Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 2-3

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 2-3

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Both sides!
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Insert *multiple* snark emojis…
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Narcississtic injury: Medical personnel routinely ask about blood thinner use by people over the age of 50, Dr. (of literature) Wolf:
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 2-3
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49Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    69 new cases on 01/31/23.
    111 new cases on 02/01/23.
    120 new cases on 02/02/23.

    Finally got the right year on these, a month late.

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 2/1 the China CDC provided a summary of state of the exit tsunami in China as of 1/30:

    1. On 1/30, there were 24K new reported infections via PCR & 2.5% positivity rate
    2. On 1/30, there were 2,848 new reported infections via RAT & 2.2% positivity rate
    3. On 1/30, there were 164K visitors to fever clinics (95K in urban areas & 69K in rural areas, 94.3% off peak)
    4. As of 1/30, there were 144K hospitalized cases positive for SARS-CoV-2 (91.1% off peak), 14K of whom are in severe/critical condition (89.3% off peak)
    5. On 1/30, 434 COVID-19 related deaths were reported at hospitals (89.8% off peak)
    6. Between 1/23 – 1/30, Mainland China reported 1,676 genetic sequences from domestic COVID-19 cases, all are Omicron Variants, BA.5.2.X & BF.7.X remain dominant (combined for 99.2% of all samples; China has reported 24 cases of CH.1.1 so far

    As of 1/26, 3,490M vaccine shots have been injected in Mainland China, 92.94% of China’s total population have taken at least 1 shot, & 90.6% have completed their primary courses. Among the > 60 y.o. cohort, 96% have taken at least 1 shot, 96.6% of the eligible elders from the cohort have completed their primary courses, & 92.2% of the eligible elders from the cohort have taken at least 1 booster shot. Eligible means persons who have reached the requisite time intervals from their previous shots.

    For > 60 y.o. cohort vaccination rates, the China CDC is using the numbers from the comprehensive surveys that community & village offices across China had conducted in mid-Dec. as the denominator. That is producing significantly different rates than the vaccination numbers from the China National Health Commission as late as 12/14. The > 60 y.o. vaccination rates I posted on 1/31, of 1/26, had used denominator calculated from the 12/14 China NHC report: 91.53% of the cohort had taken at least 1 shot, 87.18% of the cohort had completed their primary courses, & 72.82% of the cohort had taken at least 1 shot. The differences in the latter 2 numbers to the new China CDC numbers are expected, percentage of cohort versus percentage of eligibles.

    Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau do not appear to be publishing daily data dumps, so I am using data from Worldometer.

    On 2/2, Hong Kong reported 444 new positive cases & 12 new deaths. There have been 13,370 total COVID-19 deaths to date.

    On 2/2, Macau reported 5 new positive case & 0 new deaths. There have been 120 total COVID-19 deaths to date.

    On 2/2, Taiwan added 27,085 new positive cases & 74 new deaths. There have been 16,430 total COVID-19 deaths to date.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 324 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 5,037,242 cases. 320 of these new cases were local infections; four new cases were imported. It also reported no deaths, for an adjusted cumulative total that remains at 36,942 deaths – 0.73% of the cumulative reported total, 0.73% of resolved cases.

    19,320 Covid-19 tests were conducted yesterday, with a positivity rate of 1.6%.

    There were 10,073 active cases yesterday, 176 more than the day before. 408 were in hospital. 12 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, six confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 148 patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,990,227 patients recovered – 99.1% of the cumulative reported total.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 2,656 doses of vaccine on 2nd February: 72 first doses, 101 second doses, 483 first booster doses, and 2,000 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 72,755,723 doses administered: 28,126,504 first doses, 27,538,237 second doses, 16,303,125 first booster doses, and 787,857 second booster doses. 86.1% of the population have received their first dose, 84.3% their second dose, 49.9% their first booster dose, and 2.4% their second booster dose.

  4. 4.

    Charluckles

    Many moons ago, in the time before COVID, I was taking a crafts class when an elderly gentlemen ran his fingers through the table saw.  The very first question out of the EMTs mouths was “are you on blood thinners?”

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The first thing out of my mouth when getting triaged at the ER is, “I’m on blood thinners.” I don’t even wait for them to ask.

    I once had a NP ask me if I’d of even bothered coming in for stitches if I hadn’t been on BTs, and it was true, I wouldn’t have, but the trail of blood I left on the store floor told me stitches were a good idea.

  6. 6.

    sdhays

    I don’t know what to make of that tweet about mRNA vaccines killing us all. I assumed that the professor in question was a professor of physics or something, but he’s apparently an “MIT Expert in Analytics, Risk Management, Health Systems, Food & Agriculture Systems, Manufacturing & Supply Chain Management”. Dr. Malhotra seems to be on an anti-mRNA crusade, so is he on to something or is he a crank?

    I lean “crank”, but I’m not sure why he was included in the post.

  7. 7.

    Marmot

    @sdhays: Thanks for looking up the “MIT professor.”

    (Times of India) + (“professor“) + (omg mRNA!) = Likely conspiracy theorist with some bullshit to push

    ETA: I didn’t want to get outta the boat.

  9. 9.

    schrodingers_cat

    @sdhays: There is a group of credentialed Indian anti-vax cranks. They cover their nuttery in a lot of scientific jargon and more likely than not RWNJs in both the US and the Indian context

    A prominent one is  Jay Bhattacharya from Stanford and he is an unabashed Modi cheerleader. It would surprise no one here that  many doctors and engineers in the diaspora are amongst the most prone to RW nuttery.

  10. 10.

    kalakal

    It really pisses me off when people pull that false appeal to authority Doctor shit like Wolf does there. She knows damn well people are going to see “Dr” in front of her name and that as she’s writing about medical matters assume she has professional expertise rather than being an ignorant ( and very unobservant) loudmouth

  11. 11.

    kalakal

    @dmsilev: So his knowledge of immunology, virology, epidemology, genetics ( in particular gene function and activity) is on the same level as a slime moulds. Unlike the slime mould he’s not intelligent  enough (or ethical enough) to keep quiet about it

  13. 13.

    Princess

    I see Retsef Levi, the MIT professor calling for a moratorium of mRNA Covid vaccines, is a professor of Operations Management. The Business School is where I always go for my medical advice.

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    It really pisses me off when people pull that false appeal to authority Doctor shit like Wolf does there.

    Absolutely.

    I’ve got a Ph.D. in mathematics and I’ve been a professional statistician for the past quarter-century, but I don’t wave that doctorate around even in a professional context because people who have Ph.D.’s in statistics know a shitload of things that this converted mathematician doesn’t.  Math and stats may be more closely related fields than most, but what the doctorate represents still doesn’t carry over from one to the other.

    So when people put that Ph.D. after their name (or ‘Dr.’ in front of it) in contexts where it’s way less relevant than mine is in statistics, they’re substantially misrepresenting themselves.  Maybe not quite at a George Santos level, but working on it AFAIAC.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    Between it -10 outside and us being low, I am grateful some good things, like grocery delivery, are hanging on. Since we are dealing with a surge in those with long viral syndrome, let’s acknowledge that as a society.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    I bet if Dr. Jill Biden used her credentials to recommend vaccines, all these anti-vax PhDs would go apeshit.

  22. 22.

    Hildebrand

    @lowtechcyclist: Weirdly enough, it was mainly in academia (especially doing in house stuff at the uni where I taught) that it was absolutely necessary to whack people over the head with one’s credentials.  When I was abd some of our departmental tenured faculty (which were the worst at this kind of pettiness) loved to remind me, ‘well, you’re not ‘Doctor’ yet.’

  23. 23.

    Tom Levenson

    @Hildebrand: This is also very true for every non-white-guy  in or adjacent to the academy.

    If you don’t make it clear that you are credentialed and expect to be respected as such, too many people (mostly but not only white guys) will see you as some form of the help.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    @Hildebrand:

    This must be field dependent.  Among the people I work with, waving your doctorate around- unless it’s a newly minted one and you’re bragging you finally made it- is strongly frowned upon.  There are all kinds of ways of doing this, not least of which is that professors encourage everyone to call them by their first names.  I can’t recall anyone’s ideas being criticized because the person suggesting them didn’t have the right degree.

  29. 29.

    Ramalama

    Flight attendants have to follow a script before every flight. It used to blow my brains that they kept having to do that. But a friend of mine survived 4 plane crashes. He told me the safety talk was the real deal (he’s a flight attendant). Count the rows between you and the nearest exit. Don’t take off your shoes in flight (you can lose your shoes or your feet can catch on fire). Sit as close to the back of the plane as possible.

    But seeing the morons talk wrongly about COVID – talk about transmissions, deaths, Fauci, public health vs big Pharma – made me wonder what if we had life attendants talking to us before leaving our houses every day? Hilarious thought. Will never happen. But 3 years in, this is where I am.

    Also MIT graduated one of the Koch brothers who donated what 100Million for a cancer research building on campus. Yet still pours money into campaigns that argue against anything helping to tackle climate change. MIT is not the end all.

  30. 30.

    Kent

    @Princess:I see Retsef Levi, the MIT professor calling for a moratorium of mRNA Covid vaccines, is a professor of Operations Management. The Business School is where I always go for my medical advice.

    He was also called out in 2022 and 2021 by various fact-checking organizations for having his name attached to flagrant anti-vax studies that were deliberately distorted/falsified in order to push forward an anti-vax narrative that the data did not support.

    So essentially he is an anti-vax crank with zero credibility and a history of lying.

  32. 32.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: ​My mother died from internal bleeding after her blood thinner was increased to the normal dose. A lot of people take blood thinners and the new class of drugs are supposedly associated with a lower chance of internal bleeding, but if you do experience bleeding (like, you know, if you have been in a car accident) there is no antidote and it’s a medical emergency.

  33. 33.

    Kent

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Absolutely.

    I’ve got a Ph.D. in mathematics and I’ve been a professional statistician for the past quarter-century, but I don’t wave that doctorate around even in a professional context because people who have Ph.D.’s in statistics know a shitload of things that this converted mathematician doesn’t.  Math and stats may be more closely related fields than most, but what the doctorate represents still doesn’t carry over from one to the other.

    So when people put that Ph.D. after their name (or ‘Dr.’ in front of it) in contexts where it’s way less relevant than mine is in statistics, they’re substantially misrepresenting themselves.  Maybe not quite at a George Santos level, but working on it AFAIAC.

    The worst are school administrators.  I’ve taught in 4 different school districts over the years and I can’t count how many HS principals and various assistant superintendent types I have encountered who insist on being addressed by staff and community as Dr. so and so.  When all they have is some EdD degree that a bunch of them seem to have gotten online at places like University of Phoenix.  It is galling because so many teachers actually have legit masters degrees in research fields that were more rigorous than an online EdD degree from a for-profit college.

  34. 34.

    Kent

    OK, I read the whole NYT article from yesterday and am frustrated at how vague the current guidance is.  Take myself for example.  Age 59 and in average health with no pre-existing conditions other than age.

    I have had the whole series of COVID shots and boosters.  The first Pfizer series in the spring of 2021 followed by 3 boosters, the first Pfizer and the last two Moderna, the most recent being the bivalent which I took last October 15th so almost 4 months ago.  I also caught mild COVID in Feb 2022 which was no more than a mild flu that lasted 2 days.

    So when should I schedule my next booster?  At the 6 month mark which would be this coming April?  Or should I wait until next fall which will be a year?    Or some time in-between depending on if we see any new waves?

    It would be nice if they had some fixed recommendations based on the expert’s best assessment of the science rather than forcing me to “do my own fucking research

    Also in 5 COVID shots to date I have never had the slightest reaction of any kind.  After I walk out of the clinic I basically forgot that I even had the shot.  Same with my annual flu shots.

    Oh, and I’m getting the new Shingles vaccine and I recommend it.  My wife came down with Shingles 3 weeks ago and it was a very unpleasant and painful experience for her.  Don’t go through that if you don’t have to.  We all had chicken pox as children but that didn’t prevent her from getting shingles at age 52.

  35. 35.

    Hildebrand

    @Roger Moore: I don’t think it was field specific, I think it was our college and department specific.  I was in a massive History and Philosophy department at a state school (50+ in the department – the monthly faculty meetings were ghastly), and quite a few of the tenured folks (especially the most recent) wanted to be seen as the lords of their small little fiefdom.  Because of this, they prized every perceived status symbol imaginable.  They had the lovely habit of calling the non-tenure track faculty ‘the help’.  Charming people.

    I loved my students – but I wasn’t sorry to leave.

  36. 36.

    jonas

    @sdhays: I checked that out, too. My first guess was that he was an engineering professor with absolutely no background in medicine or immunology. Close — business professor with absolutely no background in medicine or immunology.

  37. 37.

    Taken4Granite

    @lowtechcyclist: My Ph.D. is in physics, and that doesn’t even qualify to comment about areas of physics other the one in which I work professionally. I don’t know any more about the Higgs boson or high-Tc superconductors than any educated layman would. Likewise, I have no reason to think that either Naomi Wolf or this MIT B-school prof have any more knowledge of immunology than I do.

  38. 38.

    jonas

    @kalakal: Moreover, her D.phil from Oxford (in history, iirc) was based on a dissertation that contained appalling errors and never should have been signed off on.

  39. 39.

    jonas

    @Ramalama: Also MIT graduated one of the Koch brothers who donated what 100Million for a cancer research building on campus. Yet still pours money into campaigns that argue against anything helping to tackle climate change. MIT is not the end all.

    Didn’t Jeffrey Epstein glom on to some institute at MIT to give himself credibility as some science-guy entrepreneur or something? These big tech schools like MIT and Stanford have a lot of talented faculty and students of course, but they also have *very* problematic relationships with their donors and patrons. They say they aren’t compromised, but who are they kidding?

  40. 40.

    Ramalama

    @jonas:

    They say they aren’t compromised, but who are they kidding?

    They need to show how they can say they aren’t compromised. For example, when several women faculty members demonstrated gender bias by physically measuring their lab spaces vs spaces held by their male colleagues, MIT made amends.

    There was some hullabaloo about how to talk to the public about issues around climate change (back when it was ‘global warming’) and RW media made a mountain out of it. MIT went back and discussed it, addressing the various bad-faith talking points. I don’t have a link but I worked there at the time and know they addressed it seriously.

    I guess you have to see how institutions respond.

    You could take money out of research, leaving it all to public funding like NIH, NSF, DOE, etc, but then couldn’t you see a clusterfolk of anti-science politicians cut down the funding until you could drown science in a bathtub?

  42. 42.

    dnfree

    @Hildebrand: Way back when I worked at a national lab in the late 1960s, the “joke” was that the people with higher degrees were the staff, and those of us with master’s or less were the staph.

  43. 43.

    NorthLeft

    I am surprised that House Republicans are actively looking for COVID fraud as I suspect they will uncover a great number of their supporters in that group.

    I have no doubt they will do a fair bit of sorting of the con artists that they find.

  44. 44.

    Bill Arnold

    @Taken4Granite:
    Yeah, definitely not in his lane, so his COVID-19 opinions are random “smart” guy opinions.
    Retsef Levi – Professor of Operations Management, MIT
    https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ilhI994AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate
    A few COVID-19-related papers there, to be clear. Not gonna poke more deeply, but suspect that he found some interesting correlation with vaccination rates and for ideological reasons decided to believe that the relationship is causal.
    Main problem is that SARS-CoV-2 infects and does damage to a lot of organs (unique to the original SARS and the SARS-CoV-2 family), and can be asymptomatic (or enough so that people think they didn’t have a SARS-CoV-2 infection) while still doing damage.
    (Also, SARS-CoV-2 makes infected cells make more whole virus, not just spike protein.)
    (Betcha I’ve read a lot more COVID-19 papers than he has, and I’m no closer to virology than you are.)

  45. 45.

    Barbara

    @Kent: ​Having chicken pox is what makes it possible for you to get shingles. It’s dormant in your body until it rears its ugly head. Next generation having been vaccinated against chicken pox shouldn’t need to worry about shingles.

  46. 46.

    J R in WV

    Years ago managing a software development shop for environmental data, both regulatory and scientific, we hired a fast taker with an EdD from some place in FLA. Worst hire ever.

    Was horrible manager, worse software guy. Became a backup DBA with scripts (that the real DBA wrote) for what he was allowed to do. Finally retired, died in his Barca-lounger soon after — sorry for his wife who found him sitting there, but…

    So long Doug.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lowtechcyclist: I am less disdainful of Ph.D.’s using “Dr.” as a general honorific than I used to be, just because I learned that for many women with doctorates it’s an opportunity to use an un-gendered title that is a measure of accomplishment rather than, say, marital status.

    But it certainly does not make you an authority on anything in particular outside the field you specialized in.

  49. 49.

    Matt McIrvin

    After my knee surgery I was taking a couple aspirin a day to prevent clotting, and on top of that I was taking ibuprofen for pain and swelling. That combination (not even a drug designed specifically as a blood thinner) was enough to give me freaky bruising all over my feet and legs that frightened my visiting nurse. They had to take me off the ibuprofen to keep it from getting worse.

    If I had to go to the ER you can bet they’d want to know about that.

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