Not since humans invented shoes or underwear has a single item of apparel caught on so widely and quickly around the globe as face masks. Masks are becoming a mirror on humanity in its battle against the coronavirus. Full story: https://t.co/b3tISQajLR pic.twitter.com/lBHkMqiqOd
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 24, 2020
Two years ago! (Another serendipitous find from the Draft folders)
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… You might think the pandemic is entirely behind us if you walk into a store or restaurant where no one is wearing a mask. But there are currently more than 125,000 new reported coronavirus infections every day. That number is a drastic understatement, since most people now test at home, and those who test positive tend to hunker down without reporting their status.
And more than 400 Americans a day are dying of covid-19. That’s significantly fewer than during the worst pandemic waves, when some days saw more than 4,000 deaths, but it’s still a very large number.
Most of us no longer keep track of the grim death totals; in case you’re wondering, the number for the United States now stands at more than 1,023,000, a figure impossible to wrap your mind around. We account for almost 1 in 6 coronavirus deaths worldwide, though we are only about 4 percent of the world’s population…
In addition to all the immediate suffering the pandemic brought, what has been almost as bad is that covid just made America meaner in ways we might never recover from. The disconnection, the politicization, the despair — all of it has taken a profound toll on our ability to tolerate one another…
When Biden ran in 2020, he tried to embody the promise that we had it in ourselves to move past our acrimony and solve our myriad problems together. It proved harder than he thought, and he was not exactly overwhelmed with volunteers from the opposition looking to transcend our differences and calm the partisan waters.
We can’t bring back the people we lost or wipe away the mistakes we made. But we can commit to making ourselves — our government, our economy, the way we treat one another — better than they all were at their lowest moments. And now that covid-19 has found Biden, as it did so many others, he should take this as an occasion to urge us down that path.
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Bloomberg‘s sympathies, of course, are with those who would flee:
"A lot of people are just trying to leave as soon as possible."
Some 10,000 wealthy Chinese are looking to leave in the wake of punishing lockdowns in Shanghai and around the country. The question is whether they will be able to, reports @allenwan290 https://t.co/HtR6mdFLnx pic.twitter.com/Te6SHeHQwR
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) July 22, 2022
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We have a distorted perception of vaccines, and what they are capable of. It's the virus, stupid. And we can do this.https://t.co/whaYMlLOx1
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 24, 2022
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Since people are asking, here's the same graph with each point colored by which presidential candidate won the popular vote in 2020. No "red" state (by this definition) has administered more than 1.8 vaccine doses/person on average, while ALL but four "blue" states have. https://t.co/yqMIW2aZzf pic.twitter.com/pQ68NRsaGs
— Micah Pollak (@MicahPollak) July 21, 2022
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On The Road – Albatrossity – Nebraska Sandhills – Week 1Reader Interactions
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brantl
Masks are becoming a mirror on SMART humanity in its battle against the coronavirus.
FTFY
First? Holy Spit.
satby
Truest thing I’ve read all year.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
NYSDOH says 124 new cases for 7/22/22
127 new cases for 7/23/22
72 new cases for 7/24/22 (the usual weekend under-report)
(PCR tests only).
satby
@brantl: Each person is making their own assessment of personal risk at this point. Double vaxxed, double boosted people who still caught covid may decide in lower risk situations to forgo the mask. That doesn’t make them dumb, just someone who doesn’t share your personal risk calculations.
After almost two solid years of having to enforce masking at the office, which was very much like trying to mop the ocean with a paper towel, I’m really over the sanctimony of each school of thought (almost said both sides 😜). You really have no fucking idea how exhausted health care workers are with that.
eclare
@satby: Absolutely. The selfishness is staggering.
Suzanne
This is the understatement of the last 2-4 years, if ever I saw it. As someone who deeply enjoys urban amenities like overpriced health food restaurants, cosmetic dermatologists, anarchist bookstores, comedy clubs, and the like….. in the last two years, I now deeply understand those people who pull a Walden and fuck off somewhere with a book, an internet connection, my crockpot, and no people, for the rest of my damn life.
lowtechcyclist
That first tweet leaves me wondering: when did underwear first become a thing, and how fast did it catch on?
Suzanne
I just spent the last two weeks working onsite with constantly rotating groups of health care workers (nurses, techs, physicians, admins, etc)….. probably 500 people in total. I saw maaaaaaybe 20 masks in that whole group.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
Underwear was a slippery slope that led to masks.
We’ve been slowly losing our freedoms ever since.
I blame Democrats.
Baud
@Suzanne:
People have always been a disappointment. The pandemic just forced people to take off their rose colored glasses.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Were you wearing a mask?
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 2,720 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,651,651 cases. It also reported three deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,914 deaths – 0.77% of the cumulative reported total, 0.78% of resolved cases.
54,282 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 20th July, with a positivity rate of 8.8%.
There were 48,252 active cases yesterday, 1,295 fewer than the day before. 1,542 were in hospital. 54 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 32 confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 4,012 more patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,567,485 patients recovered – 98.2% of the cumulative reported total.
2,715 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Five new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 12,580 doses of vaccine on 24th July: 452 first doses, 4,451 second doses, 761 first booster doses, and 6,916 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 71,944,363 doses administered: 28,064,454 first doses, 27,420,181 second doses, 16,175,453 first booster doses and 284,275 second booster doses. 85.9% of the population have received their first dose, 84.0% their second dose, 49.5% their first booster dose, and 0.9% their second booster dose.
Spanky
@satby: Covid is only I one driving force towards meanness since the rise of tfg. I think this still stems from Fox Nation and the Murdochs.
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
I hear you. I am double-vaxxed and double-boosted, and still ended up with a (fortunately mild, see: vaxxed and boosted) case of covid. With BA.5 on the vertical rise, I’ve gone back to masking in public spaces, though. I’ve noticed an uptick in mask-wearing in stores lately, although still a small minority.
I also agree that our society has gotten meaner. Trump got the ball rolling by giving mean people and bullies permission to be openly mean and bullying, and covid exacerbated the situation.
ETA: Spanky’s comment at #13 about Fox and the Murdochs helping to fuel meanness in our society is well-taken.
Suzanne
@Steeplejack: Not consistently. When I got close to people, yes. When I was speaking, no.
I’m just pointing out that if healthcare workers aren’t going to do it, no one is going to do it.
Cameron
@Suzanne: I see fewer and fewer people wearing masks. So I make it a point to see as few people as possible.
satby
@Suzanne: And many, if not most of them, probably caught covid before vaccines were even available, because a lot of hospital staff did. So if they got all the recommended shots plus covid it amounts to five (or more) jolts. Again, different risk calculations. I’m not masking all the time now either. Only indoors in close quarters like at work with patients, or if I take some form of public transportation.
The reality is most people were uncomfortable with masks but wore them (grudgingly) if it was mandated or they felt unsafe. It’s been a losing battle to keep people in them as they get all the shots, and that’s not even counting the ones who wouldn’t wear them at all.
Edit: and by all this, I guess I’m trying to say that you only get yourself worked up over something you can’t control, so just take care of yourself as you feel you need to. Stressing out over stuff that’s out of your hands is unhealthy too.
Baud
Do we have recent stats on hospitalizations and deaths for vaxxed people compared to unvaxxed? I haven’t seen it in a while.
Matt McIrvin
Topol is being a bit disingenuous there and it annoys me. Yes, it’s hit Japan hard, maybe because they have less prior infection, but in the US BA.5 is also completely dominant and it feels more like a continuation of the BA.2 wave.
p.a.
Crisis; similar to the saying about sports: sport doesn’t build character, sport exposes character.
satby
@O. Felix Culpa: @Spanky: oh totally agree!
satby
@Baud: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status
O. Felix Culpa
@satby:
Good point. I see that in my own behavior and mask-wearing choices. I was fanatical about wearing masks, even after my first vaccinations. But over time I felt safer and ok without wearing them in public, plus NOBODY ELSE was wearing them, which creates an interesting dynamic.
And honestly, good masks–like KN95s–are hot and uncomfortable when you have to wear them for hours. I got used to them and was willing to wear them because we were in an emergency. As the emergency has receded (somewhat), I feel less motivated to endure the discomfort. That said, I’ve gone back to wearing them in stores and such because the plague is on the rise again.
gene108
I think everyone’s getting COVID, at least once, unless a person can live as a near total shut in.
If we’re seeing a spike now, the fall/winter will be brutal.
Baud
@satby:
Thanks. Not as much of a spread as I would have thought. Sounds like prior infection/less deadly mutations are having an effect.
rikyrah
@satby:
No lie told
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
😳😳😳😳
Splitting Image
@lowtechcyclist:
If I had to guess, I would say that underwear became a thing when soldiers began wearing metal armour. You have to wear something between the metal layer and your skin. So I suppose sometime in the Bronze Age?
satby
@Baud: well, the uptake on second boosters is dramatically less, and I think that has contributed to some of the surge. But until the Omnicron targeted boosters come out this fall my suspicion is second booster compliance will lag.
rikyrah
@O. Felix Culpa:
Plus, those of us who usually extended grace to the other side are pissed off at the no mask, no vaccinated.muthaphuckas.😡😡
I know that I am
rikyrah
There is a low simmering anger and disgust by folks like me who believe that 90% of our COVID DEATHS since February 2021
WERE COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY
THOSE PEOPLE DIDN’T HAVE TO DIE 😡
eclare
@rikyrah: Truth.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah:
True. I’ll never understand why the GQP decided that they were pro-plague, even to the point of killing off many of their own, plus of course all the people who were “collateral damage.”
satby
@rikyrah: well, actually initially no; but later deaths in wilfully unvaccinated folks was inevitable. A lot of them sidled up to the risk and licked it on the ear; all while treating the rest of us with complete contempt. So, as part of that pervasive meanness already mentioned, I don’t feel all that bad about them.
VOR
@Baud: Agree, would love to see that. It’s a little complex because of the shades of “vaccinated”. Full course of original shots? Booster 1? Booster 2? But I think you could draw a clear line between “at least 1 shot” and “no shots”.
Matt McIrvin
@gene108: Case rates right now actually aren’t anywhere near as high as they were during the winter Omicron wave, and that’s consistent with wastewater sampling so I don’t think it’s an undercounting artifact. But what seems to be happening is that a lot of the remnant of vaxxed/boosted people who never got COVID before are getting it, and that’s a minority at this point. Fortunately they are by and large getting mild cases, but there’s still a significant danger if you’re elderly.
Matt McIrvin
@VOR: That CDC page satby linked to has some of that breakdown. Turns out even the second booster reduces the risk of death for people over 50 by 4x relative to just having the first booster. And it’s 29x relative to being unvaccinated.
satby
Yes, there is. Last week, one of the only two remaining friends of my late parents died from covid at the age of 93.
artem1s
Anyone who thinks it was COVID that made us meaner hasn’t been paying attention over the last 30 years. We have been carving out secret safe mental spaces from our friends, neighbors and families for decades. Now we have no fucks to give and those spaces aren’t secret anymore. We aren’t biting our tongues and backing down. We are shunning those who have been assaulting us with mental, verbal and physical violence for decades. COVID gave us permission to refuse in order to protect our physical health and we discovered it was necessary for our mental health. And we aren’t giving it back.
Matt McIrvin
@O. Felix Culpa:
At first, they were simply following the lead of Donald Trump (Trump was never literally antivax, but he was anti-mask; this was before being antivax was the issue). Trump was led by his odd, base instincts. I don’t think it was all that strategic.
After Biden got in, the point was to damage Biden by killing large numbers of Americans and blaming it on him. And, lo and behold, Biden is unpopular and the Republicans will probably gain, though a lot of things are feeding into that.
So I can’t say it was a wrong decision from a pure winning-elections perspective. The losses they take directly from their voters dying are outweighed by other things. Of course it might hurt them in the long run if anything like democracy persists.
Spanky
I have slowly come to the conclusion that I have had asymptomatic covid sometime since winter. Oddly timed “allergies” and headaches, and the fact that nymsake indoor cat Spanky has covid antibodies in his blood. He had to get that from us.
I always wear a mask in public, still. And none of my Confederate neighbors know that one thing that didn’t happen was catching it from me.
O. Felix Culpa
@Suzanne:
OT, but thought you might be interested if you haven’t seen this yet: Ruben Gallego is evaluating a primary run against Sinema, or at least fundraising with an eye on that prospect. My parents live in AZ, so I try to follow the political news there.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lowtechcyclist: @Splitting Image: This is the kind of thing writers look up all the time. A History of Underwear
ETA: It’s hard for us to take in that as long as every inch of thread was spun and every inch of fabric was woven, clothing was very expensive. Most people were lucky to own two sets of clothes
Matt McIrvin
I think they should at least approve the second booster for all adults. While I admit the effect of these things is small at this point, it’d lead to a mini-wave of new shots that would blunt the current spread at least in the bluest, most urban areas. Don’t see the point of keeping powder dry until the fall.
Cameron
I really hope gov’t works overtime to get the nasal vaccine(s) out there. That sounds like something we all should be getting before winter sets in.
O. Felix Culpa
@Matt McIrvin:
Fair point. Perhaps my liberal fallacy is assuming the existence of a scintilla of concern for humanity in the GQP. I need to take to heart Maya Angelous’s dictum: “When people show you who they are, believe them.”
gene108
What Trump did to make society meaner is mainstream the radical white supremacists militia types. He gave them permission to come out in the open, as well as permission for not consciously racist, but intolerant of things outside their comfort zone types to maybe take the militant radicals as somewhat serious people.
This helped push openly white supremacist rhetoric into the Republican mainstream, like Tucker Carlson’s embrace of replacement theory.
The Alt-Right, Nazis, and other white supremacists flocked to TFG’s campaign like flies to shit, and they were totally open about how much hope they had that Trump would make their white supremacist fantasies come true.
These motherfuckers have always been with us, but they never before felt they had a place in polite society until TFG ran for President. Despite the backlash after Charlottesville, they didn’t crawl back under the rocks they came from. The Patriot Front, Proud Boys, etc. still parade around like they belong in public.
Cameron
@gene108: I’m told that there are very fine people among them.
Soprano2
@Spanky: It’s the whole right-wing “echosphere” telling people over and over and over again that liberals are not only wrong but evil, and that they need to be eliminated.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: I’m to the point I almost don’t pay any attention to Topol anymore, because it seems like he’s trying to gin up a panic in order to get everyone to start wearing masks everywhere again. He seems like one of the “forever maskers”. They are fighting a losing battle for sure.
Soprano2
@satby: Boy, that graph is really an advertisement for getting the booster shots!
eclare
@Matt McIrvin: Better that than let the vaccines expire.
gene108
@O. Felix Culpa:
When COVID initially hit, cases were confined to the Seattle and NYC areas, which are mostly made up of Democratic voters.
Second, studies published in April 2020 showed a disproportionately higher death toll among blacks and Hispanics. After the report came out is when the open up movements started, like the armed goons occupying the Michigan legislature in May 2020.
What’s the downside to being pro-plague for a Republican in the spring of 2020? COVID was taking out their enemies at a high rate.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
And the entire ‘pro-life’ movement shrugged. Human life doesn’t mean jack shit to them.
Soprano2
@lowtechcyclist: Every time I hear one of them claim to be “pro-life” I wish the interviewer would ask about what they advocated to protect people from Covid. They were definitely not “pro-life” when it came to Covid. They don’t care about life, they care about controlling women’s sex lives, period. Oh, and punishment of people who get pregnant having the “wrong” kind of sex, including married women who dare to want to get an abortion! They’re all about anger and punishment, not caring and grace in spite of what they say.
opiejeanne
@Matt McIrvin: My older daughter was denied her second booster at her Seattle Walgreens because she’s only in her 40s and is healthy, even though her doctor sent her there with instructions to get it.
We told her to go to the Costco pharmacy, that they probably won’t bat an eye.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/24 Mainland China reported 101 new domestic confirmed (39 previously asymptomatic), 579 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 0 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 11 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 19 domestic confirmed cases & 8 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 160 active domestic confirmed & 139 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot traced the active domestic cases in each jurisdictions due to multiple clusters at the same time.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 22 new domestic confirmed (4 previously asymptomatic) & 210 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 9 domestic confirmed & 46 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 345 active domestic confirmed & 1,579 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
At Hainan Province 2 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 25 active domestic confirmed (all at Haikou) & 5 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Haikou) cases in the province. 2 sites at Ding’an County remain at Medium Risk.
At Zhijiang County in Huaihua, Hunan Province, there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (3 at Bayan Bur & 1 at Hohhot) cases remaining. All areas in the region are now at Low Risk.
Gansu Province reported 24 new domestic confirmed (14 previously asymptomatic) & 284 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 10 domestic confirmed & 34 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 404 active domestic confirmed & 2,358 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at New High Tech Zone) cases, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. There currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
Shandong Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 11 new domestic asymptomatic, all at Heze, 1 found at fever clinic & the rest from traced close contacts or community screening. It is suspected that the cluster was seeded by spill over from outbreaks in Henan or Anhui. There currently are 8 active domestic confirmed (6 at Linyi & 2 at Heze) & 97 (86 at Linyi & 11 at Heze) domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 2 sites at Linyi remain at Medium Risk.
Henan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 4 domestic confirmed & 113 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active domestic confirmed & 403 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Liaoning Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2 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. 1 site at Dandong is currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
At Yushu in Changchun, Jilin Province there currently are 43 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
At Jiamusi in Heilongjiang Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
Beijing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. The municipality is not publishing the count of active domestic positive cases there. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 4 at Medium Risk.
Tianjin Municipality reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all from persons under quarantine or lock down. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 57 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 11 sites are currently at High Risk, & 9 at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 3 new domestic confirmed & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 7 domestic confirmed & 23 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 40 active domestic confirmed (none serious) in the city. The city is no longer publishing the number of active asymptomatic cases. 7 sites are currently at High Risk & 50 at Medium Risk.
Anhui Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 16 domestic confirmed & 110 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 60 active domestic confirmed & 510 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case. 2 domestic confirmed & 20 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 14 active domestic & 77 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Zhejiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
At Fujian Province 1 domestic confirmed & 13 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 53 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations. 3 sites at Pingtan are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangxi Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Nanchang, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed & 10 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed (all at Nanchang) & 58 active domestic asymptomatic (64 at Nanchang & 1 at Ji’an) cases in the city. 13 sites at Nanchang are currently at High Risk, & 34 at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province reported 34 new domestic confirmed (19 previously asymptomatic, 29 at Chengdu & 5 at Meishan) & 11 new domestic asymptomatic (2 at Meishan & 9 at Chengdu) cases. 14 of the new domestic positive cases at Chengdu were previously asymptomatic, 11 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, & 13 via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk. 5 of the new domestic positive cases at Meishan were previously asymptomatic, 1 is a traced close contact under centralized quarantine, & 1 via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 41 sites at Chengdu & 2 at Meishan are currently at High Risk. 57 sites at Chengdu & 1 at Meishan are currently at Medium Risk.
Chongqing Municipality reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Jiangjin District) cases, found via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 site is currently at High Risk, & 10 are currently at Medium Risk.
At Guiyang in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
At Xining in Qinghai Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
Honghe Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 9 new domestic asymptomatic cases (all at Jinping County). There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 36 active domestic asymptomatic cases there.
Imported Cases
On 7/24, Mainland China reported 49 new imported confirmed cases (11 previously asymptomatic), 71 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 131 confirmed cases recovered (54 imported), 415 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (31 imported) & 50 were reclassified as confirmed cases (11 imported), & 11,619 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,776 active confirmed cases in the country (524 imported), 24 in serious/critical condition (domestic), 6,473 active asymptomatic cases (494 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 115,899 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/24, 3,4167.9M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 543K doses in the past 24 hrs. As of 7/22, 1,298.636M individuals have taken at least 1 shot (or 92.1% of the total population), 1,264.901M individuals are fully vaccinated (89.7% of the total population), 797.985M individuals are boosted (71.7% of the total population). For the > 60 y.o. cohort (including > 80 y.o.), 89.6% have taken at least 1 shot, 84.7% are fully vaccinated, & 67.3% boosted.For the > 80 y.o. cohort specifically, 73.5% have taken at least 1 shot, 61% are fully vaccinated, & 38.4% boosted. The problem remains the > 80 y.o. cohort, there has been some progress in vaccinating that demographic in the past couple of months, but still not fast enough.
On 7/24 Macau reported 4 new positive cases, all domestic, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There were 0 new deaths.
On 7/24 Hong Kong added 4,130 new positive cases, 224 imported & 3,906 domestic (1,449 via RT-PCR & 2,457 from rapid antigen tests), 3 deaths (71 – 96 y.o.).
On 7/24, Taiwan added 17,127 new positive cases, 206 imported & 16,921 domestic (including 36 moderate & 45 serious). There were 53 new deaths (ages ranging from < 5 y.o. to 90+ y.o., actual dates of death range from 6/18 – 7/23, 48 w/ underlying conditions, 18 fully vaccinated & boosted).
satby
egggzaktly
Matt McIrvin
@O. Felix Culpa: Now, Trump probably could have won the 2020 election fair and square by big margins if he’d endorsed a sensible COVID control program. Liberals would have felt obligated to give him props for it–some would have bent over backwards to do it.
But that’s like wishing for the leopard to change his spots.
Matt McIrvin
@gene108: I keep thinking about how conservatives found this strange love of New Yorkers in the aftermath of 9/11. They’d sometimes make a carve-out exception from their general hatred of blue-staters just for NYC.
But it was all about symbolic injuries to America and being aggressive to evil foreigners. Kill many times that number of New Yorkers with a plague and, nothing. And of course we’d already seen that with AIDS.
Matt McIrvin
@gene108: Yeah, there’s this turnover in the spring of 2021 when the vaccines became widely available, in which the COVID death toll went from primarily Democratic voters to primarily Republican voters. Red-staters associate COVID with Biden’s administration rather than Trump’s in part because for them, it was. And that early hit to the Northeast was one of the reasons for all the “DeSantis won the pandemic” buzz; if you keep it in the statistics, states that did very little to control COVID looked like they were doing as well as the states that did the most, because the Northeast had piles of dead in the spring of 2020.
lowtechcyclist
@Matt McIrvin:
I’d say that happened in the summer of 2020, when the Sun Belt got hit hard, and then the Sturgis motorcycle rally spread it around the upper Plains and northern mountain states.
Another Scott
The graphs of deaths vs vaccination rates show that Florida is one (of many) big outliers. IIRC, lots of FL’s vaccines supposedly went to tourists from Central and South America. And they were playing games with treating snowbirds differently. It would be interesting to see where Florida’s datapoint would be if those effects were (somehow) taken into account.
One could see ME being different because it was hit early and has an older population.
One could see NM being different because it has a relatively large Native American population.
But FL is weird. From the death rate, it looks like it should be over with AL and MS…
Cheers,
Scott.
lowtechcyclist
@Soprano2:
Me too. And it just goes to show how terrible the talking heads on TV are at their jobs, because they’d never think to ask a question like that.
And we know what an honest answer would look like. I remember checking out ‘right-to-life’ websites during the summer of 2020 to see how they were addressing the pandemic. And either (a) they were ignoring it entirely, or (b) regarding it as basically a logistical challenge in terms of carrying on their antiabortion crusade. Nothing about viewing it as an issue having anything to do with ‘life.’
J R in WV
Some of you speak of simmering anger — my anger is white hot, more intense than nuclear fire. I despise the sub-normal inhuman monsters who are careless about MY health. Friday I took Wife to a regularly scheduled appointment at a large pulmonology practice — masks required.
There was a woman (older, obese) seated across from us, with a black cloth mask. She could not keep her fingers off of that mask; when she talked to her companion, she pulled the mask off because everyone knows you can’t hear through a membrane of cloth.
Worse, she was wearing flipflop sandals, and also could not keep her fingers off her toes. Then back to fiddling with her mask with the same fingers she just picked at her toenails with. Revolting and despicable. How often does she have “food poisoning” from whatever she walked through that morning?
I’m not sorry that people who won’t get vaccinated get sicker than the vaccinated, that RWNJs are more likely to get sick and be hospitalized, except that they prevent vaccinated people from accessing health care by flooding facilities with desperately ill RWNJs who deliberately avoided all the public health measures scientifically designed to minimize the plague. Frankly, the un-vaccinated should be at the back of the line for any health care related to Covid or the flu — if they don’t care to take the simplest preventive precautions, screw them.
I wear a mask almost everywhere. Rarely I’m the only masked up person. In the early days prior to vaccinations I wore a 3M industrial respirator that takes 100% of particles and gases out of what you breath. I once was loading a 2 or 3 weeks supply of groceries into the back of the car with an old Suburban blowing blue smoke on my feet next to me. I couldn’t smell it at all. Sweet, even tho I look like I just dropped in from Mars when wearing it.
We do drive thru food mostly while running errands in town rather than going into our favorite restaurants to sit down, esp when the infection graph is going straight up. Arby’s has a surprisingly good chicken salad for the Wife, and a fair Greek gyro, I always order extra red onions and sauce on mine. Wife does get tired of eating in the car….
You guys all stay safe now! I personally can’t wait until a new vaccine targeting the new variants is released, will be first in line.
gvg
@Suzanne: Odd, I have rarely seen a medical person without a mask in 2 years and I finally switched doctors over one lax office. Here in Florida they are still being very strict and sending out appointment reminders a week in advance telling us, wear a mask, come alone unless we have to have a care provider (underage or mentally incompetent), don’t come if we have symptoms etc, and the staff are masked. I wear masks in public indoors still and many others do too but not all…maybe a third? It seems to have settled into a contingent of people who have decided it’s a permanent siege sort of. It no longer seems to fluctuate much according to the news. Outdoors unless you are really crowded should be safe. Oh, and I really don’t go out much.
Ksmiami
@Suzanne: Eh America has always been a mean as fuck nation punctuated by FDR and WW2… like beyond someone’s immediate town., seething distrust and violence has been the norm.
Ksmiami
@J R in WV: picnics have been a good substitute if your wife can handle it. I’ve driven all over the west during the pandemic and there’s always a decent stop or vista so you don’t have to drop food in your front seat…
gvg
@Another Scott: Florida has a large elderly population who just ignored the antivax republican rhetoric and got vaxed. They were old enough to have the habits formed back when things like polio were feared and a lot of them got vaxed before the GOP really jumped on that wagon, when it was still Trump was President and there were waiting lists for the oldest to get their shots that were eagerly sought. the anti vax position sort of evolved and hardened over time, it wasn’t the first position. And as I said the really old people remember the past when diseases killed people they knew more. The antivax nonsense comes from younger generations that are spoiled know nothing fools.
Urza
@opiejeanne: i fudged having a condition to get my 2nd aft 6 months of the 1st booster. Bartells asked but it didn’t take much to get past that.
If more people were waiting for shots I wouldn’t have. But I’m expecting 3+ months till omicron boosters are ready.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: Winter 2020-21 was brutal in the Northeast too. But it wasn’t as localized to there.
Matt McIrvin
@gvg: Well, a lot of those old people who got vaxed early became antivax later, said they regretted having been vaccinated and refused boosters. It took awhile for the Tucker Carlson stuff to sink in.
Matt McIrvin
@O. Felix Culpa: I wear masks indoors but the difference is, I’ve stopped entirely avoiding the things that I was unwilling or unable to do wearing a mask (indoor gym workouts, indoor dining). I still don’t go to restaurants as much as I used to, but it’s not 100% avoidance. My immediate family has been an influence there–I can’t stop them from doing these things and I do hate being the weird hermit in my own family. But it’s surely greatly increased my risk of infection.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
No judgment; I was just curious. I find myself having to remind myself to wear a mask and occasionally “forgetting.” But most places I go I’m in and out quickly.
Kelly
Our immediate neighborhood of 20 people has 6 anti-vax Republicans. Four of them caught Covid. One vaxed couple in their 80’s caught it. Nobody hospitalized. Rural Oregon.
Chris T.
@Cameron:
Unless that refers to the pointy part of the ends of their dicks, I don’t think any of them are “very fine”.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/25 Mainland China reported 98 new domestic confirmed (32 previously asymptomatic), 770 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 0 new deaths.
Guangdong Province reported 6 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 17 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 23 domestic confirmed cases & 12 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 143 active domestic confirmed & 143 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot traced the active domestic cases in each jurisdictions due to multiple clusters at the same time.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 32 new domestic confirmed (9 previously asymptomatic) & 370 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 12 domestic confirmed & 45 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 365 active domestic confirmed & 1,895 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
At Haikou in Hainan Province 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 23 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Zhijiang County in Huaihua, Hunan Province, there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region there currently are 4 active domestic confirmed (3 at Bayan Bur & 1 at Hohhot) cases remaining.
Gansu Province reported 37 new domestic confirmed (17 previously asymptomatic) & 306 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 14 domestic confirmed & 31 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 439 active domestic confirmed & 2,848 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Ürumqi in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
Shandong Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 27 new domestic asymptomatic, all at Heze, 2 traced close contacts or community screening, 11 via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk, & 3 via voluntary testing. 6 domestic confirmed & 33 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed (all at Heze) & 91 (53 at Linyi & 38 at Heze) domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 10 sites at Heze are currently at High Risk, & 20 at Medium Risk.
Henan Province reported 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 400 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Liaoning Province there currently are 2 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. 1 site at Dandong is currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
At Yushu in Changchun, Jilin Province there currently are 43 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 1 at Medium Risk.
At Jiamusi in Heilongjiang Province the domestic confirmed case recovered.
Beijing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. The municipality is not publishing the count of active domestic positive cases there. 2 sites are currently at High Risk, & 2 at Medium Risk.
Tianjin Municipality reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both from persons under quarantine or lock down. 4 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 55 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 12 sites are currently at High Risk, & 9 at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 16 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 3 via community screening (1 each at Pudong New Area, Putuo District & Songjiang District). 7 domestic confirmed & 18 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 37 active domestic confirmed (none serious) in the city. The city is no longer publishing the number of active asymptomatic cases. 8 sites are currently at High Risk & 51 at Medium Risk.
Anhui Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed & 46 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 58 active domestic confirmed & 464 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Suzhou) case, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine. 2 domestic confirmed & 22 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 12 active domestic & 56 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations.
Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic (at Hangzhou) case, a person under centralized quarantine. 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
At Fujian Province 2 domestic confirmed & 13 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 active domestic confirmed & 40 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not separate recoveries by jurisdictions, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases at the different jurisdictions, due to the simultaneous outbreaks in different locations. All areas of the province are now at Low Risk.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Nanchang, both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic confirmed & 6 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 12 active domestic confirmed (all at Nanchang) & 54 active domestic asymptomatic (53 at Nanchang & 1 at Ji’an) cases in the city. 7 sites at Nanchang are currently at High Risk, & 21 at Medium Risk.
Sichuan Province reported 16 new domestic confirmed (5 previously asymptomatic, all at Chengdu) & 14 new domestic asymptomatic (12 at Chengdu & 2 at Meishan) cases. 5 of the new domestic positive cases at Chengdu were previously asymptomatic, 10 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine, & 13 via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk. The cases at Meishan are traced close contact under centralized quarantine. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 41 sites at Chengdu & 2 at Meishan are currently at High Risk. 71 sites at Chengdu & 1 at Meishan are currently at Medium Risk.
Chongqing Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Jiangjin District, 2 traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 1 via screening of residents in areas at elevated risk. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 14 active domestic confirmed & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 4 sites are currently at High Risk, & 2 are currently at Medium Risk.
At Guiyang in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
At Xining in Qinghai Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
Honghe Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 7 new domestic asymptomatic cases (all at Jinping County). There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 43 active domestic asymptomatic cases there.
Imported Cases
On 7/24, Mainland China reported 50 new imported confirmed cases (14 previously asymptomatic), 58 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in Mainland China, 118 confirmed cases recovered (42 imported), 283 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (40 imported) & 46 were reclassified as confirmed cases (14 imported), & 13,754 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,806 active confirmed cases in the country (532 imported), 22 in serious/critical condition (domestic), 6,972 active asymptomatic cases (498 imported), 3 suspect cases (all imported). 115,824 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/25, 3,4168.638M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 738K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/25 Macau reported 2 new positive cases, all domestic, both traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There were 0 new deaths.
On 7/25 Hong Kong added 4,276 new positive cases, 301 imported & 3,975 domestic (1,595 via RT-PCR & 2,380 from rapid antigen tests), 6 deaths (84 – 96 y.o.).
On 7/25, Taiwan added 25,071 new positive cases, 281 imported & 24,790 domestic (including 178 moderate or serious). There were 37 new deaths (ages ranging from 40+ y.o. to 90+ y.o., actual dates of death range from 5/18 – 7/23, 35 w/ underlying conditions, 9 fully vaccinated & boosted).