The U.S. drug regulator said on Monday a panel of independent advisers will meet on April 6 to discuss considerations for use of COVID-19 vaccine booster doses. https://t.co/Ac23R4E6k3
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) March 21, 2022
Health systems around the U.S. are rushing out same-day prescription deliveries for some people with COVID-19, with the goal of getting patients started on the pills within five days of symptoms appearing. But that tight timeline has several challenges. https://t.co/uInxqy2GOU
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 21, 2022
======
… In an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, Liang Wannian, head of the expert panel leading the country’s Covid-19 response, said those conditions included having better tools to fight the virus, the prevalence of a less dangerous strain and the pandemic becoming less serious abroad.
Liang said China would review factors collectively, including the degree of harm being caused by the virus, when weighing up changes to pandemic strategy or a return to normal.
“I know everyone is hoping for the pandemic to end soon, but the viruses and diseases themselves do not depend on our will,” Liang said…
Liang’s remarks came as China recorded about 42,000 local infections so far this month with the highly transmitted Omicron variant spreading to most provinces. About 95 per cent of the infections have been mild or asymptomatic, prompting discussion about whether China should adjust its response as the virus mutates in the same way other countries have relaxed or cancelled restrictions.
He said potential developments included the virus mutating into a weaker pathogen with low transmissibility and virulence, posing less danger to health and life, which would be the best-case scenario.
Or that vaccines become so effective they prevent not only severe illness, more severe clinical outcomes and death but stop infection altogether. Future Covid-19 drugs might block the disease at an early stage, Liang said.
“Globally, the epidemic in other countries [potentially] decreases and eases pressure on us to prevent outbreaks coming from overseas,” he said.
On Tuesday, China reported 2,281 locally transmitted symptomatic Covid-19 cases and a further 2,313 asymptomatic infections. About half the reported infections in recent days are yet to develop symptoms which Liang attributed in part to the strong intervention measures.
“They probably would have developed symptoms, but because we intervened and treated them in time to interrupt the disease course, they did not develop symptoms,” Liang said.
“You can’t assume the high proportion of asymptomatic infections is due to the virus itself. A significant portion … is due to the effectiveness of our prevention and control.”…
'Refuse quarantine!': frustrations mount as China replays COVID controls https://t.co/KgLQ5kspib pic.twitter.com/qvgSoPKw9W
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 22, 2022
Hong Kong reported 14,152 Covid-19 infections on Tuesday, of which 9,856 were from rapid tests. The city added another 245 deaths.
Full, trusted coverage on HKFP: https://t.co/w8LTgNga80
Covid data explainer: https://t.co/5l83n2Xvio pic.twitter.com/4uaUVMHnos— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) March 22, 2022
Hong Kong is easing travel restrictions that were accelerating emigration: an acceptance that contradictory policies have ended in failure with infections rampant. If the mainland border doesn't reopen soon, people may keep leaving, says @petesweeneypro https://t.co/Fz34rpHj6W pic.twitter.com/XOPdLOEl82
— ReutersBreakingviews (@Breakingviews) March 21, 2022
… The Centre for Health Protection’s Chuang Shuk-kwan said during Sunday’s Covid-19 briefing that a recent report was “a bit misleading” and needed clarification, referring to an article published by Ming Pao earlier that day.
She said that, since the fifth wave began, the fatality rate for those who were unvaccinated was 2.58 per cent. The figure fell to 0.09 per cent for patients who had received two doses of Covid-19 jabs.
Among elderly aged 80 and above, the age group that constitutes an overwhelming percentage of Covid-19 deaths, even getting one shot of either the Sinovac jab or the German-made BioNTech vaccination considerably reduced the fatality rate by “almost three times,” Chuang added…
“The issue is not about which jab offers more protection. The most important thing is whether you get vaccinated,” Chuang said, citing figures based on the first 5,436 Covid-19 deaths since the fifth wave began…
Despite research on the lower effectiveness of Sinovac, more than 75 per cent of vaccinated elderly aged 80 or above have opted for the China-made jab, which is perceived to have fewer side effects.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam, who received three Sinovac jabs, has called on the public not to bring politics into “what is a scientific issue for the good of Hong Kong.”…
Hong Kong has reported 1,047,690 Covid-19 cases and 5,896 deaths, as of Sunday.
… While telemedicine is technically illegal in South Korea and has only been allowed under emergency COVID measures since 2020, the increase in its users and support from President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol who sees it as an “inevitable reality” suggest it may remain part of the healthcare system.
“It was really convenient to get treatment via a phone call and have drugs delivered through a single process. I wish this can be expanded even after COVID ends,” Kim said. “Making a trip to the hospital can be burdensome when you’re ill.”
The closest hospital designated for COVID home care patients that Kim can go to is an hour away by foot, but it only provides such treatment on Monday and Tuesday and is currently fully booked for the week.
A total 2 million people are under home care for COVID in the country. While there are two doctors per 1,000 people on average in South Korea, only six of 17 cities and provinces meet the average, showing how health care is thinner in many parts…
But telemedicine providers are few in South Korea, leading to long virtual queues. Kim, for example, had to wait three hours to get a phone call from a doctor.
“Although I had to wait hours in the virtual queue, still that’s better than not being able to receive any treatment … and I’ve got tonnes of work to do, which means I still wouldn’t have made it to the hospital,” Kim told Reuters…
President-elect Yoon, who takes office in May, has vowed to “make sure all Korean citizens can enjoy telemedicine”, fuelling hopes that the practice may become a permanent part of South Korea’s $203 billion health industry…
======
This time last year demand for Covid vaccines far outstripped supply. We’re entering a period where the reverse is true — which is bad news for vaccine makers still working on first generation vaccines. https://t.co/HJ7ozUwuBb
— Helen Branswell ?? (@HelenBranswell) March 21, 2022
Most unvaccinated children lack antibodies after COVID; SK Bioscience vaccine shows promise vs Omicron https://t.co/64JrLykCp8 pic.twitter.com/qH2rDzVlK9
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 21, 2022
Coverage of this paper @WSY by @rddysum https://t.co/AENAm25vb9
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) March 22, 2022
======
Analysis: The strain of a seasonal flu pandemic — but every month https://t.co/ZT3yVqbzk4
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 22, 2022
An older woman turns from several seats away and yells, “can’t you read?” The person next to her sarcastically says, “is a miracle, he’s apparently immune to covid and can’t give it to anyone either!”
The first woman says, “call the authorities! They need to know!” 2/n
I’ll add now for context the man without the mask is youngish and white.
He responds, somewhat politely, “I don’t have a mask and I’m only going 3 stops.”
To which the woman yells, “how do you not have a mask with you after all this time?!” 3/n
Another man jumps in. “Did you just wake up from a coma?”
A woman jumps in. She’s got a British accent I think. I’m not sure what she says but everyone by her laughs.
The man says, “Mind your own business” but has yet to put the clothes around his face again. 4/n
Two, also young men, start singing about the maskless man. They’re improvising the song as they go. People are cheering them on. The maskless man has put back on the clothing around his face.
New people are getting on and are confused. 5/n
The singing is getting more intense. A new person is dancing.
The maskless man, now wearing a sweatshirt wrapped around his face, looks defeated. 6/n
Someone has gone for the attendant.
A small group is chanting, “Off the train. Off the train.” 7/n
And on the next stop, the man leaves (one stop early)
Philly be Philly. [Gritty gif] 8/8
On The Road – realbtl – Glacier National Park – Lake McDonald
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
63 new cases yesterday.
Vaccinations now at 71.6%
Deaths now at 1807, up 2 from last week. Our death rate has slowed down a bit.
Baud
Good on Philly. Didn’t even need to waste diesel to get their message across.
Baud
Two things on that Rachel Clarke tweet. First, if the number is accurate, it seems like UK has a lower vax rate than the U.S. I thought we were at 75%. (UK has a higher booster rate though.)
Second, the chart says the current case count is the highest ever. Is that right?
New Deal democrat
Cases in the US increased to 31,200. Deaths increased to 1076. Cases increased in 15 jurisdictions, including AR, KY, NV, GA, HI, MI, WI, OK, VT, RI, NY, NJ, MD, PR, and CA.
The CDC has not updated its information on the prevalence of BA.2. Interestingly, CoVariant does have an update for the State of CT, where cases are not increasing, showing BA.2 now constitutes 71% of cases there. Supposedly 39% of all cases in NY and NJ were BA.2 already as of a week ago.
In Europe, the UK showed a big increase in cases, but this may be their monthly data dump. Austria and Switzerland are decreasing. Italy’s increase is decelerating. Germany had a big decrease, and France a big increase, but those look like data issues.
It’s safe to say at least a BA.2 wavelet is beginning in the US, but how big it will be is very much an issue. I believe it will be a short event lasting weeks, but we’ll see.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: That UK spike is a Monday dump of weekend data, so its size is artificially inflated. Looks to me like it’s a new high for the latest wave but not actually as high as in January. Might only be a matter of time though.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Thanks. It’s misleading. I wish people didn’t do that.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 17,828 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 4,010,952 cases. It also reported 63 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 34,463 deaths – 0.86% of the cumulative reported total, 0.92% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 0.92.
141 confirmed cases are in ICU, 79 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 28,003 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 3,712,668 patients recovered – 92.6% of the cumulative reported total.
Two new clusters were reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 6,914 clusters. 292 clusters are currently active; 6,622 clusters are now inactive.
17,421 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 407 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 28,360 doses of vaccine on 21st March: 4,848 first doses, 1,651 second doses, and 21,861 booster doses. The cumulative total is 68,515,709 doses administered: 27,430,408 first doses, 25,788,833 second doses, and 15,507,221 booster doses. 84.0% of the population have received their first dose, 79.0% their second dose, and 47.5% their booster dose.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
So you think the BA2 wave will exceed the original Omicron wave?
YY_Sima Qian
On 3/21 Mainland China reported 2,881 new domestic confirmed (61 previously asymptomatic), 2,313 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There were 2 deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 25 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 18 new domestic asymptomatic cases (12 at Qinzhou, 2 each at Fangchenggang & Chongzuo, & 1 each at Nanning & Guilin). 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 74 active domestic confirmed (40 at Fangchenggang, 10 at Baise, 19 at Qinzhou, 3 at Nanning, & 1 each at Chongzuo & Guilin) & 232 active domestic asymptomatic cases (61 at Fangchenggang, 14 at Baise, 66 at Chongzuo, 80 at Qinzhou, 5 at Liuzhou, 4 at Beihai, & 1 each at Nanning & Guilin) in the province. 1 zone at Fangchenggang are currently at Medium Risk. 5 sites at Qinzhou are currently at Medium Risk.
Hunan Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed cases, 4 at Huaihua (3 mild & 1 moderate, all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine), 3 at Changsha (2 traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine & 1 arriving from Shanghai on 3/20) & 1 at Shaoyang (moderate, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine). There currently are 36 active domestic confirmed (17 at Huaihua, 9 at Changsha, 7 at ShaoyangI, 2 at Yueyang, & 1 at Yongzhou) cases in the province. 2 zones at Huaihua are currently at Medium Risk, as are 4 sites at Changsha & 1 zone at Shaoyang.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed & 26 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 8 new domestic confirmed (7 mild & 1 moderate) & 28 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 15 are traced close contacts already under quarantine & 17 via screening of residents in areas under movement control, 3 from fever clinics & 1 via voluntary testing. 26 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 384 active domestic confirmed & 54 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 5 sites are currently at High Risk. 10 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shandong Province reported 25 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 184 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 145 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 261 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 1,171 active domestic confirmed cases & 2,346 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the administrative divisions in the province provide data on recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Shanxi Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (5 at Yuncheng & 1 each at Jinzhong & Jincheng).
Hebei Province reported 11 new domestic confirmed & 212 domestic asymptomatic cases. 12 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 337 active domestic confirmed & 2,280 active asymptomatic case in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Liaoning Province reported 67 new domestic confirmed (4 previously asymptomatic) & 183 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 423 active domestic confirmed & 671 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Heilongjiang Province reported 43 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, 37 mild & 6 moderate) & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 190 active domestic confirmed & 189 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 1,902 new domestic confirmed (33 previously asymptomatic, 1,891 mild, 10 moderate & 1 serious) & 563 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 186 domestic positive cases recovered. As the province does not consistently break down recoveries by confirmed & asymptomatic cases or by jurisdictions, I can no longer track the count of active case counts in the different jurisdictions.
Beijing Municipality reported 6 new domestic confirmed (5 mild & 1 moderate) cases, all traced close contact already under centralized quarantine. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 31 new domestic confirmed & 865 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 779 of the new domestic positive cases are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine, & the rest from screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 153 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 221 active domestic confirmed & 3,505 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 12 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shaanxi Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild). 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 338 active domestic confirmed cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Hubei Province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (both moderate, 1 each at Wuhan & Shiyan) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Xianning) cases in the province..
Jiangsu Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 29 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 15 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 17 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 98 active domestic confirmed & 393 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the jurisdictions in the province track recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Anhui Province reported 12 new domestic asymptomatic (5 each at Ma’anshan & Tongling, & 1 tech at Hefei & Anqing) cases. Of the cases at Ma’anshan & Tongling, 8 are tracked close contacts already under centralized quarantine & 2 via screening of residents in areas under movement restrictions. The cases at Hefei & Anqing are persons recently arriving from out of province (1 a traced close contact of domestic positive cases elsewhere). There currently are 7 active confirmed (3 at Ma’anshan & 4 at Tongling) & 84 active domestic asymptomatic (35 at Ma’anshan, 4 each at Haozhou & Suzhou, 37 at Tongling, 2 at Anqing , & 1 each at Hefei & Chuzhou) cases in the province. 3 sites at Ma’anshan & 4 at Tongling are currently at Medium Risk.
Zhejiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Gansu Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 30 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 10 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 196 active domestic confirmed & 217 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Fujian Province reported 110 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 110 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 894 active domestic confirmed & 550 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Xining in Qinghai Province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
At Zunyi in Guizhou Province there currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Hainan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases.
Jiangxi Province reported 14 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, 13 mild & 1 moderate) & 35 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 24 active domestic confirmed & 140 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Henan Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all but 1 at Jiaozuo & 1 at Kaifeng. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed (4 at Puyang, 8 at Jiaozuo, 2 at Zhengzhou, & 1 each at Kaifeng, Luoyang, Shangqiu & Xinyang) & 13 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Jiaozuo) cases in the province. 7 sites at Puyang & 10 at Jiaozuo are currently Medium Risk.
Chongqing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both mild) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. There currently is 58 active domestic confirmed & 18 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 3 dormitory buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
Yunnan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed ( 2 previously asymptomatic) & 12 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 16 new domestic asymptomatic were released from isolation. There currently are 72 active domestic confirmed & 383 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Imported Cases
On 3/21, Mainland China reported 57 new imported confirmed cases (17 previously asymptomatic, 1 in Guangdong), 119 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 588 confirmed cases recovered (196 imported), 546 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (126 imported) & 78 were reclassified as confirmed cases (17 imported), & 10,095 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 23,138 active confirmed cases in the country (1,631 imported), 42 in serious condition (1 imported), 20,155 active asymptomatic cases (1,634 imported), 14 suspect cases (all imported). 351,709 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 3/21, 3,230.367M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 4.033M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 3/22, Hong Kong reported 14,152 new positive cases, 10 imported & 14,142 domestic (4,286 via RT-PCR & 9,856 from rapid antigen tests), 190 deaths (33 fully vaccinated, including 2 boosted) + 55 backlogged deaths.
On 3/22, Taiwan reported 121 new positive cases, 118 imported & 3 domestic.
lowtechcyclist
Looking at the 7-day rolling average for these past few days, for the first time since August 12th, we don’t have at least a Jonestown’s worth of Covid deaths every day: we’re down in the 700s, which is still a level to regard more with relief than celebration, especially given that another wave looks like it’s coming our way shortly.
You take what you can get, but most jurisdictions’ eagerness to drop mask mandates is gonna look awfully stupid in another few weeks.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I see them as really one wave. BA.2 is a subtype of Omicron; it doesn’t have a lot of immune escape for people who already had Omicron. The UK’s problem was that they decided to lift all their controls while the Omicron wave was still very much going on. Same for a bunch of other European countries, for reasons I don’t entirely understand. In Germany the second peak is already higher than the first was, and there wasn’t a deep trough in between
One way to think of it is that partway through the wave, Omicron became somewhat more contagious, so the conditions for it to produce a critical mass relaxed a bit. I think we might be seeing that in the Northeast US with all these college-campus outbreaks following the main Omicron wave– enough people had already gotten infected that even on these campuses, Omicron’s R value sank below 1, but with BA.2 it could be above 1 again and it found a lot of the remaining students who weren’t hit the first time.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Thanks.
Soprano2
@Baud: I wish people didn’t do that, too. It’s hard enough to get people to believe the numbers about Covid without people manipulating them.
Suzanne
I have to say, I was in Philly a couple of weeks ago, and it was not like that. When I was there at the beginning of February, they still had the mask mandate and you had to show your vaccine card to eat indoors. By March, all of that was gone. The Amtrak conductor on my train literally stood under the MASKS REQUIRED sign while not wearing one.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: In some countries like the UK and France, there seem to be some data sources that drop at a lower frequency than once a week, and it causes weird blocky jumps in weekly averages.
JMG
Daily Beast reporter posted on Twitter that a number of members of that Truckers Convoy around DC have been complaining of having very bad coughs in the last couple days. Gosh, I wonder what could have caused that.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: That’s OK, they just need to be explicit about what’s causing that.
Soprano2
@JMG: I can’t believe those people are still there. Don’t any of them have jobs?
Ken
@Soprano2: Maybe they are being paid for this?
germy
@Soprano2:
Self employed
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin:
I think there is basically a “lump of Omicron,” I.e., there is a certain amount of people vulnerable to it, for whatever reasons. If not enough of that lump got BA.1, then BA.2 comes in and amplifies the wave. If enough people did get BA.1, then there aren’t too many left for BA.2 to get.
Looking at the European countries, I can’t find any that got a really big BA.1 wave, that are having a repeat big BA.2 wave.
I really want to see the CDC variant update this week. Unfortunately Trevor Bedford has been m.i.a. for two months and hasn’t done any BA.2 prevalence charting.
germy
Winston
I’m not going to the NYC meetup. While it is ideally located across the street from amtrac, their trains don’t get there in time and don’t leave in time other than to make it a four day travel thing for me. So there. I’m not going. eta: you can resume your normal bitching.
ETtheLibrarian
Pregnant people? Serious question, is there a reason they use that instead of pregnant women?
jnfr
@ETtheLibrarian: I believe that’s to include people who happen to have a uterus but don’t identify as women, who may be transitioning.
Robert Sneddon
@Baud: The UK vaccination rate for those eligible is 85% 2-dose with 67% boosted or having received a third dose. That leaves out about 15% of the population who are under the age of 12 or so who are not yet eligible for vaccination so the fully-vaccinated proportion of the entire population is about 70%. The most at-risk part of the UK population, that is older people and those with immune-related diseases are almost all vaccinated and boosted now.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: I think it’s something like that, too. But I’m no expert and there are experts like Eric Topol who are far more pessimistic and predicting a huge BA.2 wave. So I’m withholding judgment.
Matt McIrvin
@ETtheLibrarian: Inclusive language for trans and nonbinary people who can get pregnant.
ETtheLibrarian
Thanks. Guess that wording is something that I have to remember now.
UncleEbeneezer
@ETtheLibrarian: “Anyone with a uterus” is an easy catch-all, substitute.
Sloane Ranger
@Matt McIrvin: I have explained this several times in my updates from the UK. Basically, the UK updates on new cases, deaths, testing numbers, hospitalisations and vaccinations every weekday but no longer does so at weekends. Weekend numbers are included in Monday’s figures leading to them being artificially high. Also, there is the occasional glitch when one or other of the home nations does not report on one or all of these metrics due to technical issues.
Now, Saturday, Sunday and Monday’s update, where we had 226,524 new cases over the 3 days. The rolling 7-day average is up by 36.8%. New cases over the 3 days by home nation,
England – 188,925
Northern Ireland – 5355
Scotland – 29,678
Wales – 2566.
Deaths – There were 169 deaths within 28 days of a positive test over Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The rolling 7-day average is up by 8.3%. 127 deaths were in England, 10 in Northern ireland, 28 in Scotland and 4 in Wales.
Testing – This is the exception. Testing numbers are not updated over the weekend but are shown separately when the Dashboard is updated on Mondays’. These are as follows,
Saturday – 586,163
Sunday – 650,171.
The rolling 7-day average is up by 9.3%
Hospitalisations – There were 14,948 people in hospital and 287 on ventilators on Friday, 18 March. The 7-day average for hospital admissions is up by 25.1%.
Vaccinations – As of Sunday, 91.7% of all Uk residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot; 85.7% had had 2, and 67.2% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
Cases are increasing but we are nowhere near where we were in January. I believe the UK government is banking on case numbers falling over the summer months. There is talk of a 4th shot for everyone next winter.
lowtechcyclist
@jnfr: Or have transitioned! A guy I’ve gotten to know well gave birth to both of his children after he’d transitioned. His husband was amused that even at 8+ months pregnant, he refused to wear women’s maternity clothes, instead he just kept getting pants with bigger waistlines.
Matt McIrvin
Anyway, Massachusetts is clearly heading into some kind of increase again. And it seems like people I know are once again getting COVID or someone in their family is getting COVID, more in Rhode Island and the South Shore area now. The question is just how bad this gets.