Well, it was fun while it lasted. And remember that official case counts are just the tip of the iceberg. Most people are being diagnosed via rapid testing at home & never appear in these totals at all. If you aren’t #Boosted, now’s the time. #MaskUp #COVID19 https://t.co/SLdr4DIcOJ
— Tatiana Prowell, MD (@tmprowell) April 22, 2022
Americans back flexible approach on masks, but eager to move on from COVID-Reuters/Ipsos https://t.co/56B10mpOHh pic.twitter.com/UrWjpIliOK
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 23, 2022
Consumer alert:
Some airlines say they will consider refunds or credits for passengers who don't want to fly now that the mask mandate has been dropped.
But the the companies aren't giving many details. https://t.co/pE9dF0rnwO— The Associated Press (@AP) April 22, 2022
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Beijing is on alert after 10 middle school students tested positive for COVID-19, in what city officials say was an initial round of testing. City officials suspended classes in the school for a week following the positive test results. https://t.co/PInSA7uXr4
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 23, 2022
Shanghai reports 12 new COVID deaths as frustrations boil over https://t.co/V8xRMCSZJy pic.twitter.com/q81gz7Ug7z
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 23, 2022
Mysterious fences have begun appearing overnight blocking city thoroughfares in #China's #Shanghai amid a grueling COVID-19 lockdown affecting some 26 million people, residents told RFA. https://t.co/GA2uJZFrdv
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) April 22, 2022
Photos from a number of different locations across the city were visible on social media on Thursday, showing wire netting fences with steel posts driven deep into the ground, blocking all traffic on the street.
“The posts supporting the wire fencing have all been driven into the ground,” Minhang district resident Feng Enhao told RFA. “It has been a unified move across the whole city, including Minhang, Putuo and Jiading districts, completed overnight.”
“The sections left unblocked are around party and government buildings,” Feng said. “It’s very strange, because even police vehicles can’t get through, and the military and police can’t move around.”
Road blockages have been reported in more than a dozen districts of Shanghai, including Changning, Huangpu and Xuhui.
One resident said there is no sign of COVID-19 measures being lifted any time soon, despite official promises.
The move comes after large numbers of residents from Huangpu district were transported out of the city to Hangzhou on Wednesday, following a directive from the Pingwangjie neighborhood committee to residents of Nanjing East Road.
At the start of lockdown, anyone testing positive during mass, compulsory COVID-19 testing was sent to mass isolation facilities in the city. When those filled up, then were bused out to neighboring provinces, including Zhejiang.
A Huangpu resident told RFA [Radio Free Asia] on Wednesday: “They are transferring the people test negative because too many people are testing positive in the community,” the resident said. “So they are turning it around and sending those who tested negative to Hangzhou today.”
“There are very few negatives in the community, so they only need two buses to transport them,” she said.
Public anger and despair over the restrictions continues to bubble over onto social media despite the best efforts of government-backed censors to delete such accounts…
Meanwhile Guangzhou, which actually followed COVID-Zero protocols and acted early, just beat Omicron, just like every other Chinese city that followed protocol. But it's too late to do that in SH and local government isn't getting any smarter so now what? https://t.co/Uh9YQI8WMY
— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) April 23, 2022
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Some cases of #LongCovid may be caused by suppressed immunity, according to a UCLA-led team studying a monoclonal antibody. Results suggest an under-active immune system after Covid recovery underlies LongCovid, & boosting immunity may work as treatment https://t.co/6EhVdZgfSC pic.twitter.com/dYAdlEEBjK
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 22, 2022
Covid ain't the flu: Patients hospitalized w/ Covid are 3x as likely to die compared w/ patients afflicted w/ seasonal flu. Fatal outcome more likely even among young adults. Findings presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology in Lisbon https://t.co/90m3cueMYW
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 23, 2022
There's a million plus doses of Evusheld sitting in the US not being used that would greatly benefit immunocompromised patients. @zeynep probes the reasons https://t.co/9CtWravyDG pic.twitter.com/E2SpZ3RsQc
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) April 22, 2022
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Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 6,342 new Covid-19 cases yesterday in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 4,421,443 cases. It also reported 12 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,482 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.82% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide Rt stands at 0.80.
57 confirmed cases and 34 suspected cases are in ICU; of these patients, 35 confirmed cases and 26 suspected cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 9,111 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,300,558 patients recovered – 97.3% of the cumulative reported total.
Two new clusters were reported yesterday, for a cumulative total of 7,002 clusters. 100 clusters are currently active; 6,902 clusters are now inactive.
6,322 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 20 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 63,169 doses of vaccine on 22nd April: 16,352 first doses, 42,039 second doses, and 4,778 booster doses. The cumulative total is 69,938,295 doses administered: 27,686,379 first doses, 26,461,482 second doses, and 16,003,461 booster doses. 84.8% of the population have received their first dose, 81.0% their second dose, and 49.0% their booster dose.
Baud
That AP article is propaganda. Mask mandates at colleges are not disruptive. Masks suck, but they are not hard.
New Deal democrat
Nationwide cases continued to increase, now at 46,400, up 9,500 or 25% from one week ago. New hospitalizations rose to 11,776, an increase of 1,100 from one week ago. Deaths rose slightly to 383. This is still an 85% decline from their Omicron peak, and they may decline further before rising again.
In the Northeast, cases appear to have peaked and are declining in RI, ME, and MA. Cases are only up 4% for the week in NJ and appear to be at their peak. The rate of increase in NY has slowed to 14% from 40% one week ago, and the rate of increase in PA has also slowed down. In the Northeast as a whole, the rate of increase for the week has slowed to about 10%. I think we are about 7-10 days from peak in that region.
Elsewhere, cases are rising in most States, including all of the big ones: CA, FL, TX, MI, MN, IL, WI, OH, and NC. PR is also having a major outbreak, with cases up 150% just in the past week.
On Tuesday we will probably find out that the BA.2.12.1 variant now makes up about 1/3rd of all new cases nationwide, and over 2/3rd’s in the Northeast. The good news is, that may be enough to get to peak in the Northeast. The bad news is, the BA.2.12.1 wave is just getting started everywhere else, and mitigation measures have been thrown out the window.
Kay
@Baud:
“Upended”. They’re ridiculous.
NotMax
FYI.
Kay
@NotMax:
So what’s more disruptive for high school students? Having prom outdoors or with mandated masks OR having 100 infected so they can’t return to school until they test negative?
I thought the goal was to keep them in school?
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
721 new cases. This is PCR and home tests. Not good.
I’m hoping for a steep drop-off soon because I’ve got some remodeling scheduled for my house for May.
Steeplejack
If anyone wants to see the Politico snippets in the Jamison Foser tweet screen-captured above. And it’s an interesting thread.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: My school hasn’t brought back the mask mandates. I’m so grateful to them for lifting the mandates ON NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE so that I am scrambling to figure out how one-sixth of my class can do their final presentations when they’re home with Covid.
Fall semester I had no one out with Covid until the very last week, and then it was one student out of dozens. This semester has been constant absences, uncertainty, and disruption.
evap
spousal unit flew to Ireland yesterday and said around 30% masked in the airport and about 20% masked on the plane. Yikes.
Baud
@evap:
I’m surprised Irish authorities didn’t require masking.
mrmoshpotato
And COVID laughs and doesn’t give a fuck.
Suzanne
I am going to Philadelphia on Monday for four days. They brought back the mask mandate, then announced yesterday that they’re dropping it again. We’ll see what it’s like. I’m the meantime, my company has returned to office, with some bumps in the road. They’ve had one positive and then all that person’s close contacts (who sat near that person’s workstation or in a conference room) had to WFH for a few days. The leadership is really trying to make the office attractive again by bribing everyone with carbohydrates. Like, every day, there’s insomnia cookies, or pizza, or beer and pretzels. Like, everyone is going to gain tons of weight from eating all that crap.
In the meantime, there is still no vaccine for my Doodlebug, and I am unbelievably pissed about it. And I would like a booster for my Mousie, too.
Gin & Tonic
@Suzanne: My daughter is eagerly awaiting her son’s fifth birthday next week, so he can get his first shot.
debbie
@Suzanne:
My work is also ending any and all remote work as of May 2 and expects people to work in a football-sized room filled with desks less than six feet apart. Next Friday is my last day. There’s got to be something better than this.
Dorothy A. Winsor
No one in Holland was wearing masks, and no one in Belgium seems to be either.
Amsterdam was jammed on Easter Sunday with people gathering from all over the country. I’d guess a lot of virus was passed around.
rikyrah
@Baud:
They are not hard, at all.
Guac
@NeenerNeener: i hope cases drop soon too. At least you have some visibility into home test results… South Carolina is about to end county-level case reporting, in part because home tests can’t be included. They can’t be included because SC refused to set up any kind of way to include them.
Peale
I have to go to NYC Tuesday for an all day meeting with a happy hour and dinner after and I’m not looking forward to it. I’ve been going into the office 1 day a week for 3 weeks and what makes it tolerable is that maybe 50 people are there instead of 2,500. The thing I’ve realized is that my body is no longer adapted to Air Conditioning. It’s too damn cold in the office. And by the end of the day I’m feeling sick. This is going to not be fun.
in other news, my dad is still testing positive for COVID, but is asymptomatic. It keeps spreading in the nursing home. I’m now up to 2 aunts, 3 uncles and 5 cousins in Wisconsin who have tested positive in the past two weeks. Everyone from 12 to 82.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Doodlebug-crossing fingers about Moderna.
And yeah, everyone under 50 needs a second booster.Periodt
Peale
@Suzanne: my workplace is doing the same. Bribing us with snacks. I’ve lost 60 pounds during COVID because I made an effort to eat better and it helps not having a vending machine around. Now they’re bringing me churro donuts. Which seems nice, but I’m glad I’m not getting those 5 days per week. (They’re quite tasty. But no.)
Suzanne
@Peale: I am still working remote, with exceptions like this Philly trip. One of the best things about remote work Is wearing the clothes I like so I am always at the right temperature. I also keep a blanket at my desk at home so I can be toasty. It’s so great. Also, wearing slippers has been so much better for my feet than “work-appropriate” flats.
evap
@Baud: Ireland has dropped all requirements for entry, and for masking. He didn’t even have to show a vaccine card or test to enter.
Baud
@evap:
Oh wow.
sab
@Suzanne: If you like working at home I am guessing that you do not have a young cat. “That keyboard you are playing on looks fun. Can I join in?”
Of course I am trading off cat fights with a two plus hour commute, so working at home with cat still wins.
Anyway
I’ve been going in to the office every day since November 2020 – but we were “low-density” and wore masks indoors until 3 weeks ago when masks were no longer mandatory. More people are coming in now and there are more in-person meetings — 8-10 people in one room. Luckily I haven’t had to attend any of those but definitely more people around – we’ll see if there’s an up-tick in cases in the coming weeks.
Soprano2
@Steeplejack: I think it’s that the people who write the stories are tired of mask mandates, so they think everyone is. I bet flight attendants are glad to not have to fight with people about wearing masks, but I won’t be surprised when many flights are canceled because the whole crew has Covid. That’s the trade-off. I wish people understood nothing is free.
Suzanne
@sab: We actually lost our kitty Scout to old age during the pandemic. She was not a keyboard cat, tho. Very happy to cuddle in the armchair next to my desk.
The Spawns want to get a new cat, and I need a break from the pets. Our dog is getting old and grumpy, and the toddler is still in the very active mess-making stage, so I don’t think it’s the right time. I do miss having a kitty friend. A lot.
sab
@Suzanne: I am so sorry you lost your cat. We have five. I love the youngster when I don’t want to stangle him. He holds his own and bites me when he thinks I might be trying to strangle him. Young but not naive
ETA I never actually try to strangle him. He thinks being picked up and moved to a new location is major cat abuse. I do that to him daily.
Steeplejack
@sab:
Dobby! He comes from a troubled background.
Fair Economist
Flu Report for 4/10/22-4/16/22
Continuing moderate but seasonally very unusual increases in flu. Positivity up from 8.4% to 8.9%. Lab cases up from 3,902 to 4,014 with 2,332 added to previous weeks. H3N2 continues its unprecedented dominance, 99.8% of all typed flus and 100% of all subtyped flus. Hospital admissions up from 3,170 to 3,243.
Mortality due to pneumonia, influenza and COVID stable at 7.1%, barely above normal rates. This reflects deaths due to COVID as there are few flu deaths at present.
Sloane Ranger
Friday in the UK we had 19,795 new cases reported. The rolling 7-day average is down by 6%. New cases by nation,
England – 15,832
Northern Ireland – 707
Scotland – 3095
Wales – 163.
Deaths – There were 284 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is up by 19.5%. 243 deaths were in England; 3 in Northern Ireland; 28 in Scotland and 10 in Wales.
Testing – 370,884 tests took place on 21 April. The rolling 7-day average is down by 19.9%.
Hospitalisations – There were 16,447 people in hospital and 339 on ventilators on 21 April. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down by 14.2% as of 15 April.
Vaccinations – As of 21 April, 92.3% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot; 86.4% had had 2, and 68% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
Ruckus ??
@mrmoshpotato:
And COVID laughs and doesn’t give a fuck.
Oh I think it does. It’s just not a normal fuck, it’s a gleeful one.
Covid likes no masks. Covid gets to reproduce with no masks. Covid gets to spread and fuck over far more people with no masks. Covid was sad with masks. So yes Covid laughs and loves no masks.
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/22 Mainland China reported 2,971 new domestic confirmed (1,217 previously asymptomatic), 21,355 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 12 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 14 domestic confirmed & 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 256 active domestic confirmed & 127 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 2 new domestic asymptomatic (both at Fangchenggang) cases, both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 2 domestic confirmed & 43 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (all at Baise) & 313 active domestic asymptomatic cases (261 at Fangchenggang, 27 at Baise, 8 at Chongzuo, 16 at Qinzhou, & 1 at Nanning) in the province.
Hunan Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Shaoyang, 3 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or via screening of residents under movement control, & 6 are recent arrivals from elsewhere. There currently are 24 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. 4 sites at Shaoyang are now at Medium Risk.
At Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed (2 each at Chifeng & Hinggan League, & 1 each at Bayan Nur & Hulun Buir) & 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 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shandong Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 22 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 40 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 70 active domestic confirmed cases & 559 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 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, both mild, both at Taiyuan) & 9 new domestic asymptomatic (6 at Taiyuan & 3 at Shuozhou) cases. The cases at Shuozhou are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 3 domestic confirmed & 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 66 active domestic confirmed (51 at Taiyuan, 12 at Shuozhou, & 1 each at Jinzhong, Xinzhou & Yangquan) & 248 active domestic asymptomatic (240 at Taiyuan, 6 at Shuozhou, & 1 each at Jinzhong & Yangquan) cases remaining. 1 site at Taiyuan is currently at Medium Risk.
Hebei Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 172 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 39 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed & 1000 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 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 24 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed & 180 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 31 new domestic confirmed & 14 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 329 active domestic confirmed & 238 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 136 new domestic confirmed (83 previously asymptomatic, 134 mild & 1 moderate & 1 serious) & 205 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1,159 domestic confirmed & 1,128 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 6 new domestic confirmed case (5 mild & 1 moderate), all found via voluntary screening or their close contacts. Another 9 cases are positive yet to be diagnosed. The new positive cases include 9 students at the same middle school. The authorities believe there has been cryptic community transmission for a 1 week before discovery. There are 3 separate transmission chains in the city, including As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. All areas in the city are now at Low Risk, but is not likely to last.
Shanghai Municipality reported 2,736 new domestic confirmed (1,120 previously asymptomatic) & 20,634 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 22,032 of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine, & 218 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure (effectively meaning from the community). While incidence went up yesterday, the number of case from the community continues to drop. However, surely the data from the city continue to be bedeviled by delays & backlogs. Timing of mass screenings (including those under quarantine) is also likely introducing volatility. There were 12 deaths (avg. 888.2 y.o. & oldest at 99 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, none vaccinated). 1,875 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 20,768 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 25,010 active domestic confirmed (157 serious & 18 critical) & 204,581 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed & 13 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. 1 site at Xi’an is currently at Medium Risk.
Hubei Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (at Wuhan) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic (1 each at Wuhan & Yichang) cases. 1 of the cases at Wuhan was found via voluntary screening & the other is the case’s traced close contact. The case at Yichang is a recent arrival from elsewhere. 27 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed (4 mild & 1 moderate, 3 at Wuhan & 1 each at Huanggang & Yichang) & 259 active domestic asymptomatic (15 at Suizhou, 109 at Wuhan, 78 at Ezhou, 5 at Yichang, 4 at Enshi Prefecture, 41 at Huanggang, 2 each at Huangshi, Jingmen & Shiyan, & 1 at Xiaogan) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 6 new domestic confirmed & 125 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 78 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 89 active domestic confirmed & 1,073 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 & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 63 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 10 active confirmed & 533 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 10 new domestic confirmed (6 previously asymptomatic) & 57 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 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Tianshui, both recently came from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival. 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 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 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 7 domestic confirmed case recovered & 14 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 60 active domestic confirmed & 218 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 Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region (4 each at Shuanghe & 2 at Bayingol Prefecture).
At Guizhou Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Guiyang) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Xingyi in Qianxinan Prefecture) cases.
Jiangxi Province reported 11 new domestic confirmed (all mild) & 34 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 99 active domestic confirmed & 197 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.
Lingshui County in Hainan Province did not report any new positive cases.
Henan Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed (all mild, 2 each at Anyang & Zhengzhou, & 1 at Xinyang) & 36 new domestic asymptomatic (11 at Zhengzhou, 15 at Anyang, 3 at Zhoukou, & 7 at Xinyang) cases. The cases at Zhengzhou are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. The cases at Zhoukou are construction workers returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival. 10 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 27 active domestic confirmed & 253 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. 1 site at Luohe is currently at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province did not report any new positive confirmed cases.
At Chongqing Municipality there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Qinghai Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Xining, all traced close contacts under quarantine. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed & 38 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 14 new domestic asymptomatic cases (4 at Maguan County in Wenshan Prefecture, 2 at Hekou County in Honghe Prefecture, & 8 at Jinping County in Honghe Prefecture). 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed & 238 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 4/22, Mainland China reported 17 new imported confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic, 0 in Guangdong), 68 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 3,127 confirmed cases recovered (17 imported), 22,363 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (89 imported) & 1,219 were reclassified as confirmed cases (2 imported), & 31,683 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 30,662 active confirmed cases in the country (218 imported), 237 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 247,348 active asymptomatic cases (703 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 431,473 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/22, 3,327.616M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.567M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 4/23, Hong Kong reported 523 new positive cases, 13 imported & 510 domestic (239 via RT-PCR & 271 from rapid antigen tests), 7 deaths (none fully vaccinated) + 2 backlogged deaths.
On 4/23, Taiwan reported 4,204 new positive cases, 78 imported & 4,126 domestic (2,126 asymptomatic). Symptom onset for the domestic cases date from 4/7to 4/23.
YY_Sima Qian
The barriers being put up at Shanghai is likely an attempt to divide the city (or at districts w/ higher level of incidence) into grids. As residents in parts of the city are being allowed to leave their compounds, they are in theory only allowed to venture w/in a certain distance, but likely not everyone is complying & there are not enough resources to enforce everywhere. Meanwhile parts of the city where there have not been any community cases for days or weeks are at risk of infection from persons through higher prevalence areas, resulting in lockdown again. So now the pandemic response controls will be done by grids/zones. Grid will be deemed infection free & residents will be free to travel w/in the grid, but traveling between zones (especially to/from higher risk zones) are highly restricted. This type of management has a already been trialed at smaller scale at some of the border towns (such as Dongxing in Fangchenggang, Guangxi “Autonomous” Region). The idea is to reopen parts of the city deemed infection free, & keep them infection free to prevent a relapse. We shall see how it works in a megalopolis, as opposed to small border towns.
VOR
@Suzanne: I’m sorry you lost your feline friend. They bring a lot of joy to our lives.
My cat will be 19 in a few months. I cherish our time together because I know it is coming to a close in the not too distant future.
Martin
Naomi Wu is a fascinating follow. She’s one of the biggest twitter/youtubers inside China, and she’s a maker, talks about Chinese culture, is a lesbian with a Uyghur partner, and talks about the unique LGBTQ culture around China.
She’s been commenting on Covid management in China for 2 years now and reveals a number of weaknesses in the west’s management, particularly on ventilation and use of UV disinfecting.
Martin
@YY_Sima Qian: the main problem as I understand it is that Shanghai has completely fucked their response protocol. They’re disinfecting the roads, but aren’t handing out N95s, still allowing residents to use cloth masks. And because they keep fucking up the basics seemingly out of a belief that Shanghai residents won’t tolerate the basic stuff, they instead keep cranking down on the shutdown aspect without addressing the mitigation – improving vaccination, etc.
We know that China’s strategy can work – Shenzhen is proof. It’s right across from Hong Kong and gets a lot of traffic from there, gets a lot of international travel, and is a HUGE city – larger than any US city.
But one of the big mistakes that China made was in how they handled pets. If you are quarantined and are sent to a quarantine center, they will go to your house and kill your pet. And based on security camera footage, they will do it by beating your dog to death. China’s whole approach is reliant on trust. It’s reliant on a populace that is compliant, that will take the steps that are in the collective good, by following rules, being conscientious, etc. But their handling of pets actively undermines that trust, that entire strategy and turns the populace into being non-compliant. And their only response to non-compliance is to crank down on the freedom of movement, which in time will aggravate the problem.
What is key in all of these strategies – the US, UK, Chinese ones – regardless of what they are, is transparency and consistency and equal application, and China has generally done the best in this sense, but that’s breaking down in Shanghai. The UK is dealing with the fallout from their failure of leadership not following the rules, and the US can’t seem to deliver a consistent message.
Once you break that, policy setting and enforcement becomes impossible.
YY_Sima Qian
@Martin: Agree on all counts. China (& rest of East Asia) have all went w/ some measure that were largely theater, such as disinfecting streets, but these actions were easier to overlook when most of the other protocols were well handled.
I would say the root for Shanghai’s troubles is deviation from the harder line “Zero COVID” protocols that the rest of the country employed through the pandemic, & that could only have happened w/ the acquiescence of Beijing. For most of the pandemic, that worked & resulted in less disruption for the same results. However, the city was experimenting even more targeted methods (again surely w/ the implicit blessing of Beijing) when the much more transmissible Omicron BA.2 arrived, the variant just blew through those measures. Its past success planted the seeds for its current failure. Worse, the city’s hesitation in conducting district or city-wide mass screening left it blind to the actual extent of spread (though anyone looking at the geographical spread of cases in mid- to late Mar. could have surmised that the outbreak was out of control). Once that point was reached, reversing the trend was like trying to put the genie back in the bottle or containing an explosion that had already set off, good options were no longer available, only bad ones. Shanghai then further exacerbated the bad outcome through lack of planning & preparation for the worst case scenario.
There really are parallels w/ Wuhan in Jan. 2020 (there were no good options left on 1/23/2020, either), but even less excusable 2 years in.