COVID-19 deaths continue to be high and @CDCgov forecasting suggests they will continue to be > 10K per week for the next 4 weeks. pic.twitter.com/I97Def38wO
— Carlos del Rio (@CarlosdelRio7) February 22, 2022
Last week I wrote a piece describing the Covid-19 vaccines as a freaking miracle. The @washingtonpost editorial board agrees.
The toll of vaccine misinformation & disinformation is beyond tragic. https://t.co/z3lMABqOXA— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 23, 2022
FDA is considering the possibility of a 2nd Covid booster shot. The agency has begun reviewing data that could lead to approval of a booster dose of the Pfizer & Moderna mRNA vaccines in the fall. Planning is still in the early stages https://t.co/OP2Q7qI43s
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 23, 2022
======
Fund tackling AIDS, TB, malaria seeks $18 bln to reverse COVID disruptions https://t.co/gUroqdrCX8 pic.twitter.com/1eBWRsr5Jh
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
As COVID-19 vaccine supply and donations have ramped up, poorer nations are facing hurdles such as gaps in cold-chain shortage, vaccine hesitancy and a lack of money to support distribution networks, public health officials told Reuters https://t.co/u93p4Lqd5l pic.twitter.com/OFIEffSmyt
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
Chinese capital Beijing finds most daily local COVID cases in nearly a month https://t.co/oZTDVcoRMv pic.twitter.com/bl2h9U9gCv
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
Hong Kong will roll out compulsory COVID-19 testing starting in mid-March for its 7.4 million population. Residents would need to test three times under the plan with daily testing capacity reaching 1 million https://t.co/tAa6W4dFsM pic.twitter.com/LeGFxWa1sl
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
Hong Kong parents are being separated from children and babies who test positive for Covid, compounding public anger over the financial hub's lack of readiness for a major outbreak now sweeping the cityhttps://t.co/kO5xc5NXKL pic.twitter.com/Qq7zmuAiFS
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 23, 2022
Hong Kong's battle against Omicron.#AFPgraphics on Covid restrictions in place in Hong Kong pic.twitter.com/zMRHZHri8P
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 23, 2022
A cheery update from HKU Faculty of Medicine: social distancing measures aren't as effective as they believed, infections expected to peak at 182,923 per day (about 1 in every 39 people), not 28,000 as thought. Forecast of deaths more than tripled.https://t.co/NOq24os0Og pic.twitter.com/DNc4eKfIBO
— Mike Bird (@Birdyword) February 22, 2022
S.Korea prime minister calls for calm as COVID cases hit new record https://t.co/AGz3GnolWi pic.twitter.com/gSXMmsjmAJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
South Korea has approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5 to 11, expanding the country's immunization program in the face of a massive omicron outbreak that is driving up hospitalizations and deaths. https://t.co/2sJAJZKkaT
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 23, 2022
Singapore's daily COVID-19 cases hit record of more than 26,000 https://t.co/7TWp5p9VS9 pic.twitter.com/1uAR30IAOJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
❌❌ Posts share false claim about reliability of rapid Covid testshttps://t.co/GBmFHkNbO3
— AFP Fact Check ? (@AFPFactCheck) February 23, 2022
‘People are dying on the floor’: healthcare workers tell of Covid devastation in Solomon Islands https://t.co/IrLHP02ltx The Pacific country was coronavirus-free until last month but an outbreak of thousands of cases is overwhelming the health system.
— 9DASHLINE (@9DashLine) February 22, 2022
An axe has been taken to Covid testing in England – does it matter? https://t.co/UUcVHOGLV7
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 22, 2022
Ireland drops most of its remaining COVID restrictions https://t.co/SiRXB7atDv pic.twitter.com/FEKJCphCAE
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2022
BA.2, an #Omicron's subvariant, is expected to cause a surge in coronavirus cases in S. Africa. BA.2 is rapidly spreading in the country and could likely cause a second #omicron wave https://t.co/bXxl92MygW
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 22, 2022
======
No need for a new Greek letter: Omicron is a variant of concern that's dominant worldwide. It has replaced Delta at a global level. It is being tracked in several sublineages: BA.1, BA.1.1 & BA.2. For the time being Omicron is a sufficient label for Omicron BA.1, BA.1.1 & BA.2 ⬇️ https://t.co/sWnIzPl8g3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 23, 2022
For Covid, 'endemic' doesn't mean 'the end.' Endemic means that it's with us at a level we can manage. It doesn't mean it's no longer a health-care or public-health threat—it will still be a life-threatening disease burden https://t.co/yhVeSou46m pic.twitter.com/nXikAH8d9g
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 23, 2022
Reinfections with Omicron subvariants are rare, Danish study finds https://t.co/0FlI9MVbXd pic.twitter.com/cybV0B0x4g
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 23, 2022
Illustrated traces of #LongCovid in today's @nytimes
See the online version ?https://t.co/iaToDLfj7t
Extraordinary graphic summary, by @joshkellerjosh @NYTScience w/ @13pt @PamBelluck @AmandaMoMorris pic.twitter.com/bvDjrob0FH— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 22, 2022
Very small blood clot risk after first AstraZeneca COVID shot – UK studies https://t.co/IbK8A9idJv pic.twitter.com/yE9S2bkZbs
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2022
Why the U.S. depends so much on a tiny country like Denmark for new insights into variants. https://t.co/EWjUDMjjV5
— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) February 22, 2022
======
It's been so for months, but the #Trump vs #Biden voter survival rates in the American #COVID19 epidemic are widening. (And "purple" regions fall in between.)
In June: https://t.co/n1chzt1W3m
Now?? pic.twitter.com/HrfsHmQCQZ— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 22, 2022
U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Maine COVID-19 vaccine mandate https://t.co/qi60oBNYfF pic.twitter.com/RzmmTHOEpS
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 22, 2022
Nearly 60% of New York voters want more data before the state lifts the mask mandate for schools. Right wingers responding to the same poll say school mask mandates should have already ended. But right wingers tend to be science illiterates https://t.co/I9vTXmf45v
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 23, 2022
Hon, I say this with all love and no judgment: you don't need the government to "open" things. You need a therapist to explain that the past you long to return to isn't coming back.
A lot of us need that, really. https://t.co/OARmeMjFwI
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) February 12, 2022
1 million people are dead. God knows how many more have been permanently disabled. Thousands of businesses have closed. None of that is going to be undone. I wish we could.
The subway isn’t as busy as you remember because some people are working from home, some people quit their jobs to homeschool their kids, some people are sick, and some people are dead. A proclamation from the mayor isn’t going to fill their empty seats for you.
The restaurants and bars aren’t as full as you remember because some people are staying home for their own safety, some people are staying home for their children’s safety, some people can’t afford to eat out now, and…some people are dead…
David is mourning the fact that people haven't voluntarily returned to their pre-pandemic lives. He, and others, need to understand that is not going to happen. The post-pandemic world is going to be different for us, because that's how trauma and global events work.
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) February 12, 2022
— Conservative Self-Owns (@ConSelfOwns) February 22, 2022
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Big Pine Fall Color
YY_Sima Qian
On 2/22 Mainland China reported 90 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed & 2 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 Guangxi “Autonomous” Region 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 221 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (220 at Baise & 1 at Nanning). 1 village in Baise is currently at High Risk, & 6 villages, 2 residential compounds, a business & a hotel there are currently at Medium Risk.
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 47 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 242 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Tianjin Municipality 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases remaining.
Liaoning Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 160 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Shandong Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, at Qingdao, a person who had traveled to Wuhan in Hubei for business meeting/training between 2/17 – 2/20. The case flew back to Qingdao on 2/21, went to be tested that evening after learning that colleagues had tested positive in Wuhan. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (1 each at Jinan & Qingdao).
Shanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed case remaining in the province (all at Jinzhong), part of the transmission chain spreading from Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.
At Hebei Province 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases (all at Hengshui) remaining in the province, all part of the transmission chain from the cold storage warehouses outbreak in Fengtai District in Beijing.
Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed cases, at Jixi, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (6 at Mudanjiang & 3 at Jixi) & 33 active domestic asymptomatic (13 at Heihe, 15 at Mudanjiang, 3 at Qiqihar & 2 at Jixi) cases in the province. 2 residential compounds & a hospital at Jixi are currently at Medium Risk. 1 Medium Risk residential building at Heihe has been re-designated to Low Risk. 2 residential buildings at Heihe remain at Medium Risk.
Chengmai County in Hainan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case there, a person recently arriving from Jixi in Heilongjiang.
At Shanghai Municipality 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Hubei Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Wuhan, all are participants in the super spreading business meeting/training event. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (6 mild & 3 moderate, all at Wuhan) & 5 active domestic asymptomatic (5 at Wuhan & 1 at Huanggang) cases in the province. 1 hotel & 1 residential building have been elevated to Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality reported 10 new domestic confirmed cases (9 mild & 1 moderate), 9 are persons who traveled to Wuhan in Hubei for business meeting/training between 2/17 – 2/20 & returned on 2/20, & the last is a traced close contact of domestic positive cases elsewhere, already under centralized quarantine since 2/28.
Jiangsu Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently is 107 active domestic confirmed & 37 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Sichuan Province reported 6 new domestic confirmed & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Henan Province 5 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 25 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province.
The Beijing Para-Olympic “Closed Loop” did not reported any new positive cases.
Imported Cases
On 2/22, Mainland China reported 115 new imported confirmed cases (13 previously asymptomatic), 57 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 54 confirmed cases recovered (5 imported), 31 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 14 were reclassified as confirmed cases (13 imported), & 1,341 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,960 active confirmed cases in the country (1,020 imported), 14 in serious condition (2 imported), 703 active asymptomatic cases (575 imported), 4 suspect cases (all imported). 43,687 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 2/22, 3,095.767M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 5.458M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 2/23, Hong Kong reported 8,674 new positive cases (3 imported & 8,671 domestic), 24 deaths.
On 2/23, Taiwan reported 56 new positive cases, 54 imported & 2 domestic (both already under quarantine).
Baud
Agreed.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 27,179 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 3,273,958 cases. It also reported 43 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,433 deaths – 0.99% of the cumulative reported total, 1.08% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 1.16.
99 confirmed cases are in ICU, 58 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 19,037 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,974,441 patients recovered – 90.9% of the cumulative reported total.
Nine new clusters were reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 6,732 clusters. 505 clusters are currently active; 6,227 clusters are now inactive.
27,059 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 120 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 147,742 doses of vaccine on 22nd February: 51,849 first doses, 613 second doses, and 95,280 booster doses. The cumulative total is 66,441,964 doses administered: 26,727,797 first doses, 25,744,938 second doses, and 14,176,241 booster doses. 81.8% of the population have received their first dose, 78.8% their second dose, and 43.4% their booster dose.
germy
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
There were 48 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 on 2/22. There were 48 new positive home tests reported on 2/22.
There were 20 new deaths last week. Total since March 2020 is 1773.
Vaccinations now at 71.2% This was stuck at 69% for months and I didn’t think we’d ever break 70%.
Hospitalizations:
110 cases are hospitalized, 51% are unvaxed
There are no cases in the ICU right now. YAY!
So, if I understand yesterday’s COVID round up and the comments, I have a 50% chance of catching COVID if I’m exposed but an 80-90% chance of it being mild enough that I won’t require hospitalization. I think I’d rather have a 4th booster the week before my MRI and an 80-90% chance of not catching COVID at all, but it is what it is.
New Deal democrat
Cases in the US declined to 84,000, and deaths to 1820. This is nearly a 90% drop in cases, and 25% in deaths, from their respective peaks. If deaths decline as much as cases, this suggests there will only be 250 deaths per day in a month, the lowest during the entire pandemic aside from last July.
91-Divoc is having problems this morning, but I checked most States via the NYT. All 50 States plus DC and PR show continued declines, with the exceptions of ME and SD. Two in the Northeast, CT and NJ, show weekly declines of only about 10%.
If cases continue to decline at roughly 33% per week, within a week we will have the lowest number of cases since last July, and be in the March-October 2020 range.
Finally, in the continued good news (or at least not bad news) department from Eric Topol:
https://mobile.twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1496313812433133570
“Reassuring on the BA.2 variant: reinfections after BA.1 with it can occur, they are rare, mostly in unvaccinated, and mild https://medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.19.22271112v1… data from 47 BA.2 reinfection cases in Denmark.
“I’ve yet to see any clinical data, regarding severity of illness, reinfection, or protection by vaccines, that suggest BA.2 is different or worse than BA.1, despite its different mutations (antigenic distance) and the results from the Syrian hamster model.”
germy
Same reporter.
“Boosters last for years”
“Boosters wane”
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Libs owned.
debbie
Everyone around here’s been gloating because zero deaths have been reported over the last several days. Turns out they hadn’t reported deaths since Friday, so yesterday’s number was 774, even though the label remained at “last 24 hours.” It’s bad enough that news outlets are slanting how they report the statistics; now the government’s in on the shell game.
germy
@mrmoshpotato:
Not trying to own the libs, just trying to understand what the hell is going on.
Mousebumples
@germy: boosters (first article) are likely to provide long term prevention against hospitalization. (Kaiser study that I think came out yesterday) Additional boosters may be most appropriate for the highest risk individuals (age, comorbidities), and I am glad they are planning on how to potentially do another round of boosters in fall, if there is a need.
Depend vaccine supply and uptake, there may be a public health benefit to boosting the vaccinated (even the less high risk) to try to keep down overall case counts since a vaccinated person could spread covid to an unvaccinated (or incompletely vaccinated) person, who could have worse outcomes. (eg my 2 year old is still unvaccinated, and I’m hoping that will be changed by fall, but I’d totally get a 4th shot to try to protect her, if not).
satby
@germy: that guy at the farmers market I called a dumbshit for not getting vaccinated after the first time he got covid and got it again? He’s been missing for the last couple of weeks again.
Sloane Ranger
Yesterday in the UK we had 41,130 new cases. The rolling 7-day average is down by 17.5%. New cases by nation,
England – 30,080 (up 327)
Northern Ireland – (up 716)
Scotland – 6427 (up 1120)
Wales – 1672 (258).
Deaths – There were 205 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. The 7-day moving average is down 16.1%. 170 deaths were in England, 5 in Northern Ireland, 18 in Scotland and 12 in Wales.
Testing – 816,387 tests took place on Monday, 21st February. The rolling 7-day average is down by 15.7%.
Hospitalisations – There were 11,357 people in hospital and 324 on ventilators on Monday. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 9.8% as of 18 February.
Vaccinations – As of 21 February, vaccination rates for UK residents aged 12+ were as follows,
91.4% had had 1 shot. This figure has not changed in 6 days.
85% had had 2 shots. This figure has not changed in 4 days.
66.2% had had a 3rd shot/booster. This figure is up by 0.1% after not moving for 2 days.
germy
@satby:
Where could he be?
Ohio Mom
The Cincinnati area Covid stats are plunging and of course we are all boostered so we took a chance and ate IN our neighborhood Japanese restaurant twelve days ago — still all feeling fine, so I am encouraged.
No, we are not going to start hanging out in crowded places but it is very nice to have this small pleasure back. At least for a while, until the next surge.
OzarkHillbilly
I must be weird. This new normal is just like my old normal except masked.
Erin
@germy
The problem is that they are conflating two different things, and often reporting them as the same thing. The effectiveness against severe disease, hospitalization, and death does not wane over time very much. Protection against any kind of infection does, however. Media often does not differentiate between the two in their headlines.
germy
(The Onion)
The Thin Black Duke
@satby: I’m reminded of a scene from Don’t Look Up where Leo DiCaprio is yelling at a woman, “Don’t you see the comet in the sky?” and she replies, “No! I have a bag over my head!”
Fiona
@germy:
The reporter is reporting things.
Yes, there is a report that came out this week from Kaiser that says protection after the booster is long lasting.
The FDA is also looking at the data to see if there needs to be another round of boosters.
These aren’t contradictory – we’re still in a position where we don’t KNOW what the right answers are and we’re collecting and evaluating data. The FDA is absolutely right to look at the data while considering adding another round of boosters. If the scientists there are even half competent, they will include the Kaiser study mentioned in the first tweet.
Where do you see the reporter claiming boosters wane?
Ohio Mom
@Mousebumples: The two places we won’t be going are Lexington, Kentucky (an hour and a half drive) to visit my cousin’s three old granddaughter, and Detroit (a five hour druve) to visit my sister’s two year old grandson.
They are the first of their generation and I feel tremendously cheated that I am not getting to enjoy their babyhoods in person. And I feel for their ever-worrying parents too.
The shots for the littlest ones can’t come soon enough.
germy
@Erin:
The second article, the one about a fourth booster, is a behind a paywall, but in the top of the paragraph it said “a fourth dose would shore up people’s molecular defenses that waned after their first booster and reduce their risk of symptomatic and severe disease”
I’ll be first in line for a fourth booster, I just want to know how worried I should be until it’s available. I’d like to visit a movie theater and a restaurant. I haven’t done either since this pandemic started.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Same.
germy
@Fiona:
See my comment #22
Kay
@germy:
They get it multiple times. It’s just crazy to talk to them because they’re really invested in the idea that it’s not a big deal but they get really sick, so you get these graphic descriptions along with minimizing words.
There will be a huge group of people with permanent damage – diminished quality of life – fatigue and difficulty breathing with any exertion. They’ll just quietly adjust and do less. They won’t be reflected in any statistics because they will never admit repeated bouts of covid was the cause.
Spanky
@germy: Check the freezer truck parked out back of the morgue.
Baud
Absent another major wave, I’ll probably wait for the next version of the vaccine rather than get a booster of the current version.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: It’s nice having a little company on the Group W bench, ain’t it?
charluckles
That comment from Nichols is really obnoxious. National emergencies, regardless of the duration, are transformative by definition. Or at least they should be. If for nothing else, we’d be an incredible stupid people if we didn’t learn from this and make some improvements.
I don’t recall anyone ever speaking this way about the war on terror etc.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m weird, but I’m also a movie buff. I used to love visiting my local theater several times a month. On Saturdays they show classic films. Hitchcock, lots of 1940s noir. I haven’t been there in years. I’m not one of those people with a big screen TV, booming sound system, a bunch of streaming accounts… just a small TV with antenna.
I was never a big restaurant goer, but we enjoyed it now and then. That’s another thing we’ve stopped doing.
oatler
@The Thin Black Duke:
The Simpsons already did this with “Bart’s Comet”.
Another Scott
@germy: Twitter is horrible for clearly imparting reliable information about complex topics. And often even without those qualifiers.
It can be good for providing pointers to original sources.
Cheers,
Scott.
Brit in Chicago
@Baud: “Absent another major wave, I’ll probably wait for the next version of the vaccine rather than get a booster of the current version.”
Why not both? I doubt we’ll be made to choose only one, and I’ll take as much protection as I can get.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’ve got a couple of friends who think I’m purposely hiding behind masks to avoid socializing. Pity they can’t see me shrugging through my laptop scree.
Baud
@Brit in Chicago:
I treat vaccines like any other medicine, and don’t choose to take it if unnecessary or only if the gain is minimal.
Part of my assumption is that the next version of the vaccine will be available on relatively short order.
Cermet
@germy: That’s because there are wildly different meanings to the term immunity – if one speaks of antibodies, that wanes after four months. If we are talking about memory T-cells, that gains in strength with time and can even handle any future new variants. Apples and oranges between that single term depending on what one is talking about. I’ve posted this at least twice in covid threads. People need to read all the posts in the threads.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Greece: it appears that new daily cases are stabilizing at a bit under 20,000 per day (19,623 reported yesterday by Kathimerini). Daily deaths are slowly dropping (67), as are the total number of ICU intubated patients (455).
I got my second booster last week out of bureaucratic necessity (for the longest time they wouldn’t recognize my Pfizer shots from New York, so my booster was administered as an initial shot, so I had to get what Greece considers a booster or my EU vaccination certificate would expire), and didn’t feel much of an effect (half-shot Moderna). I’m still masking up with FFP2, except for days when I’m only visiting my vaccinated family, in which case I’ll settle for a surgical mask.
I’m not invested in COVID being a permanent transformation of the world; I’m just coming to terms with the fact that “normal”, as it existed before 2020, is gone and probably never coming back, much the same way that the Airbus that Captain Sullenberger landed in the Hudson River will never fly again.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy: We’re going to Europe in mid-April, at which point our boosters will be about 6 months old. We’re planning to ask our doctor whether we need and can get a second booster, given our ages.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: I’ve always lived fairly simply. What little I’ve had to give up because of covid I don’t miss because I am still able to do the things that really matter to me.
@debbie: I don’t like wearing a mask, but it’s not that big a deal. It’s a small thing I do to protect myself and others, especially my wife and GDs.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I see Tom Nichols is yet another well informed member of our MSM. The transformation that happened during the pandemic is people and companies discovered remote working, and shopping and ordering dinner on line beats the hassle of stores and restaurants and streaming movies is cheaper and more pleasant that some sticky floored movie theater. Maybe Tom wants the government to call out the National Guard to force the population to go to the movies at bayonet point.
schrodingers_cat
Yesterday I went to the grocery store, and everyone (including me) there was masked. We have no statewide mask mandate and most towns have already lifted or in the process of lifting their mask mandates.
Baud
@charluckles:
A lot of it is propaganda. Biden is a failure because he doesn’t control the forces of nature, like he promised he would.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Good idea.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
Outside of schools, the end of mask mandates will only gradually change people’s behavior. The mandates were never vigorously enforced even when they were in place.
Cameron
Scored my N95’s at CVS yesterday. Clerk told me to help myself (they don’t seem to be a hot item in this neck of the woods), but I figured I’d go the good-citizen route and just take three. Figure I’m only going to really need them instead of the others I have when I’m on the bus or in a theater, and those two events are few and far between.
Ken
He’s stolen my idea for bringing coal mining back to West Virginia.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy: Retail workers were posting Karen the screaming asshole customer videos long before the pandemic.
Matt McIrvin
@debbie: Long holiday weekends always disrupt COVID reporting, and do weird things to 7-day averages until we get more than a week past the holiday.
Kay
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
They won the covid mitigation battle and they’re still bitching. At this point I don’t know what they want. We’ve given them permission to pretend none of this happened. That they can’t convince others to pretend none of it happened is their problem.
Go eat in restaurants, Tom. No one cares.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Even more vile considering he most likely works, if that’s what you call writing newsletters, remotely in some extraburg
Matt McIrvin
@schrodingers_cat: Out here in the far suburbs, retail places haven’t had mask mandates since the moment the CDC said fully vaccinated people could go maskless, last spring. Since then, I’ve never seen everyone wearing a mask in a store, though at the peak of the Omicron wave people got concerned enough that it was maybe 80%. At times of low COVID prevalence it’s more like 25%.
Soprano2
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: You know, not everyone likes remote work (and the majority of jobs actually cannot be done from home), and some people like going to restaurants and movie theaters. I agree that there have been changes, but I think in the end they will be less than a lot of people think right now. Humans like to do things together, and that’s not going to change. Going to a restaurant or bar is as much about the experience as the food; you can get a Bud LIght anywhere, or at home. Sometimes I like to go to stores and actually look at things before I buy them, be able to pick them up and see them rather than looking at a picture online – especially things like clothes, shoes and jewelry. I do tire of the snarky “don’t you idiots know everything has changed, why on earth would you want to go back to anything the way we did it before” takes.
Baud
@Kay:
Maybe it’s like a bachelor party to them. One last hurrah, in this case, to bitch about it, before people move on.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay:
Soprano2
@Kay: They want us to say that Covid was no big deal, all the mitigation efforts were unnecessary, and they were totally right that we did those things just to hurt Trump. Oh, they also want us to say that no one needs vaccines because even if you’re vaccinated you can get Covid, so what’s the point. They will never be happy because we won’t “admit” that we were wrong about Covid (we weren’t).
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
The airplane rule is being challenged in a wingnut court, and expires next month anyway.
I will continue to wear masks on planes and other mass transit for a long while.
Baud
@Soprano2: Very true.
MattF
Don’t know if this has been noted before, but the site MyIRmobile offers QR codes for current immunization verification based on state health department data. It works for Maryland, I got a valid QR code from them. Another option for vaccination QR codes is CVS, I got a code from them, since that’s where I’ve been getting my shots.
lowtechcyclist
I read Faris’ thread, and he at least acknowledges that everything’s open. His real gripe is that other people aren’t living their lives the way he wants them to. (They aren’t flocking back to Chicago’s downtown, the bars and movie theaters are mostly empty, etc.)
Cry me a river, dude.
I’m not even sure what ‘restrictions’ Nichols is talking about; he doesn’t say. Here in Calvert County, the only restriction is that in the public schools, everyone must wear masks. That’s it. Everywhere else, you’re on your own.
I really wonder what places in the U.S. currently have any restrictions, outside of schools and colleges. My guess is, very few.
Kay
@Matt McIrvin:
I’m sick of the whining, period. I no longer differentiate between the different groups doing it. They complain too much and they don’t contribute anything.
Covid was really hard for public schools. They have a huge amount of work to do. So we’re going to focus on masks? We have Emily Oster, an Ivy League economist (and parenting books author, because there’s always an integrated marketing strategy with these people, they’re always selling something) attacking schools for masks? Are masks really the big issue for public schools right now?
Go back to Brown and leave public schools alone. You’re not helping.
lowtechcyclist
Ditto here.
It’s all about fucking snowflakes who can’t handle wearing masks, and can’t even stand the sight of other people wearing them.
Kay
@Soprano2:
I live in a really low vaxx county and people are fucking kidding themselves if they think there won’t be measurable, large health effects of covid infection. They are doing permanent damage and they’re so far invested in denying it they will tell me things like the got Tylenol 3 for a cracked rib from coughing so much but they feel bad 3 weeks later because of “allergies”.
It’s going to cost. The unvaxxed have already cost hundreds of millions to public health programs and the permanently damaged are going to cost more for decades.
Kay
@Soprano2:
And I 100% believe they shoudl be cared for and Medicaid should pick it up- I’m in favor of public health payor programs. But let’s not pretend it isn’t hugely expensive. It is and the costs are just starting.
We’re all going to pay and pay for Tucker Carlson, if not with our health – like his listerners- then with our dollars. None of this is free.
Soprano2
@Kay: Oh, ITA. Our county is 53% vaxxed, and we’re the highest county around here. One county within an hour of here is less than 25% vaxxed! I’ve got friends who teach at a school in that county; they say the vast majority of people there think Covid is a hoax that was made up to hurt TFG and to control people. It’s in south central MO, which is one of the poorest areas in the state. It’s going to have long-term effects on the economy and people’s health, but they will never ever ever admit it’s because of Covid. In the face of all of this, our state legislature is trying to put an amendment on the ballot that will allow them to not pay for the Medicaid expansion the people voted for! They are willing to hurt their own voters because they fervently believe the working poor don’t really need access to health care (“it’s too expensive”, they whine), and they’re terrified too many of “those people” in the cities will get it (also “those people” who live in rural areas of the Bootheel). It’s insane that in the face of Covid they’re trying to decapitate Medicaid.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
I’d say having to take their belts and shoes off to go through security must really chafe them, except they probably pay the bucks to go TSA Pre all the time.
(It’s actually pretty cheap to do, compared to the price of a ticket. But as soon as I’m home from a trip, I forget to do anything about it again.)
danielx
@charluckles:
Well, yes. However, available evidence suggests there are an incredible number of incredibly stupid people out there.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: IIRC, wingnuts are about evenly divided between being OK with post-9/11 security theater because 9/11, and complaining that they wouldn’t have to do it if the liberals just allowed security people to racially profile.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: We were going to shell out for TSA Pre but foolishly decided to go for the fancier Global Entry option instead, then ran into the massive backlogs in that system, and then I think Trump completely cancelled new applications for our state because we weren’t a pro-Trump state. Honestly going through airport security is not as big a deal as it was in the early post-9/11 period anyway.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay: If it does come down to a hot civil war, COVID aftereffects are going to be a major problem for their side’s military effectiveness.
Fiona
@germy: the article says “authorization would depend on” – which you helpfully deleted from your comment.
I’m still not sure why you’re blaming the reporter for, y’know, reporting stuff. It’s not the reporter’s fault that the data are still coming in and we don’t actually know what the right answer is.
Fundamentally, immunity is not simple and antibodies are not the be all and the end all – they’re just the bit that’s trivial to measure.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin: I wasn’t thinking of the wingnuts so much as the centrists in the media. I’ve given up on trying to make sense of RWNJs.
I can’t remember how it was right after 9/11 (despite my wife and I having flown to Hawaii in November of that year on a wonderfully uncrowded airplane), but it’s just a juggle-fest every time we go through the line to security. You’re digging stuff out of your pockets and finding places for it in your carry-on (but wait, not the driver’s license, you’ll need that!) and taking off your belt and shoes, all while walking along as the line moves.
I can deal with the pocket stuff, or the belt and shoes, but both at the same time is always too much, I always feel like I have just enough time to do it all before getting to security. I’m willing to pay a modest fee and get fingerprinted in order to not have to deal with the belt-and-shoes part of the hassle.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 6,756 new cases of COVID-19 with 15 deaths of people who have tested positive reported. 1,093 people were in hospital yesterday with 11 people in intensive care. No real change.
The Scottish government is bowing to the inevitable and removing mandatory masking and vaccination passport restrictions next month on the 21st. They’re still suggesting people wear masks in shops etc. but it will no longer be required.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Centrist pundits are going to look at whatever the RWNJs are saying and try their best to dial it down by exactly half.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
There is also a class of people who have to go to work and aren’t allowed to socialize. You can imagine their opinion of the people who come in just for some to talk too.
Speaking as one of the “has to come in, not allowed to socialize” the irony of the pandemic is I can socialize more with my coworkers because the gregarous types aren’t wandering around complaining to the boss about how we are working, because they sure as hell aren’t. Productivity actually increased because we could drop a lot of ceremonial stuff, which means we have more time to socialize because the job gets done earlier.
Peale
@Kay: I think it was on this site a few days ago where someone posted the results of an odd survey where the number of people satisfied with the direction of the country is at an all time low but the number of people who are personally satisfied with their lives is near an all time high. So basically “I’m doing well, but I’m convinced everyone else’s live sucks.”
The whiners could have spent the “Great Pause” trying to improve themselves in some way rather than bitching and moaning the whole time. But they are incapable of improving themselves. But they can fret a lot about things that don’t matter to entertain themselves.
One of the reasons that we might be personally experiencing better lives even with “OMG! Devon and Sissy’s LIVES are ruined because they didn’t get to have a prom!” is that a lot of us aren’t actually spending time with whiners and doing all the fussy things that unnecessary social engagements entail. We missed Christmas with our family, which we are supposed to cherish and be sad about, but we also didn’t have to spend 12 hours avoiding that loudmouth cousin who we haven’t liked since we were 8. And social distancing in the bubble was a good excuse to not have to go through the hassle of preparing oneself to spend time with someone we didn’t particularly want to be with.
I think the latest whine that “People aren’t going out again” is them realizing that quite a few of us have simplified our lives, are fine with it, and don’t really want the whiners to be a part of bringing us down for hours on end. They thought they were the life of the party…when really we’re telling them that they are joy-sucking windbags.
Peale
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: He’s Tom Nichols. When he goes out socializing, its to be seen. Not having people around means he isn’t being seen. The fewer people in the bars means the fewer people who he can corner and blabber on about something without noticing that they are trying to excuse themselves.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
A lot of these people really, really believed that it was the government that was keeping people at home, that everyone else was secretly like them. As soon as the restrictions were lifted, everything would go right back to normal. They are discovering that just isn’t the case. The pandemic made us realize we were surrounded by more ignorant assholes than we knew. They are discovering the opposite, and are just as disturbed by it.
Matt McIrvin
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Before COVID I had this sort of skinflint aversion to ordering delivery from restaurants. Even when I ordered takeout online, I’d have to go and get it myself. Now my inhibitions about that are just gone, and I also realize what a hassle it was to try to get seated in a popular restaurant back in the day. You’re often not even gaining much from the ambiance in those places.
arrieve
People just don’t want to accept that we are never ever ever getting back together with our pre-pandemic lives. Some things will, eventually, be similar to the old ways. Some things — like everyone having to be in an office five days a week, and all of the businesses that relied on those workers having them as customers — will not. It’s okay to mourn that. I miss all the traveling I used to be able to do, and going to movie theatres and (my personal treat) going out for breakfast on a regular basis.
I’m now in the student teaching phase of my master’s, and am working as a teaching assistant at a college in Brooklyn one day a week. Everyone is required to be masked. Yesterday I had to lead the class for half an hour. Would I have preferred to be talking without a mask? Of course. Did I even notice that I had a mask on? Not really.
Nobody’s in love with the restrictions. But I don’t understand the whining about them (or that telling past tense in Tom Nichols’ tweet: “the pandemic WAS”) when we still have thousands of people dying every day.
Ohio Mom
I am having an idiosyncratic experience: sometime in the first year of the pandemic, Ohio Dad found himself the archetypal older unemployed and unemployable engineer.
After over a year of applications, interviews and rejections, we decided he was retired and it was time to start collecting social security.
I can never tell if we aren’t doing things that cost money because we are avoiding Covid or adjusting to our reduced financial circumstances.
My pleasures once were eating out and shopping. No one loves a thrift shop or rummage sale more than me. I miss the thrill of finding a cheap trinket. Oh well.
Robert Sneddon
@arrieve: The epidemic has been a catalyst for change, good and bad for individuals and extremely upsetting for those who are small-c conservative and who demand certainty in their lives. The forced disruptions in society caused by the disease aren’t going to heal up all the way, there will be long-term effects such as the large numbers of survivors who are damaged physically to a greater or lesser extent, the so-called and still undefined Long COVID sufferers.
The Long COVID cohort, oddly enough, are seen by some as an opportunity — someone I know in the USA is looking at diversifying his small medical-supplies business into providing oxygen therapy equipment and home-delivery of consumables like filters, sterilising materials and replacement cannulae for people with damaged lungs requiring supplemental oxygen, possibly for the rest of their lives. He sees a big expanding market for this sort of service going forward, paid for by Medicare and private insurance. Dialysis is another medical business that’s going to have a lot more clients in the near future thanks to COVID-19, he reckons.
Citizen Alan
@Peale:
I feel bad for admitting this in a public forum, but I am slightly bitter that I had to forego spending 2 weeks in New York with nothing to do except explore the city around Christmas time and instead had to go back to Mississippi and spend it with family.
Miss Bianca
@debbie: I wasn’t gloating. I don’t remember anybody here “gloating” over death reports.
Miss Bianca
@Ohio Mom: I too took a chance this past weekend – also ate at a Japanese restaurant and went to the theater with friends (all vaxxed and boosted, as far as I’m aware) in the next town over from mine to watch a play. (No particular COVID protocols in place, I am sorry to say, unlike our theater, where we have the house at half-capacity and require masking in public areas. No concessions sales yet.)
No adverse effects noted yet. However, I’m not throwing away my masks or abandoning social distancing any time soon.
J R in WV
@germy:
I bring home carry-out sometimes when I go to Kroger’s for new prescriptions and more food. Last time I was there after 5 pm so I went to Sitar of India for Korma, Tika Masala and Vindaloo. The Vindaloo was pretty much too hot to enjoy. The other two were great. I also get sushi carry out some evenings. Or Mexican.
Not the same, but better than cooking the same old again and again. I made a lamb meatloaf last week, it was good, then for leftovers I layered thin sliced potatoes and the meatloaf with grilled onions and cream, topped with Italian cheese blend… that was delightful, no leftovers there!
I tried to get a 4th vax a couple of weeks ago. I think wife would qualify with a note from her doctor about her immune system, they turned me away. I wonder if I could hit up a drugstore that wouldn’t care? Just show them the card with two vaccinations on it?
I’m willing to cheat to get another shot, as opposed to those trying to cheat by getting a fake card and no shots…
J R in WV
@Cermet:
The problems with your posts are manifold.
First, many of your posts are so unhinged people pie you, and never see any of your posts that might contain valuable information.
Second, many of your posts are so unhinged many people who haven’t pied you yet won’t believe a word you say in a less unhinged post without looking up your assertions, which is too much like trouble with no visible benefit to gain.
This was the first post of yours I’ve read in weeks… it is optimistic which is good, and I hope it’s true and factual. I won’t bet my life on it, tho.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Robert Sneddon:
I’m not so sure about that last one. When I look at death by comorbidities, the folks with chronic kidney disease died en mass. Dialysis providers are the last place I would put my money right now.
J R in WV
And one more thing:
Some 11 or 12 years ago now, Wife spent nearly 3 months in hospital, beginning with septic shock, induced coma on a vent, pneumonia, etc, etc. So I lived in hospital with her all those weeks, and it was busy and mostly cheerful because people were being treated, healing, with family and friends visiting, going home eventually.
Last month Wife had stroke like symptoms, back to the ER for us. She was admitted, spent 2 days in a room in the ER before going to a regular wing upstairs. Again, I was in hospital for that week with Wife.
It was totally and completely different from her previous long stay. Halls were quiet, rooms were quiet, all the staff were wearing masks, all the (few and rare) visitors were wearing masks, most patients were wearing masks. Waiting rooms were mostly empty, the waiting area for cardiac cath lab was 4 chairs in the hallway. The snack bar was open for 2 hours at lunchtime. No one shared a room with another patient. The effects of the pandemic were obvious and striking. The hospital was dealing with a health crisis, and it was obvious to everyone. No one needed mandates to know the shit was in the HVAC systems.
I suppose this will change eventually, if people get vaccinations and wear masks when in crowds. I personally wear a mask from before getting out of the car until I’m back in the car headed home, and will continue as long as possible to do so. I won’t be going out to dinner, I will go in a restaurant wearing a mask to pick up my carry-out orders.
The difference in the hospital was amazing and concerning, it brought the magnitude of the problem for the healthcare system home like a gut-punch. Unbelievable and tragic, the people working there are the real heroes of this long horror story !!
ETA: Wife is home with home health care for PT, doing well, making appointments with specialists to prepare for surgery to correct her spinal issue. Hope you never need a neurosurgeon, glad her doc appears to be very experienced and capable.
Peale
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Yeah, but if you were stage II and had COVID, you are likely to be at State III. If you had no issues, you might be at stage II. Step by step, they’ll get there.
Robert Sneddon
@Peale: Re future dialysis requirements:
It’s more that a lot of middle-aged and older people had perfectly decent functioning kidneys before COVID-19 hit. They are now suffering renal damage from blood clots and, absent a kidney transplant they’re going to need dialysis soon if not immediately after they got “better” as part of the 99% of those who survive COVID-19, the ones the anti-vaccination folks boast about saying “it’s just a cold”.
There are other longer-term effects on the circulatory system and elsewhere but my American friend was looking at the near-future business prospects COVID-19 was presenting to him. Not everyone who gets COVID-19 suffers serious after-effects that he can make money off but his guess is that there’s going to be millions of them in the US alone. He is, of course, vaccinated and boostered himself because he’s not stupid.
Bill Arnold
@Soprano2:
Not only that, they should be thankful that we are not calling them the selfish gullible homicidal idiots that they are in ever social interaction.
We are too nice to them. Way too nice.
Uncle Cosmo
Lucky you. I’ve always lived fairly simply as well, but “what little I’ve had to give up” has been damn near devastating. For nearly half a century, my customary form of exercise and main activity for interacting with people has been social dancing – which I suspect is never coming back to B.C. levels. And the special activity I most looked forward to was traveling solo (and visiting friends) in Europe – another activity I doubt will bounce back. (Though I am damn-the-torpedos-determined to get to Prague in May for my friend Milan’s 82nd birthday, having missed the previous two.)
Bill Arnold
@lowtechcyclist:
I am glad that I do not live in an area where people make audible comments about masks. The words I would say might provoke a fight, and they would be the loser.
Bill Arnold
@Matt McIrvin:
Seriously? A lot of white people have skin color/ethnic look similar to that of Richard Reid, Attempted Shoe Bomber.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: …I feel like a lot of these centrist thumb-sucking pieces about overreaction and the “end of the pandemic” would sound a lot more sensible if they weren’t always jumping the gun by, say, a month or so. They never wait until risk is ACTUALLY very low; they hear that risk is decreasing and DECLARE that it’s very low. It’s of a piece with the way state governments (and the UK government) always seem to be itching to lift restrictions and order everyone back to work just a little sooner than they ought to
That said, it does appear that for now, so many people have antibodies from a recent Omicron infection that a temporary and contingent version of the vaunted “herd immunity” is actually operating. Just don’t expect that state to last forever. Or even all that long.
Robert Sneddon
@Matt McIrvin: In the UK at least, many people are unwilling to continue with the remaining restrictions such as mask mandates, vaccination passports etc. These mandates are all personal — a sports ground can have its capacity capped or require masking etc. but getting Joe and Jill Bloggs to mask up going shopping is a much more difficult task, and enforcing the current rules has become more and more difficult. There’s an old adage that the first lesson a new officer cadet learns in the military is “Never give an order that you know will not be obeyed.”
Politicians can lead but most of the time they must follow their electorate even when doing so may be a bad idea, scientifically speaking.
Matt McIrvin
@Robert Sneddon: In the US, a lot of the resentment seems not to actually be about restrictions on oneself, but about actually wanting other people to act less careful than they voluntarily do.
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
I wasn’t implying you or anyone else here. I was referring to conservative mouthpieces in my area. Sorry for not being clearer. Early morning isn’t my clearest time of day (as if any time really is).