‘We follow the science’: President Joe Biden said experts are studying any necessary changes to masking guidance as the more contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps the United States https://t.co/Q46jTNTKtX pic.twitter.com/6LqctMMEnV
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
For instance, when asked “When will you consider the pandemic to be at an end?” @hristio said: “When the incidence numbers disappear from the homepages of major news media.”
— The Open Notebook (@Open_Notebook) July 22, 2021
The US administered 611,000 new vaccine shots yesterday, bringing the total to 339 million, or 102.1 doses per 100 people. The 7-day moving average has leveled off around 519,000 shots per day. pic.twitter.com/cUmUVgBgvS
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 22, 2021
The Delta variant arrives at a time when the public is done with restrictions, law makers in parts of the US have outlawed some public health tools & too many people are still refusing to get vaccinated. Bad combination. https://t.co/U2eBt50H6M
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) July 22, 2021
The US had +56,525 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 yesterday, the highest number since April 30, bringing the total to over 35.1 million. The 7-day moving average rose to 42,068 new cases per day. pic.twitter.com/H1jSjuog8r
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) July 22, 2021
NEWS: A look at the Biden administration's battle against a shadow pandemic — rampant disinformation that's fueling vaccine opposition and prolonging the crisis.
By @josh_wingrove + @kristenvbrown + @dzuidijk https://t.co/aJcBWab8ZK
— Alex Wayne (@aawayne) July 22, 2021
The U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, issued an advisory on misinformation last week. “Today, we live in a world where misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health,” he said at a White House briefing.
About 150 leading anti-vaccine online accounts gained more than 10 million social media followers from December 2019 to December 2020, especially on Instagram and YouTube, according to CCDH. Murthy accused large social media companies of practically designing their products to spread misinformation…
Social media posts can reinforce preexisting doubts about the vaccines. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey of unvaccinated adults published June 30 found that 53% think the shots are too new and 53% are worried about side effects.
About 43% said they just don’t want it, 38% don’t trust the government, 38% don’t think they need a shot and 26% said they don’t trust vaccines in general.
Smaller percentages of people said they didn’t know where to get a shot or were concerned about missing work or having to pay for the vaccine. It’s free for anyone in the U.S.
Republicans, rural residents, younger people, and people of color are among the most wary of Covid vaccination, but demographics don’t easily explain hesitancy — or how to combat it. Two-thirds of Democrats live in homes in which everyone is vaccinated, the Kaiser survey found, while 39% of Republicans live in homes in which no one’s gotten a shot…
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About 100 of the 613 U.S. athletes descending on Tokyo for the Olympics are unvaccinated. Officials say that's about the same percentage as the total number of unvaccinated people at the Olympics, although it's not a verified number. https://t.co/WAdM1g1sGI
— AP Sports (@AP_Sports) July 23, 2021
The European Union says it will donate more than 200 million doses of coronavirus vaccines to middle and low-income nations before the end of the year. That’s double the amount the 27-nation bloc planned to deliver through COVAX, the U.N.-backed program. https://t.co/tTIfpWaGbK
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 22, 2021
Canada has one of the world's highest coronavirus vaccination rates, with 70% of adults getting at least one dose. Zimbabwe has among the world's lowest — around 9% of people have gotten a jab and the country is entering a new lockdown. https://t.co/hMEg0oFQxm
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2021
India reports 35,342 new COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours https://t.co/rV7XaDmxsR pic.twitter.com/nZpQZ1WJct
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Great piece on the importance of localizing vaccination persuasion:
Fears of a new wave of Covid hitting India mean pressure is on to increase vaccinations – even in the most rural and inaccessible settingshttps://t.co/vnU9DZyKeC pic.twitter.com/Tw6wZho4lI
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 22, 2021
Myanmar to use Chinese vaccines to fight COVID-19 in border area https://t.co/4BWfl0J9k6 pic.twitter.com/XL1ptPBY59
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Thailand reports new daily record of 14,575 coronavirus cases https://t.co/kqaC2bwSm9 pic.twitter.com/4fQTw9sStf
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Philippines to bar travel from Malaysia, Thailand to curb Delta's spread https://t.co/ZhzWCNIQMj pic.twitter.com/wzjwnmFKfS
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Japan’s prime minister met with Pfizer’s CEO in an unusually high-profile setting to make sure the drugmaker would deliver COVID-19 vaccine it has promised to the nation. CEO Albert Bourla is in Tokyo to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics. https://t.co/fJCtcOPvGb
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2021
Taiwan said it will lower its COVID-19 alert level from next week though some restrictions will remain, as rapidly falling case numbers give authorities confidence to further relax curbs https://t.co/qa6VIBrfRq pic.twitter.com/dqSyg06UpD
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Australian states squabble as NSW seeks COVID vaccine priority https://t.co/jBeLLmirq3 pic.twitter.com/zygwz4CIJz
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Australia's New South Wales state reported its biggest daily rise in new COVID-19 cases this year, prompting state officials to tighten lockdown measures in Sydney in what they called a ‘national emergency’ https://t.co/stlQjY7gmV by @renjujose and @barrett_ink pic.twitter.com/qK9VQc8Wd5
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
Asia Today: New Zealand has suspended its quarantine-free travel bubble with Australia for at least eight weeks due to a growing COVID-19 cluster in Sydney. https://t.co/qf56vDgicU
— The Associated Press (@AP) July 23, 2021
Gyms, museums, movie theaters. Sporting events, town fairs, conferences. These are among the venues in Italy where COVID-19 passes will be required starting Aug. 6. Also on the list: inside restaurants, casinos and pools. https://t.co/oZ9yECINnv
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) July 22, 2021
Covid cases at record levels for 20 to 29-year-olds https://t.co/AZr1nYUoF2
— BBC Health News (@bbchealth) July 22, 2021
UK food workers to be exempt from Covid isolation https://t.co/rjOonph0yo
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 23, 2021
Mexico posts 16,244 more COVID-19 cases; highest daily rise since January https://t.co/JwCrdISsM6 pic.twitter.com/NDoiClApLx
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 23, 2021
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Why the #DeltaVariant is hyper-contagious: New research reveals that people infected w/ the variant have appoximately 1000x more copies of the virus in their respiratory system than those w/ the original Wuhan strain https://t.co/dod632C4Iw
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) July 22, 2021
Some special pleading here, but…
Eight-week gap seen as sweet spot for Pfizer jab antibodies https://t.co/qATs0VOZUZ
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) July 23, 2021
China rejected @WHO plan for a second phase of an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus, which includes the hypothesis it could have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, a top health official said https://t.co/EQkC1xL85I
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 22, 2021
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With 67% of their residents fully vaccinated, highest in the US, Vermont continues to show Delta can be contained and hospitalizations can actually decrease….the only state in the US that has done thathttps://t.co/3JXE7i0xOI
(What if the US had 67% instead of 49% fully vexed?) pic.twitter.com/eESERlJT3t— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 23, 2021
Louisiana, one of the hardest hit US states for the pandemic, goes vertical with case growth and now leads the country (per capita) with > 40/100,000 residents pic.twitter.com/iuskeh61Eg
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) July 22, 2021
Republican politicians are under increasing pressure to try to persuade COVID-19 vaccine skeptics to take the shots as a new, more contagious variant sends caseloads soaring. But experts warn it may be too late to change the minds of many who are refusing. https://t.co/XjyY8t2cCC
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) July 22, 2021
Something to watch out for: I’m getting the impression that the GOP Death Cult would like to blame their states’ vaccination failures on Those People… you know, the Not-White. There are certainly undervaccinated pockets among communities with more PoC (even here in the Peoples’ Republic of Massachusetts), but that seems to be as much a problem of access as of resistance…
The #COVID19 epidemic has taken big tolls inside prisons — yet shocking numbers of prisoners are refusing #vaccination — especially men of color.https://t.co/PDWmhGIXwT
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) July 22, 2021
You know what they could do to help?
Require all city & schools employees be vaccinated! Also, require all kids 12 & older be vaccinated as a condition for attending school. https://t.co/dEp84MnsqK
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) July 23, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats for last week:
I went to the NYS Department of Health to get numbers since Monroe County is only reporting on a weekly basis now. We really should go back to daily reporting since things have taken a turn for the worst again.
New COVID cases:
43 people tested positive on 7/21, 32 new cases on 7/22.
3.3% test positivity yesterday.
YY_Sima Qian
On 7/22 China reported 12 new domestic confirmed & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 79 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
He County in Anhui Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, the spouse of a domestic confirmed case at Nanjing (a custodian at the airport).
Shenyang inn Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a tourist that flew in from Nanjing on 7/19.
Zhongshan in Guangdong Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, who had flown back from Nanjing on 7/19.
It is surprising to see such a large number of custodians & cleaning staff at the Nanjing Airport testing positive, but not other staff at the airport. Most likely the outbreak started from improper adherence to protocol that resulted in 1 or more of the custodians being infected, followed by super spreading event(s) among custodians (meeting, training session, or living in crowded dormitories). Based on the case information, as well as the fact that airport staff are screened weekly, the outbreak probably started sometime during mid-Jul., & being Delta Variant (though not yet officially confirmed), it spread very quickly. The outbreak represents a major breach, I am sure heads will roll at the airport management company, contractor that employs the custodians, and Nanjing government.
Imported Cases
On 7/22, China reported 36 new imported confirmed cases, 25 imported asymptomatic cases, 3 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 23 confirmed cases recovered, 31 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & 9 were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 363 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 663 active confirmed cases in the country (561 imported), 17 in serious condition (15 imported), 451 asymptomatic cases (426 imported), 4 suspect cases (all imported). 8,742 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 7/22, 1,507.605M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 16M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 7/23, Hong Kong reported 2 new positive cases, both imported (from Bangladesh & the UAE).
NotMax
Indonesia passes 3,000,000 cumulative reported cases. Pakistan jumps beyond 1,000,000.
Locally,
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
That spike in Louisiana looks to be related to 4th of July. Which means you can expect more spikes related to fall/winter holidays as well as football events.
germy
NotMax
Maybe not legally so but IMHO ethically criminal.
Amir Khalid
CNN reports that The Rolling Stones will resume a long postponed US tour in September. They had played just the first two shows in early 2020 when the pandemic hit.
Tony Jay
@NotMax:
I’m sure the other 513 are absolutely delighted to have them on board and fully support their stand in the name of Freedumb and Liberteabagging.
Soprano2
Yesterday I heard that my employer (city government) is going to reinstate masks for employees who aren’t vaccinated. We’ll be required to show proof of vaccination to our supervisor; if we don’t have it, or refuse to show it, we’ll be required to wear a face mask like before. They’re also going to reinstate the vaccination incentives. The howling from some quarters is going to be epic! I was on the phone yesterday with a supervisor who I heard didn’t get the shot. He mentioned that the weekly staff meeting had been changed from Teams to in person, but was now back on Teams. I said yeah, because people won’t get vaccinated. I could hear his back go up over the phone. He huffily said that wasn’t necessarily the reason. I said yes it was, the city doesn’t want people to get sick!
One of my co-workers had to go to the ER for a stomach problem last week; he had a 24-hour wait! It’s insane here right now.
Tony Jay
@Amir Khalid:
Mick Jagger ascribes his ability to hold a note for that long to healthy living and regular uninhibited access to the contents of the Victoria’s Secret catalogue.
germy
@Tony Jay:
Did you see this one? “Reflect on your words”
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
yesterday 29 people died in California, while Florida, which has half the population, posted nearly 3 times as many deaths. Which means Florida’s body count is nearly 600% higher than Cal.
Congratulations, party of “personal responsibility”
NotMax
@Tony Jay
Young’uns: “Why are they playing Dolt 45’s campaign song?”
//
NotMax
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
The oxymoron “compassionate conservatism” seems to have been stuffed into history’s dumpster.
Cermet
Let’s see, then 67% of Dems have one or more shots. Then ‘only’ 61% of Repub’s live in a home where everyone has had one or more shots … lol. Talk about using words to paint a false picture.
Kay
They’ll gut it like they did the Voting Rights Act- piece by piece, denying they’re doing it with each cut.
When they gutted Section 5 of the VRA there was extensive commentary on how the Voting Rights Act still existed because…”we have Section 2!” Then they gutted that.
The sort of desperate, pathetic effort in elite legal circles to pretend none of this radical restructuring is happening is almost worse than the fact that it is happening.
OzarkHillbilly
Republican bid to limit health officials could cause ‘preventable tragedies’ – experts
ProLife my ass.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
I have requested that all my employees who have laptops to work from home to bring them into the office so that IT can look at them , make sure that they have the right updates. So, if things go sideways, they are ready to work from home again.
A Ghost to Most
@NeenerNeener: Anecdotal evidence from the Black North in Waterport suggests that the WNY christian supremacists are still behaving like selfish children.
NotMax
FYI.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s happening here. The legislature will run health policy. People like the clown who wanted doctors to relocate fertilized eggs so pregnancies could proceed will determine policies and guidelines. I cannot wait. //
germy
Kay
@debbie:
Trump covid vaccine deniers go right from opposing the covid vaccine to opposing all vaccines, because all the content they’re viewing comes from anti-vaccers. They lead them in, with anti-covid vaccine hysteria as the entry point.
There’s going to be an absolute explosion in the number of people who don’t vaccinate their children.
Baud
@germy:
Identity > Reality
Cermet
Very much on the upside the vaccination rate is still over half a million a day (on a weekly average) which if it holds for a month would be a lot of people protected. The down side is that much of those are just people getting their second shoot – a great thing, yes, but that will likely fall dramatically once those in that pipeline are mostly done. I guess Delta will create herd immunity the hard way – hopefully, fewer deaths and that the massive bankruptcies from medical bills (ICU is extremely inexpensive /s) will encourage the thug party to do something about that issue …yeah, right! LOL
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: I haven’t read of it here in Misery, but I’m sure they’re working on it.
Mary G
@NeenerNeener: Orange County had gone to reporting once a week, but the last couple weeks have been so awful they’ve gone back to reporting every day. 304 new cases today, compared to 18-20 two-three weeks ago, daily case rate per 100k 4.9, compared to 0.9, test positivity rate 3.3% compared to 0.6. Vaccination has slowed almost to a crawl. It’s so frustrating.
I have still not been able to convince the teen to get the vaccine. He has a genuine fear of needles, but I have a genuine fear of him catching the delta variation and coming home to spew 1,000 times more virus in my house. I’m going to have a talk with his mom tomorrow.
Kay
@Cermet:
I wish we had focused more on ventilation systems in schools. There’s not much the federal government can do about it- schools are rigidly governed locally especially as to the physical plants and Biden really did provide enough funding and it’s nearly unrestricted- if you’re a school and you want to spend your Biden bucks on upgrading ventilation systems you can- but it would have been a good investment not just for covid but just for general health.
I wish we had the capacity and the will to just do one or two things really well, instead of 5000 things poorly. It drives me crazy.
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 15,573 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 980,491 cases. He also reports 144 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 7,718 deaths — 0.79% of the cumulative reported total, 0.93% of resolved cases.
There are currently 147,386 active and contagious cases; 939 are in ICU, 456 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 10,094 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 825,387 patients recovered – 84.18% of the cumulative reported total.
30 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 3,391 clusters. 958 clusters are currently active; 2,433 clusters are now inactive.
15,541 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 7,662 local cases: 218 in clusters, 5,135 close-contact screenings, and 2,309 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 2,051 local cases: 200 in clusters, 1,062 close-contact screenings, and 789 other screenings.
Kedah reports 937 cases:78 in clusters, 574 close-contact screenings, and 285 other screenings.
Johor reports 721 local cases: 192 in clusters, 360 close-contact screenings, and 169 other screenings.
Negeri Sembilan reports 682 cases: 70 in clusters, 457 close-contact screenings, and 155 other screenings.
Penang reports 530 cases: 73 in clusters, 214 close-contact screenings, and 243 other screenings. Sabah reports 516 cases: 161 in clusters, 216 close-contact screenings, and 139 other screenings.
Sarawak reports 461 local cases: 97 in clusters, 289 close-contact screenings, and 75 other screenings. Pahang reports 448 local cases: 88 in clusters, 308 close-contact screenings, and 52 other screenings. Melaka reports 452 cases: 121 in clusters, 237 close-contact screenings, and 94 other screenings. Perak reports 415 cases: 89 in clusters, 188 close-contact screenings, and 138 other screenings.
Kelantan reports 372 cases: 178 in clusters, 164 close-contact screenings, and 30 other screenings.
Terengganu reports 229 cases: 49 in clusters, 127 close-contact screenings, and 53 other screenings.
Putrajaya reports 41 cases: one in a cluster, 31 close-contact screenings, and nine other screenings. Labuan reports 21 cases: two in clusters, 12 close-contact screenings, and seven other screenings. Perlis reports three cases, all from other screenings.
32 new cases today are imported: 12 in Kuala Lumpur, 10 in Selangor, nine in Pahang and one in Johor.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 507,050 doses of vaccine on 22nd July: 335,977 first doses and 171,073 second doses. As of yesterday, the cumulative total is 16,024,916 doses administered: 10,920,862 first doses and 5,104,054 second doses. 15.6% of the population have received their second dose.
Cermet
In a great article in Scientific American:https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-u-s-pandemic-response-went-wrong-and-what-went-right-during-a-year-of-covid/
This sentence stands out: “… (the) one made by Pfizer and BioNTech and another developed by Moderna—were found to have roughly 95 percent efficacy in preventing symptomatic COVID … .”
Note the incredibly important words I highlighted – that is, prevent(ing) symptomatic Covid. NOT prevent Covid as many writers wrote. Vaccinates never prevent infection in any given person exposed, they ONLY enable the immune system to quickly defeat the virus. Even now articles keep painting a false picture causing people to think anyone that test positive for Covid (even through their non-symptomatic) is that the vaccine fails – total bullshit that confuses people further.
Tony Jay
@germy:
Oh yes. It’s way beyond time that someone stood up and said what a travesty it is that Parliamentary rules against calling another MP a liar have been rendered anti-democratic by the sheer scale of Johnson’s dishonesty and (more importantly) the Speaker’s complicit cowardice in letting him get away with it. Hoyle just wants a quiet life and a peerage, and since he saw John Bercow denied both by Tory hostility to his strong Speakership the spineless weasel has done bugger all to hold the lying fabulist to account.
Sadly, Butler has put the leadership of her own Party in a difficult position by her irresponsible decision to provide Opposition to Johnson while choosing to identify as a black, female left-winger who sat on the previous Labour Leader’s front-bench. If she’d simply taken the time to be a (white) centrist-moderate on the moderate-centrist wing of the Party it would be different, but giving her any support now risks getting blackity-black, loony lefty, Corbynite ickyness on the New New Labour brand and might not sell well with the focus groups of Tory voters who comprise the only meaningful voice in New New Labour policy formation, so I’m afraid she’s shit out of luck as far as getting the backing of Sir Keir the Utterly Transparent is concerned*.
*Unless the odious Peter Mandelson decides it might be useful cover to let him read a short prepared statement ‘both sidesing’ the issue in a few days after everyone else has moved on to other things. That’s the best she’ll get.
Cermet
@Kay: While I agree 100%, can you imagine schools (in the inner city or south) that have students share books due to no money trying to upgrade their non-existing AC systems to increase air flow.
New Deal democrat
People still haven’t come to grips with what uncontrolled exponential spread means under these circumstances. If cases double every 2 weeks, then by October there will be 3,000,000 new infections PER DAY in the US. With Red States unlikely to impose any restrictions, that is where we are heading.
Now suppose that vaccinations prevent 90% of infections among the 1/2 of the US population that has had the shots. That is still 300,000 cases per day among the vaccinated. Suppose further that only 1/4 of 1% of the vaccinated die. That’s still 750 deaths per day among the vaccinated. (Yes, I know, these are back of the envelope estimates).
The difference is that the vaccinated will go back into full self-isolation to prevent this outcome. And that is how I am preparing to spend this autumn.
Kay
@Cermet:
Right. Agree. I’d hold classes outside. Do what needs to be done. They need to be in school. There’s about 50 million public school kids in the US. We could have the whole bottom quarter two years behind and they already had the deck stacked against them. Do K-4 in school and send the older remote. Triage.
Kay
@Cermet:
If there are big, modern private sector buildings that go remote and they have adequate ventilation or can be quickly upgraded hold classes there. It needs to be an emergency. We talked about putting them in an ice skating rink here.
frosty
To answer the question up top, we’ll know the pandemic is over when AL stops doing these posts because there’s not enough to link to.
Until then, thanks AL! Especially for those brief few weeks in June when the news wasn’t full of despair.
NotMax
@Kay
Dunno how widespread it is elsewhere but here remote for the new school year places the responsibility entirely on the parents/caregivers. Teachers interact with distance learning students only insofar as grading.
Nose. Cut. Spite. Face.
Cermet
@New Deal democrat: While I understand what you mean you need to be clear – vaccines never prevent infection for an exposed person (of course, once herd immunity takes over, in a more accurate sense, the vaccines then do.) Vaccines only enable someone who is infected to quickly clear the infection (and dramatically reduce chances of infecting others) – see my post at # 30. People here should try to be clear what vaccination really does because here we prefer facts and accurate language.
Yes, for the average stupid thug voter they could never understand this point but we are far more aware and careful here … right?
Cermet
@Kay: Of course that is the simplest, least costly method unlike the extreme cost to require unvaccinated to just wear masks …lol. Again, I agree with your point (upgrades for all buildings would be ideal because it too adds a layer of protection) but it is beyond understanding why masks are so impossible here.
bluefoot
@Kay: My sister works in the NYC public school system. She said they’ve been trying to improve ventilation but the buildings are old and crowded. In her school they’ve been installing fans and attempting a/c but one big holdup in getting the electrical work done. It’s requiring major work which they don’t have enough money for. They are doing what that can but juicy getting electricians has also been difficult.
CCL
@Kay:
Always appreciate your comments. Thank you.
Soprano2
That’s what they’re doing here, plus with the ER’s being absolutely slammed there are people who need care for other conditions who won’t be able to get it in a timely manner.
gvg
@Kay: There already is one. Parents put off childhood vaccines during the pandemic because we were supposed to stay home and avoid non urgent medical visits. Early vaccination rates have fallen from somewhere around 90 to 70’s (article I read). These are the ones required for school or daycare. Now school is about to start and parents aren’t ready. Many of them will catch up, but some will decide not to…Also doctors offices are swamped on this. You have to wait for an appointment. Just one news article I happened to read last night. I don’t have the link. It was centered on 1 midwestern state but noted similar stats from other states.
Soprano2
They installed those UV virus killer lights in our heating/air systems at work months ago, pretty early on. I’ve also noticed on this season’s “Bar Rescue”, which is happening only in Las Vegas, one of the makeover components is always installing UV systems that scrub viruses and other pathogens from the air. I think this kind of thing will become more and more common in businesses, hospitals and schools. I’m thinking about doing it in my pub. I don’t know how good they are – I’m sure some are better than others – but every abatement measure has to help some. In many schools improving the ventilation will be pretty hard and expensive, especially the places where you can’t open the windows.
New Deal democrat
@Cermet: Nice job failing to see the forest for the tree bark.
Have a nice day.
Robert Sneddon
@Mary G: One suggestion I’ve seen that helps needle-phobic people elsewhere get through the ordeal of being vaccinated is to have a friend or family member go with them and hold their (other) hand while they get injected. It’s also possible to ask their doctor to prescribe a tranquilliser to help calm their nerves before their appointment.
It won’t work for all, the phobia of being injected is real. The chances of needing intensive medical care from a COVID-19 infection are also real but that’s later and may not happen while the stress from prophylactic vaccination is here and now.
Sloane Ranger
Sorry about not posting the UK update yesterday. Museum day once again.
Anyway, here are Thursday’s figures, where we had 39,906 new cases. This is an increase of 24.2% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 35,939 (down 3565)
Northern Ireland – 1430 (down 543)
Scotland – 1825 (up 139)
Wales – 712 (down 229).
Deaths – There were 84 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is an increase of 50.6% in the rolling 7-day average. Deaths by nation, 58 in England, 22 in Scotland and 4 in Wales.
Testing – 1,038,954 tests were conducted on Wednesday, 21 July. This is a decrease in the rolling 7-day average of 1.7%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 659,003.
Hospitalisations – There were 4861 people in hospital and 647 people on ventilators on Wednesday, 21 July. As of 18 July, the rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 31.1%.
Vaccinations – As of 21 July, 46,433,845 people had received the 1st shot of a vaccine and 36,587,904 had had both. This means that, as of that date, 87.8% of all adults in the UK have had 1 shot and 69.2% were fully vaccinated.
General – This was the 1st week without the face covering mandate since I re-started at the Museum. It was also a week of very hot and sunny weather and, for the first time, we were very busy. What I noticed was that the Museum staff and volunteers were about 50/50 in terms of choosing whether or not to mask up but it was closer to 75% unmasked to 25% masked as far as visitors were concerned. Glad I’m fully vaccinated (although AstraZeneca so…) and wore my mask when working the counter.
JaneE
My county was about 3-5 cases a week when they went to weekly reporting. Even worse, they started not quite hiding the data online (you won’t find it unless someone tells you what page it is on) or sending out emails if you ask to get on the list. For the first month, the numbers were about the same, 3-5 a week. Last week they went to 6 for the first time since mid-April.
Not a good turn, but at least the tourist traffic is not quite up to normal yet. Probably more because of the fires than Covid-19.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,505 new cases of COVID-19 reported, 6 new reported death(s) of people who have tested positive. Test positivity rate is 6.4%. 57 people were in intensive care yesterday with recently confirmed COVID-19, about the same number as yesterday.
Just under 19,000 vaccinations were carried out yesterday, mostly second-doses. 89.4% of the adult population has received a first vaccination, 68.4% are fully two-dose vaccinated. That makes a difference of 21.0% between first-dose and double-dose at the moment. The 90% first-dose figure by the end of July isn’t going to be met, it seems like.
It appears the push to vaccinate undecided or hesitant individuals is stalling out. The holdouts are generally younger people with over 90% of those aged 50 and over in Scotland now fully vaccinated with a similar percentage of people between 40 and 49 having received at least their first dose (and thus likely to come back for their second dose eventually). There are probably several overlapping reasons for this apparent hesitancy in the 18-40 age group. Anti-vaccination opinion doesn’t seem to be a big factor generally in the UK population, the Young Immortal fallacy might be the most prevalent reason.
PaulB
Your take isn’t any better. That’s 67% of Democrats who live in homes where everyone is vaccinated, whereas 61% of Republicans live in homes where someone is vaccinated. The two numbers aren’t measuring the same thing.
VOR
@Soprano2: I have a UV light system built into my home furnace, installed around 2013. It’s from a major manufacturer so I’d prefer to believe it works and isn’t useless. But I really have no way to tell. I saw it listed as an option on the brochure and asked it to be included. It wasn’t expensive to add but there is operating cost as the fluorescent bulbs need to be replaced annually. The salesperson said he’d never sold it before.
mrmoshpotato
That’s alarmingly high.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
They don’t say?! /s
Robert Sneddon
@VOR:
A UV-C antibacterial light system installed in an AC/ventilation system is unlikely to be of much use in a home environment given the amount of filth tracked in on the bottom of your shoes on a daily basis, never mind wafting in through open doors and windows.
UV-C lamps are used in the aircon of a bio-sensitive installation like a laboratory or hospital operating theatre but they have barriers against random air ingress using airlock doors, positive pressure etc. in place.
UV-C sterilising lamps are often used in the feedlines to drinking water fountains but it’s mainly the antibacterial properties of the systems that make them worthwhile in that regard.
WereBear
I have come to think that COVID-19 handling is also a First Impression kind of problem: those early misconceptions, later fueled by the patchwork reporting from science doing what science does, with layers of deliberate misinformation put there by the usual suspects.
How many people are as diligent as AL, or even those of us who read her posts and/or follow this kind of news?
From struggling to survive to not having the training or inclination to follow all the twists and turns, right now to the sealed Tupperware of the wingnut mind, too many people know far too little. They never got on the right foot, trust random memes on Facebook more than official medical sources, and only have a vague “feeling” about making these life or death kinds of decisions, influenced by wanting to meet friends and have fun, at any age.
Honestly, it’s a wonder we’ve gotten this far in a country the Republicans have been determined to make stupider and more paranoid for the last forty years…
Another Scott
In case you’re getting worried comments from friends and relations about Delta and Pfizer and Israel (“OMG! It’s only 31% effective against Delta!!11”) point them to the source.
Here’s the NEJM article that is getting cited in the news and online. One always has to be careful about popular-press reports on these things.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2108891
BNT162b2 is the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
We’ve known for months that two doses of the vaccine, plus two weeks, are needed for the mRNA vaccines to reach full effectiveness.
This still holds for the Delta variant.
The mRNA vaccines are highly effective (88%, not 31%) against the Delta variant when people have 2 shots and 2 weeks.
I hope this helps.
Cheers,
Scott.
J R in WV
@Cermet:
Your interpretation of the single sentence you quoted is distorted and incorrect. The two factoids in the quoted sentence are not at all related in the manner you assume they are.
Not unusual for your comments, which frequently do not make much sense logically nor grammatically.
Peale
@mrmoshpotato: About 84% vaccinated. if the general population could approach that level, we’d be be happy. Only 16% of our athletes are nuts.
dnfree
@Kay: well put. It’s been obvious from early in the pandemic that ventilation is key, yet the focus was still on wiping down countertops for months. It’s like taking off shoes at airports.
Freemark
@Soprano2: Radiant water heaters were implemented in many cities over a century ago so that they could heat their apartments in winter and still leave windows open for ventilation to remove ‘sick’ air to prevent epidemics. Seems we always have to relearn how to do things.