*BIG* news month coming:
NEW: The FDA's independent advisory committee has announced 3 upcoming meetings for vaccine discussions:
– October 14: Moderna booster
– October 15: J&J booster
– October 15: Mix-and-match boosters
– October 26: Pfizer vaccine for kids 5-11https://t.co/UzEICgkRut— Benjy Renton (@bhrenton) October 1, 2021
Our first 1m+ day for vaccinations in several weeks. Vaccine requirements are helping, and those eligible are getting boosters at a rapid rate. https://t.co/5ltxGvpo2T
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) October 3, 2021
With the U.S. government setting COVID-19 vaccine requirements and states like New York and California imposing mandates among workers and students, some local leaders are resisting the efforts https://t.co/CbANqCrR0c pic.twitter.com/nUDbDmtlKH
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 4, 2021
Dr. Anthony Fauci says people should still get vaccinated even if Merck's Covid pill cuts deaths by a significant percentage https://t.co/ItmdyTspY9
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 3, 2021
Where it was to where it is.https://t.co/Cze8bZxwXr pic.twitter.com/huQHkpD4Tf
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) October 3, 2021
This is where the last one hundred thousand Americans who died of COVID took their last breaths… Overwhelmingly in the South… Overwhelmingly in red states… Overwhelmingly in places where Fox News occupies a lot of screen time: pic.twitter.com/m5XMzJgw9F
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 2, 2021
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Covid vaccination: Evidence of waning immunity is overstated, according to a report in BMJ, the British Medical Journal. The analysis uses that argument to call for greater vaccine distribution to resource-poor nations https://t.co/INbUVst0Dx
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 3, 2021
Reuters hasn’t been tweeting China’s numbers for a while…
China reports 27 new COVID-19 cases, down from 28 a day earlier https://t.co/HVAP5tqhUt pic.twitter.com/AP04kewgKu
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 4, 2021
'We are tired': Workers flee Vietnam's largest city as long lockdown eases https://t.co/s0B3ugW5QI pic.twitter.com/ENoE1HIDc3
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 4, 2021
Singapore hits record number of Covid cases —2,909 new infections reported on Friday—the largest number of daily cases since the pandemic began. Singapore has vaccinated the majority of its population yet in recent days has still experienced a record surge https://t.co/MHxjpi6bUx
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 3, 2021
was really hoping this nonsense would not make it to singapore
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) October 4, 2021
New Zealand has acknowledged what most other countries did long ago: It can no longer completely get rid of the coronavirus. Since early in the pandemic, New Zealand had pursued an unusual zero-tolerance approach to the virus that worked until recently. https://t.co/eDmcfL0lO8
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 4, 2021
Israel has restricted its COVID Green Pass to allow only those who have received a vaccine booster dose or recently recuperated from coronavirus to enter indoor events. https://t.co/iBQDQCSdoQ
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 3, 2021
Russia hits record number of daily COVID-19 deaths for the fifth time this week. Only 32.5% of its people have gotten at least one vaccine shot and only 28% are fully vaccinated. #GetVaccinatedNow https://t.co/MUf2gs116o
— Ian Weissman, DO (@DrIanWeissman) October 4, 2021
Amid COVID-19 booster data dilemma, EU nations' plans diverge https://t.co/Egvc8n58iI pic.twitter.com/AXmJmFnLgd
— Reuters (@Reuters) October 4, 2021
… Italy, France, Germany and Ireland have already started to administer booster shots and the Netherlands plans to do so soon but only to people who are immuno-suppressed.
But several EU countries are waiting for the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to give its opinion this week.
The fragmented picture mirrors the different approaches seen in the roll-out of shots across one of the world’s wealthiest regions at the turn of the year.
They also highlight the lack of consensus among scientists about how broadly they are needed, while governments seek to revive their ailing economies, fight the more infectious Delta variant, and avoid further lockdowns in the winter…
Underscoring what is at stake, the EU’s infectious diseases centre said on Thursday the region’s coverage of vaccines was still too low and there was a risk of a significant surge in cases, hospitalisations and deaths over the next six weeks.
Only 61% of the total population have been fully vaccinated, and only three countries – Malta, Portugal, Iceland – have vaccinated more than 75% of their total population, it said.
That compares with less than a quarter of the population in Bulgaria, one of the big laggards in EU vaccinations.
Still, the bloc’s push towards boosters will stir the debate over rich nations’ use of vaccines while poorer countries struggle to access supplies and inoculate their citizens…
El Gobierno de los Estados Unidos realiza una nueva donación de dosis de vacunas Pfizer en beneficio del pueblo hondureño. Hoy llegaron 81,900 dosis de vacunas. #JuntosContraCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/b8AFnXn0Bv
— U.S. Embassy Honduras (@usembassyhn) October 1, 2021
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Nat'l Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases awards $36M to 3 academic research institutions to develop a 'pan-coronavirus vaccine,' the type of universal vax that would be effective against any coronavirus now—or in the future https://t.co/qcc5HSrdQ4
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) October 1, 2021
Two important #COVID19 treatment studies were released this week. One, from @Merck got a lot of attn and soared on the stock markets. The other, with better results, from @Regeneron got little notice.
Key point with both: Best results come from treatment before symptoms.
3 MORE pic.twitter.com/F0yIhtPyUg— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) October 3, 2021
4/ The @Merck drug is a pill. The @Regeneron is an infusion. Pills are easier to take, so the 50% risk reduction drew more enthusiasm on Wall St than the 71% with infusion.
But again, both are best given like #tamiflu for #flu — before the person is sick.
Game shifts to testing. pic.twitter.com/Z3Ir9NEAGf— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) October 3, 2021
Coronaviruses probably spill over from bats to people all the time. SARS-related coronaviruses probably jump to people ~400k times a year in undetected spillovers. Estimate based on where people live in southeast Asia & maps of habitats for 23 bat species https://t.co/lyHYHOm5pI pic.twitter.com/OxskPsww7v
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 3, 2021
Is it a cold, or coronavirus?https://t.co/DMTIU85cy0
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 3, 2021
Most parents (58%) say K-12 schools should mandate masks for students & staff, regardless of #COVID vaccination status. 35% oppose such a requirement.
Mothers are much more likely than fathers to support a mask requirement (70% vs. 42%). https://t.co/fttnHHWBrj
— KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation) (@KFF) October 3, 2021
For years, the wellness world has been entangled with vaccine hesitancy.
Amid covid-19, the consequences are starker than ever. https://t.co/ulPk7YtD6b
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) October 2, 2021
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Despite having some of the highest vaccination rates in the U.S., the six New England states are still grappling with a surge of cases due to the delta variant. In some areas, hospitalizations are approaching the pandemic peak and ICUs are filling up. https://t.co/dE3hXsTrRF
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 3, 2021
… Even though parts of New England are seeing record case counts, hospitalizations and deaths that rival pre-vaccine peaks, largely among the unvaccinated, the region hasn’t seen the impact the delta variant wave has wrought on other parts of the country.
According to statistics from The Associated Press, the five states with the highest percentage of a fully vaccinated population are all in New England, with Vermont leading, followed by Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. New Hampshire is 10th.
According to the AP data, full vaccination rates across the six New England states range from a high of 69.4% in Vermont to 61.5% in New Hampshire.
Despite the relatively high vaccination rates — the U.S. as a whole is averaging 55.5% — there are still hundreds of thousands of people across the region who, for one reason or another, remain unvaccinated and vulnerable to infection.
Now, a Rhode Island official said he didn’t think the 70% vaccination goal, once touted as the level that would help end the pandemic in the state, is enough.
“What we’ve learned with delta and looking beyond delta, is because that’s where our focus is as well, to really reach those levels of vaccination, to give you that true population level protection, you need to be in excess of 90%,” said Tom McCarthy, the executive director of the Rhode Island Department of Health COVID Response Unit…
Dr. Tim Lahey, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, said he felt it was important to look at the situation more optimistically.
Unlike some others in the region his Vermont hospital is busy, not overwhelmed. People still need to be cautious, but they are not locked down and outside life has a semblance of normality.
“We all hate the word ‘delta’ now, but has vaccination made it so we can withstand the brunt of delta with losing fewer of our neighbors while still having the quality of life that we enjoy in Vermont?” he said. “Yeah.”
#Delta variant has caused a spike in deaths among nursing home residents. Although nursing home deaths from Covid-19 remain dramatically down from their peak at the end of 2020, a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis shows a significant uptick https://t.co/rN7akSFtQV
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) October 3, 2021
"Do you use ivermectin?' someone in the crowd shouted"
The crowd later taunted the doctors and called them liars and sell outs.https://t.co/W1cccaYKzA
— Jim Swift (@JimSwiftDC) October 3, 2021
Ochsner Health, Louisiana's largest healthcare provider, will raise health insurance premiums for employees whose spouses or domestic partners covered under its benefits plan are not vaccinated against COVID. https://t.co/yN528DwbpZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 2, 2021
"Bridges was among about 150 employees who were fired or resigned rather than comply…About 25,000 other employees at the hospital system complied."
Alternative headline: "99.4% of hospital workers vaccinated following mandate". But sure, a whole article on one of the 0.6% ??
— Al (@albertjschulman) October 4, 2021
A Connecticut doctor just surrendered her medical license after an investigation following an anonymous tip found that she was giving her patients blank, signed COVID-19 exemption forms to avoid wearing masks or getting vaccinated.https://t.co/2V0M2WJEGL
— Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D (@RVAwonk) October 3, 2021
Working the (all-too-compliant) refs:
Two (2) students are cited for this piece. One dropped out in his senior year and abandoned his professional goals, for reasons that don’t really track. The other one preemptively withdrew from a college that doesn’t require vaccinations https://t.co/F030FNnPOK
— messy scarelord (@jesseltaylor) October 3, 2021
Mishler, the first student, was previously interviewed as an anti-mask protester by the New Yorker last year pic.twitter.com/yNtboTPQwg
— messy scarelord (@jesseltaylor) October 3, 2021
Baud
God, those last few tweets. Reminds me of all those independent voters the media interviews who have deep ties to the GOP.
Yesterday, someone here confirmed that the NYT basically asked its reporters to look for women who are disappointed with Biden. Her noble daughter refused the assignment.
It’s all a racket.
NotMax
WTF?
Which major island (for all intents and purposes equivalent to which county) is kind of important information to keep up with. Ditto for providing ages.
The last timely report?
(Purely coincidentally 808 is also the area code for the state of Hawaii.)
Cermet
Good morning and you are early today! Thanks for these updates and posting about so many idiots but I see some of these idiots are paid media – more criminal trying to slant the news with dis-information.
Since I was refused a booster a few weeks ago guess I should now be able BUT if they will allow mix & match come Oct 15th, maybe better to wait and get the Moderna vaccine?
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
Monroe County web site: took the weekend off again. NYSDOH says 187 new cases.
YY_Sima Qian
On 10/3 China reported 1 new domestic confirmed cases & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Fujian Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 260 active domestic confirmed cases.
Heilongjiang Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 81 active domestic confirmed & 6 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Horgos border crossing in Yili Prefecture, Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both found during tai-daily regular screening of all residents at the border crossing area.
At Yunnan Province there currently are 9 active domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province, all at Ruili in Dehong Prefecture.
At Henan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases remaining, all at Shangqiu.
Imported Cases
On 10/3, China reported 26 new imported confirmed cases (4 previously asymptomatic), 13 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 38 confirmed cases recovered (31 imported), 14 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 4 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 775 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 857 active confirmed cases in the country (505 imported), 4 in serious condition (2 imported), 343 active asymptomatic cases (330 imported), 0 suspect cases. 28,257 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 10/3, 2,213.691M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 730K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 10/4, Hong Kong reported 4 new positive cases, all imported (coming from Indonesia, the Philippines & Egypt).
Jerry
I know I shouldn’t look gift horses in the mouth and all that, but the Pfizer for kids meeting isn’t until the *end* of the month?! Uuuuuggghhh
rikyrah
AL,
This is a story about getting one shot at a time
Kimberly D. Manning, MD (@gradydoctor) tweeted at 10:40 PM on Tue, Sep 28, 2021:
1/
Grady Lobby
I was sitting at the #NoJudgmentZone table and notice a Grady elder quickly moving toward me on a walker.
Her: “‘Scuse me, baby. You know where this at?” *places paper onto desk*
I took the paper and scanned it. Someone jogged up beside her.
Niece: “Auntie!” https://t.co/DUM5OVfxyS
(https://twitter.com/gradydoctor/status/1443057997853433860?s=03)
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 8,075 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,285,640 cases. It also reports 118 new deaths as of midnight, for a cumulative total of 26,683 deaths – 1.17% of the cumulative reported total, 1.25% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.87.
807 confirmed cases are in ICU, 342 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 15,456 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,116,021 patients recovered – 92.6% of the cumulative reported total.
15 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,522 clusters. 989 clusters are currently active; 4,533 clusters are now inactive.
8,069 new cases today are local infections. Sarawak reports 1,188 local cases: nine in clusters, 376 close-contact screenings, and 803 other screenings. Kelantan reports 1,020 cases: 41 in clusters, 666 close-contact screenings, and 313 other screenings.
Penang reports 853 cases: 156 in clusters, 267 close-contact screenings, and 430 other screenings.
Johor reports 781 cases: 118 in clusters, 341 close-contact screenings, and 322 other screenings.
Selangor reports 685 local cases: 18 in clusters, 401 close-contact screenings, and 266 other screenings. Sabah reports 677 cases: 93 in clusters, 363 close-contact screenings, and 221 other screenings. Terengganu reports 635 local cases: one in a cluster, 512 close-contact screenings, and 122 other screenings. Kedah reports 627 local cases: six in clusters, 394 close-contact screenings, and 227 other screenings.
Perak reports 548 cases: 111 in clusters, 208 close-contact screenings, and 229 other screenings. Pahang reports 522 cases: 162 in clusters, 270 close-contact screenings, and 90 other screenings.
Melaka reports 219 cases: five in clusters, 118 close-contact screenings, and 96 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 149 local cases: four in clusters, 67 close-contact screenings, and 78 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 108 cases: five in clusters, 56 close-contact screenings, and 47 other screenings.
Perlis reports 36 cases: six close-contact screenings and 30 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 19 cases: 12 close-contact screenings and seven other screenings. Labuan reports two cases, both in clusters.
Six new cases today are imported: two in Kuala Lumpur, one in Selangor, one in Sarawak, one in Johor, one in Terengganu, and one in Kedah.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 206,574 doses of vaccine on 3rd October: 96,024 first doses and 110,550 second doses. As of midnight yesterday, the cumulative total is 44,352,079 doses administered: 23,833,382 first doses and 20,621,994 second doses. 72.9% of the population have received their first dose, while 63.1% are now fully vaccinated.
debbie
@rikyrah:
Great thread!
Ken
For some animals, even some mammals, this makes sense as a male reproductive strategy. This does not include humans.
Turning next to the moral dimension…
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
Correction: Johor is not reporting any imported cases today.
Another Scott
@Baud: The framing of most of these stories seems to be getting worse. “Even though…”. “Despite …”. Maybe New Zealand is still a great success story and things there would be much worse if they weren’t doing so well? Maybe high vaccination rates are working and the math says that they need to be higher just like all the experts keep saying? Maybe the economy won’t be back to normal until community spread is crushed just like the experts have said for 18+ months??!
“Despite the wildfire being 60% contained, houses are still being lost and people are still dying.”. Duh.
Grr…
Thanks, AL.
Cheers,
Scott.
Platonicspoof
@Cermet:
Although I haven’t heard a definite time for approval for Moderna or J&J boosters, Oct. 15th sounds very optimistic.
For e.g., this 09/30/21 Time article says Moderna is testing four different booster versions:
If the Moderna booster is a half dose, this 09-30-21 Deseret News article has numbers for the original Pfizer and Moderna doses and the resulting antibody levels (article has links which I removed because FYWP):
I shouldn’t suggest this, since I have no idea if there are any linear (?) relationships here, but Moderna regime total dose 200 mg gave 2880, so maybe booster of 50 mg gives 720?
The Pfizer total dose 60 mg gave 1100, so maybe booster gives 550?
Since waiting longer risks more exposure, you’d have to figure all your risk factors versus a very uncertain decision about the Moderna booster and a couple of numbers that someone on the internet pulled out of their “hat” (the civil term – I don’t want to get banned from the genteel society of jackals).
Personally, I’m getting the Pfizer booster asap since I qualify for least three different reasons.
Uncle Cosmo
I would have rather she carry out the assignment but send back nothing but reports of people praising President Uncle Joe “after I excluded all the bad-faith actors pretending to be independent when they in fact were committed &/or paid ideologues.” But I guess that would’ve gotten her on the Herrenvölkischer Beobachter’s shit list…
Who was it said that one person’s sad story is a tragedy but a million people’s misfortune is a statistic (said in a sarcastic tone of voice)?
I have often posted that Homo sap is odds-on[1] to go extinct due to its inability to emotionally understand probability and statistics[2] in any context beyond the next hand of Texas Scold’em.
Audiences routinely pass up “dry facts” for emotionally titillating tales (tall or not). This has been well-known for at least a century[3], hence the rise of the Human Interest Story, where one person’s travails are presented (in ways designed to hook into the audience’s reptile brain) in a manner to suggest their story is representative of a yuuuuuge cohort of the similarly afflicted – when in fact it may only represent, say, a disgruntled 0.6% of the total while ignoring the compliant 99.4%. Any (rare) attempt to balance that impression comes at the end of the segment as a dry statement by some faceless functionary, which the “reporter” delivers with a winkwinknudgenudge, implying that it’s just the bureaucracy covering their ass.
Democrats have facts and figures and optimism on their side and programs to play off that: Here’s what we’ll do to make your life better. Republicans present pessimistic, hostile narratives of grievance: Here’s why you’re so unhappy with your life, and here is who to blame.[4]
The forces of progress need to propagate more human interest stories that can be bundled into narratives of upliift. Unfortunately good news doesn’t offer the same jolt of fury: “If it bleeds, it leads.” It’s going to be a heavy lift to lift all those boats out there.
/rant
[1] SWIDT? :^p
[2] Disclaimer: MS in applied math, >30 yrs employed as a math/stat analyst, sporadic community college instructor in Statistics 101. I am not a neutral observer!
[3] Cf. the documentary The Century of the Self, in which Edward Bernays transforms his Uncle Ziggy‘s theorizing into the practice of public relations, to the eventual detriment of civil society.
[4] And naturally the blame is displaced from the powerful few who are responsible (and who are paying for the coverage) toward others on the audience’s level (or below) who can be profitably targeted…
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 1,760 new cases reported today (Monday’s reported case numbers are often low, coming out of the weekend). The test positivity rate is 9.4%. There were no new deaths reported overnight (noting that Register Offices are now generally closed at weekends). ICU bed occupancy numbers are 67, down four from yesterday while hospitalisations are 1,001, up 36.
There were about 11,300 vaccinations carried out in Scotland yesterday (Sunday) with about 85% of these being first vaccinations. 91.5% of 16+ adults are now vaccinated with their first dose and 84.6% are fully vaccinated. 72.1% of 16 and 17-year-olds have now received their first vaccination, up 0.3% from yesterday. 24.0% of 12-15 year olds have now received their first vaccination, up 3.6% from yesterday.
It appears the weekend’s vaccination numbers are inflated by school-age children receiving their first vaccination plus an unspecified number of booster vaccinations being carried out. The 18-40 agegroup is still not coming forward in great numbers to get vaccinated in comparison.
Sloane Ranger
Sunday in the UK we had 30,439 new cases. This means that the rolling 7-day average has gone up by 1.1%, but this is almost certainly an undercount due to weekend office closures. New cases by nation,
England – 25,176 (down 1618)
Northern Ireland – 892 (down 100)
Scotland – 2040 (down 475)
Wales – 2331 (includes Saturday’s cases).
Deaths – There were 43 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is definitely an undercount due to weekend office closures. The 7-day rolling average shows a decrease of 18.7%. 30 deaths were in England, 2 in Northern Ireland, 1 in Scotland and 10 in Wales, but some of these will have occurred on Saturday and not been reported until now.
Testing – Not updated at weekends.
Hospitalisations – Not updated at weekends.
Vaccinations – As of Saturday, 2 October, 48,928,952 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 44,969,396 had had both. Still no update on percentages vaccinated. They are still trying to work out how to include 12-15 year olds. On 2 October, 27,675 people got their first shot and 33,926 got their second.
Peale
A number of Students at Northern Illinois and Montana State this week are relieved that they’ll be able to complete their group assignments on time and with fewer hurt feelings than has been possible in recent years…
jonas
In the most recent stats I’ve seen here in my upstate NY county virtually no unvaccinated people under about 60 are hospitalized, even though the majority of those testing positive are in the 18-44 range. Once you get up to people in their 80s-90’s, it appears to be split about 50-50 between vaxxed and unvaxxed requiring hospitalization and 1-2 a day are dying. We didn’t have to be here.
dr. bloor
The article itself is a little better, but my first take after reading this was that they were doing a story about alternate-universe New England.