Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

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

Fight them, without becoming them!

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 30, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 30, 2024

by | 40 Comments

This post is in: ,


Gift link, since it’s the end of the month:

… Stories or interviews with others who were touched by the pandemic can be recorded online. They will be preserved in the library’s American Folklife Center and made accessible at archive.StoryCorps.org.

“Our goal for the COVID-19 Archive Activation page is to honor those who experienced this tumultuous moment in our nation’s history, commemorate those who were lost … and to educate future generations about what life was like during” the pandemic, Nicole Saylor, director of the American Folklife Center, said in a statement.

“We are particularly interested in doing this work through people’s stories, as storytelling is a crucial medium of communication,” she said.

Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in the statement: “Recording the voices and stories of Americans’ experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic for our national collections will … ensure these stories will not be forgotten.”…


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(Aaaand then the anti-science seagulls show up in the comments… skree! We’re not doomed, but there’s a big chunk of the population that’s already condemned itself to less-than lives.)

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    artem1s

    Over the past year, deaths among 20-24 year olds have been 48 percent higher than normal.

    wasn’t this the pattern with the 1918 flu? 2 years of the typical old/infant population getting sick and then a variant that seemed worse for people in their 20s?

  2. 2.

    NorthLeft

    Thanks for keeping this feature going. I consider it a weekly chronicle of how humanity is failing the ultimate test of self preservation.

    It is also my weekly reminder of why I will continue to mask in public and keep my vaccinations up to date.

    In reference to Laurie Garrett’s last tweet, Paxlovid is apparently very hard to come by in Ontario and there is a great deal of confusion/disagreement among physicians and pharmacists whether it should be used. I was under the impression that it was a wonder drug. I guess that didn’t last.

  3. 3.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Why nursing home residents remain stubbornly resistant to vaccinations, given they grew up seeing what life savers they were (polio, measles, etc) is sad to see.

  4. 4.

    mrmoshpotato

    Stories or interviews with others who were touched by the pandemic can be recorded online. They will be preserved in the library’s American Folklife Center and made accessible at archive.StoryCorps.org.

    How much cursing is allowed, because mine would start with “Fuck you all who are still alive and didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton!”?

  5. 5.

    Princess

    @NorthLeft: Paxlovid hasn’t been tested against recent strains and there’s uncertainty how useful it is for non-risky populations who are very vaxxed. Laurie is going to do more harm to herself (and possibly others) travelling around from store to store trying to find it with an active case of Covid. Couldn’t she call first? A friend described needing to walk half and hour back and forth to work because she’d forgotten to take her Paxlovid and my two thoughts were a) physical exertion too soon has caused most of the cases of long covid I know about and b) you have Covid! Stay home! Yes, both she and Laurie wear masks but the fact that she and Laurie always wear masks and still got it tells us something about their effectiveness at this point.

  6. 6.

    satby

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Fox noise poisoning. Plus, many nursing home residents may be under a relative’s health care POA, and the relative may be antivax, especially in red areas. Nursing homes should just require it. No one is going to take dementia grandpa home to live with them, they’ll complain but get him vaxed.

  7. 7.

    LiminalOwl

    In the US, NIH is offering free Telehealth services for Covid and influenza, with Paxlovid prescriptions available.  Info at my other favorite blog:

    URL: https://siderea.dreamwidth.org/1831300.html

    Also, people on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as uninsured and those covered by the VA or by Indian Health Services, can get additional free at-home tests.

  8. 8.

    evodevo

    John Oberlin@OMGno2trump

    “Yes, Bush started much of the pandemic preparations by stockpiling masks, ventilators, etc… Obama built on that. Trump gave a lot of it to China and gave the rest to his rich friends who started price gouging. Kushner’s college roommate got $200M and didn’t have a company.”

    Oh, yeah…Jared and the covid supply double-dealing.  With all the incredible corruption going on, every day, at all levels during the Trump maladministration,  this was just one example.  Time to bring up all the incidents, and refresh people’s memories..there are enough that you could do one a day til November and still not run out.

  9. 9.

    New Deal democrat

    The latest updates from both Biobot and the CDC show a 40% decrease in COVID particles in wastewater. The biggest decline was in the Northeast. There was no decline at all in the West (which had the least increase)on Biobot, vs. a big decline and rebound on the CDC site. Nevertheless particles are only back to their levels in early December, more than double and even triple  the levels of last summer.

    The next variant update will be Friday. The last one showed that over 85% of all new infections were JN.1. It is probably over 90% now.

    Hospitalizations have declined from their peak of 35,000 two weeks ago to 26,600, vs. their peak one year ago of 44,500. Deaths were still increasing in the first week of January to just over 2,000, vs. 3,900 one year ago. They are probably decreasing by now.

    A comment about nursing homes: almost certainly the patients themselves are not making the decision not to vaccinate. This is probably coming from families. And nursing home work is one of the least competitive jobs there is in health care. Almost any warm body willing to work will be hired. If a nursing home insisted on vaccinations, they would probably lose 1/3rd or more of their staff. Therefore nursing homes remain COVID Petri dishes.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Sweden: Risk of several years of brain fog after mild Covid

    Sheeit, I probably wouldn’t even notice.

  11. 11.

    Dangerman

    @evodevo: … Jared and the covid supply double-dealing.  With all the incredible corruption going on, every day …

    Never let a potential market opportunity (or grift) go to waste.

    Kushner’s college roommate got $200M and didn’t have a company.

    How did some of these fuckers not end up in jail?

    Only somewhat facetiously, jail is too good for some of these MF’s. Daddy will just pardon them. Just fucking disappear them.

    ETA: A few cocktail parties or tailgates before a big game and they go “hey, haven’t seen Bobby in a while” and they’ll figure it out.

  13. 13.

    Lapassionara

    When I got COVID, I researched whether I could take paxlovid. I could not, as it would interfere with one of my other medications. I don’t know how much it would have helped. I was sick for about a week, no appetite, etc. My friend who took it had a rebound case after she had taken all the meds. I think when it first became available, it was hailed as a panacea, but the reality has not been as clear.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    @Lapassionara: My doctor even advised me not to take Paxlovid. She’s my age, and she had just had Covid and took it, and she said she probably shouldn’t have. She said my risk of needing hospitalization was very low anyway. I got it for SuzMom, tho.

    That same week, my cousin also got Covid, and she got Paxlovid, and it caused her such severe acid reflux that her doctor advised her to stop taking it halfway through the course.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Researchers in #Missouri have been tracking a cryptic form of #SARSCoV2 found in wastewater but, so far, not seen in patients.
    Where did it come from? Likely, undiagnosed person.
    Its many mutations render it impervious to 4 key anti-#COVID19 antibodies.

    I blame Soprano2.

  18. 18.

    jonas

    @evodevo: The corruption was so staggering it’s hard to wrap your head around. Was there ever a congressional investigation into Kushner & Co.’s PPE scheme?

  19. 19.

    Soprano2

    @artem1s: No, from what I remember from research the 1918 Pandemic hit children and young people in their 20’s hardest; older people were barely affected. The theory on that was that a flu similar to the 1918 one went through the population when the older people were in their 20’s, so they had some immunity that protected them from the worst of it. At least that’s what I remember hearing about it.

  20. 20.

    Soprano2

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: I’m not sure if it’s the residents don’t want the vaccines, or that the nursing home doesn’t make them available. Many people in nursing homes are kind of “captive” there because it’s hard for them to get out and around, especially if they don’t have family members to help them.

  21. 21.

    Soprano2

    @Princess: I don’t understand why she didn’t just call them. That’s a lot easier than going from pharmacy to pharmacy, especially if you have Covid!

  22. 22.

    Soprano2

    @Suzanne: My husband’s pharmacist told me he thought Paxlovid was good for people who might otherwise end up in the hospital, but for anyone who had a mild case he thought it had too many side effects to be justified in taking it.

  23. 23.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Hey!!!……LOL I’m curious about where particularly it comes from. I check the Sewershed Surveillance Web site every week to see what my local treatment plant shows. I’ve thought from the very beginning this was the best way to track Covid, because it captures the vast majority of cases including the asymptomatic ones. It’s better than anything we have. ETA – I bet the researchers are in Columbia at MU.

  25. 25.

    Lapassionara

    @Suzanne: my understanding is that the main benefit of the vaccine is that, if you get COVID, it is likely to be mild. Even so, I’m still masking in public places. I do sometimes dine in a restaurant, but not often, and that is the risk I take knowingly, but rarely. I got my case of COVID from Mr. LP, who brought it back from a trip.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Soprano2: ​I’m curious about where particularly it comes from.

    ;-) ;-)
    I’m curious too. Mizzou, Wash U in STL maybe, they both have extensive research programs. I suppose SLU is a possibility as well tho I’m not very familiar with their programs. Don’t know anything at all about KC area schools.

  27. 27.

    lowtechcyclist

    I’ve finally gotten used to BNO News’ “Last night’s update: Nearly 250,000 new cases, 2,575 new deaths” not meaning “2,575 new deaths since the previous night” which is what it grammatically ought to mean, but rather the number of deaths in the previous week.

    But I wonder where BNO is getting its numbers; the highest weekly total so far this winter showing on CDC’s website is 2,029. (By comparison, last winter’s worst week had 3,868 deaths per CDC, and of course the 2020-21 and 2021-22 winters both had peaks well over 20,000 per week.)

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @Soprano2:

    My husband’s pharmacist told me he thought Paxlovid was good for people who might otherwise end up in the hospital, but for anyone who had a mild case he thought it had too many side effects to be justified in taking it. 

    That’s exactly what my doctor said.
    Mr. Suzanne took it because he has asthma. SuzMom took it because she’s over 70.

  30. 30.

    New Deal democrat

    @lowtechcyclist: I believe BNO news calculates its deaths figure by taking the *cumulative* number of current deaths, and subtracting the previous week’s number of cumulative deaths.

    Since the last 3 weeks of the CDC’s data are preliminary, it is adding on all of the added deaths over that time. Not really a weekly number.

    Hope that helps.

  31. 31.

    narya

    The grift of Kushner, et al., AT THE COST OF PEOPLE’S LIVES, still enrages me. I have to turn away from it, because there is nothing I can do about that particular thing and because I know he will never face any kind of sanctions for it.

  32. 32.

    TBone

    Laurie Garrett, national treasure and one of my sheros, has just punctured me, that story is a gut punch of recognition for me and now I feel like Milton the Monster and I don’t know how to do a story for Story Corps that isn’t filled with shocking expletives and Satanic curses for eternal consequences on the heads of the people in charge of our system.  I’m spluttering with rage.

  33. 33.

    sab

    My dad is in a nursing home and has no choice on his medical care (he is a retired physician, but he has dementia.) His nursing home calls me when they want to give him a vax. If I don’t respond he gets it. In other nursing homes if the relative doesn’t respond then he doesn’t get it.

    Another thing to consider when you are choosing nursing homes for your parent or spouse

    ETA OT When I tell his doctors he is a retired physician the care level goes up astronomically. He stops being a dementia patient and becomes one of the fraternity.  It is weird and disturbing, but I always play that card for his protection.

  36. 36.

    ETtheLibrarian

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: My step mother who had COVID when everything shutdown was happy enough to get the first vaccine but hasn’t gotten any of the others. I do think she may not totally understand that immunity wears off and that the new variants of COVID are different. I think she might be think that first vaccine was a one and done. She doesn’t have a problem with vaccines and people getting the newer versions so she isn’t a denier or anti-science, but I do think her Fox watching may have convinced her that she didn’t need the others.

  37. 37.

    Juice Box

    @Princess: No, the fact that she just got her first case of Covid, a highly infectious virus, tells us that masks are pretty darn effective.

  39. 39.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    I am vaccxed to the max (got most recent shot in Oct wuth the new vaccine) just beforea trip to Costa Rica in Nov. I took another trip to CR in Jan and caught COVID and had to return early from the tour. Took Paxlovid the first time, which was in 2022, and it knocked down my (highish) fever, but I did have a rebound. Had a fever (not as bad) and nasal congestion and fatigue the 2nd time, but didn’t need Paxlovid even tho I’m 72 now. So both times “mild” cases. I’m wondering about the number of cases reported in different situations, since in my 2nd case, unless the tour company reported me, I didn’t interact with any medical folks who would have reported my case. I’m thinking “mild” COVID is probably significantly under reported. I myself was convinced I had the flu until I tested (at the request of the tour company).

  40. 40.

    Gretchen

    Are the anti-science seagulls deleted? If so, thank you.

    I still want Kushner punished for his handling of PPE and want to know who ordered the feds to confiscate shipments and where they went after they were confiscated. My New York respiratory therapist son in law got one N95 mask a week, kept in a paper bag between shifts, because there were none available. Somebody stole his paper bag once and they had to scramble to find him one. He intubated their hospital’s first covid patient, along with his nurse manager. His nurse manager caught it and died. It was a terrifying time and all Kushner could think was how to turn it to financial and political advantage. Hell is too good for him.

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