Coronavirus restrictions are being eased way too quickly pic.twitter.com/rjio7Ga6jZ
— Zo (@Zo_Zahid) May 14, 2021
600,000 of us definitely won't. https://t.co/fiHIVBvt34
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) May 14, 2021
i needed a good laugh this morning, thanks gang https://t.co/Xlh6gEEv1O
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) May 15, 2021
Almost as if the CDC was a politically-minded organization overcompensating for its unpopularity due to previous restrictions https://t.co/7FQxXucnc0
— Daniel Schultz (@pastordan) May 15, 2021
Factbox: How U.S. states and cities are responding to new federal mask guidance https://t.co/4uaTHLBHBM pic.twitter.com/3TmJm8gLve
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 15, 2021
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The pandemic has split in two: Zero deaths in some cities. Thousands in others. The pandemic’s fault lines continue to widen as vaccines flow toward rich countries https://t.co/7h8UFre5gr
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 15, 2021
What would it take to vaccinate the world against Covid? When President Biden joined a push to set aside patents for Covid shots, he entered a roiling debate over how to ensure poor countries get enough vaccine https://t.co/tPYzmx77V4
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 15, 2021
India records more than 4,000 daily COVID-19 deaths https://t.co/cqH7s0djWi pic.twitter.com/8ydBRgP8QM
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
India adds 311,170 daily coronavirus infections to nearly 24.7 mln https://t.co/mg63uqxuCS pic.twitter.com/8KiiCpsGj9
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims. https://t.co/gKoWZbiUau
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 16, 2021
China has canceled attempts to climb Mount Everest from its side of the world’s highest peak because of fears of importing COVID-19 cases from neighboring Nepal. https://t.co/wjmr17UddM
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 15, 2021
Philippines douses five-hour blaze in hospital treating COVID-19 patients https://t.co/Lvw5f9CcFN pic.twitter.com/8JfwTsbEqv
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
Taiwan urges no panic buying as new COVID-19 rules kick off https://t.co/XBXN5doztd pic.twitter.com/tJaLPydva0
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
Turkey to ease daytime lockdown measures from Monday but curfews to stay – ministry https://t.co/ivZUUaahPk pic.twitter.com/nMhvbeSm2i
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
Big promises, few doses: why Russia's struggling to make Sputnik V doses https://t.co/769UUijZTn pic.twitter.com/C1aTcXrVwm
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 14, 2021
After languishing at home for months, Poles threw off their face masks and thronged the streets at midnight to mark the outdoor opening of bars and restaurants. @vanessagera https://t.co/qNVtKGvL7L
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) May 15, 2021
WATCH: Maskless revelers partied in Barcelona as a curfew ended in most of Spain, but others feared it was too soon to let go https://t.co/Q4BPBG7n3G pic.twitter.com/fs4wShOwgd
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
UK to make final lockdown easing decision on June 14 https://t.co/R2vQ2UG8rT pic.twitter.com/nAPIKKDuHo
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
The UK is racing to fend off the virus variant first found in India before it upends the country's reopening plans. The military helped health workers distribute test kits to targeted areas. https://t.co/jhTlG8Joqg
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) May 15, 2021
Australia sticks by plan to re-open border in mid-2022 https://t.co/LneushSYJR pic.twitter.com/xBnmYyOcQS
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
After struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic, Peru now faces an added crisis: lack of cemetery space. More than 64,300 people who tested positive for COVID-19 have died in Peru, according to the Health Ministry, a figure that is likely an undercount. https://t.co/6Jh9UC3G2T
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 15, 2021
No alternative to vaccine passports, says Dubai airport boss https://t.co/I4NbvoBAF2
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 16, 2021
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In development at UPenn: A rapid SARSCoV2 diagnostic test delivers results within 4 minutes with 90% accuracy. The fast and inexpensive screening test is called RAPID 1.0 (Real-time Accurate Portable Impedimetric Detection prototype 1.0) https://t.co/DA5JhvGUrG
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 14, 2021
The myriad ways sewage surveillance is helping fight COVID around the worldhttps://t.co/TxpdAoJMbs
— Global Health Observ (@GlobalPHObserv) May 15, 2021
Children with no or only mild signs can have serious cardiac complications.
— DrRPalmquist (@DrPalmquist) May 15, 2021
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Confidence in Covid vaccines rises as more Americans receive shots, according to a new survey https://t.co/UQTghqXBDb
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 15, 2021
It's great to see us making so much progress that we can confidently loosen restrictions, but at the same time we should recognize the bind this puts a grocery store worker in. They don't know who's vaccinated and who's not.
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) May 14, 2021
Disney World and other U.S. amusement parks updated their mask policies following the latest CDC guidance advising that fully vaccinated people no longer had to wear masks outdoors and indoors in most places https://t.co/4p9P2PeOD1 pic.twitter.com/j9bx9ES3MQ
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2021
I have no qualms about wearing mask indoors in public spaces as long this is roughly the norm in my community. Call it conformism, virtue signalling, or being an adult who doesn't feel the pathological need to showcase he is a very clever and free thinking boy. https://t.co/JcVbbtdx9Z
— Alex Hazanov. (@alexhazanov) May 15, 2021
Walked into a liquor store in an Indiana county with no mask mandate a few weeks ago. I was masked up, the employees weren’t but as soon as they saw me they put theirs on. No need to interrogate people or question their motives. Just don’t be an asshole. That’s all.
— Joshua Pugh (@JPughMI) May 15, 2021
NotMax
FYI.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats:
173 new cases – 64% were people under 40, including 49 children between 0 and 19
1267 COVID deaths since March 2020
3.2% test positivity
They didn’t publish updated vaccination stats yesterday.
Cermet
Extremely concerning that Covid does damage organ’s even for mild/asymptomatic cases – certainly in young adults but if some children are also facing such problems, vaccinations for all will be absolutely essential. Otherwise, besides continuing to allow Covid hosts, we are dooming many people to life long health problems. Of course, the media has constantly overlooked this issue (for young adults) despite this was shown to be true early in the pandemic.
rikyrah
@Cermet:
the situation with children is why Peanut has been on lockdown since February 2020. Just can’t risk it
rikyrah
@NeenerNeener: I
your children stats make me sad??
Cermet
As for India – too tragic to even try to understand. Their only course is to have it burn itself out creating a vast sea of dead – how many? Even if just half of one percent, that could approach five million (ignoring the many tens of millions with long covid &/or organ damage.)
At least South America has a fair amount of medical infrastructure, momentary resources, and access to not an insignificant amount of vaccines compared to their populations.
prostratedragon
I first read that WPost tweet as relying on a horror system to make the new mask advisory work.
satby
I am noticing the lack of ads is making the blog load better and not endlessly spin, even on tweet heavy posts like this which were previously blamed for the slow loading. Nice!
Snarki, child of Loki
The cunning plan to kill off the anti-mask anti-vax MAGAts continues apace.
prostratedragon
@Snarki, child of Loki: What is it Warren Buffet says? When the tide goes out you can tell who’s buck naked, or something?
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 3,780 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 470,110 cases. He also reports 36 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 1,902 deaths — 0.40% of the cumulative reported total, 0.44% of resolved cases.
There are currently 41,889 active and contagious cases; 520 are in ICU, 272 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 3,990 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 426,319 patients recovered – 90.68% of the cumulative reported total.
11 new clusters were reported today: Jalan Sungai Panjang, Tanah Lesen, Gugusan Alam, and Jalan Kelab Golf Tiga Belas in Selangor; Jalan Benut Kluang and Parit Lintang in Johor; Kampung Terusan in Kelantan; Kampung Boyan in Sarawak; Jalan Abdul Hamid in Perak; Jalan Semabok in Melaka; and Jalan Menteri in Sabah.
Jalan Sungai Panjang, Jalan Benut Kluang, and Tanah Lesen are education clusters at Ministry of Education schools. Gugusan Alam is an education cluster at a Ministry of Education-registered private school. Kampung Terusan, Kampung Boyan, and Jalan Abdul Hamid are community clusters. Jalan Kelab Golf Tiga Belas and Jalan Semabok are workplace clusters. Parit Lintang and Jalan Menteri are religious clusters.
3,778 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 1,275 cases: 179 in clusters, 865 close-contact screenings, and 231 other screenings. Sarawak reports 404 local cases: 66 in clusters, 278 close-contact screenings, and 60 other screenings.
Kedah reports 363 cases: 60 in clusters, 197 close-contact screenings, and 106 other screenings. Kelantan reports 357 cases: 24 in clusters, 263 close-contact screenings, and 70 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 341 local cases: 47 in clusters, 204 close-contact screenings, and 90 other screenings.
Johor reports 224 cases: 37 in clusters, 104 close-contact screenings, and 83 other screenings. Penang reports 187 cases: 35 in clusters, 80 close-contact screenings, and 72 other screenings. Pahang reports 159 cases: 35 in clusters, 110 close-contact screenings, and 14 other screenings. Melaka reports 122 cases: 26 in clusters, 65 close-contact screenings, and 31 other screenings. Perak reports 115 cases: 24 in clusters, 71 close-contact screenings, and 20 other screenings.
Sabah reports 87 cases: 21 in clusters, 40 close-contact screenings, and 26 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 70 cases: four in clusters, 41 close-contact screenings, and 25 other screenings. Terengganu reports 58 cases: 18 in clusters, 26 close-contact screenings, and 14 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports seven cases: one close-contact screening, and six other screenings. Labuan also reports seven cases, all in clusters. And Perlis reports two cases, both close-contact screenings.
Two new cases today are imported: one in Kuala Lumpur, one in Sarawak.
The deaths reported today are a 56-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes and hypertension; a 59-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and dyslipidaemia; a 79-year-old man in Sarawak with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, chronic pulmonary disease, and bladder cancer; a 66-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease; a 51-year-old woman in Penang with diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and pulmonary hypertension; a 79-year-old man in Perak with hypertension and dyslipidaemia; a 30-year-old woman in Sarawak with obesity; a 57-year-old man in Penang with hypertension and obesity; a 68-year-old woman in Perak with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease; a 74-year-old man in Kedah with hypertension and stroke; an 86-year-old woman in Kedah with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia; an 83-year-old woman in Perak with diabetes, hypertension, and dementia; a 55-year-old woman in Terengganu, DOA with hypertension; a 68-year-old man in Selangor with hypertension and dyslipidaemia; a 93-year-old man in Sarawak with hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and dyslipidaemia; an 86-year-old woman in Penang with diabetes and hypertension; a 78-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes and hypertension; a 73-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease; a 71-year-old man in Kedah with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease; a 73-yer-old man in Penang with heart disease and chronic pulmonary disease; a 44-year-old man in Penang with hypertension, heart disease, and chronic kidney disease; a 68-year-old man in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia; a 63-year-old woman in Selangor with diabetes; a 70-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with diabetes; a 60-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with hypertension; a 52-year-old woman in Sarawak with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease; a 56-year-old man in Penang with diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia; a 69-year-old man in Pahang with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease; a 51-year-old man in Terengganu with diabetes and a history of tuberculosis; a 63-year-old man in Selanor with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and stroke; a 62-year-old woman in Negeri Sembilan with diabetes and hypertension; a 29-year-old man in Negeri Sembilan with obesity; a 90-year-old man in Kedah with stroke; a 66-year-old man in Kedah with diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease; and a 47-year-old non-Malaysian woman in Selangor with diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease.
YY_Sima Qian
On 5/14 China reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Anhui Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There are 5 domestic confirmed & 7 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Liaoning Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed & 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There are 6 domestic confirmed & 8 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
It appears likely that the epicenter of the currently outbreak is Yingkou, which has a busy container port in the Bayuquan District. The photo studio is probably not the origin of the outbreak, there is likely an as yet unidentified transmission chain from an imported source (inflected crew member who did not quarantine, leakage from a COVID-19 hospital, imported frozen products, etc.). As we have seen in other flare ups in China, private and community clinics are potential gaps in the prevention/containment system. Staff at such clinics do not always have the awareness and vigilance to send symptomatic persons to fever clinics at hospitals. There is also evidence of population complacency. Multiple cases at Yingkou have been symptomatic since early May, but none sought medical attention. The outbreak was only detected when a symptomatic case visited a hospital in another province 2 weeks later. When people suffer from typical mild COVID-19 symptoms, they tend to assume cold/flu/allergies. We are seeing the same phenomenon during the ongoing outbreaks at Taiwan and Vietnam, which had also successfully suppressed and eradicated COVID-19 within their borders.
I would not be surprised if the Bayuquan District in Yingkou implements movement restrictions within the area.
In Yunnan Province, 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 18 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Imported Cases
On 5/14 China reported 14 new imported confirmed cases, 14 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 6 confirmed cases recovered, 12 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 336 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 291 active confirmed cases in the country (262 imported), 1 in critical/serious condition (imported), 346 asymptomatic cases (328 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 5,659 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 5/14, 392.987M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 12.354M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 5/15, Hong Kong reported 4 new cases, 3 imported (from Russia, India & Indonesia) & 1 domestic (source of infection identified).
Chief Oshkosh
I’m still flummoxed at the CDC change of course. As noted above, most epidemiologists and public health professionals disagree somewhat or a lot with this announcement. Obviously “only time will tell,” which is sort of the opposite approach that we should expect from the CDC. It’d be great if they published the data, interpretation, and reasoning for the change. Have they?
Amir Khalid
@Chief Oshkosh:
I’m with you. Despite the reduced risk, a lot of sensible people will want to err on the side of caution and maintain precautions like masking up and social distancing. It would have been nice if the CDC had affirmed that as a reasonable option.
Robert Sneddon
@Chief Oshkosh: It may be that the CDC have decided that the way that Joe Public wears masks is pretty much useless in preventing the spread of this disease, especially with the more transmissable variants that are starting to dominate the case histories.
In medical situations wearing efficient masks properly under supervision and with a schedule for replacement can help reduce the spread of this disease and other respiratory diseases. Ill-fitting inadequate masks worn sometimes in supermarkets are not much use except as signals of virtue like patriotic bumper stickers and flag pins on lapels.
Eduardo
No more daily reports of the weekly average of cases and deaths in the US? I was getting used to see the numbers going down every day. They made me happy not only for us here but also because I know the same thing will happen later in other countries including Brazil and India where things are horrible now.
gbbalto
@Eduardo: You can track these data and a lot more at 91-divoc.com.
Chief Oshkosh
@Robert Sneddon: Thanks for the reply, but what data we do have does not support the statement that whole populations wearing masks doesn’t work. The data we were shown indicate that it does work.
Regardless, if the CDC’s analysis is as you say, then they should provide it. My point is that we should not have to guess.
Pastafarian
Here in NM, restrictions on business, restaurants and bars, are on a County by County basis on a 4 tier opening. The formula is based on positivity rate and percentage of population that has been fully vaccinated. (My County is at 59%.) I noticed that the Counties that typically vote Democrat are well into the 50% plus fully vaccinated (the one directly adjacent to me is at 67%) with positivity rates below 2%, and remember that total population positivity rate includes kids. The Republican Counties tend to be in the 9% and higher positivity rates there’s a few at the high teens) with low 20% and 30% fully vaccinated rates. (The Navajo Nation has vaccinated 95% of those eligible for The vaccine.)
The Governor has lifted the mask mandate, but kept the 4 tier colour coded County by County restrictions in place. I predict that with the lifting of the mask mandate that the Republican Counties will see a surge and drop down the tier. But their population will quickly take steps to improve so that their restaurants and bars can open back up. Our Gov. believes in the carrot stick method of dealing with her State.
Me, I’ll continue to double mask.
Sloane Ranger
Saturday in the UK we had 2027 new cases. This is an increase of 8.3% in the rolling 7-day average but, due to a technical issue, Northern Ireland has not reported it’s case or death count. This together with Wales not reporting on Saturday’s and the usual weekend reporting delays means that this figure is an undercount. New cases by nation,
England – 1614 (down 214)
Northern Ireland – has not reported due to technical issues
Scotland – 413 (up 198)
Wales – does not report on Saturdays.
Deaths – There were 7 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. This is a decrease of 8.9% in the rolling 7-day average. All deaths occurred in England.
Testing – Not updated at weekends.
Hospitalisations – There were 991 people in hospital on Thursday, 13 May.
Vaccinations – As of 14 May, a total of 36,320,867 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 19,698,121 had received both. In percentage terms this means that 69% of all adults in the UK had received 1 shot and 37.4% were fully vaccinated.
Robert Sneddon
@Chief Oshkosh: What works is everyone wearing high-quality well-manufactured masks properly at all times in public. This is impossible and the CDC is not in the impossible business.
Lots of people wore masks in the US and Britain and elsewhere over the autumn last year and into the winter and case numbers soared anyway. Even if everyone everywhere wore proper masks all the time the case numbers would still have been through the roof because there was a shitload of virus circulating.
The bad thing about wearing masks is it makes people think it’s safe to go and visit the family at Thanksgiving, meet up with your mates at your favourite restaurant, have friends around for a few drinks because it’s someone’s birthday, cuddle Grandpa at the care home etc. Sadly it isn’t and the body count even in countries that pushed hard for masks shows this.
randy khan
@Chief Oshkosh:
I read an interesting article (sorry, lost the link) yesterday about how the announcement came together. The gist was that it was not directed by the White House, which apparently wasn’t consulted until it was made, and then only on how to roll it out. (Just a few people in the White House even knew about it until right before it was announced.)
And, as I had suspected, basically it was made because of a lot of bits of news from the couple of weeks prior to the announcement – results of research on efficacy, how sick people who are vaccinated can get, and how much they can spread the disease, vaccination rates, changes in new cases and deaths (over the 4 weeks preceding the announcement, new cases had dropped by half, and that they’d dropped by 30 percent in the two weeks prior to the announcement), vaccination rates (including projections) and some other things. The article said, basically, that it was the accumulation of data, not any one thing.
O. Felix Culpa
@Pastafarian: Waves from a blue county in NM with high vaccination rates. I still wear a mask in stores and will continue to do so indefinitely. The major difference now that I’m fully vaxxed is that I meet with other fully vaxxed friends and I’ve made appointments to see my eye doctor, dentist, get my hair cut, etc.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 292 new cases of COVID-19 reported, zero deaths. The test positivity rate is 2.0%, creeping up slowly. This may be due to surge testing in the south of Glasgow to cope with the outbreak detected there recently.
There were about 38,500 vaccinations in Scotland yesterday, slightly down but it’s typical that weekend vaccination rates are a little lower for some reason.
The national authorities in the UK are concentrating their attention on the so-called Indian variant of COVID-19 with, it is reported, the numbers of cases due to this particular version of the virus tripling in the past week. Lab research suggests that this variant is 50% more transmissable than other variants but testing by the vaccine makers indicate the current vaccines are effective in producing an immune response against it, at least somewhat.
arrieve
Here in NYC, our numbers continue to be very good, but most people still wear masks outside. And everyone is still wearing masks in the grocery store and pharmacy, which are the only places I’ve been indoors.
And yet, in one of my classes (all still remote) 2 of my six fellow students have had Covid this semester. One had a very mild case after her first shot. One had not been vaccinated and got very sick two weeks ago. So it’s idiotic to think this is over. It’s better. It’s a lot better. But it’s not over.
And never mind places like India and Brazil where it’s still raging.
Eduardo
@gbbalto: Pretty good – thank you!
Soprano2
Anyone who thought most people were still going to be wearing face masks and social distancing a year from now is not living in the real world. Here it was hard to get people to do it when infections were going up and there was no vaccine, but with an ordinance most did. Now, I get questions like “If I’m vaccinated and I’m in a City truck with another employee who’s vaccinated, why do I still have to wear a mask?” I told him his quarrel is with City policy, since the CDC says you don’t but the City says you do. I saw a few more unmasked people in Walmart yesterday, which didn’t surprise me – there have always been a few here even at the height of infections. (Mostly men, of course, and Mennoites.) I figure our ordinance is probably coming off at the end of May – their regular Council meeting is tomorrow night. I hope they’re close to their goal by then – I wish they’d stick to it, but after the CDC change they probably won’t. For a 65% red area we’ve been pretty responsible – some towns and cities here have literally had no mask or distancing requirements ever.
lafcolleen
3 people in my household now vaccinated (self, husband and our 17 year old daughter). Just took 14 year old for her first Pfizer shot yesterday.
We aren’t even thinking about changing our routines until younger daughter fully vaccinated.
Both girls have been attending school in pods/small groups and there have been some cases but neither girl has had a COVID case in her pod.
I am taking older daughter to the Art Institute of Chicago as a celebration of her fully vaxed status. it will be her first visit to someplace other than school or a quick errand run to a store.
I had forgotten what a mixture of adult and childish young teens can be. when the announcement for 12-15 vax eligibility came, my 14 year old, talked in a very practical way about when to get the shot (opting for Sat am to maximize her recovery time). Then brought her plush toy to squeeze when she got her shot!
We went to a county health department site and the place was full of teens. Happy to see it!
Chief Oshkosh
@Robert Sneddon:
So, Fauci and other public health officials were wrong when they said masks and social distancing work. Do you have links to support your claims?
Chief Oshkosh
@randy khan: Thanks for the response. Your synopsis suggests that this wasn’t all that complicated (but too complicated for a news sound bite). Seems like the CDC should publish their work.
smith
@gbbalto: 91-divoc.com has not updated since Thursday for some reason. As an alternative, look at https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/
Another Scott
@Robert Sneddon: My take is far different.
The US seems to have not had a major surge after Spring Break this year. Maybe we’re learning, maybe the vaccines are doing the job, maybe it’s both. We should watch what happens, especially in Red counties, two weeks after Memorial Day, and especially two weeks after July 4.
My $0.02.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Eduardo:
Worldometers.info has been doing weekly numbers for a while now. It shows some hopeful news (India’s weekly infection numbers are dropping, but one doesn’t know if that’s because of a real drop in the infection rate or something else).
The US is doing much better, but 4800 people died in the last 7 days. It’s not over.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chief Oshkosh
Walensky shows her work, such as it is:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cdc-director-walensky-mask-requirements
Seems like she’s saying that issues of reality surrounding those who should still wear masks, issues for which local public health officials and businesses now have lost federal backstops, are not her problem. Seems remarkably siloed and short-sighted, but what’s done is done. I truly hope she’s right.
Robert Sneddon
@Chief Oshkosh: Social distancing works. Stay at home, don’t travel a thousand miles round-trip to visit four different households of family at Thanksgiving and share air, great. Masks help but they’re no magic bullet and unfortunately a lot of people think masks make them invulnerable so they don’t need to social distance. It’s the other way around but masks are a visible sign of Us vs Them.
We’re seeing images in the news of places like India with pretty much everyone on the streets wearing masks but they’re actually shoulder-to-shoulder on the streets, crowded into trains and buses and subways, spreading this disease breath by breath and the masks they’re wearing aren’t helping that much going by the published case numbers and the unofficial death tolls.
CaseyL
I was at an unmasked, large-ish (~40 people) outdoor social event yesterday, but it was a crowd of very few actual strangers. Everyone who came was invited, either by the hosts or by invited guests. I felt comfortable being unmasked – I’m fully vaccinated, and everyone else was also, SFAIK.
(It was at someone’s house. Big house, huge yard. We did go inside for bathroom and to get food, but came right back outside again.)
I do trust the CDC, so I have few problems with their guidelines. Mind you, I’m not planning on traveling to any Red states anytime soon. I am going to Ocean Shores in a couple of weeks, and may or may not mask there. Haven’t decided. Tourists will be flooding in from all over the state, which is a point in favor of masking.
Bill Arnold
@Robert Sneddon:
Any scientific evidence for this? (Not talking about bandanas and t-shirts pulled up to cover the mouth/nose and the like, though they probably do help a bit for source control.)
Is there, yet, a single documented case study of a superspreader event where the index patient was wearing a mask?
A little tired of tired anti-masker medical dogma based mostly on pre-COVID-19 pandemic research that (a) didn’t address pandemic spread, (b) mostly didn’t address face coverings for source control, (c) disregard mechanical studies, (d) disregarded the threshold of about 100 microns for airborne particles (conflation with the <5 micron size that penetrates deep into the lungs, irrelevant for diseases that infect through the nasal mucosa) (e) focused on hypothetical SARS-CoV-2 fomite-driven spread long past the time it was clear that no significant evidence was emerging for it, (f) disregarded the fact that in many crowded countries/cities, particularly poorer ones, distancing is not practical (or even possible for many people). (And yeah, UK guidelines have been even more dogma-bound than US guidelines. With a high death rate to show that UK public health measures taken didn’t work particularly well, excepting mass vaccination.)
There has been a lot of science about face coverings done during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Hit scholar.google.com or whatever, select 2020 and later.
Bill Arnold
@Robert Sneddon:
All of these things were done with masks removed in the US by the vast majority. That was the problem; a lack of mask discipline, house parties, visits, with people who were trusted even though there were infected/perhaps asymptomatic/sometimes with very high viral loads. That’s been the driver for COVID-19 spread in my area; indoor gatherings of various sizes with no face coverings, including within-household transmission.
I agree that we should have distributed high quality face coverings including N95 respirators to everyone. The replacement/hygiene stuff for medical workers isn’t much necessary in general; unless community spread is high, the odds of mask contamination are low, and again, very little evidence for fomite-based SARS-CoV-2 transmission. (A well-fitted N-95 with significant no side leakage is better than a surgical mask, IMO. As in, if I were doing work with (mildly) dangerous or unpleasant dust, I would absolutely choose a used (by me) N95 over a new surgical mask.)
Also medical workers are often working with unmasked patients so they are getting unfiltered plumes directed at them, including larger droplets.
Anomalous Cowherd
@Robert Sneddon:
I do not have an advanced degree in public health, but Mrs. A. Cowherd does. Every step you take to minimize your own exposure to others helps reduce the effective R-nought of the pathogen. Every step you take to minimize other people’s exposure to any and all pathogens you may unknowingly and inadvertently be carrying does the same, as well as prevent you from spreading a whole multitude of less lethal infections, protecting society at a minimal cost to you.
I will wear a mask for the present – and the immediate future – in large part because I am seeing what appears to be an epidemic of contagious stupidity in my fellow citizens.
J R in WV
@Robert Sneddon:
Pretty positive mask wearing rules were ALWAYS associated with social distancing rules, closure of indoor dining, closure of care homes to visitors, etc, etc. So your point about visiting, going out, etc, is quite contrary to the rules that were in place in civilized places at that time.
I managed to keep immune compromised wife safe at home but for dentist/doctor appointments until we both were vaccinated. She still stays home mostly, while I still wear a mask.
Our 50th wedding anniversary is coming up, would love to go out for the evening, but where? Safe? Post vaccination a couple of months now…
I no longer can trust CDC guidance, so I’m going to be fixing a nice dinner at home for the two of us. Or maybe take out from a fav Indian or Thai place, or maybe Italian… but then the meal is 45 minutes older and cooler by the time I get home..
So tempted to invite vaccinated friends, but…
Robert Sneddon
@J R in WV:
How do you enforce mask discipline around the five-household Thanksgiving table when everyone is eating and talking and Aunt Harriet doesn’t believe this China Flu is real anyway? Multiply that lack of social distancing by fifty million and that’s one reason why America had a significant spike in case numbers going into the holiday season where the same thing happened again. Cancelling Thanksgiving and forbidding families to meet up and share this disease with the cranberry sauce was never going to happen though because people are people.
The big Hindu festival in India a few weeks back with millions of people travelling to the river Ganges, the government might say “No” or even try to shut it down but it was going to happen anyway. We just had something similar here in Scotland where Glasgow is showing a noticeable increase in case numbers (a third of the US caseload average but it’s still worrisome.) Glasgow Rangers won the Premier League and yesterday was the presentation of the trophy. The club, the city, the government, the police all said to the supporters “Stay away” and “Don’t congregate”. The result was a mob of tens of thousands of supporters outside the football ground followed by a march to the city centre where the celebrations continued followed by injuries and arrests and an almost-certain increase in case numbers in a week or two.
Medical facilities can enforce proper mask-wearing by trained professionals, high-efficiency masks can be issued and replaced on a decent schedule. By comparison the Etsy masks and many other masks sold to Joe Public are like dancing in traffic but they’re about as far as most folks will go and it enables them mentally to attend church and sing their lungs out among a thousand fellow plague-spreaders and feel righteous that they wore masks.