another surge seems on its way. the magnitude and timing are unclear – but what I'm most worried about isn't the offense the virus will hit us with. but the lack of defense we'll mount to meet it.
I wrote about how America is woefully unprepared. 1/https://t.co/0Z0AXXaQmx
— Katherine J. Wu, Ph.D. (@KatherineJWu) March 24, 2022
Pretending the pandemic is over will not make it so. The U.S. Congress has lost interest in funding public health efforts against Covid https://t.co/OY5bCGSACG
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) March 28, 2022
======
China reports 1,275 new COVID cases for March 27 vs 1,254 a day earlier https://t.co/93jssOaBsf pic.twitter.com/shFpM2nvL9
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 28, 2022
China has begun its most extensive lockdown in two years to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak in Shanghai. The citywide lockdown will be China’s biggest since the 76-day lockdown of Wuhan in early 2020. https://t.co/jhpHWMZF9t
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 28, 2022
China's Shanghai split in two for COVID lockdown as asymptomatic cases surge https://t.co/QyDpTwqzZj pic.twitter.com/lo2sAHHOsK
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 28, 2022
Shanghai reports record asymptomatic COVID cases as lockdowns begin https://t.co/YKvvcIEuY4 pic.twitter.com/Mr5IcAZ9WX
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 28, 2022
Covid-19: Hong Kong warned to remain vigilant as daily cases dip below 10,000 https://t.co/rSQ6Fol3GU pic.twitter.com/JYWE3Xu6b7
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) March 28, 2022
At least according to official numbers, the latest surge in Covid cases in Vietnam does not appear to have translated into a similar surge in deaths. pic.twitter.com/HCvKDL13EJ
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) March 27, 2022
England:
Covid-19 is a capricious foe. Just as the UK government updated its “Living with Covid” strategy last month, case numbers began creeping up again. According to the Office for National Statistics, just under 4.3mn people in the UK were infected in the week ending March 19, thanks to the more transmissible Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, waning boosters and the easing of restrictions.
No matter: from April, free universal testing for Covid will end and many NHS testing labs will close. The legal requirement to isolate if positive has been downgraded to guidance with related financial support scrapped. Masks have been largely discarded. Surveillance studies, including the Zoe Covid app, are being defunded or scaled back. The government that recommended handwashing to the tune of “Happy Birthday” sung twice, marked the second birthday of the pandemic by washing its hands of responsibility to go on managing it, aside from pledging fourth jabs and antivirals…
Drivers rarely rail against [safety] measures as intolerable infringements on liberty. Rather, being able to drive at all is synonymous with freedom. So, given those extensive restrictions, how deadly are the roads? An estimated 580 people were killed in UK road traffic accidents in the first six months of 2021 or about 22 people a week. By comparison, there were 820 deaths involving Covid in the week ending March 11…
The removal of all Covid measures in England (Scotland has delayed) means infected individuals are now free to mix socially at work, in schools, public transport, shops and restaurants. The virus is spreading unchecked again.
There has been little thought, and even less empathy, spared for the clinically vulnerable, who have shielded for two years. They have been told they can continue to receive free tests (to enable early access to antivirals), but report struggling to get them. Preventing infection in the first place, through public health measures such as masking in crowded settings, ventilation and testing is a better strategy for all of us, not just in the short term but to avoid Long Covid…
======
… On a visit to Wuhan, a commercial center of 11 million people, scientists from the city’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention brought him to Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. In stall after stall of the poorly ventilated space, he saw live wild animals — snakes, badgers, muskrats, birds — being sold for food. But it was the raccoon dogs that made him pull out his iPhone.
As one of the world’s experts on virus evolution, Dr. Holmes had an intimate understanding of how viruses can jump from one species to another — sometimes with deadly consequences. The SARS outbreak of 2002 was caused by a bat coronavirus in China that infected some kind of wild mammal before infecting humans. Among the top suspects for that intermediate animal: the fluffy raccoon dog…
The photos faded from his mind until the last day of 2019. As Dr. Holmes was browsing Twitter from his Sydney home, he learned of an alarming outbreak in Wuhan — a SARS-like pneumonia with early cases linked to the Huanan market. The raccoon dogs, he thought.
“It was a pandemic waiting to happen, and then it bloody well happened,” he said.
From that day on, Dr. Holmes was swept into a vortex of discoveries and controversies related to the origins of the virus — making him feel like “the Forrest Gump of Covid,” he joked. He and a Chinese colleague were the first to share the genome of the new coronavirus with the world. He then discovered crucial clues about how the pathogen most likely evolved from bat coronaviruses.
And in the contentious geopolitical debate over whether the virus may have leaked from a Wuhan laboratory, Dr. Holmes has become one of the strongest proponents of an opposing theory: that the virus spilled over from a wild animal. With colleagues in the United States, he recently published tantalizing clues that raccoon dogs kept in the very iron cage he photographed in 2014 could have set off the pandemic…
Researchers say the brain inflammation in long covid is similar to that in cancer patients. https://t.co/difcCobDr6
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 28, 2022
Canadian vaccine maker Medicago’s COVID-19 vaccine, approved last month in Canada, is facing limited growth in the near-term after the World Health Organization said it would not review the vaccine because the company is partly owned by U.S.-Swiss tobacco company Philip Morris, health experts say.
The WHO said at a briefing this month and in a follow-up statement to Reuters that it has not accepted an application for the vaccine because of its 2005 public health treaty requiring no involvement with any company that produces or promotes tobacco-based products.
Canada, which has provided millions of dollars in development funding to the company and has agreed to buy up to 76 million doses, defended its authorization of the vaccine, saying it needs a domestic bio-manufacturing industry to prepare for future pandemics…
Experts say a WHO authorization is key because the vaccine can then be part of the COVAX global vaccine program for low- and middle-income countries. While much of the developed world has already been vaccinated, Africa is still in desperate need of vaccines. WHO’s approval can also stand in for countries that do not have their own drug regulatory agencies.
The company has also pitched the platform as easily adaptable for new vaccines should there be a next pandemic. It is developing flu vaccines on the platform as well…
Medicago would now need to approach European and U.S. regulators as well as any other individual countries one by one to attain approvals, a more difficult but not impossible barrier to use, Adalja said…
The company has started the filing process for approval of its COVID-19 vaccine with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicago Chief Executive Officer Takashi Nagao said in an emailed statement.
The company has also started an early-to-mid stage study of the shot in Japan, and plans to file for regulatory approval in the spring, Nagao said…
Medicago’s Covifenz is the only authorized COVID-19 vaccine that is plant-based. To make the vaccine, the company uses nicotiana benthamiana, a cousin of the tobacco plant, as small bioreactors, growing non-infectious virus like particles that mimic the coronavirus. It is given with a boosting compound from British drugmaker Glaxosmithkline…
======
Epidemics have biological and social ends, as discussed in #apollosarrow.
Despite 92% of students being boosted (97% vaccinated), Cornell is seeing substantial spread of COVID (BA.2) this week after dropping masking.
People are saying they’re done. https://t.co/UOERs7RflD
— Nicholas A. Christakis (@NAChristakis) March 27, 2022
On The Road – Albatrossity – Springtime in Arizona – Week 1
Baud
Is that like how January 6 was legitimate political discourse?
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
From NYSDOH: 95 new cases.
I’m still masking, and will be for the foreseeable future.
OzarkHillbilly
I used to be able to sleep at the drop of a hat, any time, any where. Not any more. I’ve been awake since 1 AM. I think I’ll try again to grab a few winks.
NotMax
Not COVID related but seems like an appropriate place for another type of notice about health.
FDA: Nationwide recall of Milk of Magnesia, other medicines due to possible contamination
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 16,863 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 4,138,867 cases. It also reported 37 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 34,788 deaths – 0.84% of the cumulative reported total, 0.89% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 0.93.
148 confirmed cases are in ICU, 92 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 26,171 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 3,870,937 patients recovered – 93.5% of the cumulative reported total.
One new cluster was reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 6,927 clusters. 220 clusters are currently active; 6,707 clusters are now inactive.
16,625 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 238 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 24,254 doses of vaccine on 27th March: 6,622 first doses, 818 second doses, and 16,814 booster doses. The cumulative total is 68,701,958 doses administered: 27,483,465 first doses, 25,797,784 second doses, and 15,632,112 booster doses. 84.2% of the population have received their first dose, 79.0% their second dose, and 47.9% their booster dose.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Morpheus is equipped with ten fickle fingers.
;)
lowtechcyclist
FTFNYT:
That would be “Congressional Republicans,” assholes.
How are we ever going to have an informed electorate if you refuse to tell them which party is on which side of an issue?
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s the NYT. Feature, not bug.
debbie
I hate this weekly-only reporting. It just makes it easier for everyone to toss caution out the door.
rikyrah
I hate the lazy ass generalizations
The US CONGRESS HAS NOT LOST INTEREST
The REPUBLICANS HAVE LOST INTEREST
Because they don’t care if people die, so that they can use this as a political football.
Do phucking better NYT??
HeartlandLiberal
What I find indicative of the ignorance and fantasy filled rejection of science and reality that seems to have gripped people not just here but in many part of the world, is the refusal to keep wearing a mask when in public. I finally purchased N95 duck bill style, and the come with plastic that molds over the nose, my glasses rest comfortably, bottom secures under my chin, two straps, one above ear, one at neck. Very comfortable.
We will continue to wear masks. On the one hand, $DEITY we are old, why spoil it now? On the other, our middle age son who lives with us almost died of necrotizing pneumonia five years ago, since then is sober, and is just starting a new job. He will most definitely be wearing a mask at work.
I sent a link to retired physician friend in his early 80s yesterday, appeared in ‘Nature’, about how the Swedes failed in COVID pandemic. They basically had people in power who refused to listen to scientists, in fact fired the top scientists in health organizations. As a result, they had 10x death rate as neighboring Norway. That’s what happens when you get spoiled by a century of easy living, and forget the vaccines and scientific facts that made that possible.
He wrote back agreeing, but quibbled over the article indicating ‘dumb Swedes,’ since he has Swedish ancestors. I wrote back and told him I had American Indiana ancestors, confirmed by DNA ancestry test, and imagine how I felt about how the Cherokee were treated by Andrew Jackson.
YY_Sima Qian
On 3/27 Mainland China reported 1,219 new domestic confirmed (217 previously asymptomatic), 4,996 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases.
Guangdong Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 18 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic confirmed (at Guilin) & 12 new domestic asymptomatic cases (9 at Fangchenggang, 2 at Guilin, & 1 at Chongzuo). 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 52 active domestic confirmed (26 at Fangchenggang, 3 each at Baise & Nanning, 19 at Qinzhou, & 1 at Guilin) & 272 active domestic asymptomatic cases (96 at Fangchenggang, 8 at Baise, 70 at Chongzuo, 82 at Qinzhou, 5 at Liuzhou, 6 at Guilin, 2 each at Beihai & Guigang, & 1 at Nanning) in the province. 1 zone at Fangchenggang are currently at Medium Risk. 5 sites at Qinzhou are currently at Medium Risk.
Hunan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 49 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. 9 sites at Huaihua are currently at Medium Risk, as are 9 sites at Changsha & 1 zone at Shaoyang.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 11 active domestic confirmed & 30 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 8 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic, all mild) & 8 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all of the new domestic positive cases are traced close contacts already under quarantine. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 389 active domestic confirmed & 207 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 9 sites are currently at High Risk. 8 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shandong Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 58 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 207 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 128 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 645 active domestic confirmed cases & 2,320 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 Jinzhong in Shanxi Province here currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
Hebei Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed & 144 domestic asymptomatic cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 15 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 349 active domestic confirmed & 3,369 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 12 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 114 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 17 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 8 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 475 active domestic confirmed & 1,398 active domestic asymptomatic 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.
Heilongjiang Province reported 10 new domestic confirmed (all mild) & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 18 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 233 active domestic confirmed & 256 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 1,086 new domestic confirmed (201 previously asymptomatic, 1,079 mild, 6 moderate & 1 serious) & 907 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 685 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 235 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. 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 did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 village & 1 community are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 50 new domestic confirmed & 3,450 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2,850 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. 18 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 169 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 284 active domestic confirmed & 14,376 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 17 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shaanxi Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic, all mild) cases. 24 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 200 active domestic confirmed & 5 active asymptomatic 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.
Hubei Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 1 each at Ezhou & Huanggang, both are recent arrivals from elsewhere. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (both moderate, 1 each at Wuhan & Shiyan) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic (2 at Xianning & 1 each at Ezhou & Huanggang) cases in the province..
Jiangsu Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 24 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 57 active domestic confirmed & 387 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 3 new domestic confirmed (all mild, 1 each at Hefei, Huainan & Wuhu) & 35 new domestic asymptomatic (6 at Tongling, 12 at Wuhu, 14 at Huainan, & 1 each at Huaibei, Chuzhou & Hefei) cases. The cases at Tongling & Wuhu are all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or residents under movement control, & the new cluster are Huainan are all employees at the same factory. 3 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 12 active confirmed (2 at Ma’anshan, 5 at Wuhu, 3 at Tongling, & 1 each at Hefei & Huainan) & 172 active domestic asymptomatic (23 at Ma’anshan, 9 at Haozhou, 21 at Wuhu, 14 at Huainan, 5 each at Bengbu & Hefei, 87 at Tongling, 3 at Suzhou, 2 each at Anqing & Chuzhou, & 1 at Huaibei) cases in the province. 3 sites at Ma’anshan & 4 at Tongling are currently at Medium Risk.
Zhejiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 3 new domestic asymptomatic case. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported versus domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases in the province.
Gansu Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 11 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 21 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 14 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 152 active domestic confirmed & 318 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Fujian Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed (4 previously asymptomatic) & 179 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed case recovered & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 1,084 active domestic confirmed & 1,596 active domestic asymptomatic 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 Xining in Qinghai Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
At Guizhou Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (3 at Zunyi & 1 at Qiandongnan Prefecture) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic (both at Zunyi) cases in the city.
Jiangxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (mild) & 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 7 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 14 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 56 active domestic confirmed & 320 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 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.
Henan Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed (9 at Zhoukou & 1 at Luohe) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases (3 at Luohe & 1 each at Zhoukou & Nanyang). There currently are 64 active domestic confirmed & 53 active domestic asymptomatic 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. 2 sites at Zhoukou, as well as 3 at Luohe & 13 at Jiaozuo, are currently at Medium Risk.
Chongqing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently is 25 active domestic confirmed & 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 3 dormitory buildings are currently at Medium Risk.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 11 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed case recovered & 21 new domestic asymptomatic were released from isolation. There currently are 55 active domestic confirmed & 325 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 3/27, Mainland China reported 56 new imported confirmed cases (15 previously asymptomatic, 1 in Guangdong), 138 imported asymptomatic cases, 6 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 1,097 confirmed cases recovered (138 imported), 761 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (103 imported) & 232 were reclassified as confirmed cases (15 imported), & 26,867 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 27,745 active confirmed cases in the country (914 imported), 58 in serious condition (1 imported), 38,649 active asymptomatic cases (1,358 imported), 19 suspect cases (all imported). 379,771 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 3/27, 3,254.984M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 3.572M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 3/28, Hong Kong reported 7,685 new positive cases, 5 imported & 7,680 domestic (3,222 via RT-PCR & 4,458 from rapid antigen tests), 143 deaths + 25 backlogged deaths.
On 3/28, Taiwan reported 127 new positive cases, 93 imported & 34 domestic (including 12 from a cluster among police officers at Keelung).
New Deal democrat
I’ll take the “under” for the severity of any BA.2 wave. Four weeks after Europe’s BA.2 wave started, cases are already declining everywhere except France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Cyprus, and Malta. The UK has been flat for 6 days, and will probably be down tomorrow when its data dump goes out of the average.
For the EU as a whole, cases rose 50% from their bottom. In the US, that would translate to 45,000 cases per day in about 2.5-3 weeks. The worst case countries saw their cases roughly double, which in the US would be 60,000.
Not enough US States reported yesterday to make comparisons worthwhile. Both cases and deaths were close to unchanged.
Tony Jay
After a week of clear tests I finally got a positive result this morning. Yay for me!
Thankfully the UK Government are bringing free tests to an end later this week and drawing a veil over the aftermath of their successful War on Covid. I for one am ever so glad that my lazy refusal to ‘take personal responsibility’ will no longer cause that nice Mr Flobalobalov any embarrassment.
Yes, I’m feeling shitty and venty. Booooooooooo!
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah: And as the cherry on top, they bothsides the Wuhan lab theory. Such a fucking worthless paper.
Baud
@Tony Jay:
Aw man. That sucks. More time to write, I guess. Feel better.
NorthLeft12
@lowtechcyclist: Yes, Congress = Republicans + Joe Manchin
FYI, that “Congress” is also uninterested in child care, climate change, health care including any public health measures, and numerous other progressive legislation.
mrmoshpotato
@lowtechcyclist:
We aren’t, because the fucking New York Times is run by assholes who should be thrown into the Sun.
Wanderer
Thanks Anne Laurie for these posts. Two years and still going strong. You manage to provide interesting and thoughtful posts every time.
mrmoshpotato
@Tony Jay: Sorry this happened to you. I know you’ve been responsible with masking, etc.
Hope you feel better soon.
And to hell with that mop-headed shitstain and the entire damned party.
trnc
@Baud:
To which viewpoint are you referring? Unless I’ve missed something, the animal theory is still the predominant scientific one. The lab leak theory is the one that should be labeled as the “opposing” theory.
ETA: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/26/coronavirus-wuhan-market-chinese-lab-studies
Baud
@trnc:
I was referring to the part I bolded.
Tony Jay
@Baud:
@mrmoshpotato:
Ah, I’ll probably be fine. I have good genes (the best!) and that deal with the red guy in the mirror under the old crypt to fall back on.
It’s bloody annoying, though. The boy is basically 95% fine (though still positive) but Lady Jay and I are both hobbling around like orcs with haemorrhoids.
YY_Sima Qian
@Tony Jay: So sorry to hear that you have caught it too.
Wvng
Anne, thanks so much for keeping your invaluable updates going. It would be So easy right now, with cases relatively low, to just stop, just as so many have stopped masking.
dave319
@lowtechcyclist: yup x1000
Miss Bianca
@Tony Jay: : (
Best wishes for a speedy recovery for the Tony Jay Clan!
YY_Sima Qian
@Baud:
@trnc:
I definitely noticed when I read the article that NYT framed zoonosis as the “opposing” hypothesis. This is yet another example of the pernicious ways that MSMs seek to promoted their favored narratives & CWs, almost subliminally, in the readers minds. This is pervasive, on all topics, & some times buried in otherwise decent articles.
I think we are all sensitive to such biased framing whenever the reporting cover subjects we are familiar with, but we need to stay cognizant when the reporting is on subjects we are not familiar w/.
Tony Jay
@YY_Sima Qian:
@Miss Bianca:
Thank you both for the kind words. On the bright side I’m off work for a week and have Red Dead Redemption 2 to finish.
Thanks, Obama!
The Moar You Know
re: origin of COVID-19.
It took a decade to finally find the origin of SARS-Cov-1. Would it kill the media to simply say “nobody has one shred of actual evidence as to where this came from right now, just unproven hypotheses, and probably won’t for a long time if ever”?
I guess it might actually kill them because it seems like the option of simply saying “I don’t know” does not seem to be on the table. Never has been.
They can always run another story about the last president, who hasn’t been president for more than a year and somehow still gets far more press than the actual president. It’s not like they’re out of BULLSHIT STORIES, right?
Skepticat
I’m in a (currently) low-transmission area and on my rare forays out, often the only person wearing a mask. And I’ll keep doing it for the foreseeable future. The mask is rather like the glasses I needed before my cataract surgery—essentially part of my face, and a useful one at that. I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid.
WaterGirl
@Tony Jay: Well, shit. If good thoughts are helpful, you surely have a mountain of them coming your way.
WaterGirl
Can someone explain this to me?
I am in Champaign, Illinois. I go to this page and I enter my county and state.
It tells me that community level is LOW (green) but transmission rate is HIGH (deep red, as high as you can go).
How does this make sense?
New Deal democrat
@WaterGirl:
I checked the linked page. Your community *level* is listed as low, because in the last week you’ve averaged 16.8 cases per 100,000, but your transmission *rate* is high because cases have increased 173.33% in the last week.
Personally I don’t think your level is very low, but it’s the CDC’s page, so there you go.
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: Thank you!
Do you mind telling me where you found that information on that page?The page literally kept jumping around on me, so maybe I didn’t look as closely as I should have.
edit: Never mind, I opened it in Chrome, where it wasn’t jumping around, and I see where you found the 173.33% increase. Sigh. I have been thinking we are about to have another spike, but I was hoping I could sneak in a pedicure before that really got started. I guess I should have gone last week. :-(
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: What is the number of cases per 100k that you would consider low?
Not disagreeing with you, seriously asking.
trnc
Well, that totally makes sense. Thanks.
New Deal democrat
@WaterGirl: Everything is relative to your personal comfort with risk, but I would call anything over 10 high risk (in my case, that means no shopping except 1x/2 weeks at the grocery store), 6 to 10 medium (1x/week groceries), 3 to 6 low (all shopping with a mask), and under 3 (has only happened for 2 days in my area – I’ll go back to normal including eating inside restaurants).
Of course, half the time the US has been at extremely high (over 20) or even extreme (over 30) risk in my book.
Hope that helps.
ETA: CovidActNow has good color-coded risk maps, by county and State.
Big Picture Pathologist
@Wanderer: Seconded! In a better world this work would be amplified by all the major news networks
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: Super helpful, thanks!
edit: Yeah, CovidActNow has had us as HIGH risk since forever. So I was really surprised to see us as GREEN in that other map on one measure and RED on another.
Yutsano
@Tony Jay: Oh man. I’m sorry Miss Rona* came for an unwelcome visit. I hope y’all recover quickly.
*h/t rikyrah
Tony Jay
@Yutsano:
Thank you kindly, kind heart. I’m feeling rubbish but I’m not going to let it get me down. Maybe I’ll just lie in bed and vent all of my pent-up bile into a rant so long and unpunctuated it breaks the entire Internet and brings about the End Times.
In which case, multi-sorry in advance. ?
Unique uid
@WaterGirl:
If you look at my post from yesterday’s covid, at the end, there is a link for “my local epidemiologist”. That particular letter discusses the two types of maps. The RED one is the older style that says “stay home”/go to public indoor spaces with a mask on. The green one refers to how overloaded your hospital system is (mostly). Personally we think the CDC developed the green one to appease people done with the pandemic. It will inevitably cause more deaths and long covid than the RED one.
(another example of the Comment box screwing up – text mode seems normal, nothing shows if I go into visual mode)
Unique uid
FYI – near as I can tell, both the CDC transmission and level maps are based on 7 day TOTALs, not averages. That was different from many other sites that use averages.
“New cases per 100,000 persons in the past 7 days*”
Oh WaterGirl, couldn’t you wear a mask during a pedicure?