everyone in virginia should buy this woman a drink https://t.co/WKqtuIuiuH
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) February 4, 2022
900,000… pic.twitter.com/oVpxKSMuBp
— Vivian Salama (@vmsalama) February 5, 2022
Breaking News: More than 2,600 people in the U.S. are dying from Covid-19 each day, an alarming death rate that has climbed by 30% in the last two weeks. Across the nation, the pandemic has now claimed about 900,000 lives. https://t.co/LfN3ExdX61
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 4, 2022
Yesterday another 3,300 American deaths reported.
Now 80% of pandemic peak and still on the rise, 7-day averaging over 2,600 deaths per day pic.twitter.com/RcRcYf0ZI3— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 4, 2022
>900,000 dead: Covid deaths are surging in low-vaccination states. 4 of the 5 states w/ the highest shares of population-adjusted deaths over the past month have fully vaccinated <60% of their populations https://t.co/fDmUFYl2G1
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 5, 2022
The big news in September was that unvaccinated people were about 11x more likely to die of covid.
Today, with the introduction of boosters, the gap between the unvaccinated and the most protected is even greater — twice as big, and often more.https://t.co/ZeHCfpX5ol
— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) February 3, 2022
Going through old photos; I took a picture of the TV on February 27, 2020. pic.twitter.com/bdTC2PlCdV
— Sean Howe (@seanhowe) February 5, 2022
======
Increased COVID cases at Beijing Games no reason for concern, organisers say https://t.co/GwIgPEyBDi pic.twitter.com/m2eYxgkd1y
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
Hong Kong reports record daily high of 351 coronavirus cases https://t.co/XcRve84yzO pic.twitter.com/PnHtN4lz7s
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
S.Korea reports record 36,362 new COVID cases -KDCA https://t.co/mChqlPnRdn pic.twitter.com/XBGbFXFnKC
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
Singapore's daily local COVID-19 cases triple to more than 13,000 https://t.co/4eRnrVlf7g pic.twitter.com/omHWvcwVSZ
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
Australia revisited – a country changed by Covid https://t.co/alLmP1rBsP
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 3, 2022
… For much of the pandemic, Covid restrictions have turned the lines on the map that divide the states and territories into rigid borders that could only be crossed with the grant of a permit – paperwork that was routinely denied.
Not since the founding of modern Australia, more than a hundred years ago, has the country been more geographically fragmented. Western Australia, whose borders are still shut, feels like it has declared independence. Queensland has also acted at times like a self-governing fiefdom. The premiers of the states have often governed more like prime ministers. Absent throughout has been a sense of Australian nationhood.
As well as witnessing the fragility of Australia’s federation, we have seen the enduring solidity of its Fortress Australia mentality. Early on in Covid, the decision was taken to pull up the drawbridge and shutter the portcullis. The country’s international borders only opened up to non-citizens in the middle of December.
Not only were foreigners kept out. Australians were locked in. Many expatriate Australians also struggled to make it home, because of the difficulty of getting flights and the prohibitive cost of two weeks of mandatory hotel quarantine. Made to feel even more estranged from their distant country, the unofficial expat anthem, the Peter Allen ballad I Still Call Australia Home, no longer rang so true…
New Zealand reports record 243 new COVID cases https://t.co/xgPbz0U2D4 pic.twitter.com/saDrSqw1Zr
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
Russia reported a record 177,282 new coronavirus infections and 714 deaths over the last 24 hourshttps://t.co/pJecNraPTg
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 5, 2022
A piece on record Covid numbers in both Russia and Ukraine potentially complicating the military situation.
https://t.co/p4EyUq99dl— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) February 4, 2022
South African scientists duplicate Moderna’s mRNA vaccine. Their work is part of WHO's technology-transfer hub. The hub is designed to create vaccine manufacturing capacity in countries that have lagged behind the rest of the world in Covid vaccinations ↓ https://t.co/RBkClL92tj
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 4, 2022
#BREAKING: GoFundMe has removed its donation page to the Freedom Convoy 2022 after determining it violated its terms of service due to unlawful activity.
They will begin offering people that contributed full refunds as a result.https://t.co/pbOmxOXvev
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) February 4, 2022
#BREAKING: Lawsuit filed against convoy organizers, seeking damages on behalf of downtown Ottawa residents https://t.co/7heeMkOrEn pic.twitter.com/LxX58MOdfz
— CTV News (@CTVNews) February 4, 2022
Despite the expectation that they would be greeted as liberators, polling data shows Canadians are unimpressed with the Freedom (From Vaccines) Occupation. It's day six. https://t.co/2Bw5pOLRqo pic.twitter.com/3jFqFi1RFy
— Justin Ling (@Justin_Ling) February 3, 2022
(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines wants the U.S. government to place passengers convicted of on-board disruptions on a national comprehensive unruly passenger "no-fly" list that would bar them from future travel on any commercial airline, according to a letter seen by @Reuters.$DAL
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) February 4, 2022
======
U.S. CDC backs full approval of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine https://t.co/qOfi89bV6c pic.twitter.com/ynFhkaYm3q
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 5, 2022
The paperwork is done:
The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) signed off on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of Moderna Inc’s (MRNA.O) COVID-19 vaccine in those aged 18 and over, the agency said on Friday.
The vaccine has been in use under the U.S Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorization since December 2020, and is now the second fully approved vaccine for COVID-19 in the United States…
The vaccine will now be sold under the brand name as Spikevax.
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and BioNTech SE received full approval for those aged 16 and over in August.
Roughly 75 million people in the United States have been fully-vaccinated with Moderna’s shot.
"We're beginning to see real-world data about the effectiveness of a booster dose, particularly against the omicron variant," said Bill Moss, executive director of @IVACtweets https://t.co/cMuMozZFqw
— Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (@JohnsHopkinsSPH) February 4, 2022
This is why masks are important ? pic.twitter.com/rIR8NSGqd9
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) February 5, 2022
Does Omicron hit kids harder? Scientists are trying to find out.
Children are now making up a larger proportion of patients hospitalized with Covid than in previous infection waves https://t.co/JTn5YHc6NT— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 5, 2022
Covid brain changes show parallels w/ Alzheimer's. New research. Findings may point to potential mechanism for brain fog in #LongCovid. Columbia U study based on 10 autopsies linked the inflammatory response caused by SARS2 to adverse brain manifestations https://t.co/lxMKT3mxOX pic.twitter.com/lUgeUbGvbl
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 4, 2022
Older stroke patients w/ a history of Covid were more likely to develop dangerous blood clots in the veins of their legs— & elsewhere—than stroke patients who never had Covid. CDC study. A clot that forms in veins is called a venous thromboembolism or VTE https://t.co/X53DzEcGFn pic.twitter.com/CNx7bBZy3k
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 5, 2022
======
A group of states is renewing a challenge to President Biden's requirement that millions of healthcare workers be vaccinated.
Here is a rundown of the Biden vaccine mandates that affect the private sector and the status of the legal fights over them. https://t.co/QC4EKEixTg
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 4, 2022
You know who else is under a mandate for vaccines?
Fox News staff. https://t.co/Q6iU0pV6ma
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) February 3, 2022
With all due respect to Jon Stewart, the name I hear most often when a parent or patient tells me where they heard something that makes them not want the Covid vaccine is the Spotify podcaster, so I’m not inclined to contribute to the profits of the company that pays him.
— Daniel Summers, MD (@WFKARS) February 4, 2022
it's been going on for about 700,000 deaths now
— Atrios (@Atrios) February 3, 2022
New Deal democrat
Nationwide US deaths appear to be peaking at roughly 2500, although the actual high may still be a week away. Cases are down 60% from their peak 3 weeks ago. All Census regions are down over 50%, with the Northeast down over 80%.
CT, DE, ME, MA, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, and WI are down to or even below pre-Omicron levels. States down close to pre-Omicron levels include DC, IL, MD, NH, and VT.
While this is all good news, it’s worth emphasizing that cases in the US as a whole even now are equivalent to their worst levels ever before Omicron. Even in NY, where cases are down almost 90% from peak, they are still above any other time during the pandemic except for last winter and their initial outbreak.
While cases are still declining in Canada, now down 65% from peak, they have stopped declining in both Ireland and South Africa.
Needless to say, where cases go from here is a totally open question.
Amir Khalid
In the time I was away, but especially in the last few days, Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 new-case numbers have taken a turn for the worse. Ministry of Health reports 9,117 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,904,131 cases. It also reports 11 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 32,011 deaths – 1.10% of the cumulative reported total, 1.13% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 1.13.
81 confirmed cases are in ICU, 34 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 6,546 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,806,154 patients recovered – 96.6% of the cumulative reported total.
10 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,488 clusters. 353 clusters are currently active; 6,135 clusters are now inactive.
8,983 new cases today are local infections. 134 new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 90,406 doses of vaccine on 4th February: 2,661 first doses, 1,716 second doses, and 86,029 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 63,838,774 doses administered: 26,075,815 first doses, 25,719,260 second doses, and 12,248,506 booster doses. 79.9% of the population have received their first dose, 78.8% their second dose, and 37.5% their booster dose.
lowtechcyclist
I’m not even in Virginia, but if I knew what store that was, I’d be tempted to drive over there and give her a bouquet of flowers with an Amazon gift card tucked inside.
And boy howdy, Youngkin hasn’t wasted any time showing his true colors. If Virginia had recalls like California does, he’d be toast.
Good news is that he only gets one term, and the Dems control the state Senate for at least the first half of that.
New Deal democrat
@Amir Khalid: Oh boy, are you ever in for a Welcome Back party! You have no idea . . . .
lowtechcyclist
Welcome back! Details?
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
The “this Republican is different” myth has been going on much longer than the “vaccines are dangerous” myth.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
There were 246 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday.
There were 177 positive home COVID tests reported yesterday.
Hospitalizations:
145 cases; 70% unvaxed
21 of those cases are in the ICU; 81% are unvaxed
12 of those cases are also intubated; 75% are unvaxed
The number of unvaxed cases in the hospital has been dropping over the week, but that might mean an increase in the total death count rather than people going home.
laura
@Amir Khalid: A sobering, but oh so welcome report.
SiubhanDuinne
@lowtechcyclist:
At the very least, we must make “Read the room, Buddy!” a rotating tag.
p.a.
@Amir Khalid:
Whew, you had us worried.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Said it downstairs, will say it again here: I missed you and I’m insanely glad you’re back!
Spanky
@Baud: Yeah, I have to include my cancer-surviving, foreign-spoused Governor Hogan in that list. He does keep it better hidden than Youngkin, and there’s no danger of Dems losing the legislature, but he still shows his true colors.
Baud
@Spanky:
The latter helps with the former.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid:
Amir! You have just made my day!! I mean, you being back. Not the Covid prevalence etc etc etc.
You was missed.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: You are not going to believe how many people have been reading the morning Covid threads with even more avid interest, looking for an Amir sighting.
Not that Anne Laurie is not performing an incredible public service with her work — she is invaluable. But many jackals knew you often checked in on them.
NorthLeft12
I was not surprised to see the polling results of support for the Canadian “Freedumb” Hissy Fit.
The PPC, Conservative, and Green Party supporters are all heavily libertarian without any corresponding social responsibility.
I voted Green Party once when I thought they were more about the environment. I read their platform carefully and realized they are staunch conservatives that care about environmental issues, but have no clue how to do that.
PS Welcome back Amir. You had a lot of people on here worried.
mrmoshpotato
Sue the brats’ pants off.
Barbara
@Amir Khalid: And there was much rejoicing in the land of the jackals, for their good friend had returned . . . So glad to see you back.
As for US accelerating death rate, I suspect it is the result of overwhelming hospitals and healthcare professionals. Your care might not be as good as it could be if everyone shows up all at once. Like they have been telling us for quite a while now.
Another Scott
@Amir Khalid: Great to see you. You have been missed.
Thanks for your report.
Hang in there.
Best wishes,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
Cases and wastewater counts in eastern MA seem to be doing a pretty smooth exponential drop, and deaths and hospitalizations look like they have peaked. I was worried that Omicron would leave us to reveal that we were still deep in the long struggle with Delta that started last summer, but I haven’t seen signs of that yet.
Ken
I feel I owe someone an apology. I saw that and thought it was the IOC, and was going to post an unkind comment about just replaying the statements they recorded for the Tokyo summer games. But it’s the local organizers.
YY_Sima Qian
On 2/4 China reported 9 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
At Xi’an in Shaanxi Province 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 7 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Guangdong Province reporter 6 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). As the province does not breakdown recoveries between domestic & imported cases, I cannot track the count of active cases in parts of the province.
At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Ningming County in Chongzuo) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both at Hebei District (both traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine). 6 domestic confirmed case recovered . There currently are 60 active domestic confirmed cases (all presumed Omicron). 2 residential buildings are currently at High Risk. 5 residential buildings remain at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (moderate), a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine, part of the transmission chain from the outbreak at cold storage warehouses at Fengtai District. As Beijing does nor separate recoveries between imported & domestic cases, I cannot track the number of active cases on the city. 2 communities, 1 village & 1 residential building are currently at High Risk. 2 communities, 3 residential compounds & 1 warehouse are currently at Medium Risk.
At Liaoning Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Shenyang) & 4 active domestic asymptomatic (3 at Dalian & 1 at Shenyang) cases in the province.
At Shandong Province there currently at 2 active domestic confirmed (at Jinan) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Liaocheng) cases in the province, all part of the transmission chain from the cold storage warehouses outbreak at Fengtai District in Beijing.
At Shanxi Province there currently are 3 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (2 at Datong & 1 at Yuncheng).
Hebei Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed cases (5 at Xiong’an, 5 at Hengshui, 4 at Langfang & 2 at Baoding) in the province. 1 village at Hengshui & 1 village at Xiong’an are currently at Medium Risk.
At Yili Prefecture in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 9 active domestic confirmed (6 at Horgos & 3 at 4th Div. of XPCC) & 22 active domestic asymptomatic (17 at Horgos & 5 at 4th Div. of XPCC) cases at the border crossing. 4 residential compounds & 1 residential building are currently at Medium Risk.
Heilongjiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 29 active domestic confirmed & 44 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Shanghai Municipality 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 10 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 village remains at Medium Risk.
Zhejiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 113 active domestic confirmed cases (107 mild & 6 moderate) in the province. 1 shop at Hangzhou is currently at High Risk. 8 residential compounds & 4 businesses at Hangzhou are currently at Medium Risk.
At Huanggang in Hubei Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city, party of the transmission chain from Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
At Anshun in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, party of the transmission chain from Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
At Shangrao in Jiangxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case, part of the transmission chain from the factory outbreak at Hangzhou in Zhejiang.
At Henan Province 59 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 434 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Yunnan Province there currently are 8 active domestic confirmed (3 at Kunming & 5 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) & 6 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) cases remaining. 1 zone at Mengla County in Sipsongpanna Prefecture remains at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 2/4, China reported 18 new imported confirmed cases (6 previously asymptomatic), 60 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 129 confirmed cases recovered (52 imported), 35 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (30 imported) & 7 were reclassified as confirmed cases (6 imported), & 1,820 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,571 active confirmed cases in the country (721 imported), 6 in serious condition (1 imported), 887 active asymptomatic cases (778 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 42,419 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 2/4, 3,002.896M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 1.254M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 2/5, Hong Kong reported 351 new positive cases, 8 imported & 343 domestic.
On 2/5, Taiwan reported 72 new positive cases, 32 imported & 40 domestic (33 of whom have been already under home quarantine, including 10 from the Kaohsiung Port outbreak & 25 from a factory outbreak at Taoyuan).
YY_Sima Qian
@Amir Khalid: Welcome back!!!! The fact that you are right back to posting daily updates means you are OK?
lowtechcyclist
Hell yeah. Remember when GWB ran as a “compassionate conservative”?
I just figured Youngkin would maintain the pretense a bit longer, especially since the Virginia Senate is still in Dem hands, which limits what he can do.
At this point it doesn’t matter if an individual Republican is actually different. The party’s off the deep end.
MomSense
@Amir Khalid:
Oh thank goodness (not the numbers in your post which I didn’t finish reading because I was too happy and relieved just seeing your nym). We have all missed you and worried.
Matt McIrvin
@Spanky: As long as Charlie Baker is in office he’s going to softpedal statewide COVID control mandates in Massachusetts while playing the Sane Republican. But at least he’s not keeping municipalities like Boston from doing more
Generally speaking, in terms of actual death and damage, the Omicron wave in Massachusetts looks to be roughly on par with the winter wave a year ago when nobody was vaccinated. The main differences being how it’s distributed–infection is far more widespread, wastewater virus counts peaked higher by almost a factor of 10, yet most people have a readily available option that will bring their personal risk from that way down, and the serious toll is mostly among the minority who have refused that.
Barbara
@MomSense: All I can assume is that he is delivering on certain promises that were made to certain people.
Laura Too
@Amir Khalid: Wonderful to see you back!!!! We missed you.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Amir Khalid: Good to see you!
Matt McIrvin
NYC’s graphs are interesting because they’ve now got data on how people fared by vaccination status that goes pretty far into the Omicron wave:
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page#daily
There’s a general sense that vaccination doesn’t protect you from getting infected with Omicron at all, but even in early January when Omicron was ripping through New York City, being vaccinated seems to have reduced your chances of being a “case” (with all the weird variables that would factor into that) by almost a factor of 10. For hospitalization and death, age-adjusted, it’s more like a factor of 20 (even given that Omicron is a tad less severe in the first place). The objection I was hearing a while back that these graphs are old enough that they mostly reflect Delta clearly doesn’t apply any more.
Matt McIrvin
…Also, the breakdown by race is… interesting, and tragic in some ways: Hispanic/Latino New Yorkers have the highest case rates but the death and hospitalization toll is higher for African-Americans (even age-adjusted) though their case rates are dead average.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: The Virginia Republican party’s obscure and brief nominating process allowed Youngkin to enter the general election a “blank canvass,” as columnist Jeff Shapiro put it. He managed to appear all things to all people throughout a well run campaign. Even so, Youngkin won by only two points; had his opponent run a more efficient campaign Youngkin would have come up short, I think.
Democrats control the State Senate 21-19. Republicans control the House of Delegates 52-48 (two of the Republican pick ups were decided by less than 200 votes). So next year’s state elections will be big, with both houses up for grabs.
One thing going for the Democrats will be new districting. Elections have been held on Republican drawn maps since 2011. Even so, Democrats in the House went from 35 to 49 to 55 before dropping back to 48 last year. The new maps seem neutral more or less, and Democrats ought to make gains in 2023. In the meantime their Senate Majority will be able to limit Youngkin’s damage somewhat.
Reboot
@Barbara: With certain audiences, Youngkin was open about his intentions: https://thevirginiastar.com/2021/04/12/glenn-youngkin-stumps-for-governor-addresses-his-dealings-in-china-virginias-covid-policy-and-election-integrity/
And open about emulating DeSantis:
When the discussion turned to schools being closed in the Commonwealth, he spoke about how he wanted to emulate Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL). The crowd hooted and hollered when the candidate stated that, “If schools were closed on his first day in office, I would give the teacher’s unions a call. I would do exactly what Ronald Reagan did, and tell them you can show up to work on Monday, or you’re fired!”
Glad to see he’s not getting his ass kissed right out of the gate re: his malicious mask ‘choice mandate.’
O. Felix Culpa
@Amir Khalid: I will join the “welcome back” chorus. So glad to see you here!
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Amir Khalid: glad to see you back & posting about Malaysia! You were missed
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 5,650 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 deaths of people who have tested positive reported. This is a weekend report so likely to be a bit lower than the 7-day trend.
990 people were in hospital yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, with 25 people in intensive care. The apparent downward trend continues but with the weekend reporting caveat again.
Nothing really new here in Scotland in terms of COVID-19 prevention. Outside my front door the crowds are heading towards Murrayfield for the big first match of the Six Nations rugby tournament, the Calcutta Cup face-off between Scotland and England. It is, of course, a full house with 67,000 attending. Masks are recommended but not required. There will be (theoretically) a vaccination check at the turnstiles but I hold out little hope that this will be effective.
O. Felix Culpa
@Robert Sneddon: Speaking of Scotland, I am heading there in mid-April to do some hiking. COVID allowing, of course.
Matt McIrvin
@Matt McIrvin: …Also, those NYC numbers aren’t even figuring in boosters, and there’s abundant evidence that those bring down case, hospitalization and death numbers even more. Best numbers I can find suggest that booster rates in NYC are not super-high, maybe only about a quarter of the whole population or a third of the fully vaccinated.
Suzanne
@Amir Khalid: AMIR!!!
You have been missed.
smith
Regarding the continued increase in the national death rate, this is the result of deaths soaring in the South census region. Death rates in the other regions all seem to have turned a corner, and are declining, though the downturn in the West is only a few days old and may not stick. It’s another illustration of the pandemic of the unvaccinated, as the South as a region has a lower vax rate than the rest.
I know it’s probably foolish to speculate on the psychology of anti-vaxxers, but I can’t help but wonder if it will ever penetrate their consciousness that they are dying while the rest of us aren’t. The unvaxxed are an ever narrowing slice of the population — only 13% of those over 18 have had no shots — but are carrying most of the burden of the pandemic. The huge cultural divide we have in this country may insulate anti-vaxxers from recognizing that their friends and relatives are sick, dying, and being bankrupted much more frequently than the vaxxed are, but they can’t be totally unaware of the sickness and dying themselves.
Sloane Ranger
@Amir Khalid: Yeay! Welcome back Amir! You have NO idea how much you’ve been missed! Are you OK now?
As far as the UK is concerned we had 84,053 new cases reported yesterday, Friday, 4th. This is a decrease of 2.4% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 73,185 (down 2004 from Thursday)
Northern Ireland – 3833 (down 370)
Scotland – 4429 (up 74)
Wales – 2606 (up 182).
Deaths – There were 254 deaths within 28 days of a positive test reported yesterday. This is a reduction of 3.4% in the rolling 7-day average. 228 deaths were in England, 1 in Northern Ireland, 17 in Scotland and 8 in Wales.
Testing – 1,224,823 tests took place on Thursday. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 7.3%.
Hospitalisations – There were 14,634 people in hospital and 478 on ventilators on Thursday. The 7- day average for hospital admissions was down 8.7% as of 31 January.
Vaccinations – As of 3rd February, 91.1% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 84.4% had had 2, and 65.1% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
Cermet
People, medical records/information is private and generally not shared so lets not bug Amir about where/what he was doing – ok?
Matt McIrvin
@smith:
I think some of them are voluntarily embracing the risk of death as a cultural identification marker, somewhat in the manner of suicide bombers, or perhaps more in the manner of people who flaunt their refusal to wear seat belts. They know it’s dangerous but taking that precaution makes you a wuss.
Ramalama
When I walk my dog outside in Quebec hinterlands, I tend to wear old masks that I’m about to toss because it’s so cold out, and the masks keep my face warm. I’ve noticed a couple of new things. People take more care to get out of my way when passing me, waiting in a driveway while I pass or walking on the street.
When I don’t wear a mask while walking the dog, people pass me and think nothing of the distance from them to me. I notice this because I’ve taken on the practice of holding my breath whenever someone gets too close to me. Probably ineffective but the only thing I can think of doing other than turning my back on people which sometimes gets awkward with the ice and snow.
Also saw one car with 2 huge banners supporting the truck convoys in Ottawa. I was going to roll my eyes but feared they’d freeze in -25C weather.
Also, welcome back @Amir Khalid
Soprano2
@Amir Khalid: Glad to see you are back, everyone was concerned about you.
ETA – our numbers appear to have dropped a lot this week, but the data could be distorted by the storm that went through here on Thursday. Nine inches of snow tends to discourage a lot. To me the best thing is seeing that even though the case numbers were at a crazy peak, much higher than any previous wave, so far deaths have not peaked at nearly their highest point even though we’re just now 53% fully vaxxed in this county. There are no Covid measures here, and even the schools lifted their mask mandate for kids, and yet the deaths are much lower, which to me shows that even 53% vaxxed makes a huge difference in the death rate.
Fair Economist
One potential nightmare about Omicron is that 2 months after the wave peak South Africa is still experiencing very elevated COVID deaths, at a rate equivalent to roughly 200,000 per year in the US – and South Africa is one of the countries that severely underreports deaths. Their death rate is even increasing. If we see this elsewhere it will be catastrophic.
Princess
@Amir Khalid: You were missed. Glad to see you again.
Brachiator
@Amir Khalid:
Maybe very late to the thread, but welcome back!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Covid in the Ukraine sounds a bit like the 1918 Pandemic on the Western Front during WW1. First the allies had it, nearly collapsed during the German spring offense, then the Germans got it from the POWs they took and the Germans collapsed during the Fall Allied offensive. Almost all the Allied armies were planning for the war to go on to 1919.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Even when the Republican in question isn’t a frothing paint chip eater like Arnold it doesn’t matter, this different Republican’s staff is going going to be filled with TRUE Conservatives who will fuck things up for their crazy ideas.
Jay
I am so glad to see your nym Amir, you have been missed and we were all worried about you.
VFX Lurker
@Amir Khalid: Welcome back, sir! ???
boatboy_srq
Did anyone else catch the “how dare you criticize a maskless White man in a position of authority?” pushback from the arseholes trying to quiet the women in the Alexandria grocery? Just… wow.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Willkommen zurück! I hope you are at least better?
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: Oh yeah. I was glad that she responded rather loudly, so that you could follow what had been said.
It’s the best way to deal with some highly impertinent comments.
“EXCUSE ME, YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?”
sab
@smith: That is weird.
Stupid off topic question. Do you have relatives who make or sell soap?
WaterGirl
Amir Khalid: So good to see you Amir! ?
Once you settle in, we might have to have a chat about the meaning of “a few days”! I thought your English was better than that. :-)
thalarctosMaritimus
@Amir Khalid:
AMIR!
Welcome back! We were worried about you, and very relieved to see you back.
something fabulous
@Amir Khalid: WOOOOOOOOOOT! Even we mostly-lurkers were checking these threads for you daily!! Actually gasped when I saw your name– so good to see you!! WELCOME BACK!!!
IdahoGoatGirl
@Amir Khalid: So happy to see your return! We have missed you!
Mai Naem mobile
@Amir Khalid: the one day I didn’t bother looking at the COVID thread is the day you show up! I am so glad to see you posting here again. Hope you’re doing well.
The Lodger
@Amir Khalid: Late as usual to the party, but I’m really, really glad to see you’re back!