The vaccination rollout may be the most dramatic governmental success story of my lifetime.
Its most obvious rivals—the moon landings, the Gulf War, the end of the Cold War—occurred so long ago that no one under 30 will have personal memories of them. https://t.co/fpkQqyW0V5
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) June 8, 2021
The US administered over 1.0 million vaccine shots today, bringing the total to 304 million, or 91.5 doses per 100 people. The 7-day moving average rose slightly to 1.07 million shots per day. pic.twitter.com/eUt5rANBvR
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 9, 2021
The U.K. has fairly high vaccination levels, but the Delta variant of Covid is spreading there. People with only one shot of a two-dose vaccine aren't heavily protected.
Delta is now 6% of tracked cases in the U.S., prompting a warning today from Fauci:https://t.co/wn5Bp3O8BY
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) June 8, 2021
Fauci stressed that people who are fully vaccinated still have strong protections.
But he said the U.S. can't let the Delta variant (first recorded in India) surge here like it has in the U.K.
— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) June 8, 2021
Excluding Florida, which is no longer reporting, the US had +13,542 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 today. (The total stands at over 34.2 million). The 7-day moving average rose again to 14,416 new cases per day – a somewhat troubling reversal of the previous downward trend. pic.twitter.com/uVQa5my4hC
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) June 9, 2021
Southern U.S. states could see a Covid surge this summer. Why? Low vaccination rates. While a dozen Northeast states have already administered at least 1 dose to 70% of adults, Alabama & Mississippi would need a year to reach the same percentage https://t.co/ma0noNWSfO pic.twitter.com/eLmiEFm53X
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 8, 2021
BREAKING: The U.S. State Department eased travel warnings for dozens of countries from "do not travel" to "reconsider travel" today. Canada, France, Germany and Mexico among those affected.
— Nick Wadhams (@nwadhams) June 8, 2021
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US eases travel rules for 61 countries – but not UK
https://t.co/nAB1RVBMK2— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 8, 2021
India records 92,596 new COVID-19 cases over past 24 hours https://t.co/e1HHix3oNF pic.twitter.com/VIS8LCCYuE
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 9, 2021
India coronavirus: What is the government's change to vaccine policy? https://t.co/HZOwdCcuPq
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 8, 2021
The second wave of Covid-19 ravaged India and experts believe the number of deaths in rural areas is much higher than official statistics sayhttps://t.co/dA1LCioyZ7 pic.twitter.com/dE23eQ7je3
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 8, 2021
Global Opinions: India is facing an epidemic of misinformation alongside covid-19 https://t.co/Z66NjkMH5o
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 7, 2021
Malaysia says delivery of Thai-made AstraZeneca vaccines delayed https://t.co/rdLJQwyg7P pic.twitter.com/kRQDS1AvF3
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 9, 2021
34 vs 33 https://t.co/fGZepJt6PV
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) June 9, 2021
Russia on Wednesday reported more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases in its highest daily tally for three monthshttps://t.co/tpq8sjpm3A
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) June 9, 2021
As Russia's second city prepares to host 7 Euro 2020 games and welcome thousands of fans over the next few weeks, coronavirus cases are on the risehttps://t.co/yFYcEf3dhp
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) June 9, 2021
Show me the pass: European Union lawmakers approve vaccine certificates to ease travel, boost the continent's beleaguered tourism industry. https://t.co/TijiN7BNke
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) June 9, 2021
Italy's plummeting birth rate worsened by pandemic https://t.co/6dGSy902MJ
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) June 8, 2021
Australia's second largest city Melbourne will exit a COVID-19 hard lockdown as planned, Victoria state authorities said, although some restrictions on travel and gatherings would likely remain for another week https://t.co/ij2EDtrk1p pic.twitter.com/xLJvBwdej6
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 9, 2021
"A moral catastrophe": Africa, a continent of 1.3 billion people, has received shockingly few COVID-19 vaccines, even for its critical health care workers. https://t.co/pJHVMR0Iuh
— AP Africa (@AP_Africa) June 9, 2021
There is an exponential rise in Covid cases in Kinshasa, the capital of the DR Congo, according to WHO. Regional Ebola outbreaks have devastated the country. DRC officials say a 3rd wave is being driven by India's (Delta) & S. Africa's (Beta) variants https://t.co/Dk83Wncpvs pic.twitter.com/XEHZK6mla6
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 8, 2021
Uganda locks down amid a #coronavirus wave that is primarily striking young people https://t.co/6qKt4DVCa9
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 8, 2021
Mastercard Foundation donates US$1.3 billion to boost Africa's pandemic response in 1 of largest such efforts to date
The funds will be used to buy #COVID19 vaccines for >50 million people, boost vaccine manufacturing & strengthen public health in Africahttps://t.co/Z1DlwMVCs6
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) June 8, 2021
Brazil has 52,911 coronavirus cases and 2,378 COVID deaths in 24 hours https://t.co/4z3SS7PnVt pic.twitter.com/t62KVSYKdV
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 9, 2021
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What we know about the highly infectious coronavirus delta variant https://t.co/YoyE8gxIsE
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 8, 2021
Pfizer says it will expand testing of COVID-19 vaccines to children younger than 12. Pfizer plans to enroll about 4,500 young volunteers at more than 90 sites in the U.S., Finland, Poland and Spain. Enrollment of children ages 5-11 began this week. https://t.co/XqhiRaKfja
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 8, 2021
Both Pfizer and Moderna have applied for full FDA approval—a great step. There are technical differences between EUA and approval, but the bottom line is vaccines were rigorously studied and proven to be amazingly effective and remarkably safe.
— Dr. Tom Frieden (@DrTomFrieden) June 7, 2021
In the lab: Metformin —a type 2 diabetes drug— inhibits SARSCoV2's capacity to induce the release of cytokines from white cells known as monocytes. Metformin has shown potential uses in other infectious diseases, particularly TB, a bacterial infection https://t.co/HQdXoudfza
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) June 8, 2021
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Breaking: Houston hospital system suspends 178 workers for not getting vaccinated.
"I know that today may be difficult for some who are sad about losing a colleague who’s decided to not get vaccinated,” CEO Marc Boom wrote in email shared with The Post.https://t.co/NQ8ArRApFv pic.twitter.com/YcvMjxiS8d
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) June 9, 2021
Ty and Charlene Bollinger got their start by questioning mainstream cancer treatments such as chemotherapy. But the Tennessee couple’s latest target is COVID-19 vaccines, and they’re cashing in on misinformation. https://t.co/feFUA4awdY
— The Center for Public Integrity (@publicintegrity) June 8, 2021
I know how you can get a free vaccination card. https://t.co/UwXCjAIgzI
— Andy Slavitt ?????? (@ASlavitt) June 9, 2021
If you raged against lockdowns and mask mandates, but now cheer the government enabling you to force yourself on businesses that don’t want you, what you believe in isn’t “freedom,” it’s free riding. https://t.co/o33471rAQk
— Julian Sanchez (@normative) June 8, 2021
Baud
Texas Republicans are the party of big government.
Brachiator
Some issues concerning soon-to-expire J and J vaccine doses…
Baud
@Brachiator:
Send J&J abroad.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Might not be so easy to do. The story cites significant logistics issues when that possibility was suggested.
Sloane Ranger
Tuesday in the UK we had 6048 new cases. This is an increase of 60.6% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 5250 (up 337)
Northern Ireland – 81 (up 27)
Scotland – 695 (up 54)
Wales – 22 (down 53).
Deaths – There were 13 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 67.4% in the rolling 7-day average. All the deaths were in England.
Testing – 928,425 tests were administered on Monday, 7 June. This is an increase of 8.2 in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on this date was 591,656.
Hospitalisations – There were 957 people in hospital on Sunday, 6 June and 148 people on ventilators on Monday, 7th. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions as of 2 June was down 0.6%.
Vaccinations – As of 7 June, 40,573,517 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 28,227,362 had had both. In percentage terms this means that 77% of all adults in the UK have had 1 shot and 53.6% were fully vaccinated.
General – The Mayor of Greater Manchester has urged the government to prioritise vaccines to Manchester and the wider north-west in an effort to curb the spread of the Delta variant. A government spokesperson has said that they plan to surge testing in that area but they are not considering prioritising vaccine distribution there. I can see arguments on both sides here so I’m not sure who is right.
Brachiator
Don’t know if people saw this California story earlier:
Suzanne
According to CovidActNow, cases are going up (slowly, but still) in Nevada and Wyoming. WTF.
Allegheny County seems to have changed their reporting, and I don’t know why. Up until now, they reported cases daily, except Monday’s report would be for the two days prior. But this week, they reported three days on Monday, and then didn’t report yesterday. I am wondering if they are planning to reduce frequency of reporting because cases are still dropping.
I want this to be over. I’m not good at being patient.
Raoul Paste
Thanks for this comprehensive update
It’s so bizarre that Governor Abbott will force aTexas hospital to hire unvaccinated workers It’s like a bad movie Abbott’s personal physician should publicly quit him over this
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 6,239 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 633,891 cases. He also reports 75 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 3,611 deaths — 0.57% of the cumulative reported total, 0.65% of resolved cases.
There are currently 81,575 active and contagious cases; 905 are in ICU, 453 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 7,386 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 541,319 patients recovered – 86.56% of the cumulative reported total.
15 new clusters were reported today.
6,228 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 2,288 local cases: 59 in clusters, 1,683 close-contact screenings, and 546 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 701 local cases: 41 in clusters, 428 close-contact screenings, and 232 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan reports 503 local cases: 89 in clusters, 320 close-contact screenings, and 94 other screenings.
Johor reports 467 local cases: 105 in clusters, 241 close-contact screenings, and 121 other screenings. Sarawak reports 419 cases: 73 in clusters, 266 close-contact screenings, and 80 other screenings.
Kelantan reports 340 cases: 128 in clusters, 174 close-contact screenings, and 38 other screenings.
Sabah reports 232 cases: 58 in clusters, 122 close-contact screenings, and 52 other screenings. Pahang also reports 232 cases: 144 in clusters, 57 close-contact screenings, and 31 other screenings. Labuan reports 200 cases: 52 in clusters, 79 close-contact screenings, and 69 other screenings.
Penang reports 194 cases: 70 in clusters, 84 close-contact screenings, and 40 other screenings. Perak reports 175 cases: 59 in clusters, 43 close-contact screenings, and 73 other screenings. Terengganu reports 171 cases: 85 in clusters, 62 close-contact screenings, and 24 other screenings. Melaka reports 150 cases: 20 in clusters, 104 close-contact screenings, and 26 other screenings. Kedah reports 135 cases: 16 in clusters, 90 close-contact screenings, and 29 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 17 cases: nine in clusters, six close-contact screenings, and two other screenings. Perlis reports four cases: three close-contact screenings, and one other screening.
11 new cases today are imported: four in Negeri Sembilan, three in Selangor, three in Kuala Lumpur, and one in Johor.
Matt McIrvin
Will any state actually ban vaccination? It’s about even odds at this point.
I could actually see a mask ban happening in tandem with a ban on vaccine mandates, because there’s pre-COVID precedent for mask bans.
rikyrah
@Baud:
ICAM
rikyrah
As for those hospital employees..
Fire them and post the jobs. It’s Houston. They will find applicants
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Not even to Canada or Mexico?
dr. bloor
Poor Max. No matter how hard he tries to look reformed, he inevitably shows his ass.
Brian Perkins
Max Boot just used your blogpost to brag about the “success” of the Gulf War. Did you notice how he tried to normalize that atrocity of his?
Amir Khalid
His Majesty the Agong has been summoning politicians — from the ruling coalition as well the opposition — to the National Palace, to discuss the pandemic and the growing public dissatisfaction with the Government’s handling of it.
From The Guardian:
I’m not sure where the Agong is thnking of going with this. He and the other Malay Rulers have no executive powers. They can be as unhappy as they want with the government of the day and they can definitely make things really awkward for Muhyiddin Yassin, but they have no constitutional authority to wade in and start issuing orders. If this ends in a harrumphing but ineffectual media statement from the Agong and the Malay Rulers, I’m going to be disappointed in them but not very surprised.
randy khan
I am watching the reporting of new cases pretty closely. Part of what’s happening with the current (small) U.S. upturn is that we’re losing the Memorial Day weekend when reporting was spotty (Memorial Day had only 5,000 cases and came off the 7-day average yesterday), but haven’t worked off the little spike from catching up on reporting after the weekend. In another few days both will be out of the 7-day average and we’ll have a clearer view.
YY_Sima Qian
On 6/8 China reported 8 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Guangdong Province reported 8 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 confirmed case recovered.
Liaoning Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There are 3 domestic confirmed & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases at Yingkou.
In Yunnan Province, 1 domestic confirmed case recovered, there currently are 2 domestic confirmed cases.
Imported Cases
On 6/8 China reported 8 new imported confirmed cases, 9 imported asymptomatic cases, 11 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 12 confirmed cases recovered, 18 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 604 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 413 active confirmed cases in the country (288 imported), 10 in serious condition (all domestic), 361 asymptomatic cases (338 imported), 11 suspect case (both imported). 8,987 traced contacts are currently
As of 6/8, 808.962M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 14.830M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 6/9, Hong Kong reported 4 new positive cases, all imported (1 each from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Austria & Lebanon).
Matt McIrvin
@randy khan: I’ve been thinking the same thing. The “upturn” in 7-day averages was visible even in Massachusetts, but if you look at the daily case rates it just looks like there was a backlog in case reporting after the long Memorial Day weekend–date the cases by the actual test date and it goes away. On the other hand, it does look like the drop in cases is no longer super-exponential and might be flattening out, which makes sense given that the state basically lifted most restrictions on public behavior and mass vaccination is getting into the harder cases.
Wapiti
@rikyrah: Make their daily job standing outside in the parking lot. Give them day shifts. Have a supervisor check to make sure they remain on duty. It’s Houston, hot as hell outside. They’ll quit or be fired for malingering in a couple weeks.
Ken
@dr. bloor: Also, we’re coming up on the fiftieth anniversary of the final Moon landing, so it’s not just the under-30 cohort who have no memories of it.
Citizen_X
Florida’s not even reporting any more. Jesus Christ.
Delk
Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements unless you are gay and want a wedding cake.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,011 new cases of COVID-19 reported overnight, 1 new reported death of someone who tested positive within the past 28 days. The test positivity rate is 3.0%. The case numbers continue to increase but hospitalisations and ICU occupancy are remaining low compared to what they were a couple of months ago.
There were 50,000 vaccinations up to this morning in Scotland, over 60% of them second doses. It seems the “surge” in the vaccination tempo is becoming the new normal, the Scottish government has said they have secured more capacity for vaccines and consumables going forward. Saying that most of the UK’s deliverable vaccines are the AstraZeneca adenovirus product and not the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines which are preferred for people under 40 who are about the only ones left to vaccinate here in the UK.
Local news — A cruise ship which is sailing around the UK coast was forbidden to dock in Greenock on the Clyde and allow some of its passengers ashore and pick up more passengers. The cruiseliner operator is very cross that their theoretically tested and mostly-vaccinated passengers weren’t permitted to spend time wandering around Glasgow where the Delta variant of COVID-19 is running wild. Tough titty.
Matt McIrvin
A brilliant French cartoon:
https://twitter.com/EricLagadec/status/1402253810639253505
(translation: “A fine illustratIon of the view of climate change, or the pandemic, by our politicians and by scientists! (image by Aurélien Crida).”
On the left side: “GOVERNMENT: All is well / rising plateau / AAAAAH! Exponential growth!”
On the right side: “SCIENTISTS: Exponential growth / Exponential growth / Exponential growth”)
TheflipPsyD
On the Max Boot story, am I the only one who bristled at the tag of a “bipartisan success story”? How is the successful vaccine rollout a bipartisan success story? Seems to me it is a Biden success story. This is what gets me so frustrated — democratic success stories are framed as “bipartisan” in the media, whereas Republican success stories (although I can’t think of any) are Republican success stories and framed as being successful despite the Democrats. I only skimmed the article and don’t know Max Boot, but still, this is part of the problem. The media only declares a Democratic success if it is bipartisan.
Sloane Ranger
@Robert Sneddon:
You’d have thought the company would have checked with the Scottish Government before issuing their itinerary, or maybe that’s just me.
Matt McIrvin
@TheflipPsyD: Max Boot is one of those neocon never-Trumpers turned Democratic supporters. The things he says reflect that.
Robert Sneddon
You would have thought that people flying off to foreign destinations for holidays would have it in the back of their minds that the UK government, the scientists and everyone else with a clue had warned them that their destination might be red-listed at a moment’s notice while they were sunning themselves on a beach in, say, Portugal, and they might have to spend thousands of quid on ten days compulsory quarantine when they come back, but no.
“They didn’t warn us!” Actually, they did, repeatedly.
VOR
@Brian Perkins: I assume “the Gulf War” to be Operation Desert Storm in 1991, not the GW Bush war in 2003. Desert Storm was 30 years ago so anyone younger than, oh at least 35, would have no memory of it.
Fake Irishman
NB about that Texas law, it’s not good but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t say anything about employers being able to require employees to be vaccinated, especially in a health care setting. I don’t think Methodist is really impacted here
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@Matt McIrvin: the sky cries desantis.
MontyTheClipArtMongoose
@VOR: yup.
smith
Really convenient of FL to stop reporting just as their cases stop declining. I saw that AL is also going to stop daily reporting. Guess what’s happening with their cases?
Ruckus
@Citizen_X:
If SFB Jr doesn’t report anything then there’s nothing to report. That’s how it goes in wonderland. The only time something is wrong is when you talk about it. And of course people die all the time, so just blame something/someone else and SFB Jr looks, OK I have to not laugh or scream here because I sure can’t make excuses for DeDipshit
Robert Sneddon
Other news from around the UK — 7,500 new cases and 6 new deaths reported since yesterday. 350,000 vaccinations were provided nationwide. England has opened its vaccination appointments system to 25-year olds and up and the website got over a million applications on the first day.
The case numbers keep creeping up, ditto for hospitalisations but the number of deaths are not rising as fast. The Delta variant is causing more and more concern especially in hotspots like Bolton and Manchester.
mrmoshpotato
@dr. bloor:
Yup.
J R in WV
Perhaps the federal govt should make payments into FL, AL, etc dependent upon good, current, accurate statistics on current health care circumstances?
No data, no dinero?
Matt McIrvin
@Robert Sneddon: the UK situation is what makes me think the US in fact is going to have another wave eventually, probably more than one and probably driven by Delta or some worse variant.
It’ll infect a large fraction of the unvaccinated and some small but luridly publicized fraction of the vaccinated, and most people will not understand that breakthrough infections mean vaccination is more urgent rather than less.
But I also think more Americans will end up vaccinated than currently seems possible; it’ll just take a while. The real endgame is when it becomes possible to mandate COVID vaccination for school kids–but in many parts of the country that will not happen, for ridiculous political reasons.
However, I do not think we are currently seeing the beginning of the next wave here.
mrmoshpotato
And hollering of “Tyranny!” would keep you up at night all the way up in West Virginia.