U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 109,239
– Average: 117,665 (+10,560)
– States reporting: 26/50
– In hospital: 28,216 (-11)
– In ICU: 3,066 (-20)
– New deaths: 236
– Average: 297 (+26)More data: https://t.co/ohnVKtNdM3 pic.twitter.com/J1KQ85Iw4e
— BNN Newsroom (@medrivaUS) June 7, 2022
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Less than a week since Shanghai reopened, outraged residents in Xuhui district confronted officials after they were put under lockdown again https://t.co/Vduq3KY5nf pic.twitter.com/DwdZQkiNBN
— South China Morning Post (@SCMPNews) June 7, 2022
Singapore:
India registers 3,714 new cases in the last 24 hours, 17.8% lower than yesterday. It brings the total caseload to 4,31,85,049. 7 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, increasing the total reported death count to 5,24,708. (1/2)#DIU #Coronavirus #Covid19 pic.twitter.com/umde8lD57X
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) June 7, 2022
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We're deeply in the #Omicron phase. Here's what we know & what we need to find out. Pandemic began w/ Wuhan strain & moved to "variants of concern," like Delta & Omicron. Now we're in the Omicron replacement phase: BA.1 replaced by BA.2 & BA.2 by BA.2.12.1 https://t.co/rIiW3YwT6m pic.twitter.com/z8idriQLVe
— delthia ricks (@DelthiaRicks) June 7, 2022
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… What Teasdale used to do earned him 11 Lowell Thomas journalism awards for adventure travel, environmental travel and investigative reporting. Much of that involved exploring places at serious personal risk – both the North Pole and South Pole were on this spring’s itinerary for a book about extreme endurance trekking. When the COVID pandemic got rolling two years ago, he approached the disease the same way, rigorously following national guidance on how to avoid and prevent infection.
The message focused on how to keep people from dying, and how to keep hospital systems from crashing. And the answers were getting vaccinated and using social controls like quarantines and masking to curb the spread of the virus.
But what if the big risk wasn’t death or system collapse, but debilitating illness? Last week, the United States logged its millionth dead COVID victim. In the same two years of this pandemic, 8 million people have contracted long COVID and become shadows of their former selves. According to the World Health Organization, one of every five of the 500 million COVID sufferers may develop long COVID.
That’s got Teasdale and many others wondering if our COVID response made a major error. For someone with a career based on doing risky things, that might sound contradictory. What’s the risk-management difference between a 1-in-10 chance of catching a bad disease and a 1-in-10 chance of catastrophic injury skiing Lolo Peak solo?
“That’s like setting up to ski a line on Lolo Peak, and I’ve checked my boots and made sure my skis are sharp and my bindings work — but nobody told me about avalanche danger,” Teasdale said. “My risk calculation was incomplete, and it missed the biggest potential threat.”…
On The Road – Benw – NYC Botanical Gardens
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
85 new cases reported
72.4% vaccinated now
1880 dead, up 8 from last week
New Deal democrat
The 7 day average of new US cases rose to 121,700, a new BA.2.12.1 high, but almost certainly an artifact of delayed reporting from the holiday weekend one week ago. Deaths also rose to 326, for the same reason. The averages will hopefully become more useful starting tomorrow.
Hospitalizations rose to 29,300. The rate of increase week over week has slowed to 7%, so we may be approaching a peak over the next week or two.
Later this morning, the CDC will release its variant update. Most noteworthy will be how much the rate of infection by BA.4/5 has been growing.
NotMax
What an insipid sentiment.
One is a voluntary decision to embrace risk, one isn’t.
Spanky
@NotMax: At this stage, it’s a very voluntary risk to not get the shots.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 1,330 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,516,319 cases. It also reported two deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,690 deaths – 0.79% of the cumulative reported total, 0.79% of resolved cases.
There were 21,630 active cases yesterday, 553 fewer than the day before. 924 were in hospital. 22 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 11 confirmed cases cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 1,881 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,458,999 patients recovered – 98.7% of the cumulative reported total.
1,326 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Four new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 1,904 doses of vaccine on 6th June: 176 first doses, 1,287 second doses, and 441 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,991,146 doses administered: 28,000,895 first doses, 27,097,866 second doses, and 16,106,736 booster doses. 85.8% of the population have received their first dose, 83.0% their second dose, and 49.3% their booster dose.
NotMax
‘@Spanky
I for one refuse to lump the willfully stupid in the same basket with the cognizant populace. They deserve less than zero respect.
OzarkHillbilly
Obviously, your neighbors aren’t like mine.
Baud
@NotMax:
If skiers killed innocent people at the rate that the infectiousness of Covid does, it would be banned.
YY_Sima Qian
On 6/6 Mainland China reported 39 new domestic confirmed (14 previously asymptomatic), 85 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 0 new deaths.
At Guangdong Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 3 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.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic recovered. There currently are 27 active domestic asymptomatic (25 at Fangchenggang & 1 each at Baise & Chongzuo) cases remaining.
At Tianjin Municipality 10 domestic confirmed & 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed & 17 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Shandong Province 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed cases & 20 active asymptomatic cases in the province.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 20 new domestic confirmed & 49 domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 41 active domestic confirmed & 49 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
At Hebei Province 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 64 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. 1 industrial park at Langfang is currently at Medium Risk.
Liaoning Province reported 13 new domestic confirmed (all previously asymptomatic) & 19 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Dandong (15 from the outbreak in the urban districts & 4 from the new outbreak at Donggang), 15 persons under centralized quarantine, 3 via screening of residents under movement control, & 1 via screening of persons deemed at risk of exposure. 4 asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed & 133 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.
Jilin Province reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. As the province does not consistently break down recoveries by confirmed & asymptomatic cases or by jurisdictions, I can no longer track the count of active case counts in the different jurisdictions.
Beijing Municipality reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 41 domestic confirmed & 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The municipality is not publishing the count of active domestic cases there. 1 sites are currently at High Risk. 4 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 7 were already under quarantine & 3 from community screening (at Jing’an & Xuhui Districts). There were 0 new deaths. 59 domestic confirmed & 555 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 467 active domestic confirmed (27 serious & 17 critical) in the city. The city is no longer publishing the number of active asymptomatic cases. 21 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Hubei Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed (mild, at Wuhan) case remaining.
At Jiangsu Province 1 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 5 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.
Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Jiaxing, a person under centralized quarantine. 5 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The province is not publishing the count of active domestic cases there.
Fujian Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Zhangzhou, found via regular screening of logistics personnel. 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Jiangxi Province there currently are 14 active domestic asymptomatic cases (12 at Yichun & 1 each at Shangrao & Jiujiang) remaining.
At Henan Province 4 domestic confirmed & 22 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 23 active domestic confirmed & 96 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 3 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic, 2 at Chengdu & 1 at Bazhong) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic (1 each at Chengdu & Deyang) cases, all new positive cases coming 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.
At Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 9 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 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 6/6, Mainland China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), 67 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 160 confirmed cases recovered (21 imported), 764 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (63 imported) & 16 were reclassified as confirmed cases (2 imported), & 12,866 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,076 active confirmed cases in the country (205 imported), 50 in serious/critical condition (all domestic), 4,637 active asymptomatic cases (516 imported), 0 suspect cases. 117,819 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 6/6, 3,385.08M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 708K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 6/7 Hong Kong reported 489 new positive cases, 53 imported & 436 domestic (178 via RT-PCR & 258 from rapid antigen tests), 3 deaths (between 81 – 93 y.o., 1 fully vaccinated & boosted).
On 6/7, Taiwan reported 83,027 new positive cases, 54 imported & 82,973 domestic (including 87 moderate & 106 serious). There were 124 new deaths (ages ranging from < 5 y.o. to 90+ y.o., actual dates of death between 5/16 – 6/5, 116 having a range of underlying conditions, 77 partially/fully vaccinated). 1 of the deaths is a 9 months old baby who died suddenly at home.
Kay
I have been worried about “long covid” for a long time, simply because so many people have told me they suffered months of after affects. Fatigue, headaches, joint pain, shortness of breath, to the extent where they have difficulty working a full day let alone doing anything outside work. I hear it over and over and over and they seem a little ashamed about it, like they were “supposed to” recover but didn’t. I just find these stories credible partly because of the reluctance to admit it and how they’re almost apologizing.
Matt McIrvin
@Spanky: But what we’re talking about now is the risk of getting chronic, debilitating illness even if you got all the shots and did your best to be careful–that’s what happened to Teasdale.
The only real way to avoid that is to be a shut-in like it’s spring 2020, and to do that for the rest of your life. I do know people who are committed to this.
We could shut down this kind of infectious disease by becoming a civilization of isolated hermits in automated cocoons, like in Asimov’s “The Naked Sun”. But it doesn’t look like we’re going to do that.
Matt McIrvin
…The article also makes the good point that this isn’t just COVID–people have been getting chronic fatigue syndrome from viral infections since forever, and this is poorly understood, to the point that it often used to get dismissed as psychosomatic illness or malingering. COVID is just a case where we know the specific virus and there’s a lot of it about.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
We had two cases at work, one was asymptomatic and the other just had a fever, not even the horse voice like we had last January.
Ohio Mom
@Matt McIrvin: Yeah, I knew someone in the early 90s who had this new-fangled condition caused Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Not too many people took him seriously. I acted as if I did but part of me remained skeptical. I’m glad I kept my doubts to myself.
I think we will begin to see lots of research on Long Covid. My local university-affiliated health care system just announced a new Long Covid Clinic. They are just one of many across the country.
All those doctors will be taking careful notes and sharing what they are finding out with one another online. So I’m hopeful there will be breakthroughs that will have wide applications to lots of medical conditions.
Matt McIrvin
@Ohio Mom: One probable cause is Epstein-Barr virus, which recent research suggests is also the main cause of MS. But this thing is just endemic and causes mild illness most of the time. It makes me wonder just how much of that is out there.
Matt McIrvin
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Most vaxxed-and-boosted people I know just had an illness like a bad cold or flu for a few days and got better. But one ended up with a persistent cough that hasn’t cleared in months.
The people I personally know with serious long COVID symptoms got COVID while unvaccinated. But this doesn’t seem to be a 100% correlation.
The Moar You Know
I don’t know what the latest version going around is, but three members of my family have it right now and that’s a first.
Nobody in my area (north San Diego) is masking, you all know what the vaccination numbers are like. We will be dealing with this forever, because Americans will not do the right thing.
Matt McIrvin
I’ve got tickets to a concert by They Might Be Giants in September, and John Flansburgh just put out a tweet requesting that people at their concerts mask up with N95s or equivalent–a friend of his has long COVID and he’s concerned. Does not like the idea of being a disease vector on the road. The dates already got cancelled and rescheduled several times.
Venues aren’t requiring masks and vaccination any more; we saw LCD Soundsystem at the new Roadrunner in Allston a couple of months ago and a small minority of people in the house were masking up even though the area was not in great shape at the time.
I’ll keep going to shows, but I liked that somebody was at least making the request.
StringOnAStick
We live in a 120,000 person town that is heavily dependent on tourism, and one of the biggest draws is concerts. The main outdoor concert venue took the Covid shutdown as a gift to rebuild the soundstage to a much larger size to bring in bigger acts, and the schedule is absolutely packed with big names from this Saturday through September. I predict Covid is about the have a huge spike here in partytown.
gwangung
Seattle area theatres are asking patrons to be masked and vaccinated through summer at least….
Haydnseek
@Matt McIrvin: 
One of the best shows I ever saw was They Might Be Giants at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Loved that band from day one. A lot of people in the audience were wearing that snappy red fez, because hey, Istanbul not Constantinople.