to get it the first week of March.
New Deal democrat
@Cermet:
“Why does the NYT show MD and NE both well below PR but you indicate PR is the lowest?”
I use 91-Divoc, which shows NE at 14.3 and PR at 14.2. MD had a huge data dump 3 days ago, so it shows at 65.1. If I chose to ignore that, its 6 day average would be just below 10.
Hope that answers your question.
germy
@NeenerNeener:
Is open MRI available near you?
Spanky
@germy: From the OP:
Eight Ball says “Signs point to YES”.
(Edited because I’m an idiot.)
germy
@Spanky:
Meanwhile here in upstate NY the masks are coming off everywhere.
OzarkHillbilly
Feels that way.
NeenerNeener
@germy: These are “open” MRIs. Open MRI just means the tube is wider. They still put a cage over your head to keep you from moving it. What I really need is an MRI where you can sit up, but even if such a thing exists they don’t have them around here yet.
Cermet
@New Deal democrat: Yes, thanks. As always, enjoy reading your very informative posts
NorthLeft12
Report from Ontario; the occupation of Ottawa is ending as the LEOs began to arrest and remove vehicles on Friday morning. They are continuing this action around the clock.
Many observations from reporters that the people being arrested were shocked that the police were arresting them. They absolutely believed that the police could not and would not take this action.
Their leadership have told them what they are doing is completely legal. In their defence, based on the Ottawa police conduct for the first couple of weeks, they had every reason to believe they would not be ticketed or arrested. Now it will be interesting to see if they will be punished. There will be a lot of people in power and our justice system who will be advocating for throwing the charges out IMO.
Gvg
@NorthLeft12: It is not always men. Most of the time yes. But moms can be crazy too. I recall a case where mom drove off a bridge. 2 kids.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud:
By this point, though, the chance of having been infected if you’re unvaccinated is probably greater than 50%, so this aspect didn’t actually affect the risk ratios all that much.
La Nonna
@NeenerNeener:
I also have claustrophobia, and had a major meltdown panic attack in typical MRI machine, it was worth the 100 km drive to get an open MRI here in rural Puglia.
Cermet
@La Nonna: I’ve done spelunking and even got jammed in a part of the cave once because it was so narrow; yet I really hate the closed, all white and very deep CAT scan tunnels – they unnerve me.
YY_Sima Qian
The more immediate problem for China is the relatively low vaccination rate among the elderly, especially in the rural areas, rather than wide availability of mRNA shots. As of 2/19, only ~ 50% of the > 80 y.o. cohort have completed vaccination, while ~ 80% of the > 60 y.o cohort have completed vaccination. > 87% of the total population have been fully vaccinated. No data on the boosting rate for any of the age cohorts. That is much better than Hong Kong, but still not nearly enough, & certainly far from the vaccination & boosting rates of most of the rest of the world that vaccinated their eldest age cohorts 1st. People in China are a bit hesitant to get their very elderly parents (> 75) or very young children (< 5) vaccinated, they fear complications from vaccination for these vulnerable people more than COVID-19, after the initial wave. This despite the fact that the inactivated whole virion vaccines have lower side effects than those from other technologies. I hope the what is happening in Hong Kong, as well as the continuing sporadic Omicron (including BA.2) outbreaks on the Mainland will convince more of the elderly people to take the shots. Hong Kong certainly offers a stark warning, a harbinger of what could happen if the Mainland’s “Dynamic Zero COVID” strategy is rendered untenable by BA.2 or a future variant.
I am glad that the Chinese authorities has now approved mixing vaccines during boosting, months after other countries have done so. While China could afford to take a more cautious approach to vaccination regimen due to its so far successful “Dynamic Zero COVID” strategy, data from countries that used Sinovac/Sinopharm shots during their initial roll outs have shown that full course of inactivated whole virion vaccine followed by viral vector or mRNA booster produced higher efficacies than 3 shots of the same vaccine (regardless of type). Also applies if the initial course was a viral vector vaccine, followed by an mRNA booster. The Chinese CanSino single shot Adeno-viral vaccines is similar to J&J-Janssen one: much better than nothing but not that great. The Chinese 3-shot protein subunit vaccine has not been widely available (probably running into similar mass production ramp issues as Novavax). Use these vaccines as boosters, as opposed to primary courses, might maximize overall effectiveness across the population.
I am rather pissed that the Chinese government has not yet approved the BioNTech mRNA vaccine. Aside from face & politics (after all, China did approve the Pfizer’s Paxlovid, & what is happening in Hong Kong repeated across the Mainland will be much more damaging than using foreign tech.), availability is probably also a concern. I doubt there are hundreds of millions of doses of mRNA vaccines readily available in the time frame that can make a difference. A quarter of Fosun Pharma’s 100M dose allotment of BioNTech vaccine has already been shipped to Taiwan & Hong Kong. I would be more than happy to leave the mRNA shots to the most vulnerable population, but I doubt that is how it will work out in reality: the elderly will shy away from mRNA shots (especially after they hear of the relatively stronger side effects), while the younger people hold off boosting w/ what is available to wait for the mRNA shots. I am very concerned that there has been no updates from the Fosun Pharma-BioNTech joint venture factory after the announcement in May 2021. It is supposed to have 1B doses / yr. capacity. Cold chain logistics has matured in China over the past 5 yrs., at least in urban areas, rural areas less so. Distribution will be a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.
I am also concerned that the Stage III trial results have not been reported for the Chinese mRNA vaccine. It was expected to produce interim results from trials in Mexico, Indonesia & Pakistan by Jan., but apparently is still ongoing. W/ all of the infections & vaccinations over the past 2 years, calculating efficacy may be much more complicated now than for the 1st group of vaccines trialed on largely naive populations in 2020. The vaccine does have the significant advantage of storage under refrigeration (~ 4 degrees C) for 6 mos., which is a game changer for developing nations.
Suzanne
@NeenerNeener: There are no MRIs available to hospitals that let you move around at this time, nor any that I’ve seen that would likely be available in this decade. Many doctors will prescribe you tranquilizers to take beforehand, though, if you ask.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
This mentality of regulators favoring domestic manufacturers is pretty typical from what I’ve seen working in bio tech and also why the MAGA heads Glibertian dream of ending government regulation would never work – China, EU, Brazil, India and Russia’s regulator’s pollute themselves to fantasies of catching US firms being evil.
Sloane Ranger
Friday in the UK we had 47,685 new cases. The rolling 7-day average is down 25%. New cases by nation,
England – 36,900 (down 3476)
Northern Ireland – 2469 (down 558)
Scotland – 7056 (down 88)
Wales – 1260 (down 92).
Deaths – There were 158 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is down 24.9%. 130 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 16 in Scotland and 8 in Wales.
Testing – 900,352 tests took place on Thursday, 17th. The rolling 7-day average is down by 17.1%.
Hospitalisations – There were 11,555 people in hospital and 331 on ventilators on Thursday, 17th. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 13.4% as of 14 February.
Vaccinations – As of Thursday, 17th, 91.4% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 84.9% had had 2 and 66% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
lowtechcyclist
@Cermet:
Damn, having done a bunch of that myself back in the day (has it really been >30 years since I’ve been in a wild cave? Holy shit) I’d have figured a former caver wouldn’t have much of a claustrophobia problem. All I know is my one MRI didn’t bother me.
@Gvg:
That’s about the only such case I can remember. I’m sure there are more for instances, but still: I’d bet that it’s a ‘him’ >98% of the time, when someone kills some other people, then (or simultaneously) kills him/herself.
Another Scott
Andy Slavitt reminds us that ending the pandemic has to come first. (We have, of course, known this for going on 2 years.)
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@Baud:
Your statistics are accurate with regard to getting a vaccination shot, which doesn’t have anything to do with the very slim odds of having a fatal reaction to those shots.
We see 2 fatalities from heart trouble after getting vaccinated compared to 2000+ DAILY fatalities from NOT getting vaccinated. Not comparable at all. But you know that..
J R in WV
@NeenerNeener:
I attempted to get a 4th booster recently — NOT yet allowed the guy at the Health Dept said.
Sad… people are fighting off the vaccinations, and when someone wants one the answer is no. fuck that, he said with passion.
J R in WV
@lowtechcyclist:
Current news report of a woman who killed her child and her dog by beheading them. In jail so far…
Recall a TX woman who drowned her kids (5 of them? not sure…) in the bathtub, one at a time. Another who drove into a lake with all the kids strapped into their car seats.
Not always men, tho men mostly used guns, then suicide.
Vickie Feminist
@NeenerNeener: In DC there are MRI machines that are more open. It.might be worth asking. I got my 2 booster, I just went to CVS since my immune system sucks. Next day I read we’re supposed to exercise right afterwards to get best benefit.
bluefoot
I’m frustrated that Boston is lifting its vaccine mandate. I really, really want and (according to my doctor) need to get back to the gym. I was literally packing my gym bag this morning, anticipating resuming a normal gym schedule starting this weekend. There goes that. I have family members who are immunocompromised, one seriously, so the gym without a vaccine mandate is definitely off my list.
J R in WV
@Vickie Feminist:
What did you say to the CVS people? The Health Dept, I showed them my vax card and they declined to give me a booster. Our first booster was back in August, I feel like I’m due for another one ASAP.
J R in WV
@bluefoot:
Maybe you can call around and find a gym that cares about the long term health of it’s patrons and will still require vax on all customers. Just because the political wing lifts a vax mandate doesn’t mean all businesses will follow suit.
I’m with you, tho, if everyone isn’t vaccinated, I’m not going to be a customer, and will wear a mask while out and around.
Steeplejack
@NeenerNeener:
I will second what Suzanne said. My brother, a recently retired ophthalmologist, used to prescribe a one-dose sedative (can’t remember which one) for patients who freaked out at the prospect of cataract surgery. I believe the same would be available for those afraid of MRIs.