“For real, people, what are we doing here?… I mean Dr. Fauci dropped out. That should’ve been a pretty big sign!… Pete Davidson thinks it’s ok.“@Trevornoah ???? at #whcd pic.twitter.com/yzbkj6PPqf
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 1, 2022
Coronavirus cases & hospitalizations are rising in a majority of U.S. states in what appears to be the 1st widespread increase since the height of #Omicron's surge in January. Hospitalizations remain low, partly because of greater population immunity https://t.co/AgSeYVptGa
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 30, 2022
*Sigh*… Old Irish proverb: Live, horse, and you’ll get grass!
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Many Chinese are marking a quiet May Day holiday this year as the government’s zero-COVID approach restricts travel and enforces lockdowns in multiple cities. All restaurants in Beijing have been closed to dine-in customers for four days. https://t.co/SvI2tYWiaF
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 1, 2022
Beijing tightens Covid restrictions with dine-in bans and testing https://t.co/n6kw9ZGFrL pic.twitter.com/UsSomvHsKK
— Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) May 1, 2022
Huh? it will be interesting to see:
A. If they actually do it Shenzhen style or put some inept local spin on a system proven to work.
B. If implemented faithfully does it work, or is it dependent on hard to quantify factors like cohesion and temperament.https://t.co/2gKWldRvpG pic.twitter.com/U71oQQfOqj— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) April 30, 2022
Boris Johnson took a lesson from his old friend TFG: No reports, no covid!
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Two new sublineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant can dodge antibodies from earlier infection well enough to trigger a new wave, but are far less able to thrive in the blood of people vaccinated against COVID-19, South African scientists have found. https://t.co/WxOz6KWEFB
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) May 1, 2022
Since it’s Sunday morning: Click on the tweet below for a long, wonky thread on the base-rate fallacy —
Them: The COVID-19 vaccines don’t work. The majority of hospitalizations are fully vaccinated.
Me: Base Rate Fallacy would like a word with you. pic.twitter.com/V2wOucnIRt
— Chise ????? (@sailorrooscout) April 27, 2022
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I’ve been avoiding posting news about the (very tiny!) spate of serious hepatitis cases in young children, because there’s not a whole lot of actual data available yet. But the disinformation campaigns have started:
Child hepatitis cases falsely linked to Covid vaccine https://t.co/o0X33J9H9I
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 30, 2022
Happening here, too:
Child hepatitis death: Wisconsin health officials are investigating 1 fatality among 4 cases of adenovirus-linked hepatitis in kids, including 2 w/ severe outcomes, 1 liver transplant & the death. CDC released new details on the problem in several states https://t.co/KsaO6rwulx pic.twitter.com/8k4NkDDBBx
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 30, 2022
I’ll say it again: the cause is unknown. It’s not clear this is even caused by a virus. It’s still under investigation.
And if you are theorizing that public health agencies are conspiring to conceal SARS-CoV-2 as the cause, that is by definition a conspiracy theory. https://t.co/yoMkh4pohS
— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) April 30, 2022
Best general-purpose news report I’ve seen on this, so far. To emphasize — It would be surprising if there wasn’t some (however attenuated) link to the global pandemic. But it’s way too soon to reach any conclusions, and it can’t be a vaccination issue among kids too young to have been vaccinated!:
“After we ruled out all the various possibilities, the common denominator in all the cases we found was that all had come down with the coronavirus around three and a half months before the infection appeared,” Mozer-Glassberg said.https://t.co/spyOfnIQg8
— Thomas Meinhardt (@MeinhardtThomas) April 26, 2022
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
363 new cases yesterday. This is from the NYSDOH, so it’s all PCR tests. With home tests it’s probably double.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,107 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,448,004 cases. It also reported five deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,547 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.81% of resolved cases.
69 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 45 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 6,890 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,366,951 patients recovered – 98.0% of the cumulative reported total.
2,091 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. 16 new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 35,318 doses of vaccine on 30th April: 7,067 first doses, 26,319 second doses, and 1,932 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,311,109 doses administered: 27,770,374 first doses, 26,719,207 second doses, and 16,034,886 booster doses. 85.0% of the population have received their first dose, 81.8% their second dose, and 49.1% their booster dose.
Suzanne
An interesting factoid, possibly anecdata: Post-Covid hair loss is apparently a thing.
I went to get a haircut yesterday, after having to cancel due to a snowstorm a few weeks ago. After having Spawn the Youngest in summer 2019, and then the stress of the pandemic, I had been shedding a lot of hair. I have been taking supplements, doing protein treatments and strengthening hair oil, and scalp massage hoping to thicken it back up. And especially in the last few weeks, I have really noticed an improvement. Anyway, I mentioned it to my hairdresser (who is Dem and very pro-vax), and she said that a lot of their clients are dealing with a significant amount of hair loss after having Covid. She said all of the stylists have had clients with it, and they don’t know if it’s a long Covid thing, or if it will ever grow back. Or if the vaccine helps in any way.
Honestly, I feel like this should get more attention. Appeal to people’s sense of vanity. I am not even that much into my looks, but I feel like a lot of women would be very influenced if they knew that Covid would affect their hair. I don’t know about the dudes.
Anne Laurie
@Suzanne: Interesting! Of course, “their hair fell out after a serious illness” (especially after a high fever) is a data point that goes back to at least the original Elizabethan era — it was one of the much-commented side effects of smallpox, for instance. Maybe it’s just not considered “serious” by the modern medical community?
You’re right, though; I know women undergoing (or refusing to undergo) cancer treatments because they were afraid of losing their hair. Not to mention the recent media attention to alopecia…
Suzanne
@Anne Laurie: Hair loss is hard to track. We’re all shedding hair all the time, and most of us don’t count the hairs we lose (even if we could). So there’s not really a great baseline from which to measure. I related very hard to this piece in the Atlantic about hair loss during the pandemic.
To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never had Covid, but the change in my hair was definitely noticeable. My hair was long (but straggly) after a year of no proper haircuts, so I had about four inches cut off last year. I can lift my hair in any spot and find a lot of regrowth that is considerably shorter. That’s pretty typical after having a baby. But I do think pandemic stress did not help at all. But, as I said, it’s very difficult to know how much of a change or to attribute causality.
Scout211
Local COVID-19 adjacent news: From the People’s Republic of California, Medi-Cal expansion to now include anyone aged 50 and older regardless of immigration status is effective today.
This is very good news.
JMG
A pandemic story, guaranteed true. Alice and I have been in New York since Wednesday, doing the usual thing, plays, museums and restaurants. We were in Brooklyn last night with our son. In the late afternoon, we went to a mini-beer garden in his neighborhood, which has outdoor tables and serves snacks (cheese and charcuterie) as well as various drafts. As we sat, a man about Josh’s age (mid-30s) walked by and stopped as he and Josh had a flash of mutual recognition, pleasure, and most of all, surprise. They had worked together on the same project for almost two years starting in early 2020. They knew what the other looked like from Zoom. This was the first time they had ever met in person, although they live like six blocks apart. I wonder how many other meetings like that take place around the country?
sab
@Suzanne: As I remember, actress Alyssa Milano ( Charmed) got long covid early and lost much of her hair. Don’t know if it grew back, but lovely long hair like she had would take years to recover.
The vanity thing might work. My husband quit smoking after forty years about ten years ago. His skin is a wrinkled mess just from the smoking (which damages capillaries.) He is 70 and I am 67. My skin is still pretty good, especially compared to smokers in their thirties. We mention this to casual young smokers we know, and a number of them, aghast, have quit smoking.
Sloane Ranger
No fan of Boris or what is laughably referred to as his government, but the bit upstairs is incorrect. You can still report positive COVID tests on the official government website. I know because I had to test last Tuesday before going to see the mother of an old friend at her care home. I reported it on the site and got the email and text confirming my negative test. The difference is that where before you could get test kits for free, you now have to pay for them.
Anyway, late, but here are the UK’s official figures from Friday, where we had 12,421 new cases. The rolling 7-day average is down 43.3%. New cases by nation,
England – 9705
Northern Ireland – 329
Scotland – 2254
Wales – 133.
Deaths – There were 216 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported Friday. The rolling 7-day average is down 20.2%. 182 deaths were in England, 1 in Northern Ireland, 23 in Scotland and 10 in Wales.
Testing – 315,069 tests took place on 28 April. The rolling 7-day average is down 3.5%.
Hospitalisations – As of 28th April, there were 13,027 people in hospital and 302 on ventilators. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was down 23.6% as at 25 April.
Vaccinations – As at 28 April, 92.5% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot; 86.5% had had 2, and 68.2% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
The government site will not be updated over the May Bank Holiday so the next tranche of statistics will be published on Tuesday of next week.
Neldob
Trevor Noah is beautiful. I’m with team Trevor. Wow.
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/30 Mainland China reported 916 new domestic confirmed (703 previously asymptomatic), 7,340 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 38 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 21 new domestic confirmed (7 previously asymptomatic, all at Guangzhou) & 7 new domestic asymptomatic (6 at Guangzhou & 1 at Dongguan) cases. 11 of the new positive cases at Guangzhou are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, 9 via screening of residents under movement control, & 1 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. The case at Dongguan came from elsewhere on 4/26 & under centralized quarantine since 4/28. 11 domestic confirmed & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 170 active domestic confirmed & 71 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 did not report any new domestic positive cases. 24 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Beihai) & 153 active domestic asymptomatic cases (132 at Fangchenggang & 21 at Baise) in the province.
Hunan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both at Shaoyang) cases, both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 8 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 35 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. 5 sites at Shaoyang are currently at Medium Risk.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both at Manzhouli in Hulun Buir. There currently are 49 active domestic confirmed (45 at Hulun Buir, 3 at Baotou, & 1 at Chifeng) cases in the province. 4 sub-districts in Manzhouli are currently at Medium Risk.
Tianjin Municipality reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a person coming from Shanghai on 4/30 & tested positive upon arrival. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shandong Province reported 6 new domestic confirmed (1 previous asymptomatic) & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 40 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 62 active domestic confirmed cases & 621 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the administrative divisions in the province provide data on recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Shanxi Province 4 domestic confirmed & 13 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 34 active domestic confirmed (30 at Taiyuan & 4 at Shuozhou) & 140 active domestic asymptomatic (136 at Taiyuan & 4 at Shuozhou) cases remaining. All areas of the province are now at Low Risk.
Hebei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 62 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 819 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 47 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 16 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 34 active domestic confirmed & 480 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 5 new domestic confirmed & 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 42 domestic confirmed & 46 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 282 active domestic confirmed & 201 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 16 new domestic confirmed (11 previously asymptomatic, all mild) & 26 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 237 domestic confirmed & 492 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 53 new domestic confirmed (46 mild & 7 moderate) & 6 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. 6 sites are currently at High Risk. 23 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 788 new domestic confirmed (683 previously asymptomatic) & 7084 new domestic asymptomatic cases. All of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine. There were 38 deaths (avg. 80.9 y.o., youngest at 50 y.o. & oldest at 97 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, 3 partially or fully vaccinated). 3,055 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 16,021 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 20,699 active domestic confirmed (342 serious & 61 critical) & 144,873 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Shaanxi Province 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 2 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 did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 15 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (all mild, 3 at Wuhan & 1 at Huanggang) & 93 active domestic asymptomatic (45 at Wuhan, 24 at Ezhou, 3 at Enshi Prefecture, 4 at Yichang, 9 at Huanggang, 6 at Xiangyang, & 1 each at Xiaogan & Xianning) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 6 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 15 domestic confirmed & 406 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 44 active domestic confirmed & 631 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 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 57 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active confirmed & 305 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 18 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.
Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 9 domestic confirmed case recovered & 23 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 26 active domestic confirmed & 90 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 4 new domestic confirmed & 44 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 104 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Tongren) case in the province.
Jiangxi Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed (both mild) & 57 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 12 domestic confirmed & 36 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 253 active domestic confirmed & 583 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 4 new domestic confirmed (3 at Anyang & 1 at Zhengzhou) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Anyang) cases. 6 domestic confirmed & 14 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 38 active domestic confirmed & 152 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 6 new domestic confirmed (5 at Chengdu & 1 at Deyang) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic (all at Chengdu) cases, all construction workers returning from building temporary hospitals in Shanghai & 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.
At Yinchuan in Ningxia “Autonomous” Region there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the region.
Chongqing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed (previously asymptomatic) & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Pengshui County. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
At Qinghai Province 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed & 19 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case (at Xiangyun County in Dali), a person coming from elsewhere & tested positive upon entry. 2 domestic confirmed & 23 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 10 active domestic confirmed & 143 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 4/30, Mainland China reported 4 new imported confirmed cases (0 previously asymptomatic), 69 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 3,447 confirmed cases recovered (12 imported), 17,380 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (68 imported) & 703 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all domestic), & 31,383 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 24,002 active confirmed cases in the country (156 imported), 447 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 180,362 active asymptomatic cases (590 imported), 0 suspect cases. 470,521 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/30, 3,344.528M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 1.52M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 5/1, Hong Kong reported 300 new positive cases, 22 imported & 278 domestic (97 via RT-PCR & 181 from rapid antigen tests), 5 deaths (3 fully vaccinated).
On 5/1, Taiwan reported 17,085 new positive cases, 149 imported & 16,936 domestic (9,983 asymptomatic). Symptom onset for the domestic cases range from 3/29 – 4/30. There were 3 new deaths (actual dates of death between 4/25 & 4/27, all having a range of underlying conditions, 1 fully vaccinated). Of the 12 deaths from the Omicron wave to date, 5 are fully vaccinated (including 3 boosted).
lowtechcyclist
@Scout211:
Quoting the story Scout quoted:
I’m eager to find out how any other state could expand Medi-Cal eligibility!
Amusement value aside, this sounds like a Big Fucking Deal. Way to go, California!!
lowtechcyclist
With us dudes, I suspect it would depend on how much hair we still had. I’m lucky to still have a full head of hair, despite being in my late 60s, and I must admit I’m really attached to seeing all those curls up there when I look in the mirror: it would be quite a shock to lose them!
But if I was already mostly bald, I’d probably just shrug at the thought of losing what was left.
lowtechcyclist
When are we going to require that ALL workers get paid leave – both sick leave and vacation? You know, like every other advanced country has?
At the very least, the House Dems should pass this, and force the Senate Republicans to block it.
This one has bugged the shit out of me for decades now. There are some things that most other advanced nations have, like universal health care, where it’s not all that clear how to get there from where we are now. Paid leave is NOT one of those things. All they gotta do is pass a freakin’ law, and everybody’s got to do it.
Jay
@lowtechcyclist:
early on, in Covid, a lot of Corps, gave their workers up to 48 days paid leave, if they got Covid. This was done as a retention strategy, so that front facing, at risk, employees would keep working, rather than quit, when we knew little about Covid.
The Corp I work for even allowed at risk employees to protect themselves by taking “Covid leave”, ( 48 working days, off, paid) as long as they came back. About 1/3rd of the olds and immunocompromised took leave, about 1/3rd just noped and left, never coming back, and about 1/3rd worked through the whole time.
The Corp I work for still has the position that Covid ain’t over, so the paid leave is still on the table.