The report shows an overall drop of 5.3 percent in the death rate from all causes, a signal that the country last year had exited the worst phase of the pandemic. Deaths from covid dropped 47 percent between 2021 and 2022. https://t.co/rOLa79jRuk
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 4, 2023

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The White House recently received a warning about the coronavirus coming back, with experts reaching a consensus that there’s a 20 percent chance during the next two years of an outbreak rivaling the onslaught of illness inflicted by the omicron variant. https://t.co/7HDaFAmkIv
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 5, 2023
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How the pandemic reshaped American life
by @sestamm @DannyDougherty @WSJgraphics team
(missing impact of #LongCovid) pic.twitter.com/KsXzWrDeQ4— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 6, 2023
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Over the past three years, #COVID19 has caused us all great suffering and taught us many painful lessons. We owe it to those we have lost to learn those lessons, and to transform that suffering into meaningful and lasting change. If not now, when? pic.twitter.com/fzRW1a7w9I
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 9, 2023
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WHO ended the 'emergency' today but these images are a reminder of who got left behind & who had the worst of it
– 2.3 billion people still unvaccinated against COVID, ~90% in low and middle income countrieshttps://t.co/KehEeuAVrK pic.twitter.com/YSATMA1kan
— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@paimadhu) May 5, 2023
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In spite of COVID-19 being cleared as a global health emergency. The Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa is still continuing the weekly tracking of variants and the evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Today, our weekly report showing Omicron XBB.1.5 still the dominant variant. pic.twitter.com/daCadEfTfX
— Tulio de Oliveira (@Tuliodna) May 5, 2023
Australia records rise in COVID deaths
🔹There were 144 new deaths reported to health authorities in the week ending May 5, up 22% on the previous week
🔹The most COVID-related deaths since February#COVID19Aus #PandemicIsNotOver
Source: https://t.co/fm3zDNBKxI pic.twitter.com/8uzFJMbkR3
— Denis – The COVID info guy – (@BigBadDenis) May 8, 2023
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A global cast of misinformation malcontents:
A GB News programme which broadcast claims that the Covid-19 vaccination programme amounted to “mass murder” has been found to have broken Ofcom rules.
The claims were made in an interview with Naomi Wolf on a show hosted by Mark Steyn last October…
Ms Wolf, a journalist and author, was interviewed about the roll-out of the Covid vaccine during Mr Steyn’s hour-long show on the news channel.
She claimed the vaccination programme amounted to “mass murder” and was comparable to the actions of “doctors in pre-Nazi Germany”.
Ofcom said her claims “amounted to the promotion of a serious, unchallenged conspiracy theory which was presented with authority”.
“[GB News] should have ensured that Naomi Wolf’s potentially harmful comments were challenged or otherwise contextualised to provide adequate protection for the audience, which they were not.”…
Mr Steyn left GB News earlier this year, claiming the channel wanted to make him personally liable for Ofcom fines.
In March the regulator found that an earlier Mark Steyn show, which aired on April 21 2022, broke broadcasting rules and was “potentially harmful and materially misleading”.
It used an “incorrect claim” that UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data provided evidence of a “definitive causal link” between a third Covid-19 vaccine and higher rates of infection, death and people being admitted to hospital…
The Covid vaccine is safe and strongly recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women, according to the NHS.
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A long COVID clinical trial at Stanford Medicine is in chaos after participants felt unsafe by the lack of masking from support staff. https://t.co/YUNLywoMYj
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 6, 2023
Join us for the National Week of Action to Keep Masks In Health Care, May 15-21, 2023! Organized by @MandateMasksUS & @COVIDSafeCampus in collaboration with many groups across the country.
Sign up to get involved! https://t.co/VTFNA8RLkD#KeepMasksinHealthCare
— COVID Advocacy Initiative and Mandate Masks US (@mandatemasksus) May 9, 2023
New hospital data highlight rise in healthcare-associated infections during COVID
The rate of 3 healthcare-associated infections hit a 5-year high in US hospitals during #COVID19https://t.co/ATOZ9H2Jvn#AMR #HAI pic.twitter.com/YqfV3ulsoM
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) May 4, 2023
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The latest #SARSCoV2 viral sequences posted @GISAID show 100% in Africa are early #Omicron strains, while No America is nearly 80% XBB.1.5 or XBB.1.1.6 . Significance? TBD. pic.twitter.com/rVO6P0UjIV
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 9, 2023
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Paxlovid slashed risk of COVID hospital stay in some patients amid #Omicron, study suggests
Among recipients with weakened immune systems who had completed a primary #COVID19 vaccine series, #Paxlovid was tied to a 44% lower risk of hospitalizationhttps://t.co/OQa8h0WA0V pic.twitter.com/LipOI5bfOX
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) May 8, 2023
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If you're looking for a comprehensive review of Covid therapies, and the challenges that remain, it's here today @NatureMicrobiol https://t.co/rFWGb3M9L5 pic.twitter.com/Nt9Auy4Zzt
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 4, 2023
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Now: @POTUS @JoeBiden : "Since Sept 2021, #COVID19 deaths have declined by 93%, and new COVID-19 hospitalizations have declined by 86%. Considering this progress…we no longer need a Government-wide #vaccination requirement for Federal employees or federally specified safety… pic.twitter.com/5ELqnf2qOL
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 9, 2023
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New data for American deaths in 2022https://t.co/rRZKTzWKel pic.twitter.com/mc9AZg8XjA
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 4, 2023
Anti-vax activists are building a bigger network. Tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch is now a super anti-vaxxer. He recently addressed a group of lawyers wearing a T-shirt w/ the words: "misinformation superspreader," which he says means spreading the truth" https://t.co/hPvrTv6nOX
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) May 7, 2023
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Reader Interactions
30Comments
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NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
6 new cases on 05/03/23.
19 new cases on 05/04/23.
30 new cases on 05/05/23.
22 new cases on 05/06/23.
20 new cases on 05/07/23.
22 new cases on 05/08/23.
12 new cases on 05/09/23.
Deaths now at 2255, up 4 since last week.
The numbers have dropped back down around where we were at this time in 2020.
New Deal democrat
Data is becoming more sporadic and unreliable, but with that major caveat, the COVID pandemic is at an all time low ebb. Deaths as of April 30 averaged 149, an all time low, increasing to just below 160 on May 3. Hospitalizations as of May 7 averaged 9,931, also an all time low. And ‘confirmed’ cases, as of April 30 averaged 12,355, only 800 above their lows for one week in June 2021. As of May 3, they were at an all time low of 11,430, 100 below their June 2021 lows.
BIobot’s latest update yesterday showed a slight increase from 226 to 241 particles per mL. This is the lowest level in 13 months, although about average for the 12 months before that. There are no significant regional differences.
The CDC’s variant tracker as of last Friday showed that XBB and its subvariants still made up 98% of all US cases. Several subvariants are slowly increasing their share, but as indicated in the above data, are not creating any new wave at all.
My personal markers for resuming normal pre-COVID activities have been: no more than 3 confirmed cases per 100,000, 1 hospitalization per 100,000, and 0 deaths. For the last two weeks, my county has hit all 3 markers. Last week I got the newest booster shot, and yesterday I went maskless in the local grocery store for the first time in 3 years.
For now, COVID appears to have evolved into a cul de sac. Every new variant in the past 16 months has been a descendant of BA-1 and BA-2. They have thoroughly infected the world. Until a new variant significantly different from either appears, it looks like our present good luck will continue.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 1,110 new Covid-19 cases on 6th May, for a cumulative reported total of 5,079,436 cases. 1,107 of these new cases were local infections; three new cases were imported. It also reported no deaths, for an adjusted cumulative total of 37,028 deaths – 0.73% of the cumulative reported total, 0.73% of resolved cases.
4,930 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 6th May, with a positivity rate of 12.6%.
There were 16,842 active cases on 6th May, two fewer than the day before. 1,000 were in hospital. 41 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 24 confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 1,112 patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 5,025,566 patients recovered – 99.0% of the cumulative reported total.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 397 doses of vaccine on 9th May: 18 first doses, 24 second doses, 282 first booster doses, and 73 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 72,836,947 doses administered: 28,135,168 first doses, 27,548,631 second doses, 16,331,671first booster doses, and 821,477 second booster doses. 86.2% of the population have received their first dose, 84.4% their second dose, 50.0% their first booster dose, and 2.5% their second booster dose.
Matt McIrvin
I’ve been reduced to staring at the MWRA Biobot graphs to wonder whether or not the decline has bottomed out toward a new infection wave, but I’m trying to read trends into noise and there’s not much to go on. There’s not a lot of COVID about right now, but it’s not gone.
New sub-sub-variants of XBB have been taking over but it doesn’t seem to be causing a new rise in infections.
Scout211
I am still trying to get used to being in healthcare settings and seeing no staff wearing masks. Some exams room personnel (physicians, medical assistants) still wear masks but most do not, in my experience. It particularly surprises me to see phlebotomists drawing blood unmasked. Also surprising is that I see more patients wearing masks than staff at healthcare settings now.
The transition back to no masking in healthcare settings is not an easy one for me. That leftover pandemic anxiety may take some time to dissipate. But the pandemic is over, right?
zhena gogolia
@Scout211: I hate that too. My dentist’s office as well. Only the dentist wears one.
Soprano2
@zhena gogolia: The last time I was at my dentist, the tech told me they would probably continue these practices from now on. They wore masks and face shields before Covid because working in the open mouth exposes them to so much bad stuff.
oatler
@zhena gogolia:
I’m in the reddest county in AZ, and my dentist next to the pawnshop, which has never had a mask mandate, is continuing to fight Brandon the Demon-Rat (elderly clientele has thinned out some).
EarthWindFire
Of course my household gets Covid just in time for the national emergency to end. Luckily it’s like a bad cold with extra tired for us.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: I recall a lot of dentists and hygienists moving to facemask use around the time of the AIDS pandemic and sticking with that.
Matt McIrvin
@Scout211: The thing that really surprised me was the level of vaccine hesitancy among healthcare personnel–most doctors got vaccinated as soon as they could but a lot of nurses, physical therapists, etc., refused and an alarming fraction were outright antivaxxers/conspiracy theorists. I’m pretty sure the in-home PT I had after my knee surgery was one.
Omnes Omnibus
Doctors’ offices and clinics in Madison still mandate masks.
sab
@Matt McIrvin: That is what my dentist told me, that this wasn’t a new thing for them.
Ohio Mom
@Matt McIrvin: And gloves, they’ve all been wearing gloves since the HIV epidemic as well.
Now I think of the days that dentists and their hygienists didn’t wear masks or gloves, and you spit into that basin (instead of having the little vacuum tube put in your mouth), and my reaction is, Gross!
YY_Sima Qian
The 2nd wave is definitely underway in China. We are hearing more & more of family, friends & colleagues testing positive again, as well as more posts on Chinese social mediate stating the same. The majority appears to be former COVID-19 virgins that somehow escape the exit tsunami in Dec. – Jan., but there are some on their 2nd infection. My father in-law just tested positive on RAT last nigher, his 2nd infection. The former COVID-19 virgins often have similar symptoms as those prevalent during the exit tsunami, but the vast majority of the people on repeat infections have experienced milder symptoms for shorter duration. Despite spending the weekend w/ my f-i-l, the rest of the family is symptom free & negative on RAT so far.
Ohio Mom
No one seems to be wearing masks at the doctors’ offices I’ve been to lately except the ophthalmologist. She insists her patients wear them.
Seems fair enough, she’s in everyone’s faces for most of the exam. If I were her, I’d continue that for the rest of my career.
lowtechcyclist
@New Deal democrat:
Mine is simpler: when Covid’s killing fewer people than motor vehicles are. There were 42,939 motor vehicle deaths in 2021, the most recent year we have the stats for. That’s about 118 per day, so that’s what Covid’s got to get under.
Going back a couple weeks to avoid problems with states that only report every other week, we’re down in the 160s, so still a ways to go, but I could see it happening this summer.
CaseyL
UW Medicine still requires masks in clinical and public areas, though not in non-clinical offices, classrooms or labs. You can tell who the med students are by seeing who isn’t wearing a mask.
Within our suite at Department office, we stopped wearing masks for about a week, then went back to masking. I’m not sure why, but maybe not-masking just felt weird and wrong. Or people just like not getting colds and flu! (My first real cold, after 3 years without any upper respiratory illnesses, hit pretty hard.)
I am slowly, very slowly, deciding when and where not to mask. It’s like dipping a toe in the water to see how things go. (Getting my second bivalent booster tomorrow!)
Omnes Omnibus
Did a post just disappear?
O. Felix Culpa
Sorry to intrude on the Covid post, but what happened to the Wednesday Morning Open Thread? It was there, and now it’s gone, for me at least.
O. Felix Culpa
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes.
And now it’s back. Weird.
smith
@New Deal democrat: My criterion for “normality” is the local hospitalization rate we had during the Spring lull in 2021. I figure that’s the best we’re ever likely to see now that covid-19 is a permanent fixture of our environment. We’re not there yet in Chicago, but closing in.
Alice
Last week at my doctor’s office, not only were the employees all unmasked, every one of them encouraged me to take mine off. The receptionist, the nurse, and the PA all greeted with me some variation of “Oh, you don’t need to wear a mask in here anymore.” WTF? Leaving aside COVID, I was there because I was sick – why on earth would they suggest I go ahead and breathe all over them? Madness.
Chetan Murthy
I went to my optometrist over the weekend. Masking was mandatory, and that made me feel safer. I still wear a P100 respirator in all foreign buildings, except when I want to take it off and there’s a good reason to do so. 2 weeks ago I met a former colleague for drinks for 4 hours in a crowded hotel bar.But otherwise, mask on!
RobertDSC-iPhone 8
I witnessed the head HR lady walking around the shop removing all the masking/distancing signage yesterday. I will continue to wear a mask, though I did go to a Dodger game recently without one, my first since summer 2019.
StringOnAStick
I’m still dealing with post-Covid fatigue that has really upended my normal life activities, almost 6 weeks later. I’ve been diagnosed with exercise induced asthma for the first time ever and any heavier activity means I start just constantly coughing; I don’t like using a steroid inhaler twice a day and I hope that after I use it up that will be the end of it, but who knows. I went from having the best ski season ever, climbing lots of peaks to being exhausted after 4 hours of light gardening. I’m terrified it is permanent.
dnfree
We went to Greece the last week in April, and wore good masks on the plane flights but otherwise did not mask. Of course, a lot of the time we were outdoors. We tested a few days after we got home and were clear. I did take tests with us just in case.
I tried to get “free” tests at CVS a couple of days ago but they were completely out and don’t expect to be getting them anytime soon. I still mask in grocery stores, meetings, etc.
I still appreciate these updates!
Bill Arnold
@New Deal democrat:
Likewise, though I’ve been going with just <= 3/100K confirmed cases per day. And used a mask in the grocery store yesterday but it was a tossup; did a couple of other stores maskless. Updated booster 2 weeks ago lowered the risk, though.
Bill Arnold
@Scout211:
Medical offices (depending on how specialized and what specialty) and pharmacies are where sick people often go. I consider them to be higher risk for airborne disease transmission. (And they have always been so.)
Bill Arnold
@Alice:
Ask them if they want you to spray millions of encapsulated intracellular parasites in their general direction.
(I have not tried this parasites line, but will if masked and presented with people obnoxious enough.)