Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Come on, man.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Consistently wrong since 2002

This really is a full service blog.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

The willow is too close to the house.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

No Justins, No Peace

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Fani Willis claps back at Trump chihuahua, Jim Jordan.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023

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Reminder: All these increases are from much lower baselines than even a year ago. Stay alert to changes, but don’t panic about every uptick!


COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 1
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Endemic, not ‘over’…

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 2
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Most of those illnesses do not seem to be covid-related, though — mostly heat & bad sanitation. However:

… The British scout delegation — the largest foreign contingent at the Jamboree with 4,500 participants — was the first to announce their exit from the campsite on Friday evening, followed shortly after by the 1,500-strong U.S. and 60-member Singaporean scout delegations on Saturday.

Together, British and U.S. scout delegations made up approximately 14 percent of the 43,000 participants at the Jamboree…

The Korean government pledged this past weekend to dedicate additional resources to support participants remaining at the Jamboree, which will continue after most other national scout delegations agreed on Saturday to carry on with the event…

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 4
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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 6
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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 8
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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 12
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Maybe carry a bell to ring, when anyone gets too close?…
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 9, 2023 11
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Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    lee

    From the wastewater tweet: “As national reporting and data collection systems collapse….”

    Isn’t it that the red states just stopped reporting their numbers or is there a broader problem?

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    “Is there something we can do ahead of time to protect ourselves from the shedding/transmitting?”

    Death is always an option.

  7. 7.

    lowtechcyclist

    I need a t-shirt that says something like:

    I AM FULLY VACCINATED

    I am shedding mRNA genes that will take over your brain

    RESISTANCE IS FUTILE

  9. 9.

    arrieve

    Adding my thanks to AL for continuing these very helpful updates. I had noticed myself getting a little careless, a little complacent. When I went to see Barbie, I wore a mask of course, but I pulled it down to sip my iced coffee and realized halfway through the movie I hadn’t pulled it back up again. I dropped off dry cleaning and didn’t put on my mask because the door was open and I was inside for less than five minutes.

    Then I started hearing about friends getting sick–again!–including one entire family in the Bay Area.

    It looks like I’ve been lucky–fingers still crossed–but I’m back to diligent masking, even if I’m the only one. School is starting in a couple of weeks, and I teach English so can’t really mask in the classroom because the students need to see my mouth, but I will mask every other minute I can.

  11. 11.

    p.a.

    Don’t think mRNA shedding is a thing, but maybe tRump is a sort of MAGA fungus exerting control?  (Every accusation is an admission)  It’s irresponsible not to speculate!

     

     

    Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, commonly known as zombie-ant fungus,[2] is an insect-pathogenic fungus, discovered by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallacein 1859, and currently found predominantly in tropical forest ecosystems. O. unilateralis infects ants of the tribe Camponotini, with the full pathogenesis being characterized by alteration of the behavioral patterns of the infected ant. Infected hosts leave their canopy nests and foraging trails for the forest floor, an area with a temperature and humidity suitable for fungal growth; they then use their mandibles to attach themselves to a major vein on the underside of a leaf, where the host remains after its eventual death.[3] The process, leading up to mortality, takes 4–10 days, and includes a reproductive stage where fruiting bodies grow from the ant’s head, rupturing to release the fungus’s spores. O. unilateralis is, in turn, also susceptible to fungal infection itself, an occurrence that can limit its impact on ant populations, which has otherwise been known to devastate ant colonies.

  12. 12.

    New Deal democrat

    Per the CDC’s latest variant update, there is a completely new alphabet soup of XBB subvariants that are competing with one another, and one of them, EG.5.1, has been surging in a number of countries worldwide and is now the fastest growing subvariant in the US as well.

    Since the CDC and most States have stopped reporting, our only reasonably reliable metric for infections is Biobot’s waste surveillance, which shows that for the fourth summer in a row, from an all-time low in late June, particles in wastewater have more than doubled, to levels last seen back in April. The increase is occurring across all four US Census regions.

    Hospitalizations started increasing during the week of July 15, and are now about 50% higher than their recent nadir, although they are still lower than 10,000, which was their previous low in summer 2021 and spring 2022.

    Deaths probably started rising from their all-time weekly low under 500 during the same week, although reporting is not final yet.

    It’s too soon to tell how high the peak of this summer save will be, or when it will take place. It may be that hospitalizations and deaths peak at levels below their all-time lows previous to this spring. But they may not – we can’t tell until BIobot’s number clearly suggest a peak, and they aren’t doing that yet.

    But it is clear now that we are having yet another summer wave, aided no doubt not just be summer get-togethers, but also be an increase in indoor activities and the absence of any mitigation measures whatsoever. And also the facts that resistance due to prior infections and/or vaccinations are likely waning, and the next booster won’t be available until (apparently) sometime this autumn.

    I have begun to temporarily revert to my prior precautions, mainly masking in any indoor public venues.

  14. 14.

    sab

    @arrieve: My dad’s floor in his nursing home just had an outbreak. Everyone in their 80s and 90s ( dad is almost 99.)  Everyone survived. Those vaccines work!

  15. 15.

    Another Scott

    I feel for those kids at the Scout Jamboree.  I went to a state one at WPAFB in Ohio a few decades ago.  Brutal summer heat, staying out in the open in a giant airfield (no trees, no shade) in summer for days on end, wasn’t fun.  Some kids there got sick because they were chewing on stalks of grass that had been previously sprayed with an herbicide to keep the weeds down…  :-/

    A colleague at work started wearing a mask yesterday because a cousin he visited recently tested positive.  He’s not positive, but…  :-/

    Thanks for your work, AL.  It’s appreciated.

    Stay safe, everyone.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  16. 16.

    Lapassionara

    Many thanks, AL. Can I get that nasal spray vaccine soon? Please?

    Still masking in public. A friend called yesterday, said she was sick, so staying home. She cannot find a COVID test anywhere in the St Louis area. What gives?

  17. 17.

    Yarrow

    A new COVID-19 strain EG.5.1 has appeared in the UK and is spreading quickly. A runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, and sneezing are signs of the Eris variant, which has descended from Omicron.

    Some friends in the UK have told me, “we never hear about Covid anymore” and that they have to pay for tests so no one is testing. A couple of friends there have had “colds” in the last few weeks. I’ve asked them if it could be Covid and they say they don’t know and won’t test because it’s expensive.

    I’ve read that wastewater testing isn’t done at anything near the levels it’s done elsewhere. Given all of that I’m not sure how accurate their Covid data is. Anecdotally I’d guess the prevalence is much higher than reported. 

  18. 18.

    Barney

    England to deny Covid and flu jabs to under-65s despite fears for NHS this winter | Vaccines and immunisation | The Guardian
    The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the UK government, said on Tuesday its plan for Covid was to offer jabs only to those at “high risk of serious disease” who are “most likely to benefit” from vaccination.
    Covid boosters will be offered to residents in care homes for older adults, those aged six months to 64 in clinical risk groups, frontline health and social care workers, people aged 12 to 64 who are carers or household contacts of people with immunosuppression, and all adults aged 65 and over.

    The Department of Health and Social Care said it had accepted the advice for England.
    The government said in May that people in England under 65 would not be offered flu jabs this winter. It means about 12 million people aged 50 to 64 are no longer eligible for either free flu or Covid-19 vaccines.
    Last year everyone over 50 was offered both. The Covid jab is not available privately in the UK, so those ineligible this year will be unable to buy the jab themselves.

    I’m in the 50 to 64 group.

  19. 19.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Cao Yunlong (Richard) at Peking University has a new analysis of the ACE2 binding & immuni-escape properties of a new XBB variant, something to watch out for this winter:

    F456L-carrying XBB*, like EG.5, is rapidly rising. Meanwhile, XBB*+L455F+F456L is also growing fast. Some updates explaining their advantages: 1) F456L evades serum neutralization, even after XBB infection. 2) L455F+F456L combo adds on evasion and could also boost ACE2 binding!
    …

  20. 20.

    Maxim

    @Yarrow: I recently visited a cousin at her home. A few days after we got together, she tested positive, and then I did. My symptoms are consistent with the Eris variant. I took Paxlovid, got better, and then relapsed and am now recovering from round 2. I was fully vaxed / boosted, so my case wasn’t severe, but it’s been no picnic (I asked for an additional booster the week before I was exposed, and was denied). I am crossing my fingers that the Paxlovid can help protect against long Covid even when the virus rebounds.

    @Barney: Refusing to offer flu and Covid vaccines to a majority of the population is just insane.

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    @Barney: I’m in the 50 to 64 group.

    Can you claim a ‘household contact’ who’s over 65?  Your seniors card group, that meets in your home every week?  An (imaginary) relative who needs you to ferry them to the shops?  Or the toddlers at the daycare across the street?

  22. 22.

    lee

    @Anne Laurie: ​
    I’m in the same age group and it is pretty irritating that we can’t get vaccinated. I have not tried to get a another vaccine yet but I’m going to use my Dad as my pass (he’s 90). I might even take him to get vaccinated with me (the place he lives has done it in the past)
    @sab: ​
    My Dad has Covid back in November (he’s 90). Between being vaccinated and Paxlovid he was damn near 100% within a week.

    I caught it taking care of him even though I masked up but it was a very minor case.

  23. 23.

    Yarrow

    @Maxim:

    My symptoms are consistent with the Eris variant.

    I’m not sure what those are. Are they different from the usual Covid symptoms? At this point I feel like pretty much anything from an upset stomach to cough and congestion to aches and pains, fatigue and brain fog can be a Covid symptom.

    I was fully vaxed / boosted, so my case wasn’t severe, but it’s been no picnic (I asked for an additional booster the week before I was exposed, and was denied).

    Yep. No picnic. And yep, same on the booster. Not old enough, not sick enough. So I lost a month being sick and am still dealing with lingering stamina/fatigue issues and minor brain fog. It sucks. It’s also bad policy. The number of people who would get the extra vaccine is so small this decision can’t be because of cost. If they’re offering it to older/immune compromised people then it has efficacy. They should let any adult who wants one to get a booster after a number of months (they decide that) from their last one.

    If I’d been allowed to get it I likely wouldn’t have got sick and also wouldn’t have spread it to who knows how many people. You’re contagious before you have symptoms and unless you mask all the time you’re spreading it.

  24. 24.

    SomeRandomGuy

    “Operation Warp Speed” was a failure at every level – I don’t know why people keep pretending otherwise.

    Did it get a vaccine to market faster? No, Pfizer, who took no “warp” money, got to market first, with the same technology the warp-companies used.

    Did it pre-order doses, and provide funding to manufacture doses quickly? Yes, and this is roughly the equivalent of “the administration counseled its experts to remember to wipe after making poopies.”

    Did it absolutely and completely screw the pooch on delivery of vaccine to eager recipients? Yes it did. I can’t say that this wiped out the “build up manufacturing” benefit, but, remember: the idea that vaccines should have a good manufacturing base isn’t the “low hanging fruit,” it’s the legendary apple that conked Newton – it’s the fallen fruit that makes something so bloody obvious even a cookie inventor could figure it out!

    (Yeah, I know, Newton invented calculus, and all. And how many people are grateful for calculus, versus those who despise it utterly?)

    So operation warp speed had one job to do: get vaccines out, and administered quickly. It flubbed.

    Also: Trump is the parent of vaccine refusal, and remember, all because *he* didn’t want to deal with a pandemic – *he* wanted to hold *rallies* rather than protect America.

  25. 25.

    trollhattan

    My county (Sacramento) stopped updating the dashboard March 1 but still collect data and sends to the state, which shows an increase in positive tests between June and July.

    https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/#county-statewide

    Several school districts begin classes this week, so watch for a further August jump (my guess).

    Finally tested negative yesterday, nine days after first testing positive and three days after finishing Paxlovid. Certainly not 100% but I can at least function and eat. My Rotten Tomatoes scoring of this movie is 2, only because I have see Ken Russell movies.

    Bring forth the next booster.

  29. 29.

    glc

    @Barney: Well that managed to surprise me. My expectations clearly remain unrealistically high, even after the head of lettuce and all.

  30. 30.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    18 new cases on 08/02/23.
    17 new cases on 08/03/23.
    27 new cases on 08/04/23.
    13 new cases on 08/05/23.
    18 new cases on 08/06/23.
    14 new cases on 08/07/23.
    15 new cases on 08/08/23.

    Deaths now at 2297, up 2 from last week.

    An anti-masker friend of mine is coming over on Saturday to help me triage the junk in my basement. I don’t dare look a gift horse in the mouth by asking her to mask up when the case counts around here are still relatively low.

  31. 31.

    owlbrick

    @trollhattan: Being in the same part of the world as you, I’ve found the CDPH wastewater monitoring dashboard to be the best information. It’s updated frequently, and is a much better indication of actual levels of spread than the poorly maintained self-report based test positivity numbers.

    The kid is on the highschool football team, and has tested positive following an outbreak among the players.  The wife and I haven’t tested positive yet, so we’re quarantining in separate zones of the house.  I’m not thrilled with the state of the world right now.

  32. 32.

    Yarrow

    @NeenerNeener: If your basement has windows and/or doors, keep them open if possible. Also, you can get relatively inexpensive portable HEPA filters on Amazon. If you have one going it’ll help improve air quality.

    If you think your friend will freak about either of those, for all of the above you could say it’s because you want to reduce musty odor or dust or something like that.

  33. 33.

    Mel

    @eversor: Oh, I am more than happy to have those monsters stay 6 feet away from me at all times. 60 feet away would make me even happier…

  34. 34.

    Mel

    @NeenerNeener: Protect yourself. In my opinion, It’s not worth risking Covid or the hell that is Long Covid to tiptoe around someone’s craziness.

    If she’s truly a friend, she will care enough to look out for your safety, even if she personally thinks it’s silly to mask. Masking works exponentially better when all people involved are masked, since the virus can enter at the eyes as well as the mouth and nose.

  35. 35.

    piratedan


    Unfollow

    WeeklyAmericanPandemicDeaths@[email protected]

    NOTE

    The total number of Americans who died from COVID-19 updated each week

    Note: I am not a relevant expert of any kind on this subject.

    Sources differ in counts and there may be under counting.

    American Deaths:
    498,332 – The Civil War
    116,516 – WW1
    675,000 – 1918 The Spanish Flu
    405,399 – WW2
    2,958 – 9/11
    mastodon.social/@WeeklyAmerica

    Milestones:
    mastodon.social/@WeeklyAmerica

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