President Biden described his Covid plan during his #SOTU speech, including launching a new “test to treat” initiative for free antiviral pills, preparing for new variants, ending shutdowns of schools and businesses, and continuing to vaccinate people. https://t.co/jKhPeFCq6R pic.twitter.com/2H4HRNleps
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 2, 2022
More on the 'Test to Treat' COVID-19 initiative announced in Biden's State of the Union address: https://t.co/Igk7fXORDw #SOTU
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
More than half of Americans say some restrictions on normal life still are a good idea to try to curb the pandemic, per Post-ABC poll. Most think the coronavirus is not yet very under control. W/ @EmGusk https://t.co/nBlp4M1y0o
— Amy Goldstein (@goldsteinamy) March 1, 2022
#Covid19 deaths in the US have passed the 950,000 mark. The last 50,000 of them have occurred since Feb. 4 — not even 4 weeks.
Those 50,000 people died at a time when the country has a glut of vaccine doses. pic.twitter.com/Assje8FE97— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 2, 2022
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— Jeremy Konyndyk (@JeremyKonyndyk) March 2, 2022
The World Health Organization says new coronavirus cases dropped by 16% around the world, marking a month-long decline in COVID-19 infections. https://t.co/6BRNlt8gt0
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) March 2, 2022
Hong Kong to report more than 50,000 new COVID cases on Wednesday -TVB https://t.co/IuCbzYKnOF pic.twitter.com/I5RtcnfJLg
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
Hong Kong reports 55,353 new coronavirus cases, by far the biggest one-day increase on record, and 160 new deaths
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 2, 2022
Hong Kong’s leader says people’s movements may be restricted during this month's mandatory coronavirus testing of the entire population. Health officials reported more than 55,000 daily infections, a record, and over a hundred deaths. https://t.co/NuHxC9dvkK
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 2, 2022
Hong Kong government urges residents spooked by citywide lockdown not to panic https://t.co/pYWGnA3Brx pic.twitter.com/2my4SH2NLB
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
Coronavirus binds Hong Kong even closer to Beijing as the mainland takes over the pandemic response https://t.co/M1zOnBxDNf
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 2, 2022
Japan set to extend COVID curbs as hospitals battle infections https://t.co/VoUSBbBU5U pic.twitter.com/Sn1SNsrDQk
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
South Korea reports 219,241 new coronavirus cases, the biggest one-day increase on record
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) March 2, 2022
Thai hotels urge government to further relax entry rules as arrivals lag https://t.co/0pp89P6kMx pic.twitter.com/3TYMYtJ4PL
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
… Thailand has been ahead of its Southeast Asian neighbours in easing entry rules, after imposing strict quarantine and entry requirements for more than a year.
It started a calibrated reopening to vaccinated tourists from July last year with two island “sandbox” programmes as pilot projects, before fully reopening in November, when visitors were required to take tests on arrival.
This helped boost January arrivals to nearly 134,000 from about 7,700 in 2021, a year when total arrivals were less than 0.5% of the pre-pandemic figures.
But industry members said more must be done if Thailand wants to attract the kind of numbers that made it one of the world’s most visited countries…
In a programme called “Test and Go”, Thailand allows vaccinated travellers who have sought prior entry approval to minimise quarantine to just one night.
They must present a negative pre-departure test, proof of vaccination, hotel bookings and COVID-19 insurance coverage of $20,000, and take two more tests after arrival…
New Zealand police move in again on protest against vaccine mandate https://t.co/LtV14NN4Re pic.twitter.com/or33uTl6Id
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
Thick black smoke billowed across the grounds of New Zealand’s Parliament and sirens blared as retreating protesters set fire to tents, mattresses and chairs. It appeared to be a final act of defiance as police broke up the three-week old camp. https://t.co/C7lhLlXqPr
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 2, 2022
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Terrific summary of 3 big studies released this week on the origins of #SARSCoV2 in #Wuhan in 2019, spawning our #pandemic . https://t.co/CTMKmgyfkA
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) March 1, 2022
Three new studies offer one indisputable conclusion about the origin of SARS-CoV-2: Despite the passage of 2 years and the Chinese government’s lack of transparency, data that can shed light on the pandemic’s greatest mystery still exist. And although these new analyses don’t all reach the same conclusion for how COVID-19 was sparked, each undercuts the theory that the virus somehow escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, long a focus of suspicions.
The studies examine different aspects of the viral spread at the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, the city where the first cases were detected. Two international efforts build the case that SARS-CoV-2 jumped to people from infected animals—a zoonotic leap—at the market, likely twice, at the end of 2019. A third, largely Chinese effort details early signs of the coronavirus in environmental and animal samples from the market but suggests the virus was imported there, perhaps from outside the country—a conclusion the University of Arizona’s Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist who is a corresponding author of the two international studies, calls “a huge disconnect.”
So is the Pfizer Covid vaccine working as well in kids 5 to 11 as in kids 12 and older? New York State data suggests not — raising questions about the vaccine dose. But other data sources don't show the same signal. https://t.co/P5jxtjnKzJ
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) March 1, 2022
FDA warns against use of certain unauthorized COVID antigen tests https://t.co/DGKrarKljT pic.twitter.com/GHrdjYTbRm
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
People infected with SARSCoV2 can have different variants hidden in different parts of the body. New finding by an int'l research team. Study's authors say this may make complete viral clearance by antibodies or antibody treatments much more difficult https://t.co/LbmMKJMLM3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) March 1, 2022
Nerve damage may explain some cases of long COVID -U.S. study https://t.co/ufhTzRZ4wf pic.twitter.com/aywK1wgdea
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 2, 2022
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New York City is ending its contact-tracing program for the coronavirus next month. It's yet another sign that officials across the United States are shifting how they treat the threat of SARSCoV2 https://t.co/RXCu2d3TiQ
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) March 2, 2022
Medical testing is Marxist? https://t.co/FvK9MUm0xJ
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) March 1, 2022
Biden: “We’re going to go after the criminals who stole billions of relief money meant for small businesses and millions of Americans. And tonight, I’m announcing that the Justice Department will soon name a chief prosecutor for pandemic fraud.” pic.twitter.com/ixYWi2O0in
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 2, 2022
Woman who delivered the GOP response to Biden’s SotU:
Iowa's state auditor again called for Gov. Kim Reynolds to return nearly $450,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds that were used to pay for 21 governor's office staff members for three months in 2020. https://t.co/es4BbmShFd
— Star Tribune (@StarTribune) March 1, 2022
Trying to blame #TonyFauci for the entire #pandemic . If he put half as much energy into encouraging his followers to get vaccinated, he'd save a lot of #GOP lives. https://t.co/CjPM4IFnVw
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) March 1, 2022
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Oak Glen – Southern California Fall Color
New Deal democrat
Nationwide cases decreased slightly to 62,300, are down about 25% week over week. They are about equal to where they were 12 months ago, but close to their peak from March through October 2020. At 1830, deaths are down 300 week over week after removing the holiday distortion. Deaths have continued to decline at a much slower rate than cases.
The best US region continues to be the Northeast, at 14 cases per 100,000, while the worst is the West at 22. Only IA, WA, and NE are higher than they were a week ago. NE is a data dump, and the other two may be as well.
The best US jurisdictions range from PR, at 7 cases per 100,000, to UT at 13, and also include WI, DC, LA, CT, NY, OH, IN, and MD. The worst, excluding NE, range from ID at 87 to WA at 28, and also include IA, VT, KY, WV, VT, NH, ME, and AK. The bast State for deaths, at .01 is OH. The worst, at .14, is MO.
For comparison, most Canadian provinces are between 9 (BC) and 22 (NS) cases per 100,000, and between .07 (NS) and .33 (MA) deaths per 100,000.
The rate of decline in cases is decelerating, perhaps due to BA.2, but we will probably be in a *relatively* good place in about 2 weeks. I am troubled by the fact that deaths are not declining by a faster rate than the downslope of Delta.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
150 new cases on 3/1. Damn, going back up. Glad I’m getting another booster this weekend.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Greece: the seesaw in new cases continues. Yesterday’s report (they release the numbers at about 6pm Athens time) listed 17,167 new cases and 52 COVID-related deaths. Currently there are 408 intubated patients in ICUs – that number keeps dropping.
To give an idea of the seesaw: Monday’s report had a positivity rate of 16.10%, while Tuesday’s had a positivity rate of 3.68%.
It’s not over, but the decreasing ICU numbers seem to be a good sign to me.
Mousebumples
USPS covid test site will let you order 4 new tests sometime next week, as well
YY_Sima Qian
On 3/1 Mainland China reported 71 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic), 48 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province reported 32 new domestic confirmed & 13 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.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both mild) & 8 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Fangchenggang, all are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. The outbreak at Fangchenggang is of Omicron BA.2 Variant. 12 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 183 active domestic confirmed (140 at Baise, 42 at Fangchenggang & 1 at Nanning) & 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all at Fangchenggang) in the province. 1 zone at Fangchenggang is 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 16 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously suspect). 26 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 340 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed cases (14 mild & 6 moderate) in the city. 1 massage parlor is currently at High Risk.
Shandong Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed cases (3 mild & 1 moderate), all at Qingdao, a bus driver found via regular screening, & the other 3 are traced close contacts. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed cases (all at Qingdao) & 1 active asymptomatic (at Yantai) cases in the province.
Shanxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province, all part of the transmission chain spreading from Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.
At Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province there currently is 1 active asymptomatic case remaining.
Huludao in Liaoning Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (both mild), both traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. 6 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 192 active domestic confirmed cases in the city (all presumed Delta). 1 village at Suizhong County is currently at High Risk.
Heilongjiang Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 12 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed& 41 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yanbian Prefecture in Jilin Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (all mild) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Hunchun, 1 from voluntary testing & the other 7 are traced close contacts. Since Hunchun is a border crossing w/ Russia, all residents need to have negative test reports before leaving the city, & are tested upon arrival. The index case had taken a day trip to Yanji in Yanbian on 2/28, via high speed rail. The case had tested negative prior to departure, but positive upon return.
Hainan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active confirmed (at Sanya) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chengmai County) cases in the province.
Shanghai Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. The new domestic confirmed case is found at fever clinic, initially testing positive on 2/28. The new domestic asymptomatic case is a quarantine hotel worker, a traced close contact of the domestic positive case reported on 2/27, & have been under centralized quarantine since then. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 10 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 activity center has been elevated to Medium Risk.
Hubei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 28 active domestic confirmed (23 mild & 5 moderate, all at Wuhan) & 8 active domestic asymptomatic (7 at Wuhan & 1 at Huanggang) cases in the province. 4 residential buildings & 1 hotel at Wuhan are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 4 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 95 active domestic confirmed & 30 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Sichuan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 1 new asymptomatic cases. There currently are 35 active domestic confirmed & 13 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, a person who entered centralized quarantine to care for in under aged child arriving from overseas.
At Henan Province there currently are 4 active domestic confirmed cases remaining.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 46 active domestic confirmed & 100 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province.
Imported Cases
On 3/1, Mainland China reported 153 new imported confirmed cases (10 previously asymptomatic, 8 in Guangdong), 121 imported asymptomatic cases, 4 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 98 confirmed cases recovered (30 imported), 45 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (40 imported) & 12 were reclassified as confirmed cases (10 imported), & 4,700 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 2,999 active confirmed cases in the country (1,723 imported), 19 in serious condition (1 imported), 1,209 active asymptomatic cases (896 imported), 9 suspect cases (all imported). 84,590 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 3/1, 3,135.598M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 5.753M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 3/2, Hong Kong reported 55,353 new positive cases (27 imported & 55,326 domestic), 117 deaths..
On 3/2, Taiwan reported 49 new positive cases, 47 imported & 2 domestic.
Brantl
Could little Marco be any more of an a-hole? I think it’s theoretically impossible.
lowtechcyclist
I’d love someone to explain to me why it’s lasted this long.
Contact tracing is useful when the fraction of infected people is sparse – when you can control an infectious disease by tracking and isolating its relative handful of carriers.
But that hasn’t been true since 2020. If you go out in public, you’ll be around lots of people who are carrying the virus. How does contact tracing make a difference in that environment?
lowtechcyclist
@Brantl: Just like it turned out that there was no such thing as peak wingnut, there’s no limit on the depth of assholery of these people.
OzarkHillbilly
@Brantl: On the other hand, there is Ted Cruz. Ron Johnson. Rick Scott. Jim Jordan. Greg Abbot. Ken Paxton. Eric Grietens…..
NotMax
Total reported deaths worldwide passed 6,000,000 this week.
Locally,
Elsewhere,
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: And the list goes on!
YY_Sima Qian
All the information I have indicates that Hong Kong reported 117 deaths for 3/1, of whom only 6 were fully vaccinated (as in completed the full course of 2 Sinovac or 2 BioNTech doses). I am not sure why the BNO tweet says 160 deaths.
NotMax
Haven’t tracked additions to the list in a while.
Number of countries reporting cumulative case totals of 500k or more has leapt to 83.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 25,854 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 3,468,590 cases. It also reported 78 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,827 deaths – 0.95% of the cumulative reported total, 1.03% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 1.02.
134 confirmed cases are in ICU, 74 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 25,548 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 3,142,112 patients recovered – 90.6% of the cumulative reported total.
Seven new clusters were reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 6,789 clusters. 475 clusters are currently active; 6,314 clusters are now inactive.
25,406 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 448 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 101,038 doses of vaccine on 1st March: 26,476 first doses, 1,300 second doses, and 73,262 booster doses. The cumulative total is 67,313,182 doses administered: 27,032,009 first doses, 25,752,136 second doses, and 14,736,569 booster doses. 82.8% of the population have received their first dose, 78.9% their second dose, and 45.1% their booster dose.
NotMax
@YY_Sima Qian
I’m seeing data of 246 as the number of deaths reported there during the most recent 24 hours (as opposed to a specific day/date).
NorthLeft12
Serious question. Do the Rethugs actually believe that promising to “investigate” (yeah, we know what that means……harrass) Fauci is something that will potentially return them to power in the House?
I guess this is just red meat for his base, and most Americans will never know about this threat thanks to the complicit silence of the media.
OzarkHillbilly
@JPL: It’s endless.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’m in that majority who feels like some restrictions are still necessary. Still, things are improving. Positivity rates in PA are dropping rapidly according to my state app. 6.6% this week, nearly 12% last week, I think 19% the week before.
I opted to rejoin the chorus I last sang with 2 years ago, with some trepidation. Masked, separated, ventilated and with vaccine proof required, there will be a concert in April.
NotMax
@NorthLeft12
Like investigating Western Union for reporting news of the death of McKinley.
//
Soprano2
It’s like at the doctor’s office when they ask if you’ve been exposed to Covid. I wanted to say “how on Earth would I know that?”, but I just said “no” because I had no known exposure. It was a nonsensical question, and they had to know it.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brantl: I am wondering if Marco really thinks Marxism started with the GW Bush administration
Soprano2
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: That’s really exciting for you. I was lucky, our local university continued to have choir with masks and distancing. We had a concert in April 2021 where everyone had to test before the rehearsal, and then we tested before the concert the next night. By then most of the choir members were vaxxed; their elite choir has a 100% vax rate, which is pretty damn good for college kids! We’re having a Grand Chorus concert on May 1st for the first time in two years; we’ll be singing “Carmina Burana”, which was supposed to be the piece we did in April 2020. I think it’s an appropriate piece for the time, honestly, all about Fate.
germy
QUIZ: Is the Pandemic Over or Are We Just Pretending It Is for the Fourth Time Now?
NotMax
@germy
Far too many people refuse to grok what the pan means.
prostratedragon
@Soprano2: O Fortuna! It’s not just what’s for lunch.
satby
@Soprano2: they mean “no known” exposure. They’re perfectly, acutely aware that anyone out in public is potentially exposed. But as detailed in a previous AL covid thread, most active cases arise from close contact with an infected person at home or work.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Soprano2: They did a Messiah singalong in December but I was still too nervous to sing or even attend.
Looking around the room, not everybody is back. I think we’re at about 75% strength.
We’re doing a Schubert mass and two settings (Mendelssohn and Bach) on the text “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten” (which I think translates as “Who only lets the beloved God guide him”). I’m sure the text has a pandemic-related meaning for our director.
Sloane Ranger
There were 39,000 new reported cases yesterday (Tuesday). The rolling 7-day average is down by 23.7%. New cases by nation,
England – 26,711
Northern Ireland – 2567
Scotland – 7497
Wales – 2225.
Deaths – There were 194 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is down by 24.1%. 158 deaths were in England, 5 in Northern Ireland, 21 in Scotland and 10 in Wales.
Testing – 643,136 tests took place on 28 February. The rolling 7-day average is down by 19.8%.
Hospitalisations – As of 27 February there were 10551 people in hospital and 290 on ventilators. The The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 8.7% as of 25 February.
Vaccinations – As of 28 February, 91.5% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 85.2% had had 2, and 66.5% had had a 3rd shot/booster. 3rd shots/boosters are increasing with with snail like slowness, the other two metrics are effectively flat.
Starfish
@New Deal democrat: Don’t deaths lag cases by about two weeks?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@satby: PA has an official covid app. One of the things it is supposed to do is automatic contact tracing,
Fortunately I never had the app tell me that it had a hit at some random place in the outside world. But theoretically it could have.
I’m not sure if that part of it ever worked for the health authorities, but I guess it’s about the best they could do to try to monitor random contacts.
Starfish
I am super unimpressed by the whole “pandemic is over” when it comes to schools. We just learned that kids 5-11 are not responding as well to the vaccine, and yet masks are now optional in schools and on school buses because CDC said so. We have less than three more months to the school year. Why did we not let kids just finish it out with masks?
YY_Sima Qian
@NotMax: Could be catch up reporting of deaths from previously days, but that is normally separated in HK government’s reports. No question the death count in HK will escalate exponentially, since the case count is still increasing exponentially. We may very well see days of nearly 1000 deaths in the city. This is an indication of how damaging Omicron BA.2 can be in a substantially naive population. I think a large part of Omicron’s relatively “milder” pathogenicity may be due to the very high vaccination rates of the elderly population in most of the world. (The other being slower replication in lung cells.)
The failure to vaccinate the elderly population (even w/ the Sinovac vaccine), is an inexplicable error of monumental proportions. So much death could have been avoided. Mainland China has the same issue w/ the > 80 population, at ~ 50% full vaccination. There has not been any vaccine mandates in Mainland China, just like HK. Though if you work in government, public sectors, state owned enterprises, & medium to large private enterprises, you will likely be nagged to death to get the shots. We shall see if the Chinese government launches a drive to vaccinate the elderly population in rural areas. Whack-a-Mole against Omicron BA.2 is proving more challenging & more economically damaging even in Mainland China. While Omicron BA.2 outbreak has been contained, suppressed & eliminated (or in the process of doing so), these clusters & outbreaks are very frequent now, easily spilling to other regions in China before being discovered & contained. Having a tsunami washing over Hong Kong does not help.
Soprano2
@prostratedragon: Oh no, it’s much much more. Everyone knows that part, though. It’s my favorite choral piece of music; singing it in some parts is like singing pure joy. This will be the 4th time I’ve performed it, but the 1st time as an alto!
Soprano2
@satby: Yeah, I know what they’re looking for, but the actual question is one that cannot be accurately answered. LOL
New Deal democrat
@Starfish:
Deaths are down about 30% from their peak 3 1/2 weeks ago. Cases were down 30% from peak only 2 weeks afterward – which was also 4 1/2 weeks ago. Even 3 weeks ago cases were down 70% from peak.
So deaths are not declining like cases did. Since Delta has pretty much been gone for over a month, these should all be Omicron. Why aren’t Omicron deaths falling like Omicron cases did? I really am stumped.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: I suspect Omicron deaths have a longer lag associated with them, or a larger spread in the lag. People who are going to die are taking longer to do it because they’re not quite as damaged. That also created an illusion of a lower-than-actual fatality rate in the early part of the wave
Even before Omicron, just from looking at trends in lagged fatality rates, I suspect the average lag was longer than 2 weeks–somewhere between 3 and 4 weeks was a better fit. It may have seemed shorter early on because they were slower to detect cases; with relatively little testing, many cases were only registered when people were already very sick.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: I considered that, but here’s the problem: This is *not* the pattern in most other countries where Omicron peaked early. In Canada, Israel, Portugal, and the U.K., deaths fell at the same rate as cases with a 3-4 week lag. Only South Africa is like the US, and the local expert I follow there says it is due to a lag in reporting.
Possibly an issue of the huge % of unvaccinated people in the US vs. European countries? Omicron takes longer to kill the unvaxxed?
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: Lower vaccination rates might mean that Omicron kills more people who are in relatively good shape beforehand, meaning they stick around longer. Hard to say.
I recall seeing some spitballing analyses suggesting that the onset of symptoms is faster in breakthrough infections because your immune system is primed, but that’s a very different thing from dying faster.
That said, just looking at the various lagged-CFR calculations for Massachusetts on 91-DIVOC does suggest to me that the true lag is really longer than 4 weeks now. Might be 5 or 6. Or maybe there are different subpopulations with different lags.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: 6 million dead, nothing to see here.
So says (apparently) at least half of the world population. sigh.
YY_Sima Qian
I have noticed that regional authorities in Chinese are being very selective w/ designation of Medium/High Risk areas, often starting from smaller units such as individual residential buildings, office towers, factories, businesses or stores. Instead, they implement wider zones of varying degrees of movement restrictions:
There are further restrictions on regional/national travel. There is a national APP that shows your travel history in the past 14 days, based on cell tower location, resolution is to the city level. Any city in your travel history (spending over 4 hrs there) that has Medium/High Risk areas will have an asterisk next to the name. The travel history status has four colors: red for COVID positive cases that should be in hospital, orange for close contact, yellow for recent arrivals from countries w/ high COVID prevalence & should still be in centralized/home quarantine, green for full freedom of movement. However, many businesses will refuse visitors that has cities w/ asterisk in their 14 day travel histories, even if the card is showing green. Those that do accept such visitors generally require negative RT-PCR test w/in past 24 or 48 hrs.
Furthermore, China National Health Commission publishes & constantly updates so called “key” areas w/ recent or active community spread, typically sub-districts or counties/districts w/ Medium/High Risk areas, or entire cities (such as Xi’an in Shaanxi in Jan.) w/ cordon sanitaire. Just about every jurisdiction in China requires anyone w/ travel history to these “key” areas in the past 14 days to go under centralized quarantine until 14 days to departure from said areas, followed by 7 – 14 days of monitored home quarantine. These measures strongly discourage intra-regional & interregional travel in areas w/ active outbreaks. All restrictions are generally lifted after 14 days of no cases in any given area.
However, today Beijing just started banning entry for anyone who has cities w/ asterisks on their travel history cards, w/o any warning. 2 of may colleagues in Beijing were caught outside of the city to visit customers in an adjacent city. Because they had traveled to cities w/ Medium/High Risk areas in the past 14 days (though there were no reported cases or areas at elevated risk when they visited), they are now stuck outside of Beijing’s the city limits, unable to return home. I am not sure what will happen. While the pandemic response in most parts of China are by now well practiced, relatively transparent, & pretty predictable, the capital (& adjacent cities) can be capricious, due to its heightened sensitivity.
smith
@lowtechcyclist: One thing contact tracing has been useful for in recent months is in convincing people to get vaccinated. My sister, who recently gave up her job as a contact tracer after doing it for most of the pandemic, thinks she was successful in convincing unvaxxed people to get vaxxed about 75% of the time, and this in a low-vax rural red county. Having been exposed or diagnosed with covid is a teachable moment for somebody who isn’t rigidly anti-vax. One thing she found effective, especially with the guys, is pointing out that getting vaxxed on top of the immunity they’ve gained from being infected could make them super-immune. Everyone wants superpowers!
Admittedly this is a retail method of moving people to getting vaxxed, so may not make a huge dent in overall vax rates, but wholesale methods haven’t been all that effective, especially in areas like the one she lives in.
Ohio Mom
@Starfish: Anyone who has school-aged children knows what vectors they are. The number of colds I got each year decreased as Ohio Son moved through the grades; by high school, he was hardly bringing anything home. So I agree, schools could have kept their mask mandates. Oh well.
On another note, I think the idea to have pharmacists give free Covid tests and then anti-virals to everyone who tests positive is genius but those poor pharmacists! They will be required to be in close contact all day with people about to be labeled Covid patients. I bet they will continue their own personal mask mandate.
Kristine
The mask mandate in Illinois ended Monday–no longer required indoors except for public transportation, nursing homes, and other special cases.
I went grocery shopping yesterday. Looked like mask-wearing was down from ‘pretty much everyone’ to maybe 1/3. Some shoppers. A few staffers.
I’m not ready to give mine up yet. Last I checked, Lake County IL had moved into the High Risk category, which is in the middle of the risk range. Positivity around 3.4%. According to the IDPH, risk metrics for the county are stable, so we’re in the blue area of the map. New cases per 100,000 still way high.
I know this isn’t over, but folks have apparently reached the “la la la la I don’t see you” stage of the pandemic.
lowtechcyclist
@Starfish:
With you totally on this one. All the kids were in the habit of doing this, no reason not to keep it up until June. Then they’d have had all summer to see how the winds were blowing and decide whether to continue the mandate in the fall.
lowtechcyclist
@smith:
I never would have thought of that! Thanks for the eye-opener.
sab
@smith: The superimmunity approach worked with my stepsons. They got Covid as essential workers. Then vaccines. We paid them to get the boosters but the super-immunity was the best selling point.