Happy two year anniversary to this piece mocking Silicon Valley "gearing up for Doomsday scenarios" and taking "extreme caution" like discouraging handshakes and asking people who recently travelled from China to work from home. pic.twitter.com/WFZsFj3UyX
— Bad COVID-19 Takes (@BadCOVID19Takes) February 14, 2022
Biden's push to spur a renewed global vaccine campaign is falling short. The world isn't on pace to vaccinate 70% of people by later this year – a goal of both Biden & the WHO.
The U.S. is the top vaccine donor but thinks supply is ever-less the problem.https://t.co/Mqs9EEMc5z
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) February 14, 2022
The vaccination of children 5 to 11 years old in the U.S. is occurring at a snail's pace. The @AmerAcadPeds, using @CDCgov data, reports that 23% of 5-11 yos had received 2 doses by Feb. 9. This chart suggests the rate of new vaccinations is slowing. https://t.co/yafi8dGFrA pic.twitter.com/pocHBHhO0c
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 14, 2022
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Due to low testing rates & serious under-counting, the real toll of Covid-19 on low & middle-income countries remains hidden
This analysis by @fibke shows the real damagehttps://t.co/iNnBQJQyXR
— Madhu Pai, MD, PhD (@paimadhu) February 14, 2022
Major Chinese industrial city steps up COVID control; Bosch affected https://t.co/mRcjWswkDd pic.twitter.com/G7tMK2TUnD
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
… The city of Suzhou – a trading, commercial and industrial hub in the eastern province of Jiangsu – reported eight domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Monday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Tuesday.
The highly transmissible Omicron variant was detected among the cases, a Suzhou official said on Monday, without specifying the number of Omicron cases.
Despite the low caseload by global standards, Suzhou said on Monday it had suspended some long-distance bus services, locked down affected buildings and urged residents not to leave home or the city for nonessential reasons.
On Tuesday it closed 15 highway entrances and required drivers and passengers leaving through others to have proof of negative test results within 48 hours.
Suzhou Industrial Park – an important high-tech development zone that hosts about 100,000 companies and accommodates manufacturing facilities of foreign firms such as Samsung and Eli Lilly – started a round of mass testing on Monday…
Including the infections in Suzhou, about 80 km (49 miles) west of Shanghai, mainland China detected 40 locally transmitted cases with confirmed symptoms for Monday, according to the NHC.
There were no new deaths, leaving the death toll unchanged at 4,636.
As of Feb. 14, mainland China had 107,094 cases with confirmed symptoms, including both locally transmitted ones and those arriving from abroad.
#Covid cases in Hong Kong are surging as the city struggles to control Omicron.
A dangerously small proportion of people 80 & older have had 2 doses of vaccine, only 26%. Only 5% have received a booster. https://t.co/aFylkdw5d8 pic.twitter.com/Cis0789PFO— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 14, 2022
Hong Kong leader says no plans for citywide lockdown as COVID infections spiral https://t.co/ih16uO12yL pic.twitter.com/BUU9Xuls8D
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
That’s not a good sign that unions think they have to appeal to the public rather than get the government to adapt to the reality on the ground.
As infections are scaling (as everyone saw coming at least several weeks back), things are turning into chaos. https://t.co/MjA7gCAJyy— Renaud Haccart (@RHaccart) February 15, 2022
Hong Kong hotels will need to sign up to a HK Govt. plan to provide up to 10,000 rooms very quickly to support the city's worsening Covid fight, says HK's leader Carrie Lam
Carrie Lam doesn't want to use special powers to obtain them.
— Danny?李嘉洪: not CTN’d yet??? (@JournoDannyAero) February 15, 2022
#BREAKING: Hong Kong’s Department of Justice sues Cathay Pacific Airways for failing to keep Omicron at bay, one source says, after two infected crew members broke quarantine rules upon arrival. The city’s leader Carrie Lam has openly said she would hold the airline accountable.
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) February 14, 2022
U.S. health authorities are advising Americans to avoid traveling to South Korea as the country reported its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a month during a fast-developing omicron surge. https://t.co/rStYAfeBed
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 15, 2022
Thousands of Australian nurses go on strike over pay and staffing issues https://t.co/JH81xWj3qL
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 15, 2022
Italy reports 28,630 coronavirus cases on Monday, 281 deaths https://t.co/6hw3gDe0PQ pic.twitter.com/YRktfnUmWC
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2022
Omicron threat remains high in east Europe – WHO https://t.co/eCTtzpRHSy pic.twitter.com/Lx9OfCQBzA
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
Canada's Ontario to lift some pandemic measures, Alberta ends masks in schools https://t.co/nqesjTYgCl pic.twitter.com/61Ml27o6f4
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 14, 2022
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau activated rarely used emergency powers in an effort to end protests that have shut some U.S. border crossings and paralyzed parts of the capital https://t.co/LphRhilwPR pic.twitter.com/11iZz5BwdD
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
Canadian police made several arrests on Sunday and cleared protesters and vehicles that occupied the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, reopening North America's busiest trade link for traffic https://t.co/pzy88pQQtU pic.twitter.com/YfK6iE60pK
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
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This “guide to protecting the vulnerable” includes 0 of the broad based public health measures that “the vulnerable” have been advocating for, like sick leave + ventilation. And ZERO mention of Long Covid or the fact that the virus can have lasting effects https://t.co/o9icC8IjEV
— Taylor Lorenz – ON BOOK LEAVE (@TaylorLorenz) February 14, 2022
People who are immunocompromised are unlikely to get enough protection from #Covid vaccines. They should have priority access to monoclonal antibody therapies, @llborio & John Moore argue. https://t.co/ZZr19G1G2H
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) February 14, 2022
THREAD: I keep being asked when we can go "back to normal" or "like it was before". My personal thoughts:
We've added a new disease to our population, more infectious and more severe than flu.
The world pre 2020 no longer exists – we may want it to, but it just doesn't. 1/13
— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) February 10, 2022
From a thread by the “Director @UCL_CORU, Prof Operational Research”:
Vaccines are amazing but do wane – esp vs sympomatic infection. Immunity from infection wanes too. Surely Omicron has proven that high levels of antibodies in your population are no guarantee against v high levels of illness & disruption. 2/13
We *could* act as we used to & accept millions of people getting sick once or twice a year. Yearly education, business disruption. And gradually, a slightly sicker pop’n. That seems to be the current plan in UK and e.g. US. But that’s NOT the *old normal* – it’s worse 3/13
We *can’t* go back – but we *can* go forward *if* we accept we need some adaptations – driven by what we have *learned*.
Learning: 1. Outdoors is pretty safe – so let’s invest research and funding into making indoor air as much like the outdoors as possible 4/13
It’s *not* easy, but it *is* possible – we did it with clean water, electricity infrastructure, CFCs, telephone and broadband…
The best thing about cleaner indoor air is it works against *any* airborne disease and also reduces e.g. allergies. 5/13
2. Vaccinate the world as soon as possible – and keep working towards vaccines that are longer lasting and more variant proof.
3. Invest in global infrastructure to support surveillance of new variants of Covid *and* other new infectious diseases. There will be more. 6/13
4. Add permanent surveillance of Covid infection rates in UK to existing programmes for flu, measles etc in public health
5. Invest in understanding & treating longer term clinical impacts of Covid, inc organ damage & Long Covid + treatments (eg antivirals) for acute phase. 7/13
6. We need to urgently increase funding and staffing for NHS if it is expected to cope with regular Covid surges *and* existing backlogs *and* years of understaffing and not enough money.
This includes *supporting* existing staff to stay..! 8/13…
Fundamentally, world is different now. Acting as if it isn’t, which UK seems determined to do, may feel good in short term but will result in a new normal worse than the old one.
I prefer for us to build a new normal that’s *better* than frequent sickness & disruption. 13/13
Prior COVID offers less protection vs Omicron; mRNA booster shot efficacy declines within months https://t.co/dyBfPLyZNn pic.twitter.com/SsrJA8If0X
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
The impact of vaccine 2-doses and 3-doses on deaths, Omicron wave in Switzerland, all ages, and by age groups below, by @redouad @OurWorldInData https://t.co/fMjGwsyOrM pic.twitter.com/uceEKXfVVf
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 14, 2022
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Religious exemptions are increasingly becoming a workaround for unvaccinated hospital and nursing home workers who want to keep their jobs as federal mandates go into effect nationwide this week. https://t.co/zZEfc6jbLK
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 15, 2022
As a person of faith, I find this kind of narcissistic thimblerigging deeply offensive:
… In some institutions, religious exemptions are being invoked by staff and approved by managers in large numbers. It’s a tricky issue for hospital administrators, who are struggling to maintain adequate staff levels and are often reticent to question the legitimacy of the requests…
As of Monday health care workers in 24 states — all but three of which went for then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election — will be required to have received their first vaccine dose or an exemption. The mandate already took effect late last month in jurisdictions that didn’t challenge the requirement in court, although enforcement actions won’t begin immediately.
It affects a wide swath of the industry, covering doctors, nurses, technicians, aides, hospital volunteers, nursing homes, home-health agencies and other providers that participate in the federal Medicare or Medicaid programs…
While reasons given for seeking exemptions vary, the vaccines’ remote link to fetuses aborted decades ago is often cited — lab-grown cell lines descended from those fetuses were used in testing and manufacturing processes. The vaccines do not contain fetal cells, however, and workers generally are seeking the exemptions without the backing of major denominations and prominent religious leaders.
But as the health care mandate takes effect, hospital leaders acknowledge that they see the exemptions as a way to retain staff at a time when resources are already stretched thin…
New York City fires 1430 municipal workers who failed to meet the vaccination mandate. That amounts to less than 1% of city employees. Many of the anti-vaxxers were also opposed to wearing masks https://t.co/dIqBJL3pPT
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 14, 2022
California is leaving its school mandate in place, even as other mask mandates are eased https://t.co/2nZgcM9oE7
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 15, 2022
D.C., Maryland join others in easing COVID restrictions https://t.co/EREwxrDeRC pic.twitter.com/7GptRRr9yL
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 15, 2022
One obvious problem with calling opposition to vaccine mandates "populist" is that the position is, in fact, massively unpopular https://t.co/Jz58s2icej
— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) February 14, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Feb. 14-15Post + Comments (65)