A decision by a federal judge in Florida to throw out a national mask mandate for public transportation across the U.S. created a confusing patchwork of rules for passengers as they navigate airports and transit systems. https://t.co/uMqa8qzWTa
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 19, 2022
Declare victory, give up…
======
Shanghai, battling a major #Omicron BA.2 outbreak, reports its 1st deaths. Health officials in the mega-city of >26M say 3 people, all elderly, have died of Covid. That raises to 4641 the number of people who've reportedly died of Covid in China since 2019 https://t.co/h9u652RFIg
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 18, 2022
With covid, not from covid…
Shanghai reported deaths of three people infected with COVID on April 17, the first time during the current outbreak that it reported deaths among coronavirus patients https://t.co/2i92elycQZ pic.twitter.com/qYB6qYIU5r
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 18, 2022
All it took was one confirmed Covid case among the 2.4 million residents of Wuhu, a city in the farmland of eastern China, for the government there to lock down residents without warning.
After watching Shanghai — China’s richest, most sophisticated metropolis — humbled and traumatized by the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus and a resulting weekslong shutdown, officials across the country have every incentive to jump early, even if residents have no time to prepare…
While global attention has fallen on Shanghai, where 27 million people have been cooped up in their homes for weeks in China’s largest lockdown, there are over 20 other Chinese cities, large and small, under lockdowns or heavy restrictions on movement, according to Caixin, a Chinese magazine.
Many have millions of residents, but names unfamiliar to most foreigners, like Lu’an, Yongcheng and Siping. Qindong, a town with 15,000 residents in northwest China, imposed a virtual shutdown although it has not recorded any cases of Covid. One person there was identified as a close contact of a confirmed case, officials said.
The closure of each town and city, officials maintain, brings China closer to beating Covid. But each closure also burdens populations and an economy weary after over two years of pandemic restrictions…
Senior Chinese officials and Communist Party-run newspapers have said in recent days that China will not weaken its commitment to “zero Covid.” The risk from wider spread of the coronavirus was too great, Ma Xiaowei, the director of China’s National Health Commission, wrote in a party newspaper, The Study Times.
“Our country has a big population, regional development is uneven, and medical resources are generally inadequate,” Mr. Ma wrote. China, he added, “must clearly oppose the erroneous ideas around now about ‘living with the virus.”
Such arguments have come under growing challenge from Chinese people, including medical experts. The lockdowns in Wuhu and elsewhere have drawn online criticism that they were too hasty. Chinese people have also ridiculed the bureaucratic euphemisms that officials increasingly use to describe lockdowns. Xining, a city of 1.6 million residents in northwest China, has called its restrictions “static management.”…
Thousands of people in Shanghai who test positive for COVID-19 but have few or no symptoms are being ordered into quarantine centers. The biggest is the National Exhibition and Convention Center, which has beds for 50,000 people. https://t.co/2C3Ep6NCpo
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 18, 2022
Schadenfreude, but probably not baseless…
… During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, local officials contained the virus without resorting to locking down swathes of the city. Success appears to have fed complacency. The highly contagious Omicron variant was barely slowed by initial attempts to contain it early this year.
But the tougher approach mandated by Beijing, including forcible confinement of most of the city’s 26 million residents, separating infected children from parents plus massive censorship of online complaints, hasn’t gone down well. Expecting the lockdown to be brief, few residents stocked up on adequate necessities, nor was the local government prepared to feed a population spread over 6,000 square kilometres. Social media is full of small acts of defiance.
While the city has reported only ten deaths caused by Covid so far, the “dynamic zero” policy of stamping out transmission at all costs has seen hospitals put off treating more severe conditions. In the end this might cause more deaths than save lives. “I’d be better off in jail,” said one elderly man filmed ranting at health workers in hazmat suits. “At least in jail they’d give me medicine.”
Economically it is a nationwide catastrophe. Shanghai’s $700 billion economy contributes roughly 5% of national output. It hosts China’s largest stock market, the world’s most active port by container throughput, a bevy of multinational headquarters and Tesla’s (TSLA.O) Gigafactory.
Plenty of other cities are under similar restrictions, but Shanghai’s crisis is uncomfortably symbolic. The Chinese Communist Party was founded there in 1921, and it was a refuge for starving peasants during the massive famine Mao Zedong set off in 1958. Its cosmopolitan, wealthy residents were among the biggest beneficiaries of economic reform and thus some of the regime’s staunchest supporters. Now even famous wealthy investors must forage for food in online chat groups.
More broadly, the failures highlight how the powerful are starting to experience the downsides of President Xi Jinping’s rule. When a central policy goal fails, state media typically shunts blame onto individual local officials for moral or intellectual failings – as with those who fumbled the response to the early Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan. But Shanghai was supposed to be the best-run city in the country…
Signs of discontent include increasing interest in emigration among wealthy individuals. For the rest of the educated middle class, though, passivity and risk aversion are more likely responses. Recent college graduates’ revived enthusiasm for low-paying but safe government jobs over technology companies or startups is a worrying trend; the country needs entrepreneurs, innovators and a vibrant private sector if it wants to reduce dependence on U.S. technology and universities. But the efficiency gains the People’s Republic won by joining the World Trade Organization in 2001 have been used up; an analysis by economist Harry Wu suggested total factor productivity growth turned negative after the financial crisis. State enterprise reform has stalled. China cannot afford Japanese-style malaise when its gross national income per capita is only 40% of Japan’s.
Xi’s trademark “Chinese Dream of National Rejuvenation” was supposed to be about improving ordinary people’s lives. But the government is demanding more sacrifices with diminishing economic returns. Covid-zero might not attainable, yet it remains a useful propaganda tool to highlight Western democracies’ failure to contain the virus, so the government is stubbornly sticking with it despite rising costs. Unfortunately, in the battle against Covid, Chinese people are getting sick of winning…
The city has reported a total of 1,198,438 Covid-19 infections and 9,159 deaths, as of Monday. Full trusted coverage: https://t.co/sXaDr5pO54 pic.twitter.com/vxBeT5fpkX
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) April 19, 2022
======
The case for testing Pfizer's Paxlovid for treating long COVID https://t.co/dAUALMGpxP
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) April 18, 2022
Very small sample study, but so many people are desperate for relief. Strong caveat, as noted at the end of the article: Paxlovid interacts badly with a *lot* of common medications, so caution is advised!
Reports of two patients who found relief from long COVID after taking Pfizer Inc’s (PFE.N) antiviral Paxlovid, including a researcher who tested it on herself, provide intriguing evidence for clinical trials to help those suffering from the debilitating condition, experts and advocates say.
The researcher said her chronic fatigue symptoms, which “felt like a truck hit me,” are gone after taking the two-drug oral therapy…
Scientists caution that these cases are “hypothesis-generating only” and not proof that the drug caused relief of lingering symptoms. But they lend support to a leading theory that long COVID may be caused by the virus persisting in parts of the body for months, affecting patients’ daily lives long after acute symptoms disappear.
The best evidence so far comes from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study, currently under peer review, in which researchers conducted autopsies in 44 people who died of COVID-19 or another cause but were infected with COVID. They found widespread infection throughout the body, including in the brain, that can last more than seven months beyond the onset of symptoms.
Paxlovid, which combines a new Pfizer pill with the old antiviral ritonavir, is currently authorized for use in the first days of a COVID infection to prevent severe disease in high-risk patients.
Pfizer spokesman Kit Longley said the company does not have any long COVID studies underway and did not comment on whether it would consider them.
The drugmaker has two large clinical trials testing whether Paxlovid can prevent initial COVID infection. That “may provide us with relevant data to help inform future studies,” Longley said…
In one of the case reports, published as a preprint ahead of peer review, a previously healthy and vaccinated 47-year-old woman became infected with COVID in the summer of 2021. Most of her acute symptoms dissipated within 48 hours, but she continued to have severe fatigue, brain fog, exhaustion after exercise, insomnia, racing heartbeat and body aches severe enough that she could no longer work.
About six months after her initial infection, she was reinfected, likely with COVID, and many of her acute symptoms also returned. Her doctor prescribed a five-day course of Paxlovid.
On day 3, she noticed a rapid improvement of long COVID symptoms. “She’s back to normal,” said Dr. Linda Geng, co-director of Stanford Health Care’s long COVID clinic and author of the case report posted on Research Square…
Dr. Igor Koralnik, who heads Northwestern Medicine’s clinic focused on the neurological effects of long COVID, noted the long list of widely-used medications that are affected by ritonavir and said Paxlovid “can’t be used willy nilly.”
“Paxlovid is not a benign medication,” he said. “There should be studies.”
In the lab: New research is uncovering why #LongCovid causes pain. Some people w/ LongCovid have various forms of pain. Mt. Sinai study in NYC. Team found infection leaves a gene expression signature in the dorsal root ganglia even after the virus clears https://t.co/URaBPswiEz pic.twitter.com/krd3K8NFXU
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 18, 2022
In a great @trvrb thread on new #Omicron variants Bedford gets to a SUPER contagious new one that has emerged in NYC, rising 18% in 14 days. https://t.co/UNHMbUGUgs
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) April 18, 2022
======
Even the ‘best’ libertarians tend to, shall we say, overoptimism about future consequences…
Can't wait until everyone complains that their flights are cancelled because all the staff are out sick with COVID pic.twitter.com/yv9Bo3Yi6s
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) April 19, 2022
On The Road – Captain C – Atlanta November 2019 Part 3: The Georgia Aquarium part 2
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
Six more deaths since last week. Total is now 1829.
According to the NYSDOH there were 231 new COVID cases. This is PCR tests only.
New Deal democrat
Nationwide cases rose to 38,500, up 5,400 from one week prior. Hospitalizations declined to 9,775, another new all-time low. Deaths declined to yet another 9 month low of 471.
Cases continue to be flat in the South and West, but rising at an accelerating rate in the Midwest, and rising but at a decelerating rate in the Northeast. NY, NJ, RI, and NH in the Northeast and IL in the Midwest show deceleration. In the case of NY growth has slowed from 40% to 25% in the past week. In NJ it has slowed from 50% to 12%. ME, MA, and PA in the Northeast show acceleration, as do MI and MN in the Midwest. CA is flat; TX is declining; FL is increasing sharply.
There was no news about new subvariant BA.2.12 yesterday, and the CDC has not posted its weekly update on variants yet, but I expect it to show that BA.2 now makes up over 90% of all new cases, and 95% in the Northeast. Trevor Bedford, whose genetic work has been invaluable, weighed in yesterday after a three month silence to say:
“Variant “fitness” will depend on intrinsic transmissibility and escape from existing population immunity….. BA.2’s advantage over BA.1 appears to be due to intrinsic transmissibility…. [T]he one to watch just based on mutations is B.2.12.1 which has spike mutations S704L and L452Q on top of BA.2 background. Previously, L452R appeared to have an important role in promoting the spread of Delta and also showed up in Epsilon and Lambda…. The hypothesis is then that 452R/Q is conferring some additional intrinsic transmission advantage…. This sort of accumulation of mutations that drive further host adaptation and antigenic drift is my general expectation for evolution in the coming months. It’s possible we may have additional ‘Omicron-like’ events, but my baseline is this steady ‘flu-like’ scenario.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/trvrb/status/1516147535148052480
I suspect the emergence of BA.2.12 is why cases have not peaked yet in the USdue to BA.2, unlike in Europe. The Northeast is still the canary in the coal mine.
P.S.: Also, having nation health care policy being made by a single 35 year old district judge is absolutely insane.
germy
NotMax
FYI.
———-
———-
Locally,
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/18 Mainland China reported 3,297 new domestic confirmed (1,015 previously asymptomatic), 18,187 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 7 deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 20 new domestic confirmed (11 previously asymptomatic) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 7 domestic confirmed & 23 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 260 active domestic confirmed & 158 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.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 15 new domestic asymptomatic (14 at Fangchenggang & 1 at Chongzuo) cases. 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active domestic confirmed (4 at Baise, 2 at Qinzhou, & 1 each at Guilin & Yulin) & 561 active domestic asymptomatic cases (478 at Fangchenggang, 43 at Baise, 14 at Chongzuo, 45 at Qinzhou, & 1 at Guilin) in the province.
Hunan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), at Shaoyang, found via voluntary screening. 2 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 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.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed (3 at Chifeng, 2 each at Hinggan League & Bayan Nur) & 10 active domestic asymptomatic (8 at Hinggan League & 1 each at Hohhot & Wuhai) cases in the province. 1 residential compound at Chifeng is currently at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Shandong Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 16 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 66 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 108 active domestic confirmed cases & 734 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.
Shanxi Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed & 28 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Taiyuan, all are connected to the logistics center outbreak. 10 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 56 active domestic confirmed (41 at Taiyuan, 10 at Shuozhou, 2 at Jinzhong, & 1 each at Xinzhou & Yangquan, & Yuncheng) & 191 active domestic asymptomatic (185 at Taiyuan, 2 each at Shuozhou & Yangquan, & 1 each at Changzhi & Jinzhong) cases remaining. 1 site at Taiyuan is currently at Medium Risk.
Hebei Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 28 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 42 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 23 active domestic confirmed & 793 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 1 new domestic confirmed & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 35 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 325 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 64 new domestic confirmed & 31 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 8 domestic confirmed & 16 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 187 active domestic confirmed & 133 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 88 new domestic confirmed (26 previously asymptomatic, 86 mild & 2 moderate) & 384 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 567 domestic confirmed & 959 domestic asymptomatic 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 2 new domestic confirmed cases (both mild), both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 1 site is currently at High Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 3,084 new domestic confirmed (974 previously asymptomatic) & 17,332 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 18,892 of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine, & 550 screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure (effectively meaning from the community). Shanghai’s outbreak may be finally peaking. It might have peaked already, but the data out of Shanghai may have been distorted by backlogs. There were 7 deaths (60 – 101 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, none vaccinated). The authorities claim that the proximate causes of death are the underlying conditions & not COVID induced symptoms. 1,211 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 22,075 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 21,717 active domestic confirmed (21 serious) & 229,795 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shaanxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (mild) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Xi’an, all traced close contacts under quarantine. 2 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 30 active domestic confirmed & 15 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. 3 sites at Xi’an are currently at Medium Risk.
Hubei Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (mild, at Wuhan) & 13 new domestic asymptomatic (4 at Wuhan, 7 at Ezhou, & 1 each at Suizhou & Enshi Prefecture) cases. 2 of the cases at Wuhan are traced close contact under centralized quarantine, 1 construction worker returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine upon arrival, & 1 via community screening. The cases at Ezhou are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or via screening of residents under lock down. The case at Enshi is a recent arrival from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine. 15 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed (4 mild & 1 moderate, 2 at Wuhan & 1 each at Enshi Prefecture, Huanggang & Yichang) & 312 active domestic asymptomatic (28 at Suizhou, 127 at Wuhan, 82 at Ezhou, 4 at Huangshi, 5 at Enshi Prefecture, 52 at Huanggang, 3 at Shiyan, 2 at Jingmen, & 1 at Yichang) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 11 new domestic confirmed & 122 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 12 domestic confirmed & 57 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 86 active domestic confirmed & 905 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 each administrative division, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Anhui Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 60 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 68 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 10 active confirmed & 602 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both previously asymptomatic) & 46 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 there.
Gansu Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Lanzhou, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. There currently are 14 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province no longer breaks down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in the administrative divisions.
Fujian Province reported 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 13 domestic confirmed case recovered & 19 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 100 active domestic confirmed & 334 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.
Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Wusu, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 14 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region (4 each at Wusu & Ürumqi, 3 at Shuanghe, 2 at Bayingol Prefecture, & 1 at Changji).
Guizhou Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (1 each at Guiyang & Xingyi in Qianxinan Prefecture) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic (2 at Xingyi in Qianxinan Prefecture & 1 at Tongren) cases.
Jiangxi Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed & 42 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 12 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed & 127 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 2 new domestic confirmed (both mild, 1 each at Luohe & Xuchang) & 22 new domestic asymptomatic (8 each at Anyang & Zhengzhou, 2 at Luohe, & 1 each at Hebi, Xinyang, Shangqiu, & Xuchang) cases. 2 of the cases at Luohe recently came from Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival, & a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. 4 of the cases at Zhengzhou are are construction workers returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival, 4 via screening of residents under movement control. The cases at Xuchang & Shangqiu are are construction workers returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival. The cases at Hebi & Xinyang are recent arrivals from areas w/ active outbreaks. 2 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 210 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 1 at Luohe & 2 at Shangqiu, are currently at Medium Risk.
At Chongqing Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Qinghai Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Xining, 1 of the new positive cases were found via screening of residents under lock down & 1 community screening. 5 domestic confirmed & 8 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 26 active domestic confirmed & 32 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed & 232 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 4/18, Mainland China reported 19 new imported confirmed cases (5 previously asymptomatic, 3 in Guangdong), 97 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 1,912 confirmed cases recovered (26 imported), 23,529 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (110 imported) & 1,210 were reclassified as confirmed cases (5 imported), & 39,131 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 30,384 active confirmed cases in the country (250 imported), 75 in serious condition (all domestic), 276,499 active asymptomatic cases (754 imported), 5 suspect cases (all imported). 418,331 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/18, 3,317.463M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.277M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 4/19, Hong Kong reported 600 new positive cases, 11 imported & 589 domestic (309 via RT-PCR & 280 from rapid antigen tests), 16 deaths (3 fully vaccinated) + 1 backlogged deaths.
On 4/19, Taiwan reported 1,727 new positive cases, 101 imported & 1,626 domestic (800 asymptomatic). Symptom onset for the domestic cases date from 4/1 to 4/18. There were 2 deaths, a boosted person in the 90s suffering from underlying conditions, & a child < 5 y.o.
Baud
@New Deal democrat:
More insane than having Democrats do it? ?
mrmoshpotato
Question for Jerome Adams: Are you going to go fuck yourself for trying to pin the mask mandate overturning on Biden?
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Yeah, that was dumb. Vaccines under 5 are waiting for the science, which is in the hands of private companies. Nothing to be done there.
Free N95’s are available in drug stores, I believe. They’re having trouble giving them away.
germy
Kay
@Baud:
Notice they don’t lift any of the duplicative and dumb airport security measures Republicans put in, that they all have been obediently following since Bush.
Only Democrat-initiated safety measures are unbearable and infringements on freedom.
OzarkHillbilly
I guess I’m walking.
New Deal democrat
@Baud: Not sure what you’re getting at; sorry, my irony-meter hasn’t kicked in yet this morning (or ever).
Baud
@New Deal democrat: Just snark.
@Kay: If only the virus were brown.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: Well, also, this jackass wants someone to be pissed at for the danger posed by the overturning of the mandate – hence wanting vaccine development sped up – get pissed at the Trump trash judge.
germy
Kathryn Kimball Mizelle will still be ruling us in 2072 when she’s in her 80s. Fortunately I’ll be dead by then. The rest of you are on your own.
Baud
@germy:
Maybe she’ll catch covid on a plane.
Kay
@Baud:
These same people happily complied with ounce limits on liquids for years and years, because the Right told them it fights terrorism. They told them 12 year olds didn’t have to take their shoes off, but 13 year olds did. Not a peep out of them. No elaborate risk analysis, no questions at all. No editorials about how Homeland Security was “destroying faith in institutions”. Papa Bush said so, so they complied, and continue to comply. Now they’re all experts on air exchange rates on transit.
Republican safety rules are valid and never to be questioned, Democratic safety rules will not stand.
Dorothy A. Winsor
In an attempt to be somewhat on topic, I’ll say nobody in Holland seems to be wearing masks.
Forgive me for veering off topic, but we’re going out again shortly. We’re in Arnhem today, where the events of “A Bridge Too Far” took place. We went to the war cemetery and to the war museum. The museum had a lot of details about the course of the battle here and an “experience” where you sat in a replica of an airplane dropping paratroopers, then “jumped” out and walked through several rooms of battle that had lots of artifacts, pics, and newsreels running. I’ve never seen the movie and knew nothing about this 1944 event, so it was interesting.
Baud
@Kay:
There was some grousing about the Bush security measures, but not by the GOP legal elite.
Kay
@germy:
They should have said the masks fight terrorism. They’ll disrobe, stand on their heads and quack like a duck if that’s the basis for the rule. Manly and masculine rules only! The War On Terror! None of this girly nonsense about protecting others.
Steve in the ATL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: great movie, better book!
germy
@Kay:
With all their conspiracy theories about Chinese lab leaks, I’m surprised they didn’t follow through with their logic. If covid is “bio-terrorism” then surely masks would be as appropriate and acceptable as not bringing shampoo on a plane.
Baud
The ruling sucks but I don’t think the transportation mask mandate was long for this world. Hopefully the damage will be minimal.
Kay
@Baud:
They’d strip naked at a checkpoint if a GOP President told them it “fights terrorism”. Not a single lawsuit.
Fox News now wants metal detectors at the entry to shopping malls. They gutted all gun regulations so that means every single person must be treated as a potential mass shooter. This is fine with the Right. They’ll happily undergo a security check every time they enter a building, but do not ask them to wear a mask.
germy
It’s unclear whether Mizelle’s order vacating the mandate will go into effect before the Biden administration appeals the decision, which would likely maintain the mask mandate as the appeal process moves forward. Last week, the CDC extended the mask mandate until May 3 amid a rise in cases across the country from the Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
mrmoshpotato
@germy: Repealing public health measures to own the libs.
Kay
@germy:
Because despite all their bullshit about “risk management” and their tendentious, boring lectures about “covid theater” all of this only applies to the political party they oppose. They’re fine with any and all security measures, as long as they come from the Right.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
Anyone who says that if I’m troubled by the junking of the masking rules, I can drive, I invite to demonstrate to me how one drives from Athens, Greece, to Baltimore, Maryland.
They can use a convertible.
I’m stuck using an airplane.
Joe
I wish people could stop with the “this is what Americans want!” BS. No, most Americans were fine with the mandates, until Democrats decided that they needed to pander to Republicans who will never vote for them. Repeating this lie just enforces the fiction that Americans are actually conservative at heart.
Baud
This happened last summer too, when cases went down. All the urban sophisticates felt safe and went into a panic about lifting restrictions early instead of finishing the job.
NotMax
Also OT.
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Measured little film about another differently faceted, vital mission to Amsterdam. If you have an app that downloads videos from YouTube, you can watch the whole thing during the plane ride back home.
germy
Harsh but fair.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 7,140 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 4,396,165 cases. It also reported 16 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,437 deaths – 0.81% of the cumulative reported total, 0.82% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 0.88.
57 confirmed cases and 53 suspected cases are in ICU; of these patients, 37 confirmed cases and 31 suspected cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 14,423 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,264,127 patients recovered – 97.0% of the cumulative reported total.
Today’s media statement has no new information on clusters.
6,876 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 264 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 55,642 doses of vaccine on 18th April: 8,998 first doses, 40,397 second doses, and 6,247 booster doses. The cumulative total is 69,692,713 doses administered: 27,635,355 first doses, 26,289,727 second doses, and 15,980,555 booster doses. 84.6% of the population have received their first dose, 80.5% their second dose, and 48.9% their booster dose.
Anyway
@Kay:
Wish Pete Buttegieg would appoint someone to take another look at airport/TSA rules. That security theater is absurd and way outdated.
NotMax
@Kay
Thankfully stopped short of going full “Air on a G-string.”
//
lowtechcyclist
@germy:
You’d think, right? They blame Covid on the Chinese, then decide that we should defend ourselves against this latest Yellow Peril by letting it move in and take over.
But these people can hold a lot of contradictory beliefs at the same time. And the main thing is always owning the libs.
Peale
@Anyway: apparently they updated the rules during the past two years such that your shoes no longer go in bins, but get placed on the belt directly. Someday maybe we can keep our shoes on. But for now, lifting that silliness hasn’t been considered. Only changing where the shoes go.
Baud
@Peale:
It won’t change for a while yet. They charge for TSA pre for easier security, and it frankly is a lower priority than a lot of other things. Maybe somday though.
NotMax
@lowtechcyclist
Worst. Chinese take-out. Ever.
“Hey, they forgot the fortune cookies!”
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lowtechcyclist
At least it briefly made sense last summer, when not only were cases low, but it still looked like practically everyone was going to get vaccinated before too long.
But now we know that 30% or so of the population are determined to be plague rats. And we still have kids and immunocompromised people who can’t get vaccinated.
Part of me is starting to hope for a wave that kills off several million unvaccinated adults. I don’t like that I’m starting to think like that, but I’m just so tired of having to live with such a powerful yet treasonous fifth column.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
I thought I had read that we were above 80% with at least one shot.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: Of course, it really takes that second shot (unless you got the J&J) to complete the job. I think we eventually got to 70% with either 2 shots or the J&J.
The counting was never really very rigorous. I remember reading that a lot of places were counting the booster as a first shot.
fancycwabs
I guess it’s on us to call the airlines and ask what their masking policy is until we find one that’s mask-mandatory.
Steeplejack
I guess I was somewhat resigned to the (weak) mask mandates going away, but it was definitely a dick move for (some?) airlines to announce it in mid-flight and let passengers immediately take off their masks. Complete betrayal of those passengers who might have more serious than “normal” concerns—“Thanks, I was on my way to visit my elderly, immunocompromised mother”—with no option for them to opt out. I wonder if there will be grounds for lawsuits.
YY_Sima Qian
Naomi Wu (aka RealSexyCyborg) just tweeted out a table of deaths that are attributable to the effects of lockdown in Shanghai since the start of localized movement control in mid-March, 155 reported & counting. These are screen caps of Weibo posts by netizens, collected by people dedicated to preserving before the censors has a chance to scrub such inconveniently/embarrassingly discordant notes from Chinese social media. I skimmed through each of the accounts, absolutely heartbreaking & fury inducing.
Now I put my analyst hat on, so what follows may read cold & detached:
With all of that said, I think ~ 75% of the reported accounts feel credible (gut feeling), & ~ 60% of the reported accounts can reasonably be attributed to the poorly executed lock down based on the posted information. Keep in mind that Shanghai is a city of 26M residents, the accounts of deaths date as far back as mid-Mar.
The main factors causing deaths:
Reading through the accounts, it is clear the Shanghai municipal government did not have an executable plan to account for medical emergencies & people needing regular care or medicine under lockdown conditions, issues that had been exposed since Wuhan’s lockdown, & resurfaced w/ every lockdown since. Shanghai has had many lessons (positive & negative) to reference, but did not appear to heed any of them. Same issues as food distribution. We did not see this level of chaos for this long even during the much maligned lockdown in Xi’an in Jan. 2022.
It is also clear that the standard SOPs for lockdowns in China are better suited for much lower prevalence conditions, not the higher prevalence in Shanghai. The relatives of a few of the cases (who posted the accounts) expressed incomprehension why the hospitals would only recognized RT-PCR results from tests done onsite at admission, & not the negative reports from mass screening the day before. Well, w/ Shanghai’s prevalence many people who tested negative the day before could test positive a day later. Letting a positive case w/ Omicron BA.2 into a ward of the most vulnerable (many of whom are likely unvaccinated) will be a very bad outcome. OTOH, it is up to the authorities & the hospital administrations to set up buffer zone where patients w/ medical emergencies can be stabilized & treated, while COVID tests are also being conducted. Wuhan’s hospitals were doing this back in Mar. 2020.
Overall, I think it represents a good faith effort by persons to keep track of the costs of the lockdowns. Quite sobering. However, one must keep in mind that w/o tough restrictions Omicron BA.2 will tear through the population of Shanghai, resulting in many mored deaths of the most vulnerable, & some of the tragedies (perhaps not the suicides) will nevertheless happen anyway, only this time due to overwhelmed hospitals rather than lockdown restrictions. As I said before, when Shanghai allowed its outbreak to reach a critical mass & widespread in geography, there were no good options left, only bad ones.
NotMax
@YY_Sima Qian
How do you say “cover your ass” in Mandarin?
(rhetorical question)
YY_Sima Qian
I think the Reuters Breakingviews piece is at least premature, if not downright myopic. China is much more than just Shanghai, though at lot of foreigners (even expats) do not truly appreciate that. Right now Shanghai’s situation is unique in China, & a warning to the rest of the country against complacency in face of Omicron BA.2. There is indeed rising weariness w/ the more frequent COVID restrictions, & seemingly unpredictable timing (much of it due to poor communication by the local authorities), but what the vast majority of people are demanding is more transparency in case information from local authorities, more transparency & consistency w/ imposition & lifting of restrictions, & better support during lockdowns. They are not demanding an end to “Zero COVID” policies, since it still appears to be working in the rest of the country (even hard hit Changchun & Jilin City in Jilin Province). The reignited outbreaks at Tangshan in Hebei, Xuzhou in Jiangsu & Nanchang in Jiangxi, after lifting restrictions, do point to the difficulty of snuffing out Omicron BA.2.
Chinese cities do not order localized or citywide lockdowns due to a single case, as a rule. If the case is a recent arrival from out of area & tested positive upon entry or has been under quarantine, no restrictions are imposed. However, if multiple cases are found from the community (via mass screening, hospital intake or fever clinics), & several close contacts also test positive (indicating multiple generations of spread), then snap lock downs are quickly ordered. The scope of localized lockdowns depend on the assessed generations of spread & travel histories of the positive cases & close contacts. Snap lockdowns are typically followed by at least 2 rounds of mass screenings over 3 days, to determine the degree of community spread, & the zones designated as “lockdown”, “restricted movement” & “preventive measures” are readjusted. We have seen Guangzhou in Guangdong & Wuhu in Anhui kicking into high gear, based on such assessment, they subsequent event prove that they were right to be cautious. Finding 1 case from the community almost always means there is a cluster. Wait for a few days the cluster of 10 cases become a couple of hundred, a few more days & it is a couple of thousands. This is especially true of the community case is student or teacher at school/university, workers in construction sites, or workers in factories, settings for Omicron BA.2 explosion.
Of course, there is regional variation, & some local authorities do take it to the extreme.
YY_Sima Qian
@NotMax: It is CYA, but also more than that. Nosocomial outbreaks have terrible outcomes everywhere.
terraformer
This situation is a two-fer for Republicans
–they get to appoint a judge who has little experience (8 years out of law school; NEVER tried a case before; ABA rated as “unqualified” as a judge) but who will rule in their favor
–meanwhile, belief in the Rule of Law sinks, so Republicans can then trot out their favored “activist judge!” in future cases that don’t go their way
Republicans recognized decades ago that demographics don’t matter if you can seed the courts with people who will interpret laws and regulations their preferred way
Anonymous At Work
Readership capture but still, Rolling Stone’s framing is quite nice: “Trump Appointed Judge Deemed ‘Not Qualified’ by ABA…”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kathryn-kimball-mizelle-trump-judge-voids-mask-mandate-1339427/
catclub
@germy:
 
I see your misconception here.
Yes, you would think that acts of war from China, would motivate active responses from them, right?
catclub
@lowtechcyclist:
isn’t that kind of unlikely given the US total Covid eaths are slightly less than 1M?
catclub
@Anonymous At Work:
Back in the 60’s and early 70’s my Congressional district was represented by ‘Vinegar Bend’ Mizelle. He had been a left handed pitcher who maybe made the majors.
New Deal democrat
The CDC just updated their variant tracker.
BA.2 and it’s subvariants constitute 93.4% of all US cases. They have started to track BA.2.12.1, and it already constitutes 19% of all US cases (up from 3.3% just 3 weeks ago, and on a trajectory equal to that of the original BA.2). At its current rate of growth, BA.2.12.1 will be over 90% of cases in just 5 weeks.
Regionally the BA.2 variants are 95% in the Northeast and over 90% along the West Coast. BA.2.12.1 is already over half of all cases in NY and NJ, and 20% or higher along the rest of the East Coast.
VOR
@lowtechcyclist: Truly believing COVID-19 is a Chinese bio-weapon attack means TFG screwed up by not reacting and protecting America from it. (BTW, I do not subscribe to the bio weapon or lab leak scenarios) TFG was praising Xi Jinping in early 2020. It’s unpossible that the Great Orange Leader screwed up, so that can’t be right.
randy khan
@germy:
One thing I wonder about all of these Republican child appointees during the Trump Administration is how many of them really will be interested in staying for the long haul. Relatively few District Court judges get promoted to the Court of Appeals, and only a small handful of Court of Appeals judges have any chance of getting on the Supreme Court. While this isn’t a problem for people who see their appointments as the pinnacle of their careers, if you’re made a judge in your 30s or an appeals court judge in your late 30s or early 40s, well, people get bored.
Of course, people also get used to power. So maybe they’ll hang in there for the long haul. But it’s worth watching.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@lowtechcyclist: I think the Chines lab leak is how the Horse Past Brotherors explain how Asian-Americans have lowest infections rates.
GoBlueInOak
@Kay: Exactly. We can’t bring toothpaste onto a plane and have to take our shoes and belts off to get through security despite OBL being fish food for the last 11 years, but masks on a plane during a pandemic? Sacre bleu!
Meanwhile usual centrist Dem herbs are all tut-tutting that “masks on a plane were Covid theater anyways, hurhurhur”.
GoBlueInOak
@randy khan: For these Christian madrassah college to tier 4 law school grads, these are the best jobs they will ever hope to have.
GoBlueInOak
@terraformer: Stocking the judiciary – the instrument of the state that is supposed to a neutral arbiter of the law – with unqualified ideologues whose only qualification is being a sycophant to the Party/Dear Leader is a classic move of authoritarian movements.