This is like the moment during the Black Plague when half of Europe discovered quarantine, while the other half doubled down on leeches
— TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) July 27, 2021
‘That’s under consideration right now,’ President Joe Biden said when asked whether his administration is weighing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all federal workers https://t.co/WM6Pr7M7cA pic.twitter.com/d7waWm2vaf
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
CDC recommends vax’d folks wear masks indoors in places with “substantial” and “high” transmission.
“Substantial”: 50-100 cases per 100,000 people over seven days
“High”: More than 100 cases
If your county is orange or red on this map, it would qualify. https://t.co/nYNQ0Zacms pic.twitter.com/Co1ipTUbhJ
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) July 27, 2021
The US is now being well outpaced in vaccine distribution by China, the EU, and the UK, while India, Japan, and even Brazil are rapidly catching up. pic.twitter.com/AL84XGjQTR
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 27, 2021
With the Delta variant, #Covid19 upped its game. Sounds like we're going to have to up ours. @DrewQJoseph reports. https://t.co/7flXETEiku
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) July 27, 2021
The US reported +35,816 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total closer to 35.3 million. The 7-day moving average rose to 54,082 new cases per day. Some crucial states like Florida did not report yesterday. pic.twitter.com/kI48XSjnwp
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 27, 2021
Hospitalization rates have spiked in 45 of the 50 US states in the past 2 weeks, as COVID cases rise.
Many US states now have a vaccine surplus.#GraphicTruth @gzeromediahttps://t.co/LkHfuFlQxk
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 27, 2021
In a very short time the USA has flipped from about 70% Alpha variant #SARSCoV2 to 92% #DeltaVariant — which is why we're seeing surges in hospitalizations just about everywhere.https://t.co/aQMvNGWDZ5
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 27, 2021
U.S. employers are putting COVID vaccine requirements into place. But what happens if workers refuse? Federal guidance out this week suggests the law is on the side of employers. https://t.co/MRzonlLb4W
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 27, 2021
======
New @IMFNews
"#Vaccine access has emerged as the principal fault line along which the global recovery splits into 2 blocs: those that can look to further normalization this year & those that still face resurgent infections & rising #COVID death tolls."https://t.co/6sLOdsN8KM— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 27, 2021
Fresh coronavirus outbreaks are forcing factory shutdowns in countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, aggravating supply chain disruptions that could leave some U.S. retailers with empty shelves as consumers begin their back-to-school shopping https://t.co/5uEG7grdig
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) July 27, 2021
Indians turn to crowdfunding to pay Covid bills https://t.co/xQxl9s65Tw
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 28, 2021
Legal wrangles hold up U.S. vaccine donations to India https://t.co/kz7OWZCyTu pic.twitter.com/t3ikJqIr3D
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
… The United States has in recent weeks donated millions of vaccine doses to countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and South Korea. Supplies to India, however, are stuck pending conclusion of some “legal requirements”, according to the global COVAX vaccine platform through which such doses are routed.
India’s drugs regulator gave emergency use authorisation to the Moderna vaccine in June, as the United States readied donations for India. Fellow U.S. companies Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson have not formally sought permission for the use of their shots in India.
But India has not met requests for granting the manufacturers indemnity from lawsuits…
India’s health and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for comment on the indemnity issue.
Vaccine alliance Gavi, which co-leads the COVAX facility, said legal protections for vaccine suppliers were mandatory.
“All facility participants must have signed indemnity agreements with the manufacturers in question in order to receive doses through COVAX – which would also be true for doses received via bilateral deals,” a Gavi spokesperson said in an email…
India has administered 441 million total vaccine doses, the largest of any country after China. But only 10% of its adult population of about 944 million people has been inoculated with both doses, with 47% receiving at least one shot.
Anger as Covid-ravaged Malaysia lifts pandemic measures https://t.co/guMuUykx9g
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 28, 2021
Thailand reports daily record of 16,533 new coronavirus cases https://t.co/imnwedMLsJ pic.twitter.com/GsUjllrQfk
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
South Korea reported 1,896 new COVID-19 cases, its highest-ever daily increase, as the country struggles to subdue a fourth wave of outbreaks fanned by the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus https://t.co/8RE8ccni5u by @HeeShin pic.twitter.com/0TbPJzwQjj
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
Want a vaccine reservation in South Korea? Try waiting 111 hours. Once a model of fighting the pandemic, the country has been slow to vaccinate its people, even as it's being hit by the worst-ever wave of infections https://t.co/lucOoQaKPI
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 28, 2021
Daily COVID-19 cases in Olympic host city Tokyo hit a record high for a second straight day, topping 3,000 for the first time since the pandemic began, local media reported, as the spike in infections puts pressure on hospitals https://t.co/z02CQXCjtm
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
Olympics Organisers report 16 new Games-related COVID-19 cases https://t.co/4eEfyJqcDP pic.twitter.com/NZ5i4KomsO
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
Vaccination Minister Taro Kono tells @AP the speed of Japan’s inoculation campaign is less urgent than getting shots to young people, who are blamed for spreading the virus. He adds Japan is “overshooting” its goal of a million shots a day. https://t.co/hmQisMP9aM
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 28, 2021
The Australian city of Sydney extended a lockdown by four weeks after an already protracted stay-at-home order failed to douse a COVID-19 outbreak, with the authorities warning of tougher policing to stamp out non-compliance https://t.co/7Ye3pMM8gY by @renjujose and @byronkaye pic.twitter.com/CjYpsXcqmJ
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
UK data comparing Delta wave pic.twitter.com/NAD0xWgNVk
— Lewis (@Lewis2020_) July 27, 2021
U.S. to ship 4 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses to Nigeria, 5.66 mln to South Africa https://t.co/SxtiOCnoc5 pic.twitter.com/jIc7sWiYGu
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
======
Worried about "breakthrough infections" after you've been vaccinated against Covid? Here's what you should keep in mind. https://t.co/2kdplgboBm
— NYT Science (@NYTScience) July 27, 2021
“There are a lot of reasons for concern for all of us in general. Cases have jumped for kids specifically.” Answers to some of your questions: https://t.co/pRORDc2kgW
— Amy Joyce (@amyjoyce_berg) July 22, 2021
======
Why all the fuss: Louisiana, Nevada, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Florida pic.twitter.com/06sDxpdHko
— Infectious Diseases (@InfectiousDz) July 27, 2021
more states, and by that I mean all of them, should do this https://t.co/7AEkW9QFvc
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) July 28, 2021
Texas Children's confirms that it has some COVID kids on ventilators and in ICU – proof children are not immune to serious outcomes with the virus. https://t.co/hJddM7nfVx
— Houston Press (@HoustonPress) July 27, 2021
Florida is in VERY big #COVID19 trouble. This isn't test-positives — it's hospitalizations. It's very sick people, and they are young. https://t.co/Vm8CI13e3e
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 27, 2021
This part of the story stopped me cold. just remarkably grim but also very illustrative of the forces at play here. https://t.co/KfZtUZdc96 pic.twitter.com/L1YqQXZ8vz
— Sam Stein (@samstein) July 27, 2021
No ICU beds in the entire state of Arkansas. News flash: Each person infected with #DeltaVariant is capable of infecting at least 6 other people https://t.co/cNGKKRA0oX
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 27, 2021
rikyrah
Thank you for the information, AL
Chris T.
Re Helen Branswell tweet @ top:
But Republicans have been saying “up yours” for years!
mrmoshpotato
This is heartbreaking.
Baud
AL to America: I tried to get out, but you pulled me back in.
JMG
Wore a mask outside a few times in the last couple days, not because of covid, but because of the air quality alert due to smoke from the Western wildfires blanketing Massachusetts. It helped.
Soprano2
Well, there are are no ICU beds in SWMO, that’s for sure!
That Politico article (puts head in hands). I’m so tired of us making the news for ignorance. I don’t think people in Springfield get hassled for wearing masks, that’s so dumb, but I believe it happens in smaller towns. She should ask them to pray for her since she has cancer.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Taste the freedom.
MagdaInBlack
I always appreciated these updates, but I think I appreciate them more now, for some reason I can’t quite put my finger on. Thank you.
A Ghost to Most
Christian supremacists are willing to die to own the scientists, and willing to take children with them.
NotMax
FYI.
p.a.
As furious as I am at the willingly unvaxed and at the social system that prevents those who want to but can’t get vaxed, I’m more angry at the media drivers of this stupidity; they’ll NEVER be held to account, while there is a small chance the pols behind this might be.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Actually what this reminds me of is the gays demanding the Bath Houses remain open after the City Health officials wanted them shut down because group sex was spreading AIDs.
And speaking of unsafe group sex….
Got wonder about the instances of AD and AIDs there too. I will bet masks aren’t the only protection they are forgetting.
Brachiator
It’s just sad that some countries squandered the advantage that strong early measures gave them. It’s like dropping the baton in an Olympic relay race.
I don’t get this at all. I’ve read that some anti vaxx idiots believe that reports of Covid-related deaths have been falsified. Do these bartenders believe that the cook is hiding out at home collecting unemployment checks?
NotMax
@Brachiator
“He’s happily frolicking on a farm upstate.”
//
Quantumman
AL. Thanks for doing this. Your report is first thing I read in the AM. This is so informative. Better than news and official sources here in TN.
WereBear
Thank you, AL.
Fools might not kill us ALL, but they will certainly give it a try.
WereBear
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
On my to-read list is the audiobook described here:
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The more I think about that Political aricle, being a pool full of dunk people ,…ewwww that’s disgusting.
WereBear
@Brachiator:
They believe what they want to believe. Literally.
Cult of Trump. Experts have been saying it since 2016.
WereBear
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Good point. I wonder if that is the appeal? So to speak…
Suzanne
Shaming a woman with cancer for wearing a mask. My God.
These people are liars. They don’t “just care about their freedom”, they don’t “want to just be left alone”. They’re mean and stupid bullies — thugs, if you will — and they hate anyone who’s not as dumb and cruel as they are. I bet they go to church, too.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WereBear: Yes this, I bet these people are doing a lot of high risk behavior; drugs, smoking , drunk driving, unsafe sex with strangers and so on. The population is so low the number of sick or dead doesn’t make the news and these yokals aren’t good with teh maths so they don’t understand things like cases per capita. Then they tell themselves it’s because they white and Jesus wubs them.
MomSense
Anyone else enjoying broaching the subject of evolution with evangelicals by discussing the mutations of COVID 19?
if you’ve got a good poker face I highly recommend it.
MUUUUAAAAAAH
otmar
Update from Austria: we seem to have managed to avoid going into a sustained phase of exponential growth. Here, too, young people + delta are driving the rising numbers.
The vaccination pace is slowing down. We’re at 58.8% partially, 49.7% fully vaccinated now. (finally surpassing the U.S. on both counts)
Here, too, there are discussions regarding vaccination mandates. IMHO: either it will be that, or liabilities for infecting others. There is a good chance that Austria will follow the UK at the end of summer in saying everyone could have gotten their shots by now. Now it’s not the state’s problem anymore, but it is now purely on personal responsibility.
Personally, if they close schools again because some teachers didn’t get the shots, I will raise hell.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@WereBear: Supposedly Viagra got a big boost in sales when it was determined it could kill healthy people so I would say yes, the thrill that they might die is part of what is driving it. Me personally, dying because I got pee on by a drunk sounds utter pathetic. Also one of my friends who did parachuting mentioned; she would found her frequently doing horribly unsafe things because the danger seemed so slight compared to sky diving.
Baud
@MomSense:
Need to figure out how to bring comprehensive sex ed into the conversation.
Sloane Ranger
Greetings from the UK. Tuesday we had 23,511 new cases. This is a reduction of 30.8% in the rolling 7-day average and the seventh day in a row that new case numbers have fallen (although no-one can explain why). New cases by nation,
England – 20,290 (down 1891)
Northern Ireland – 1473 (up 834)
Scotland – 1044 (up 44)
Wales – 704 (down 426).
Deaths – There were 131 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 40.4% in the rolling 7-day average. 121 deaths were in England, 3 were in Northern Ireland and 7 were in Scotland.
Testing – On Monday, 26 July, 810,459 tests were conducted. This is a decrease of 13.8% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 703,185.
Hospitalisations – On Monday, 26 July, 5918 people were in hospital and 820 were on ventilators. As of 22 July the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 24.9%.
Vaccinations – As of 26 July, 46,653,796 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 37,459,060 had received both. This means that 88.2% of all adults in the UK have had 1 shot and 70.8% were fully vaccinated.
MomSense
@Baud:
I’m a jackal not a miracle worker!!
Matt McIrvin
@MomSense: Creationists have a ready argument for that sort of thing: it’s “microevolution”, which is completely different from the “macroevolution” they say doesn’t happen, which they’ll denigrate with “I never saw a fish turn into a cow” etc. etc.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 17,405 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 1,061,476 cases. He also reports 143 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 8,551 deaths — 0.81% of the cumulative reported total, 0.96% of resolved cases.
There are currently 175,113 active and contagious cases; 1,016 are in ICU, 529 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 12,373 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 877,812 patients recovered – 82.70% of the cumulative reported total.
41 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 3,568 clusters. 1,050 clusters are currently active; 2,518 clusters are now inactive.
17,399 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 7,171 cases. Kuala Lumpur reports 2,880 cases. Kedah reports 1,112 cases.
Sabah reports 913 cases.
Negeri Sembilan reports 863 cases.
Johor reports 767 cases. Penang reports 760 cases.
Kelantan reports 532 cases. Melaka reports 531 cases.
Terengganu reports 490 cases. Sarawak reports 464 local cases. Pahang reports 429 cases. Perak reports 406 cases.
Putrajaya reports 68 cases. Labuan reports 16 cases. Perlis reports three cases: xx in clusters.
Six new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 553,871 doses of vaccine on 27th July: 356,112 first doses and 197,759 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 18,393,347 doses administered: 12,487,441 first doses and 5,905,906 second doses. 18.1% of the population are now fully vaccinated.
MomSense
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Adrenaline is a helluva drug.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@MomSense: Wait, so these idiots think the disease has to be made in a lab because they don’t accept natural selection?
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
Yo momma on the other hand…
Kay
@WereBear:
One of these things is not like the others, though. Treating opiod abuse/substance abuse is a bear. It’s heatbreaking for people. So, so many of them relapse and eventually die. We’re on our third drug court administrator. The success rate is so low they burn out in a year. We’re seeing second generation 14 and 15 year old meth users.
MomSense
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Basically. Literally does not compute that the world could be brought to its knees by a virus fueled by natural selection and not by God.
Matt McIrvin
Most of those people in the pictures from Lake of the Ozarks look pretty young. They can look around and say “is anyone getting sick? no” because none of their friends have gotten seriously ill yet, and that’s as far as it goes with them. Until, of course, somebody does get seriously ill.
Right now, on a per-capita basis, Missouri and Arkansas are actually vaccinating people at a higher rate than the New England states–of course, they’re playing catch-up, working from a lower base. Here in MA, among adults, we already vaccinated everyone but the really tough nuts and determined procrastinators, and now they’re getting sick.
debbie
@Suzanne:
What it is, is that they insist on their freedoms, but refuse to allow others their freedoms. They couldn’t be stupider.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
We see these swings all over the world. There’s a surge and then it goes down as people start to take it seriously. India is a prime example of this.
WereBear
@Kay: Yes, and that’s heartbreaking.
I mention this because it’s all of a piece: public health has a lot of moving parts.
In most forms it becomes anti-thetical to the fanatical religious. Because SIN is supposed to be punished!
Sadly, losing someone — or almost doing so — seems to be the only driver for the deeply indoctrinated to even consider adapting to circumstances. Which is why I am in favor of sanctions, like for traveling, events, and employment, for the un-vaccinated.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
My rule of thumb is:
1. That drug court generally fails it’s primary purpose and is irrelevant to successful habit breaking;
2. That the third rehab is the make or break point – if an addict hasn’t quit completely ALL habitual intake after their third go around, they won’t quit until they’re put in a box in the ground;
3. The tendency of some courts to reward short term sobriety with unsupervised visitation (the equivalent of medals, a parade and a cookie for somebody with maybe 60 days’ of dryness) is incredibly destructive to the children. My take is that they need to see genuine efforts and amends for the destruction wrought. Anything short of at least 9 months still has the addict in the mindset of “my coparent is just being an asshole/bitch for expecting me to be sober, and they made me use just to deal with their shit”. Inevitably, they talk about their feelings of deep butthurt with the kids, creating tons of problems, and those dockets get super crowded because of it.
Tired of the handholding over addictive behaviors (which oddly includes gaming).
MomSense
@Matt McIrvin:
I think they are doubling down now because their awesome god hasn’t been able to protect them. The juxtaposition of their declining numbers and influence with the way this virus has changed all of our lives is pushing people into denial and anger.
lowtechcyclist
That woman fighting cancer who gets hassled for her mask? She should get T-shirts saying something like:
SNOWFLAKE DETECTOR
If MY mask bothers YOU, guess what you are?
@A Ghost to Most:
That’s because they’re “pro-life.”
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
This is an unpopular opinion and one that I can’t share IRL but as long as addicts stay in the same place with the same family and the same friends they will keep relapsing.
We would be better off and spend less money on services if we paid to transplant addicts to new locations, cut off all communication with their friends including use of social media and texting/phones and had social workers in the new area pick and introduce new friends to them in a controlled way. Hell we could do a person exchange program.
Anne Laurie
@Baud: Yeah, I halfway felt like apologizing for posting so late this morning… but some days it’s harder than others to get motivated!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@MomSense: explains why the sudden rush of Fundies out to lecture us Atheist we are merely failed Jobs.
Patrianakos
Meanwhile, the Governor of Florida:
Our view is that this should absolutely not be imposed. It should not be mandated.
And he repeated his threat to call a special session of the Legislature
To be able to provide protections for parents and kids who just want to breathe freely and don’t want to be suffering under these masks during the school wear.
According to a video and transcript of a meeting yesterday, provided by the Governor’s office.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@MomSense:
I have this conversation at least three times a month. The last time I made that recommendation was on Monday, when a grandfather (who is embroiled in multiple pieces of litigation over one emotionally unstable daughter’s rack of ex-husbands questioning her parenting skills and their shared home) was wondering whether bringing an addict daughter into his house would impact the other cases.
Of course my answer was “don’t bring her in – you’ve had her do several rehabs, the dads know about her so they’ll bring it up and she’ll steal all your shit. You’re better off paying to move her 1500 miles away to get her away from her circle.”
Ksmiami
@Suzanne: a plague upon their houses… I hope these fuckers are wiped out. Yes, I said it
Soprano2
No, the article goes on to say that they speculate that he must have had other conditions that caused him to die. This is a widespread belief here among the willfully unvaccinated, that it’s only really sick and obese people who die from Covid, so if you’re young and healthy you’re OK. Even my vaccinated mother sometimes says things like “They don’t tell you that all the people in the hospital who die from Covid are morbidly obese or really really sick from something else”.
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
It’s good advice.
Soprano2
That’s why I said she should shame them back by asking them to pray for her because she has cancer. I think that would actually make them feel ashamed of themselves, because a lot of people here will tell you they’ll pray for you in circumstances like that even if they don’t know you. Yesterday a woman in my doctor’s office told me she’d pray for my mom in the hospital even though she doesn’t know us. That’s pretty common here.
Brachiator
@Soprano2:
Sigh. At this point we can reliably say that the unvaccinated who die from COVID-19 are morbidly stupid.
Kay
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Drug courts primary focus isn’t that they stay sober or manage their personal lives better though- it’s that they don’t reoffend and it does okay there- between a 10 and 20% reduction- admittedly a low bar since nothing we have tried works well but in the universe of tools we have it’s an okay tool- it’s just not a good or great tool. There are no good or great tools. We can find them housing and we can get them food stamps and medical care and counseling and maybe get them working but the relapse piece is an absolute bear. I think it’s especially difficult for people trained in a medical model because they want to cure. I get cynical and upset myself. Literally yelling at them in the courthouse hall because they’re lying and I can tell they’re using. You get so, so sick of being lied to.
lowtechcyclist
@MomSense:
I keep thinking of the old story about the guy whose area gets hit by a flood. He’s up on his rooftop to stay above the flood waters, and a guy in a rowboat comes along. “Hop in, I’ll get you out of here.” “No, I have faith. The Lord will save me.”
A little while later, a guy in a motorboat comes along. Same conversation.
Finally, he’s up on the highest point on his roof as the waters continue to rise, and a helicopter lowers a ladder to him. Same thing: “No, the Lord will save me. My faith is in him.”
So he drowns, and at the pearly gates, he says, “God, why didn’t you save me? I put my trust in you.” And of course, God says, “I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What more did you need?”
Same thing with Covid: God’s gonna say to them, “I sent you masks, social distancing guidelines, and finally an amazingly effective vaccine. What more did you need?”
Soprano2
Ugh, that is so awful. I think lots of people don’t understand how much despair there is in some of these rural communities. I remember my dad telling me back in the 1970’s that the further south and east you went in MO, the harder it was to get people to keep their kids in school after 8th grade because they didn’t see the point. They needed that oldest girl to watch the young ones while they were at work, or that boy to help them work on the car. They didn’t think education made much of a difference in your life.
Soprano2
I’ve noticed on our county Covid site that the number of first shot people is accelerating again – it’s up to over 48%. I think this situation has gotten a lot of fence-sitters off the fence. One of my young female bartenders who had been on the fence told me Saturday that she’s getting the shot. She talked to her mother, her sister, and our one-day-a-week bartender who works at a health clinic during the day. She also has a 10-year-old brother with Downs Syndrome; I think that protecting him is one thing that convinced her. I am so relieved!
Ken
Like lungs, and ACE receptors.
Amir Khalid
The political situation here actually predates the pandemic, and reflects that the coalition led by PM Muhyiddin, hastily cobbled together to begin with, doesn’t have solid support from the other Malay parties that splintered off from UMNO around 2018. Ever one of those parties is led by someone who sees a PM in the mirror. Muhyiddin has been fairly (I reckon) criticised for his government’s less-than-sure handling of the pandemic and some questionable decisions.
rikyrah
I never stopped masking. And, I never stopped wiping down my office every morning. But, I don’t have the sense of overwhelming panic that I used to have before being vaccinated. That one false move could be my death. I am going to continue to be a hermit outside of going to and from work. Going back to stores? The theater? Restaurants? Phuck that shyt.
Soprano2
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: My admittedly unscientific and not that knowledgeable observation is that drug court can help people who truly want to break their addiction, but that “drug court or jail” people mostly fail. I know a guy who took drug court instead of jail because of a DUI; he knew every way to cheat the system (he knew that if school was cancelled they wouldn’t come into the office, thus he could drink because he knew they wouldn’t call him for a pee test). He could have spent a year in jail and been done; instead, he dragged out the drug court thing for almost 3 years because he kept failing drug tests and being sent back to the beginning of the program! He had a really hard time staying straight for 18 months in order to finish the program because he didn’t really want to quit drinking. I think people mostly can’t quit addiction unless they really want to.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
They attached themselves to the UNDERLYING CONDITIONS excuse from the beginning, in order to try and minimize the number of COVID Deaths.
New Deal democrat
The US averaged 61,000 new cases for the previous 7 days yesterday. We are about 2 days away from blowing through last summer’s peak of 65,000. Deaths rose to a 7 day average of 291.
Deaths in the first 4 States to be hit with Delta – MO, AR, LA, NV – have gone parabolic.
Take cases, project 28 days forward, and that’s what deaths will look like in a month. One month from now, the US will be reporting about 1,000 deaths per day. All totally unnecessary.
WereBear
@MomSense: This is especially true when family/friends are abusers and part of why they turned to addictions in the first place.
rikyrah
@mrmoshpotato:
Devastating
Soprano2
I liken it to women who try to figure out what the rape victim did that they would never do, so they can then say to themselves “That would never happen to me because I wouldn’t do ‘x'”. If the willfully unvaccinated can convince themselves that everyone who dies from Covid is actually morbidly obese, and they aren’t, then they can reassure themselves that they aren’t at risk.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
And that the hospitals were being paid more if a death was attributed to Covid, so most of those deaths weren’t really Covid anyway.
People will believe total bullshit if that’s what they want to believe. Crazy.
Soprano2
@rikyrah: I sometimes hear that from my mother, too, that a lot of those people died because of something else. I tell her that there can be multiple causes of death on a death certificate, and that many of them wouldn’t have died if they hadn’t caught Covid. They really really really want to minimize the whole thing. I can’t tell you how relieved I was that I didn’t have to persuade her to get vaccinated – she scheduled the appointment as soon as she could. She said that when you’re in your 70’s and 80’s you know people who died from it.
Soprano2
Wish I had $5 for every time I’ve heard this from someone. They really believe hospitals are getting rich from lying about Covid deaths.
We had 3 Covid deaths in Greene County, MO in May. We had 24 in June, and 32 in July (and I think the July number isn’t up to date, plus July isn’t over yet). It makes me so, so angry that everything was going the right way in May. All this illness and death is unnecessary.
Speaking of my mom, I have a short update. She got into a hospital room about 10 p.m. Monday night, which improved her situation a lot. She was better yesterday; she didn’t seem so “brain foggy”. She’s being treated for pneumonia that caused sepsis (yipes!) and low sodium. I’m hoping she’ll get out on Thursday.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Kieran Healy’s work on excess deaths makes it clear that the COVID-overcounting story is the opposite of the truth. In many states, half or more of COVID deaths were probably misattributed to other things (often heart or circulatory disease).
marklar
@Brachiator: If we want to stick with the same alliteration and meter, let’s go with “morbidly obtuse.”
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/27 China reported 55 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases (both mild, a Chinese & a Burmese nationals), at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture. There currently are 71 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 community at Ruili remains at High Risk. 1 village at Ruili & 1 village at Longchuan County remain at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province
Anhui Province
Liaoning Province
Guangdong Province
Sichuan Province
On 7/27, China reported 31 new imported confirmed cases, 17 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 19 confirmed cases recovered, 13 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 10 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 800 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 862 active confirmed cases in the country (627 imported), 22 in serious condition (18 imported), 426 asymptomatic cases (411 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 11,794 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/27, 1,583.361M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 17.489M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/28, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive cases, imported (from Saudi Arabia).
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
Oh, yeah. Slurry, pupils wide as a dime all while they’re insisting that they’re clean. Been there, done that, got the tshirt.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: Nationwide, the lagged fatality rate is going to be lower than it was in the winter 2020-21 wave because vaccine coverage of old people is actually relatively high. It’ll be worse than in the UK, though.
But in the most heavily-vaccinated blue states, it might actually look a lot like the British wave–many cases, and there will be a rise in deaths as well, but it will not be so large because coverage of the oldest people is actually close to 100%.
Betsy
@rikyrah: And because one of the the worst fallacies of American culture is the notion that those who suffer are getting what they deserve.
Aka victim-blaming— aka sadism.
Suzanne
@Soprano2:
The opposite is true. In fact, a lot of health systems are really struggling, because they had to pause elective surgeries.
Hospitals are like grocery stores: some things are higher priced (surgeries and images) to subsidize the others (emergency care, inpatient medical stays, behavioral). So COVID, which paused surgeries and results in long inpatient stays, was a big financial blow. From what I understand, there was a small adjustment to Medicare reimbursements to help alleviate this. (David Anderson would be the right person to comment on this.) But by no means are America’s hospitals having a good financial year.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: Roughly 1/2 the US population is fully vaccinated.
Last autumn, 28 days after the US blew through 65,000 cases/day, there were 2,000 deaths per day. This time around, it will be about 1,000 per day – about 1/2 the rate last fall.
Matt McIrvin
(One of the things that makes it so hard to judge how lethal this is under current conditions is that when two curves are exponentially rising with the same growth constant, a reduction in scale looks exactly identical to a greater delay, and you can’t really tease them apart and know which is which until the curve deviates from exponential growth and turns over.)
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: But the deaths are overwhelmingly concentrated among 65+ people, who are almost 80% fully vaccinated, so the scale factor might be smaller than that.
At peak in the winter, though, we got up to around 4,000 deaths a day, so I could definitely see us getting to around 1,000 this time around. Also, there are the people who are already sick and have been battling COVID for a long time in the hospitals–we’re at hundreds of deaths a day now and some of those are long-running cases.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,179 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 9 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive. 4.8% of those tested were positive. The reporting is a bit messed up as the authorities are shifting to a new reporting schedule but, it is claimed, there is no missing or double counting in today’s numbers. 63 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, about the same number as yesterday.
19,000 vaccinations were carried out in Scotland yesterday, about 85% of those second-dose yet again. That makes 70.2% of the adult population fully dosed with a further 19.4% having received a first dose. It looks like Scotland will not manage 90% first-dose by the end of July as hoped.
The First Minister will be making an announcement in the next few days about the planned lifting of nearly all COVID-19 restrictions on August 9th. It’s expected this will go ahead with caveats such as a strong recommendation for people to wear masks in crowded locations etc.
dr. bloor
Dan McKee, RI’s very own Chauncey Gardiner, stares down the existential threat and defers to his polling numbers.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
Prayers for your mother.
Delk
I had an ENT appointment yesterday. The dr’s office was in a hospital. They made me put a mask on over my mask. They were double masking everyone at the door.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin:
It is true that deaths were concentrated among seniors in the original virus. Delta is hitting much younger people much harder.
Again: Four weeks ago 47% of the US population was fully vaccinated. As of yesterday, 49.5% were. Not much a change.
Four weeks ago at their nadir, cases averaged 11,300/day.
Again, *nothing much has changed* vaccination-wise in the last 4 weeks. Almost the same percent of seniors are vaccinated now as then. In that time, cases have nearly quintupled.
Four weeks ago, hospitalizations – which follow cases with about a 2 week lag – in the US were about 12,000. As of yesterday, they were about 30,000 – roughly 2.5x higher.
At their nadir, about 3 weeks ago, deaths were 218 per day. *Nothing much has changed* about transmissibility or susceptibility in the last 4 weeks.
Cases -> 2 weeks hospitalizations -> 2 weeks deaths.
Here is what I wrote at my own blog 4 weeks ago:
https://bonddad.blogspot.com/2021/06/weekly-indicators-for-june-21-25-at.html
“we have to start worrying about COVID again, because the delta variant has now taken hold in up to 8 States with rising new cases. All of those States have fewer vaccinations per capita than the national average, and most of them much below the average. By the end of July, I anticipate that it will be clear there is a new “wave” of cases in the relatively unvaccinated States.”
So, one month ago I said we were going to be exactly where we are now.
Deaths will nearly quintuple over the next 4 weeks. QED.
Bookmark this comment, and we will revisit at the end of August.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: Yep, I know it’s not true, but you can’t convince these people of it. They are rationalizing in order to convince themselves that they can’t get sick of die from it. Denial is an amazing drug.
Soprano2
Yes, this is what they are keying on. What they heard was “Medicare is paying hospitals more when people have Covid”, so they believe the hospitals are lying about people having Covid in order to get that extra money. It’s as if they have never dealt with Medicare or insurance companies before, that they think it would be so easy for hospitals to lie. I know that hospitals are actually losing money, between not being able to do routine surgeries, having to hire extra people, and having to pay excessive overtime (I’ve heard $130/hr cited for one of our hospitals, but I don’t know if that’s true or not).
Soprano2
@rikyrah: Thanks. She was feeling much better last night, and has her appetite back, which I am really relieved about. I’m hopeful she’ll be discharged on Thursday. I’m sure they won’t keep her in the hospital one more minute than necessary, because they need those beds. It’s insane here right now.
WereBear
@Soprano2: I’m glad to hear!
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat:
There’s not a huge difference between Delta and earlier variants here. Here’s Massachusetts as of yesterday (at this point, our cases are almost all Delta):
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting
Go to “Patient Breakdown”. Cases are concentrated predominantly among young adults, but the death rate is 7.5 per 100,000 in the 80+ category, 0.1 per 100,000 in the 20-29 category. This despite the fact that the olds are mostly vaccinated and that’s all or almost all from the unvaccinated remnant.
The reason you’re seeing hospitals filling up with young people is just that so many young people are getting infected. And if they don’t die, they don’t empty the beds.
mrmoshpotato
@Patrianakos:
Suffering? This level of whining would be hilarious if it weren’t so pathetic, DeathSantis.
Sounds like we could’ve used an actual President who would’ve actively dealt with the virus…
burnspbesq
@Soprano2:
Have them talk to Jack Allard. Former D3 All-American in lacrosse from my home town, age 25, who spent six weeks in ICU and nearly died.
glc
Comment by David Dayen: https://prospect.org/coronavirus/many-tools-for-vaccine-uptake/
(Nothing special, what one would expect.)
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Brachiator: In the article the partiers talked about how the cook had other health issues, so they think his death is not relevant to them, young and healthy (sigh).
KrackenJack
@marklar:
No up vote option in this neck of the woods, but clever work you!