It's a death toll that's impossible to fathom: 1M lives lost to #Covid19. As the United States officially passes that tragic milestone, @jaspar digs into the patterns to look at who died, and when. https://t.co/MxyKXaa82X
— Helen Branswell ?? (@HelenBranswell) May 10, 2022
Officially, the U.S. will almost certainly reach an awful milestone in the next two weeks: its one millionth recorded Covid-19 death.
In reality, this milestone was likely unofficially crossed days or weeks ago, and we’ll never know the exact toll or the identity of the pandemic’s actual millionth victim. Nor are humans well-equipped to fully grasp loss on this scale, let alone the magnitude of a global toll estimated to be as high as 14.9 million.
One way to start understanding how a country as advanced as the U.S. lost so many people is to look at the ocean of public health data that was gathered as 1 million individual tragedies rippled through civic life.
Analysis of the data will continue for years, but it is clear that, when it comes to deadliness, there were five different pandemics — depending on when and where you lived, and who you were.
Earlier vs. later Older vs. younger (but there’s fine print) Unvaccinated vs. vaccinated Rural vs. urban Poorer vs. wealthier …
Important questions about Covid remain unanswered, but it is clear that we have entered a new phase of pandemic response characterized by a greater tolerance of risk and a greater desire to return to a sense of normalcy. The pandemic will settle into new patterns of harm, with inequities cast into even sharper relief. People with existing health complications, older people, and people who already face the challenges of economic and social vulnerability are poised to bear the brunt of society’s increased risk tolerance.
Whether or not we are done with the virus, it seems the virus will do its best to stay with us.
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Australia now has the most COVID cases per capita followed by Taiwan. https://t.co/NTfBX5HPC5
cc: @medrivaTW pic.twitter.com/aK520qjMyl
— BNO|Medriva ?? Newsroom (@medrivaAU) May 11, 2022
The head of the World Health Organization said China's zero-tolerance COVID policy is not sustainable given what is known of the disease, in rare public comments by the U.N. agency on a government's handling of the virus https://t.co/JSw4Q0CDwO pic.twitter.com/2bS7DHvZbM
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 10, 2022
Counter-argument:
Dropping zero-COVID policy in China without safeguards risks 1.5m lives – study https://t.co/0GxfgPPIFr pic.twitter.com/2FibrVreD3
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 10, 2022
Shanghai's Covid cases are falling but China's restrictions are tightening. Officials are clamping down in Shanghai & Beijing, heeding a message from the country’s top leader who insists on zero-Covid. Shanghai has been in lockdown since April 1 https://t.co/g53v039x6n
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 10, 2022
Shanghai is basically post-science at this point. The crazy part is you could put a 222nm lamp there that actually would kill any residual hanging aerosols between tests (or even just a fan TBH), unlike whatever magic ritual they are performing to appease the fomite deities. https://t.co/e8HdmNb4kh
— Naomi Wu 机械妖姬 (@RealSexyCyborg) May 11, 2022
“Many of the elderly live alone… if they die no-one will know”
Hong Kong records highest Covid death rate in the world, with the city’s poorest and elderly most affectedhttps://t.co/7QbZ9L4MQA pic.twitter.com/fV9xrPhhzc— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 11, 2022
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Are #Covid surges becoming more predictable? New #Omicron variants offer a hint. Omicron relatives called BA.4 & BA.5 are behind a fresh Covid waves in South Africa & could be signs of a more predictable future for SARSCoV2 https://t.co/ri44dq2WFF
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 10, 2022
Can someone infected w/ SARSCoV2 transmit antibodies when talking/coughing/sneezing? It's well known viral particles can be shared. What about other nasal/oral constituents? Study concludes aerosolized antibodies may positively confer some protection https://t.co/mpjIM8emjZ pic.twitter.com/xjWfF4hyzT
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) May 9, 2022
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Super interesting breakdown of COVID deaths. The vast majority of deaths were among the elderly, but since death rates are low for younger populations, COVID ended up in the top 5.https://t.co/8N1GY30pb7 pic.twitter.com/EmbQFx828P
— Michael Hobbes (@RottenInDenmark) May 10, 2022
we’re going to be living with some of this baggage for the rest of our lives, and it’s going to suck. it’s not the worst part (that would be the deaths), but the collateral damage from 2+ years of uncertainty and insanity is going to be ugly for a long time.
i’ve seen it with a few different groups, primarily in couples; it feels like the pandemic either strengthened relationships, made them super co-dependent, or stripped out almost all of the screws that were holding everything together (for *years* in a lot of cases)
anyway, try to be charitable and gracious with your friends, and also understand that you can’t control how they feel about things (and shouldn’t try), sometimes you have to excuse yourself and walk away.
also, if your life didn’t get worse or if it got better during the pandemic, absolutely don’t feel bad about it, take your winnings and enjoy them, you don’t have a duty to be miserable.
my mad scientist / comic supervillain origin story is going to be me dumping mood stabilizers in the water supply for a few months until everyone evens out.
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Two Valleys
ItinerantPedant
I think we’ve crossed the 1 million dead line about 8 times in the last month and a half.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,605 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,463,740 cases. It also reported six death for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,590 deaths – 0.80% of the cumulative reported total, 0.80% of resolved cases.
There were 22,953 active cases yesterday, 585 more than the day before. 1,250 are in hospital. 67 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 38 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 2,014 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,405,197 patients recovered – 98.7% of the cumulative reported total.
2,601 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Four new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 28,466 doses of vaccine on 10th May: 9,672 first doses, 15,534 second doses, and 3,260 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,478,577 doses administered: 27,811,381 first doses, 26,830,790 second doses, and 16,049,816 booster doses. 85.2% of the population have received their first dose, 82.2% their second dose, and 49.1% their booster dose.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
625 new cases reported yesterday. We’re not coming down from the peak yet.
New Deal democrat
US cases increased to 77,600, a 23% increase from one week ago, vs. a 26% increase in the week prior. Hospital admissions increased to 19,440, an increase of 30% from one week ago, but historically still very low during the pandemic. Deaths decreased to 547, but are 40% higher than one week ago.
In NJ, cases are up 20% vs. one week ago. In NY, cases are up 25% from one week ago. Within NYS, cases remain flat to down in Upstate except for the Albany and Buffalo areas, and rising sharply in the Downstate NYC metro area. (I track this because BA.2.12.1 first appeared the the Upstate region of Central NY).
In other news, Charles Gaba of ACA Signups has calculated that total deaths from COVID in 2021 were 3.5x higher in the Reddest US counties vs. the Bluest, a total of 1.8 increased deaths per 1,000 population (not enough to swing elections, in other words).
ETA link: https://acasignups.net/22/05/09/exclusive-non-covid-excess-death-rates-ran-21x-higher-reddest-counties-bluest-2021
Soprano2
Golikehellmachine is right, I think most of us have some form of PTSD from the past two years. For many people it’s mild, but it’s there. Our office manager says people the past year have gotten a lot shorter and more hateful when she talks to them. I think it’s all the stress and uncertainty we’ve been under.
I still have no idea why China isn’t trying like mad to get everyone there vaccinated! How do they think they’re going to succeed with zero Covid without doing that? Without sufficient vaccination, zero Covid will fail, and will hurt a lot of people unnecessarily.
Kristine
Lake County IL edged back up to “medium” community risk level this past week. Most of the state was classified as “low” for a while, but that’s changing. From what I’ve seen, only about 1/4 to 1/3 of folks wear masks. Most are elderly.
I had a ticket to see the new Dr Strange movie on Monday, but had decided against going even before my day blew up and made it impossible. Still not comfy with large indoor gatherings.
Sloane Ranger
Scotland are now only updating their data on Mondays and Thursdays only so the numbers I give will be partial and may be misleading. Nevertheless, here are the figures I have for yesterday,
Cases:
England – 9751
Northern Ireland – 394
Scotland – N/A
Wales – 268.
Deaths – There were 272 deaths within 28 days of a positive test in England yesterday, 3 in Northern Ireland and 9 in Wales. No update from Scotland.
I will only be reporting in with Monday and Thursday figures in future due to the changes in reporting practices.
YY_Sima Qian
On 5/10 Mainland China reported 302 new domestic confirmed (210 previously asymptomatic), 1,545 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 domestic suspect cases, & 7 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 10 new domestic confirmed & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 5 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 202 active domestic confirmed & 56 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 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Fangchenggang. 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 63 active domestic asymptomatic cases (53 at Fangchenggang & 8 at Baise) in the province.
At Hunan Province 4 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed & 1 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 Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed (16 at Manzhouli in Hulun Buir & 1 at Chifeng) cases in the province.
At Tianjin Municipality there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Shandong Province 3 domestic confirmed & 35 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 48 active domestic confirmed cases & 364 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 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Linfen, . 3 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (all at Taiyuan) & 28 active domestic asymptomatic (27 at Taiyuan & 1 at Linfen) cases remaining.
Hebei Province reported 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Chengde, all via community screening. 29 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 254 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 4 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic) & 60 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 220 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 21 active domestic confirmed & 802 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 Heilongjiang Province 6 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 44 active domestic confirmed & 45 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 98 domestic confirmed & 156 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 24 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic, 22 mild, 1 moderate & 1 serious) & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. Of the 59 domestic positive cases reported between 3 PM on 5/9 & 3 PM on 5/10, 58 traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or residents under movement control & 1 via fever. As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 20 sites are currently at High Risk. 34 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 228 new domestic confirmed (198 previously asymptomatic) & 1,259 new domestic asymptomatic cases. all of the new domestic positive cases were already under quarantine. There were 7 deaths (avg. 87.3 y.o., youngest at 75 y.o. & oldest at 98 y.o., all w/ a range of underlying conditions, 1 vaccinated). 607 domestic confirmed & 8,094 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5,626 active domestic confirmed (379 serious & 71 critical) & 48,299 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 13 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Hubei Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 1 each at Enshi Prefecture & Qianjiang, both persons coming from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (mild, at Wuhan) & 24 active domestic asymptomatic (7 at Wuhan, 10 at Ezhou, 2 each Enshi Prefecture & Xiangyang, & 1 each at Qianjiang, Huanggang & Xianning) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 49 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 13 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 10 active domestic confirmed & 486 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 asymptomatic case. 30 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active confirmed & 34 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (2 at Jiaxing & 1 at Shaoxing) & 5 new domestic asymptomatic (3 at Hangzhou & 2 at Jiaxing) cases. The cases art Hangzhou & Jiaxing are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. The case at Shaoxing arrived from elsewhere & tested positive upon arrival. 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 reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both at Xiamen, both persons returning from elsewhere on 5/7 & under centralized quarantine since. 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 4 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 Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Guizhou Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Zunyi, both persons returning from Shanghai & tested positive upon arrival. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (both at Qiandongnan Prefecture) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic (2 each at Tongren & Zunyi) cases remaining.
Jiangxi Province reported 44 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 16 domestic confirmed & 71 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 50 active domestic confirmed & 404 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 22 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 67 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 14 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 174 active domestic confirmed & 492 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.
Sichuan Province reported 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 8 at Guang’an & 1 at Zigong. 1 of the cases at Guang’an is a traced close contact under centralized quarantine & the rest were found via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. The case at Zigong came from elsewhere & 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.
Chongqing Municipality reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a person under centralized quarantine. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
Qinghai Province reported 10 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic) & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Xining, all are persons under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 32 active domestic confirmed & 43 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Yunnan Province 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 33 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 5/10, Mainland China reported 22 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 58 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 817 confirmed cases recovered (11 imported), 8,760 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (44 imported) & 211 were reclassified as confirmed cases (1 imported), & 38,881 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 7,568 active confirmed cases in the country (165 imported), 484 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 79,926 active asymptomatic cases (465 imported), 0 suspect cases. 399,876 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 5/10, 3,355.535M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 1.339M doses in the past 24 hrs. As of 5/5, 88.75% of China’s overall population are fully vaccinated, & 91.22% have taken at least 1 shot. For the > 60 y.o. cohort, 81.68% are fully vaccinated, 86.23% have taken at least 1 shot, & 61.5% boosted. Among the > 80 y.o., only
On 5/11 Hong Kong reported 280 new positive cases, 32 imported & 248 domestic (99 via RT-PCR & 149 from rapid antigen tests), 2 deaths (both fully vaccinated) + 1 backlogged death.
On 5/11, Taiwan reported 57,216 new positive cases, 28 imported & 57,188 domestic (including 80 moderate & 9 serious). There were 8 new deaths (ages ranging from 60+ to 90+, actual dates of death between 5/2 – 5/8, 6 having a range of underlying conditions, 5 partially/fully vaccinated).
YY_Sima Qian
@Soprano2:
While I entirely agree w/ the 1st part, & am personally frustrated by the refusal by the CCP regime to implement vaccine mandates or approve the BioNTech mRNA vaccine, the 2nd part is actually wrong. “Zero COVID” does not & cannot rely upon vaccination (it helps, of course). The strategy depending on cutting all transmission, & the Chinese vaccines serve only as speed bumps against Omicron BA.x spread. Indeed, none of the currently available vaccines are particularly effective against Omicron BA.x transmission. However, although raising vaccinate uptake among the most vulnerable cohorts does not determine success or failure of “Dynamic Zero COVID” – transmission properties of the virus does – it will determine the level of damage incurred if/when “Zero COVID” fails. Even the Chinese inactivated whole virion vaccines are pretty effective against hospitalization & deaths, especially boosted.
eachother
My observation from a social distance is the double vaxed and boosted that I know who have gotten Covid had become lax in some way.
Unless transmissibility is more magical than it used to be by familiar means, still requiring proximity exposure. I’m not a dr.
Each person in my conversations had done something typical that might have resulted in their infection. Something with people of course. Something involved with letting their mask/guard/distancing down.