The US officially surpassed 1 million known deaths from Covid on Thursday, a cataclysmic outcome that only hints at the suffering of millions more Americans who are mourning the loss of loved ones https://t.co/faQZRlok3q
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) May 20, 2022
U.S. COVID update:
– New cases: 21,217
– Average: 112,290 (-226)
– States reporting: 4/50
– In hospital: 23,988 (-283)
– In ICU: 2,644 (-1)
– New deaths: 17
– Average: 326 (-1)More data: https://t.co/IMVlOJGU63 pic.twitter.com/M2JDDIwJGq
— BNN|Medriva Newsroom (@medriva) May 23, 2022
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Beijing authorities extended work-from-home guidance for many of its 22 million residents to stem a COVID outbreak, while Shanghai deployed more testing and curbs to hold on to its hard-won 'zero COVID' status after two months of lockdown https://t.co/gvc8Hy78Y3 pic.twitter.com/o4sDDFm8Nf
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 23, 2022
Plans by COVID-hit Chinese cities to exit or avoid lockdown are more fraught and uncertain than ever as the pursuit of zero cases grows more prolonged, taxing and complex, with the highly infectious Omicron variant demanding quicker and tougher steps. https://t.co/H45wCAROy0
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) May 17, 2022
Going home for students in Beijing is not cheap and many may not afford it.
They all face likely 14d self-funded hotel quarantines at their hometown, except Guangzhou which allow 7d home quarantine.
— Liqian Ren (@liqian_ren) May 22, 2022
"It's worrying if countries…are not using the tools that are now available…WHO has repeatedly said that where you have unchecked transmission, there is always a higher risk of new variants" – @DrMikeRyan @WHO on #NorthKorea's COVID outbreak @Reutershttps://t.co/VikWYHA6cO
— The Korea Society (@koreasociety) May 18, 2022
Australia’s Covid death rate sits at one-tenth of America’s, putting the nation of 25 million people near the top of global rankings in the protection of life. Both countries share similar demographics, but their rates point to different cultures of trust. https://t.co/VQwzMwytVB
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 16, 2022
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Rising COVID-19 cases are driving up the use of therapeutics, with Pfizer Inc's oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid seeing a 315% jump over the past four weeks, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. https://t.co/PFZVAhTzkW
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) May 17, 2022
This analysis by @DrJayVarma of why public health failed in the pandemic is really worth a read. https://t.co/fDumjHYJHp
— Helen Branswell 🇺🇦 (@HelenBranswell) May 16, 2022
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And, more than one in four nursing homes (28%) report staffing shortages.
The data, as reported, have some limitations, but still raise serious quality concerns.
NEW https://t.co/20Gx5bHkRF pic.twitter.com/8TktoVGfGe
— Tricia Neuman (@tricia_neuman) May 16, 2022
The death chart is amazing. Thanks, science.
Re: the U.S. being wealthy, the problem of course is that the GOP+ Manchin control access to that wealth. The Senate is the biggest problem we have by a mile.
Monroe County, NY:
192 new cases reported for 5/21. This is from the NYSDOH so it’s PCR tests only.
Lest we forget the advocation of ineptitude. Dolt 45, July 2020:
“I’ll be right eventually. You know, I said, ‘It’s going to disappear.’ I’ll say it again. And I’ll be right.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-said-the-coronavirus-would-go-away-1054585/
Australia’s Covid death rate sits at one-tenth of America’s, putting the nation of 25 million people near the top of global rankings in the protection of life. Both countries share similar demographics, but their rates point to different cultures of trust.
The rates point to us having a traitorous, orange, fascist manbaby bellowing “Hoax!” out of his fat, orange, Kremlin-humping face for MONTHS.
On 5/22 Mainland China reported 174 new domestic confirmed (56 previously asymptomatic), 628 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 0 new domestic suspect cases, & 1 new death.
Guangdong Province reported 1 new confirmed asymptomatic (at Zhaoqing) case, a person coming from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival. 4 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 88 active domestic confirmed & 39 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 1 business at Zhanjiang is currently at Medium Risk.
At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region 3 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed (both at Hechi) & 22 active domestic asymptomatic cases (14 at Fangchenggang, 6 at Baise, & 2 at Chongzuo) in the province.
At Hunan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Manzhouli in Hulun Buir, Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region, there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
Tianjin Municipality reported 32 new domestic confirmed (20 previously asymptomatic, all mild) & 15 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 21 of the new positive cases are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine & 6 via screening of residents under movement control. 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 112 active domestic confirmed & 104 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Shandong Province 15 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 8 active domestic confirmed cases & 29 active asymptomatic cases in the province. As not all of the administrative divisions in the province provide data on recoveries, I cannot track the count of active cases in all of the administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
* At Dezhou the last domestic asymptomatic case recovered.
* At Jinan 14 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 22 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city
* At Yantai there currently are 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Taiyuan in Shanxi Province there currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
Shaanxi Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 2 active confirmed (1 each at Ankang & Xi’an) cases in the city.
At Hebei Province 6 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 44 active asymptomatic case in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks. 1 produce market at Tangshan & 1 village at Chengde are currently at Medium Risk.
Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (previously asymptomatic). 1 domestic confirmed & 52 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 228 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
* Shenyang reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (previously asymptomatic).
* Yingkou did report any new domestic positive cases. 4 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
* Dandong did not report any new domestic positive cases. 8 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Heilongjiang Province there currently are 5 active domestic asymptomatic (3 at Mudanjiang & 1 each at Harbin & Qiqihar) cases in the province.
Jilin Province reported 5 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 11 domestic confirmed & 16 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. As the province does not consistently break down recoveries by confirmed & asymptomatic cases or by jurisdictions, I can no longer track the count of active case counts in the different jurisdictions.
* Yanbian Prefecture reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic (both at Tumen) cases, both via screening of residents under movement control. 5 domestic confirmed & 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 5 domestic confirmed & 5 domestic asymptomatic cases in the city
* Baishan reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Changbai County, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed & 34 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
* At Changbaishan there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
* At Changchun 6 domestic confirmed & 7 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered.
Beijing Municipality reported 83 new domestic confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 16 new domestic asymptomatic cases. Of the 94 domestic positive cases (13 asymptomatic, 66 mild, 14 moderate & 1 serious) reported between 3 PM on 5/21 & 3 PM on 5/22, 77 are traced close contacts under centralized quarantine or residents under movement control, & 17 via community screening. The As the city does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there. 11 sites are currently at High Risk. 25 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
Shanghai Municipality reported 55 new domestic confirmed (30 previously asymptomatic) & 503 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all of the new positive cases were already under quarantine. There was 1 new death (93 y.o., w/ a range of underlying conditions, unvaccinated). 235 domestic confirmed & 2,784 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2,736 active domestic confirmed (135 serious & 38 critical) & 5,075 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 3 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
At Hubei Province 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 10 active domestic asymptomatic (5 at Jingmen, 2 at Ezhou, & 1 each at Enshi Prefecture, Qianjiang & Suizhou) cases in the province.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 45 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. The currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 112 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in each administrative division, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Anhui Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 49 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
* Huangshan reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Xiuning County, all traced close contacts under centralized quarantine. 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 47 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
* In the rest of the province there currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic (1 each at Anqing & Suzhou) cases remaining.
Zhejiang Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, at Jiaxing, a person coming from elsewhere & tested positive upon entry. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported versus domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
Fujian Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, at Xiamen, a response worker living in “closed loop” since 5/18, found via regular screening. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
At Guizhou Province 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Zunyi) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic (all at Qiannan Prefecture) cases remaining.
Jiangxi Province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 24 asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 63 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
* At Yichun 23 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 54 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
At Shangrao 1 domestic asymptomatic case recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
* The rest of the province reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, both at Fuzhou, both coming from elsewhere & under centralized quarantine since arrival.
Henan Province reported 53 new domestic asymptomatic cases. 3 domestic confirmed & 23 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 150 active domestic confirmed & 476 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
* Zhengzhou reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine & 1 via community screening.
* Xuchang reported 51 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Changge.
Sichuan Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both previously asymptomatic) & 29 new domestic asymptomatic cases. As the province does not break down recoveries by imported vs. domestic cases, I cannot track the count of active domestic cases there.
* Guang’an reported 2 new domestic confirmed (both previously asymptomatic) & 29 new domestic asymptomatic cases, all at Linshui County, all persons under centralized quarantine or residents under lockdown. 3 sites are currently at Medium Risk.
* The rest of the province did not report any new domestic positive cases.
At Chongqing Municipality there currently are 5 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the city.
At Qinghai Province 5 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases recovered. There currently are 17 active domestic confirmed & 51 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Yunnan Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining in the province. As the province does not break down recoveries by administrative divisions, I cannot track the count of active cases in administrative divisions, given the multiple simultaneous outbreaks.
Imported Cases
On 5/22, Mainland China reported 13 new imported confirmed cases (0 previously asymptomatic), 54 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
* Xiamen in Fujian Province – 8 confirmed cases, all coming from Taiwan
* Putian in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
* Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 3 confirmed cases, 1 each coming from Hong Kong, Taiwan & Canada; 4 asymptomatic cases, all coming from Hong Kong
* Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Mauritius; 10 asymptomatic cases, 8 coming from Hong Kong & 1 each from South Africa & Mauritius
* Foshan in Guangdong Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Chile & the UAE, both off flights that landed at Guangzhou
* Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Malaysia
* Dongguan in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Hong Kong
* Shanghai Municipality – 1 confirmed case, coming from the DRC (via Paris CdG); 4 asymptomatic cases, 3 coming from the US & 1 from Canada
* Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region – 15 asymptomatic cases, all coming from Vietnam
* Kunming in Yunnan Province – 5 asymptomatic case, 3 coming from Thailand & 1 each from Indonesia & Sri Lanka
* Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 2 asymptomatic case, both coming from Laos, via land border crossings
* Tianjin Municipality – 5 asymptomatic cases, 3 coming from Poland & 1 each from Hungary (via Warsaw) & Ukraine (via Warsaw)
* Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Mexico & the UK
* Harbin in Heilongjiang Province – 1 asymptomatic case, coming from South Korea
Overall in Mainland China, 316 confirmed cases recovered (14 imported), 3,045 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (43 imported) & 56 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all domestic), & 29,039 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 4,275 active confirmed cases in the country (199 imported), 193 in serious/critical condition (1 imported), 35,217 active asymptomatic cases (454 imported), 0 suspect cases. 244,400 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 5/22, 3,371.096M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 934K doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 5/23 Hong Kong reported 190 new positive cases, 28 imported & 162 domestic (66 via RT-PCR & 96 from rapid antigen tests), 0 deaths. There is now community spread of the BA.2.12.1 variant.
On 5/23, Taiwan reported 66,283 new positive cases, 36 imported & 66,247 domestic (including 130 moderate & 43 serious). There were 40 new deaths (ages ranging from < 5 to 90+, actual dates of death between 5/6 – 5/20, 37 having a range of underlying conditions, 25 partially/fully vaccinated).
The Atlantic with the same old tune: plenty of blame to go around?
Bullshit. Take the Republicans out of the equation and show me your work.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reported 1,817 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, for a cumulative reported total of 4,491,320 cases. It also reported two deaths for an adjusted cumulative total of 35,643 deaths – 0.79% of the cumulative reported total, 0.80% of resolved cases.
There were 26,511 active cases yesterday, 1,574 fewer than the day before. 1,087 are in hospital. 40 confirmed cases are in ICU; of these patients, 23 confirmed cases cases are on ventilators. Meanwhile, 3,389 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 4,429,166 patients recovered – 98.6% of the cumulative reported total.
1,814 new cases reported yesterday were local infections. Three new cases were imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 13,706 doses of vaccine on 22nd May: 5,065 first doses, 7,377 second doses, and 1,265 booster doses. The cumulative total is 70,799,796 doses administered: 27,931,356 first doses, 27,001,724 second doses, and 16,080,331 booster doses. 85.5% of the population have received their first dose, 82.7% their second dose, and 49.2% their booster dose.
Greece: I lost the thread when I was away over Orthodox Easter, but looking at the Worldometer charts, it looks like the trend lines for new cases and for fatalities are both heading downwards. Tuesday is the spike day for new case reporting (Tuesday’s numbers are generally roughly double Monday and Wednesday’s), and the latest spike on May 17 was lower than the base numbers a month ago. Sunday’s numbers (it’s too early for the 6pm daily report) also showed 156 ICU patients intubated, which is a significant drop from where the numbers were a month or two ago.
It’s nowhere near over yet, though. In the last week alone I’ve had a cousin, a cousin-in-law, and my sweetheart’s mother all test positive despite taking significant precautions in all cases.
Local stations are again reporting COVID statistics in their evening broadcasts, but without charts or graphs. Guess that makes it easier to ignore.🤷🏻‍♀️
Those Cliff Jerrison tweets *sigh* Does he realize that’s what most everyone wants, but it’s not possible, at least not now. Does he also realize that he wrote what broke the will of people to take precautions – “When I go out I mask, and was starting to question it until I got Covid”. Omicron broke people’s will to wear masks and take other measures, because so many people still did all that and got Covid anyway! You can say that’s stupid and reckless, but it’s also the truth.
Pfizer covid shot 80 percent effective in young kids, early data shows:
Finally a real light in the tunnel!
In theory, all college/university campuses in China are under lockdown, w/ students prohibited from exiting the campus except w/ special permission. This applies even where there are no cases, such as Wuhan. Meanwhile, all faculty, academic & service staff can continue to come & leave w/ complete freedom of movement (other than needing negative RT-PCR results w/in 48 hrs.). I can understand the thinking behind such inhumane policy, since Chinese college/university dorms are very crowded, & the student body are young & highly vaccinated/boosted (thus far more likely to be asymptomatic/very mild). Ever time there has been an Omicron BA.2 outbreak in a campus, case count can reach low to mid-triple digits before it is contained & eliminated. Nevertheless, it is completely unfair to the students that the staff can come & leave, who are just as likely to to bring the virus to campus.
However, students at at least 2 of the major universities in Wuhan protested & kicked up a storm on Chinese social media, & the school administrations relented & lifted the lock downs on the campuses. OTOH, the university where my wife works at is still under lockdown (freedom to move w/in the campus, but in theory needing special permission to go outside). Instead, the students are finding ways to amuse themselves, such as holding games & concerns on the meadows & the lakeshore in the evenings. Security guards & university admin also turn a blind eye to students frequenting the restaurants & nigh markets adjacent to the campus, & the students generally know not to venture too far afield.
Peking University does has a long traditions of political activism (even revolutionary fervor) since its founding, suppressed though as they are today. It’s students & faculty played prominent roles in the May 4th Movement of 1919 & the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 (& the smaller protests in the few years before).
@Soprano2: “Omicron broke people’s will to wear masks and take other measures, because so many people still did all that and got Covid anyway! You can say that’s stupid and reckless, but it’s also the truth.”
What @WereBear said. Delta and Omicron should have hit a nearly fully vaccinated population, and been of comparatively little consequence. And the reason it didn’t happen that way is the Fox News-GOP-QAnon coalition to destroy America.
@Soprano2: I also confess I don’t understand the whole ‘will to wear masks’ thing, at least for those of us who only need to wear one when we’re in a store or on a plane or something.
I can understand how it would be a burden if you were a retail worker who had to wear a mask eight hours a day, every work day. That would get pretty damn tiring, I’ll admit. But grabbing a mask as you get out of the car, and popping it on before you go into the grocery: I don’t see that a level of ‘will’ is needed that could be broken.
It’s like, “I needed a crown on one of my teeth this winter, I brushed twice a day and flossed regularly but this happened anyway. This broke my will to brush my teeth anymore.”
I do in fact brush my teeth twice a day, and even though it’s a very very small burden and is quite habitual at this point, it’s still more work than putting on a mask on the way into the store – which after two years is also an ingrained habit at this point.
sdhays May 23, 2022 at 8:34
Yes, this is very good news. But with a caveat: children under 5 are required to have 3 shots to get to that 80% effective. There are already too many 5-11 year-olds with either only one shot or zero shots. I hope parents of the younger children will listen to their kids’ doctors. I hope.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/covid-vaccine-kids-5-3-doses-pfizer-vaccine-effective-pfizer-says-rcna30016
“Three doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for the youngest children were 80 percent effective against the omicron variant of the coronavirus, according to early data the company released Monday.
The long-awaited findings bring the vaccine one step closer to a reality for parents of children ages 6 months to 4 years — the only group that remains ineligible for vaccination.”