Sooner or later, it’ll happen…
Moderna Inc said on Thursday it asked U.S. regulators to authorize its COVID-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for those under 5-years-old. https://t.co/aPGNfRKktH
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) April 28, 2022
Our failed Media Village Idiots:
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… Proponents say production shifts could help combat the global pandemic. Moderna of Cambridge, Mass. opposed the measure, saying among other things it already maximized its manufacturing capacity with partners, and that poorer countries have declined millions of doses that Moderna was prepared to deliver.
In a statement giving the vote tally from its virtual annual meeting, Moderna said the result “indicates that the significant majority of our shareholders are supportive of the approach we have taken, and we will continue to address issues related to vaccine access.”…
The resolution was part of a continuing debate over how to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine production in developing countries, where vaccination rates have lagged far behind wealthy countries.
The proposal was one of three sponsored by the nonprofit Oxfam America. Another filed at Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) won 27% support, a company spokesperson said. A related proposal at Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) did not pass and a final tally will be posted in coming days, a representative said…
China must press ahead with its “magic weapon” zero-Covid strategy, health officials said Friday, despite mounting economic costs and more signs of public frustration in locked-down Shanghai.
The government has repeatedly backed its policy of stamping out infections swiftly with lockdowns and mass testing, but it has been severely challenged by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Several major cities have been fully or partially sealed off this year, including Shanghai, where 25 million residents have been almost completely locked down for weeks.
China’s virus policy is a “magic weapon for preventing and controlling the pandemic,” Li Bin, deputy director of the National Health Commission (NHC), told reporters on Friday.
“If we relax… and let the virus spread, a big number of people will be infected.”
But the strategy has led to economic pain and disruptions, especially snarled supply chains, with Shanghai struggling to provide fresh food to those confined at home and patients reporting trouble accessing non-Covid medical care.
More signs emerged Thursday of public anger and frustration with the restrictions in the metropolis.
Videos posted on social media showed residents banging on pots in their homes on Thursday night, in an apparent response to calls for protest against the lockdown…
As of Friday, content about such protests appeared to have been censored and could not be found on Chinese social media platforms such as Douyin and the Twitter-like Weibo.
Weibo said it was “taking care” of hundreds of accounts each day that were breaking content rules related to the Shanghai outbreak.
On Thursday, it “checked and cleared” — usually a euphemism for deletion — more than 8,000 posts, according to Weibo’s official moderation page…
The government’s vow to continue with zero-Covid policies came ahead of the Labour Day break, traditionally one of China’s busiest travel periods.
A transport official said the number of trips made over the five-day period this year is expected to be down 62 percent from 2021…
More than 12 mln in Shanghai can leave homes as COVID risk ebbs https://t.co/fNp0ZN9Mjm pic.twitter.com/HXKRvAwaMM
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2022
'Entry only. No exit:' Beijing sees more COVID closures as anger grows in Shanghai https://t.co/jptbVpS951 pic.twitter.com/tKNS6KMvHN
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2022
Beijing is starting to resemble other Chinese cities grappling with the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. For the capital, the political stakes are high as the ruling Communist Party prepares to hold a crucial national congress. https://t.co/NyLlqcl9Mc
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 29, 2022
Companies reopening factories in locked-down Shanghai are booking hotel rooms to house workers and turning vacant workshops into on-site isolation facilities as authorities urge them to resume work while complying with tough COVID curbs https://t.co/XrARe2zkQa
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 29, 2022
"My father did not have to die"
A year after losing her father to Covid, Indian journalist Barkha Dutt writes on coping with loss and regrethttps://t.co/Yp4N05hFwz
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 29, 2022
Among the casualties of Putin’s ‘special military operation’: what little pandemic information formerly leaked into general circulation, in both Russia and Ukraine…
South Africa is likely to see a 5th #coronavirus wave. There have been recent sharp increases in test positivity. Cases are driven by BA.4 & BA.5 variants https://t.co/CAGRVHljzi
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 28, 2022
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The BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant is concerning, but there's no need to panic —not yet. A number of factors are contributing to the subvariant's rise. It's rapidly gaining steam in NY & other parts of the Northeast—don't toss out your masks https://t.co/0njoYuOUfD
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 28, 2022
After vaccination, T cells directed to the #SARSCoV2 spike are broader than after infection, lending further support for the need for vaccination post-Covidhttps://t.co/vGsh59VjNv @NatureMicrobiol pic.twitter.com/Wd7mRi0Tqy
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) April 28, 2022
Rare, mysterious covid relapses: They got sick, got treated, got covid again
-Biggest worry I heard is that people think they are super-immune after recovering, assume the relapse a few days later is a cold, don't test- and might infect othershttps://t.co/KT4lbTw32y
— carolyn johnson (@Carolynyjohnson) April 27, 2022
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Anyone who thought the shortage of grocery & restaurant workers was tough, get set to cope with an oncoming wave of teacher & health-care worker shortages…
1 in 5https://t.co/wcJYQSGDDL
— Karl Bode (@KarlBode) April 28, 2022
"It’s very disappointing to be called health care heroes, and have all of this verbal praise lavished on us for the last two years, and then when it comes time to actually follow up those lovely sentiments with actions, it’s not there.” https://t.co/As7BUGwaaT
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) April 28, 2022
War for Ukraine Update 64: Putin Provides a Lesson In Exactly Who He Does Not Respect
germy
informative article on long covid:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-search-for-long-covid-treatments/
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
807 new cases yesterday.
Spanky
Remind me of the last time the village idiots referred to the last VP as “Mike”.
OzarkHillbilly
Welcome to America.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,935 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,443,318 cases. It also reported 10 deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,536 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.81% of resolved cases.
56 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 28 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 7,585 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,354,006 patients recovered – 98.0% of the cumulative reported total.
2,926 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Nine new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 32,106 doses of vaccine on 28th April: 7,973 first doses, 19,923 second doses, and 4,210 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,233,232 doses administered: 27,752,027 first doses, 26,665,069 second doses, and 16,029,483 booster doses. 85.0% of the population have received their first dose, 81.7% their second dose, and 49.1% their booster dose.
lowtechcyclist
When it comes to vaccinating people in less-developed countries, I want to scream:
WHAT ABOUT NOVAVAX????
That’s where its big advantage is: it can be stored in ordinary refrigerators, it doesn’t need the super-cold storage that the mRNA vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna do. So it’s a much, much better fit for less-developed countries.
Instead, I see Novavax being primarily pushed as a more conventionally produced alternative for Americans and Europeans who distrust the mRNA vaccines. But we’re probably talking about an incredibly thin slice of the population who will refuse the mRNA vaccines but their objections are specific to those vaccines rather than being anti-vax altogether. Sure, Novavax can dominate that market, but it’s a minuscule market.
What gives? Anyone know?
New Deal democrat
New cases rose to 55,100, an increase of almost 30% from one week ago. The rate of growth in cases has been accelerating. Hospital admissions rose to 13,800. Deaths declined to 339, 1 above their low from earlier this week.
Almost all States have continued to increase. Only OK, KY, and CO are flat or decreasing.
Cases in bellwether NY suddenly increased 10% for the week, due to a one-day spike on Long Island. Despite that cases appear to have plateaued in NY. Cases in NJ rose 20% for the week. . Cases rose 6% in CT, almost 20% in MA, and 30% in PA and RI. All of these sudden surges are in the past 2-4 days. Was there a superspreader event in the Northeast a week or so ago?
I also saw a tweet from Eric Topol that PR may be plateauing. That also mainly appears to be a artifact of a surge 5-6 days ago in the weekly average due to non-reporting 7 days previous. Cases are up 10% in PR vs. 33% the previous week.
Weapon X
@lowtechcyclist:
Novavax has production/yield issues with their SARS CoV-2 vaccine.
rikyrah
????????for Moderna to get the approval
Geminid
@New Deal democrat: Your question about a possible superspreader event reminded me of some Covid news in the Ukraine thread earlier this morning. A Georgia jackal reported that his son apparently caught Covid at his high school prom and was running a fairly high temperature. Mr. Wetzel speculated the Georgia’s high school proms will generate a Covid wave.
gvg
@lowtechcyclist: It hasn’t passed all the tests to be approved. It’s not ready, it might not ever be ready, so there is no point in taking it into account yet. That’s why it’s being ignored.
The reason the mRNA vaxes took the lead is that the methods to produce them made them faster to get up to production levels. A vaccine that can only be produced in small quantities for a significant time while stock is built up, is slower to get into testing and then production.
The second problem is that NovaVax is being produced by some company with less experience in getting drugs into production. The managing company has made mistakes that the more experienced companies partnered with the inventors of the 2 mRNA vaccines did not. Regulatory approval followed faster for the more competently managed 2 leaders. Nova vax needs a more experienced partner corporation IMO. Mass producing medicine is a skill set and not everyone can do it.
Sure Lurkalot
@New Deal democrat: In the post, tweet from Eric Topol says the number of cases has risen to 89,000; your comment numbers cases at 55,100?
lowtechcyclist
@gvg: Novavax has been approved in a number of European countries, to the extent that AL’s aggregation has picked up a few stories about how people refusing the mRNA vaccines in those countries aren’t taking to it the way officials had hoped they would.
Maybe Mali and Burkina-Faso have higher standards, but I’m not buying it.
The production issues make more sense. But it would seem that the solution there would be for Novavax to just sell the rights to the WHO or some NGO, since it doesn’t seem like they’re going to make much money off of it from the countries that have money to spend. Then the WHO could farm out production to an outfit with experience.
Shouldn’t be hard to ramp up production – one of Novavax’ selling points was that they’re a conventional vaccine and everyone already is familiar with the production methodology.
tybee
Our youngest son has a BSN and has been working in a hospital in Savannah for a couple of years. Staff morale is low and getting worse as nurses bail out for other positions or move away.
The few traveling nurses that the hospital hired are paid better, have less hours and are recruiting other nurses…
Our son is of the opinion that the hospital can treat him like shit or pay him like shit and, since they continue to do both, he’s resigned and taken a traveling nurse position in Tacoma at about twice the pay.
New Deal democrat
@Geminid: Thanks. Interesting!
New Deal democrat
@Sure Lurkalot: Topol is referencing the 1 day number from the 27th. I always make use of the 7 day average, which is (imo) much more reliable – much less noise, much more signal.
Sure Lurkalot
@New Deal democrat: Thanks for the clarification.
kalakal
@lowtechcyclist:They seem to be pushing it hard in India and Australasia , Indonesia, the Phillipines, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and Thailand all use it. I believe the main problem was/is scaling up production. The ‘acceptable’ to the anti mrna idiots was always a chimera, anti-vaxxers always shift the goalposts
Kent
My wife is in healthcare (she is a primary care physician) and this is the same story everywhere. Corporate-run health care chains (and they are all corporate run) basically do the same calculation and it goes like this.
You are a big hospital system and you have maybe 5,000 nurses working for you. Due to Covid and job dissatisfaction you have problems filling all your positions and vacancies and staff are quitting. So maybe your staffing levels are down to 4500. What do you do?
Which option do you think the MBA boys are going to take
And if you are a nurse and free to move (not tied down with family etc.) then which option makes the most sense for YOU? Understand though that you probably need to earn 50% more as a contractor just to break even in taxes and benefits so do the math carefully.
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/27 Mainland China reported 5,646 new domestic confirmed (5,125 previously asymptomatic), 9,942 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 52 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed & 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Guangzhou, 11 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure, 2 traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, & 1 at fever clinic. The new outbreak is centered at the airport. 18 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 145 active domestic confirmed & 73 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 report 1 new domestic confirmed (at Beihai) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Baise) cases. 16 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed (4 at Baise & 1 at Beihai) & 185 active domestic asymptomatic cases (158 at Fangchenggang, 26 at Baise, & 1 at Nanning) in the province.
Hunan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (at Changsha) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Shaoyang) cases. The case at Changsha is a recent arrival from elsewhere, & the case at Shaoyang is a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 39 active domestic confirmed & 1 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. 5 sites at Shaoyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Manzhouli in Hulun Buir. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed (34 at Hulun Buir, 3 at Baotou, & 1 at Chifeng) cases in the province. 4 sub-districts in Manzhouli are currently at Medium Risk.
At Tianjin Municipality there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shandong Province reported 7 new domestic confirmed (1 previous asymptomatic) & 38 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 42 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 62 active domestic confirmed cases & 649 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 did not report any new domestic positive cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 19 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 42 active domestic confirmed (35 at Taiyuan & 7 at Shuozhou) & 175 active domestic asymptomatic (169 at Taiyuan & 6 at Shuozhou) cases remaining. All areas of the province are now at Low Risk.
Hebei Province reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 69 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed & 938 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 (previously asymptomatic) & 91 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 33 active domestic confirmed & 375 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 4 new domestic confirmed & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 25 domestic confirmed & 27 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 376 active domestic confirmed & 255 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 42 new domestic confirmed (31 previously asymptomatic, 41 mild & 1 moderate) & 45 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 199 domestic confirmed & 379 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 47 new domestic confirmed (41 mild & 6 moderate) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 5 sites are currently at High Risk. 19 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 5,487 new domestic confirmed (5,062 previously asymptomatic) & 9,545 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 9,862 of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine, & 108 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure (effectively meaning from the community). There were 52 deaths (avg. 84.02 y.o., youngest at 58 y.o. & oldest at 99 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, none vaccinated). 2,480 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 14,994 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 24,579 active domestic confirmed (318 serious & 52 critical) & 157,995 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 & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. 4 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed & 4 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. All areas in the province are now at Low Risk.
Hubei Province reported 7 new domestic asymptomatic (4 at Xiangyang, 2 at Huanggang, & 1 at Xianning) cases. The cases at Xiangyang & Xianning recently returned from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival. The cases at Huanggang are trace close contacts that have already gone through 14 days of centralized quarantine, tested positive during follow up testing after returning home. 21 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed (all mild, 4 at Wuhan & 1 at Huanggang) & 137 active domestic asymptomatic (66 at Wuhan, 33 at Ezhou, 3 each at Enshi Prefecture & Suizhou, 4 at Yichang, 20 at Huanggang, 6 at Xiangyang, & 1 each at Xiaogan & Xianning) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 46 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 12 domestic confirmed & 109 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 60 active domestic confirmed & 1,113 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 23 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic confirmed & 51 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active confirmed & 413 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 31 new domestic confirmed (28 previously asymptomatic) & 20 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.
At Gansu Province there currently are 4 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 case, at Nanping, a person under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 44 active domestic confirmed & 138 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 Ningde remain at Medium Risk.
Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 18 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or persons under lockdown. There currently are 20 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Guizhou Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Tongren) case in the province.
Jiangxi Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (all mild) & 76 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed & 20 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 268 active domestic confirmed & 522 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 (1 previously asymptomatic, 1 each at Anyang & Puyang) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic (2 each at Anyang & Puyang, & 1 at Zhengzhou) cases. The cases at Puyang are persons returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & under centralized quarantine since arrival. There currently are 42 active domestic confirmed & 192 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 Xinyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed (1 each at Bazhong, Chengdu & Dazhou) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases (1 each at Dazhou & Neijiang), all persons coming from areas w/ active outbreaks & under centralized quarantine since arrival. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact of an imported asymptomatic case reported on 4/24, & under centralized quarantine.
Chongqing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Pengshui County, both coming from elsewhere & tested positive upon entry. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
Qinghai Province did not report any new domestic positive cases). 4 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 35 active domestic confirmed & 22 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed (at Maguan County in Wenshan Prefecture) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic case (1 each at Mengla County in Sipsongpanna Prefecture, Hekou County in Honghe Prefecture, Jinping County in Honghe Prefecture). 3 domestic confirmed & 21 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed & 167 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 4/27, Mainland China reported 13 new imported confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), 87 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 2,796 confirmed cases recovered (14 imported), 15,884 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (66 imported) & 5,127 were reclassified as confirmed cases (2 imported), & 28,159 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 28,317 active confirmed cases in the country (182 imported), 417 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 197,213 active asymptomatic cases (601 imported), 0 suspect cases. 455,300 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/27, 3,340.711M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 2.156M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 4/28, Hong Kong reported 366 new positive cases, 14 imported & 352 domestic (182 via RT-PCR & 170 from rapid antigen tests), 6 deaths (1 fully vaccinated & boosted) + 5 backlogged deaths.
On 4/28, Taiwan reported 12,313 new positive cases, 339 imported & 11,974 domestic (6,297 asymptomatic). Symptom onset for the domestic cases range from 2/14 – 4/27. There were 2 new deaths (actual dates of death on 4/23 & 4/24, both fully vaccinated & 1 boosted, both having a range of underlying conditions).
YY_Sima Qian
As of 4/28, Shanghai has 13,947 zones under lock down (in theory people cannot go outside except for mass screening) affecting 5.27M residents, 22,910 zones under movement control (in theory 1 person per household can leave the residential compound for a limited amount of time per day to purchase food & daily necessities, otherwise can access the common areas of the compound) affecting 5.93M residents, & 44,172 zones at heightened preventive alert (in theory people can free leave & enter residential compounds w/ green health code, but are discouraged from venturing more than a certain distance) affecting 12.38M residents. In practice, there is quite a bit of variation. Some of my colleagues living in an area designated as at heightened preventive alert is still largely confined to their residential compounds, due to too many adjacent zones still under lock down or movement control.
It does appear the food supplies situation has eased quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, now restive residents are protesting inequities in the quantities of free care packages supplied by the government. Some sub-districts have received over 10 in the past 3+ weeks, some only a handful, some none. The vast majority of people have been relying upon group bulk purchases that sprung up organically after the lock down started in earnest.
YY_Sima Qian
Undoubtedly some Chinese companies (public & private) are making huge profits off “Zero COVID” strategy, every associated w/ testing come immediately to mind. However, if one still wants to contain/suppress/eliminate Omicron BA.2.x outbreaks, then repeated mass screening to uncover cryptic transmission chains is by far the cheapest & least disruption/economically damaging measure. Dozens of localities in China have proven by now that if you can catch outbreaks early & respond vigorously w/ district/city-wide mass screening campaigns & snap lock downs of local areas, then one can avoid having to implement lockdowns & movement controls in large areas, & the restrictions that are imposed can be lifted relatively quickly.
As I expected, cities across China are rolling out policies that restrict freedom of movement (access to workplaces, schools, public spaces, public transportation, even residential compounds) unless w/ negative RT-PCR test reports w/in the past 48 or 72 hrs. Testing booth are ubiquitous, waiting time relatively short, & the process very smooth (involving scanning of one’s health code to upload the personal information into the system). At least in Wuhan, it is slightly more cumbersome for foreign passport holders, the information need to be inputted manually.
Those testing numbers will go up quite a lot.
Bill Arnold
Kamala Harris’s job, constitutionally, is primarily to continue to be capable of becoming POTUS if the current POTUS is unable to do the job.
Her health care is an important part of this. Whoever wrote that at politico should be removed from journalism. Or maybe just forced to spend 5 years correcting the egregious misinformation in drafts written by other politico “journalists”.
smith
@Bill Arnold: Didn’t TFG get monoclonal antibodies before there was even an EUA for them? And didn’t he then arrange for Giuliani to also get them? Someone who had no function within government other than being TFG’s toady? As ever and always, IOKIYAR.
(Oh, and let’s not forget that this administration has been trying very hard to make sure there is funding for and supply of the latest effective treatments available to anyone who needs them, and they’ve been stymied by Republicans? But, OK, sure, it’s the Dems who are elitist)
Bill Arnold
@Kent:
The MBA boys in the USA need to learn fear, IMO.
They need people calling them Evil to their faces.
Bill Arnold
@smith:
That was “Compassionate Use”: https://www.statnews.com/2020/10/08/compassionate-use-covid-19-drug-means-and-doesnt-mean/
Also, at the time, the Regeneron CEO was said to have been a member of Trump’s Bedminster golf club, but I haven’t found a primary source for this in a quick search just now.