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October 13, 2020 at 1:04 pm #367819AnonymousGuest
Dear Reader:
Worldometer(October 13): Over 8 million cases and over 220 thousand deaths in the U.S., 45,701 new cases and 316 new deaths yesterday, down from 723 new deaths three days ago and 909 new deaths four days ago.
In Florida, there were 1,533 new cases and 48 new deaths yesterday, down from 115 new deaths four days ago, and 158 new deaths five days ago.
In Indiana, there were 1,574 new cases and 6 new deaths yesterday. In North Carolina there were 1,276 new cases and 3 new deaths yesterday, down from 29 new deaths five days ago.
Yesterday, in the U.K., there were 13,970 new cases and 50 new deaths. There were 13,582 new cases and 125 new deaths in Russia. There were 9,286 new cases and 65 new deaths in Spain.
Yesterday, there were zero new cases and zero new deaths in China (it’s been so since April 18); zero new cases and zero new deaths in New Zealand; 1 new case and zero new deaths in Vietnam; 2 new cases and zero new deaths in Taiwan; 4 new cases and 1 new death in Singapore; 5 new cases and zero new deaths in Thailand; 11 new cases and zero new deaths in Hong Kong; 97 new cases and 1 new death in South Korea.
CNN: Covid-19 surge is here(Oct 13): “Just as predicted, the US is now grappling with a new Covid-19 surge — one that could overwhelm hospitals, kill thousands of Americans a day by January, and leave even young survivors with long-term complications.
“‘We went down to the lowest point lately in early September, around 30,000-35,000 new cases a day. Now we’re back up to (about) 50,000 new cases a day. And it’s going to continue to rise,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
“‘This is the fall/winter surge that everyone was worried about. And now it’s happening. And it’s happening especially in the northern Midwest, and the Northern states are getting hit very hard — Wisconsin, Montana, the Dakotas. But it’s going to be nationally soon enough.'”
“Across the country, 33 states have reported more Covid-19 cases this past week compared to the previous week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University…. ‘This winter — this November, December, January, February — could be the worst time in our epidemic,’ Hotez said. ‘Get ready to hunker down.’ As we’ve seen throughout this pandemic, surges in new Covid-19 cases lead to increased hospitalizations and deaths in the coming weeks. At least 10 states have reported record-high Covid-19 hospitalizations since Friday, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project.”
CNN: The US and Europe face rising Covid-19 case numbers as they squander lessons from Asia Pacific(Oct 13): “While the Asia-Pacific region treads water until a coronavirus vaccine is found, the West’s biggest economies are drowning as a second wave firmly establishes itself in Europe…
“There are now more patients in hospital with Covid-19 in England than there were in March, when a nationwide lockdown was imposed, according to Johnson and health officials. France and the Netherlands broke their own records over the weekend, reporting the highest numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. In the United States, there were more new positive cases in the White House on October 2 than in the whole of Taiwan….
“Seven months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, life is closer to normal in the Asia-Pacific region thanks to the basic lessons of epidemiology: clear communication, quarantines, border controls, aggressive testing and contact tracing, Kenji Shibuya, the Director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London, told CNN.
“Nightclubs remain open in Taiwan, which also held its first full capacity arena show in August. Thousands were pictured visiting the Great Wall of China last week, months after an estimated 20,000 packed into a New Zealand stadium for a rugby match. European countries with successful pandemic responses, like Germany, have taken this approach.
“But experts say Spain, the US and the UK are seeing cases skyrocket, and cracks appear in the political and public consensus, after they opted to prematurely re-open their economies without heeding those rules. Spain’s government declared a state of emergency on Friday in the country’s worst-hit Madrid region, in order to override regional leaders’ objections to the restrictions. In the UK, Johnson’s muddled messaging and a lack of transparency in decision-making have drawn criticism from across the political spectrum…
“Resurgences of Covid-19 in the Asia-Pacific region look a lot different to what is happening in the West. New Zealand pretty much eradicated community transmission within its borders after a minor outbreak in August, during which the virus’ spread never rose beyond 19 new infections a day… Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand have largely kept their borders closed to visitors, with returning citizens and work permit holders being quarantined at home or at designated facilities.
“The same is true in Vietnam, which remains closed to most international travelers and, like many countries in the region, has encouraged citizens to holiday within its borders. The lower-middle income country has taken a proactive approach to the outbreak, bringing infections down to the single digits in October, little more than two months after authorities evacuated 80,000 local tourists from the resort city of Da Nang after three residents tested positive for the virus. By contrast, the European Union resumed inter-regional tourism in June, even though many European countries were slow to require visitors to undergo routine testing on arrival…
“Taiwan and South Korea, which had the world’s second highest number of cases in February, kept a handle on outbreaks without blunt instruments like lockdowns thanks to their gold standard test and tracing systems, and a transparent communication strategy that has kept the public on side. The UK deploys conventional contact-tracing methods, which identify cases and track down the people they met after they became infectious, says McKee. Meanwhile, Asian countries like South Korea have relied on what is known as backwards tracing, which attempts to identify the event, place or source of an infection…
“Asia-Pacific’s response has been shaped by the 2003 SARS outbreak. Trauma from that period meant many Asian countries were better prepared and better resourced to act decisively at start of the pandemic with public approval… Heidi Tworek, an associate professor of international history and public policy at the University of British Columbia.. authored a report on democratic communications during the pandemic.
“The report analyzed three democratic jurisdictions in the Asia-Pacific region — Taiwan, New Zealand, and South Korea — and found that cohesive messages from those governments were useful in forestalling ‘compliance fatigue’ and laid the foundation for vaccine uptake. ‘They also matter for cultivating trust among citizens and their governments — trust that is critical for the future stability of democratic institutions,’ the report stated.
“That trust can easily be lost. A study in The Lancet found that when Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, broke lockdown rules but faced no consequences, it undermined the public’s faith in the government’s ability to handle the pandemic. The opposite happened in New Zealand, where David Clark, its Health Minister, was demoted in April 2020 after twice breaking the country’s Covid-19 regulations. He resigned in July and goodwill for the government has remained.
“New Zealand and South Korea adopted a “division-of-labour approach to communicating political and scientific information,” the report noted. Public health officials would first deliver the science. The message would be humanized and reinforced with meaning by politicians like New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern or South Korea’s President Moon Jae-on in televised addresses or Facebook lives, Tworek said.
“Misinformation and conspiracies were tackled in South Korea and Taiwan via high quality information being pushed out on multiple channels, Tworek added. To engage the public, the Taiwanese government worked with local comedians to create memes for their “humor over rumor” strategy. It included the use of a cartoon “spokesdog,” a Shiba Inu called Zongchai, to help communicate its policies. One meme showed that the 1.5 meter indoor social distancing policy equated to the length of three Shiba Inu, while the outdoor social distancing policy was two Shiba Inu.
“Masks were distributed to Taiwanese households at the start of the pandemic — many of them in a shade of pink. After hearing that male students were being bullied for wearing pink masks at schools, officials wore pink face coverings at their daily briefing. “It is fantastic because it’s not just about countering disinformation, it is about countering stigma and prejudice,” Tworek said. “This is not rocket science. These are basic tenets of health and risk communications [in order to] establish trust.”
anita
- This reply was modified 4 years, 2 months ago by .
October 15, 2020 at 10:44 am #367866AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Thursday, Oct 15: yesterday, there have been almost 60 thousand new cases in the U.S. (970 new deaths). In Canada, Europe and in Russia, yesterday- there were over 22.5 thousand new cases in France (104 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of close to 20 thousand new cases in the U.K., (137 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of over 14 thousand new cases in Russia (239 new deaths); almost 12 thousand new cases in Spain (209 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of over 9.5 thousand new cases in the Czech Republic (66 new deaths- an all time pandemic high); an all time pandemic high of over 7 thousand new cases in Italy; a second-all time high of over 7.3 thousand new cases in Belgium (33 new deaths); a second-all time pandemic high of over 7.2 thousand new cases in the Netherland (43 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of over 6.5 thousand new cases in Poland (116 new deaths- an all time pandemic high); over 6 thousand new cases in Germany (31 new deaths); Canada’s all time pandemic high was yesterday, over 4 thousand new cases (10 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of close to 3 thousand new cases in Switzerland (4 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of over 2 thousand new cases in Portugal (7 new deaths); an all time pandemic high of over 1.3 thousand new cases in Austria (11 new deaths).
The Wall Street Journal: Europe overtakes U.S. in New Cases of Covid-19 (Oct 14): “Europe has reached a tipping point in its fight to contain a second wave of the coronavirus, overtaking the U.S. in a key metric that tracks the virus’s spread. Months after authorities flattened the curve of coronavirus infections across Europe by imposing some of the Western world’s toughest restrictions on millions of people, the virus has crept back onto the continent. Hospitals are filling up. Bars and cafes are closing down. On Wednesday, France declared a state of emergency and announced a nightly curfew for the Paris region and eight other metropolitan areas across the country…
“The 27 countries of the European Union and the U.K. recorded 78,000 cases a day on average over a seven-day period ending on Oct. 12, or 152 cases for every million residents. The U.S. recorded 49,000 a day on average over the same period, about 150 for every million residents…
“Europe continues to trail the U.S. in average daily deaths per capita. Over the same seven-day period, the U.S. recorded an average of 2 deaths a day per million residents, double the European average…Countries including France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and the U.K. reported new daily infections in excess of 250 per million people a day—higher than the U.S. reported during its July peak…
“The rise in cases has begun to show up in increased hospital admissions. The ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control) said in its latest surveillance report that in 19 European countries, including France, Spain and the U.K., the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in early October was around a quarter or more of the level it reached during the pandemic’s April peak.
“Some health authorities say that this time around they are detecting cases earlier—when they are less severe—and hospitals are better prepared to treat them… A main reason Europe hasn’t experienced a spike in deaths, similar to the one that occurred during the spring, is that the virus has mostly spread among younger people who are less likely to become severely ill from it. Older generations with higher mortality rates have managed to keep their distance.
“There are signs, however, that the dam between young and old is under strain. A study led by Imperial College London estimated that around three in every 1,000 U.K. residents aged 65 and over were infected with the virus in early October—an eightfold increase from the level a month earlier. Those aged 18 to 24 were most exposed, with an estimated 12 in every 1,000 of them believed infected. Data from English hospitals shows admissions for Covid-19 are low but increasing fastest among those over 85.”
Bloomberg: London Facing Tougher Curbs, Curfew Set for Paris: Virus Update (Oct 15): “The U.K. government imposed tougher curbs on London in a bid to contain a spike in new cases, while France set a curfew in Paris. European nations from Germany to Italy to the Czech Republic reported record increases in new infections…
“The virus’s comeback in the U.S. has reached the vast majority of the country, with trends worsening in 46 states and the nation’s capital…
“Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz urged the country’s provinces to tighten regional measures as new infections hit another record on Thursday… European Union Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides stepped up warnings about the spread of the coronavirus in the 27-nation bloc. ‘It is with great concern that I am witnessing the increasingly rapid rise of infection rates all across the EU,’ Kyriakides said in a statement on Thursday in Brussels. ‘Time is running out — everyone’s first priority should be to do what it takes to avoid the devastating consequences of generalized lockdowns.’…
Czechs prepares to turn stadiums into hospitals: the country needs to start building alternative health-care facilities in places such as stadiums and spas as soon as this weekend to relieve hospitals facing the threat of being overrun with covid patients, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said…Poland is considering announcing a so-called red zone in the entire country, which would implement further restrictions on weddings and could mean limiting the number of people in stores among others, according to the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna newspaper.”
anita
October 15, 2020 at 10:56 am #367867AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
CNN: Herd immunity is not the way out of the coronavirus pandemic, experts say (Oct 15): “A vaccine is still the best way to bring an end to the Covid-19 pandemic, health experts say, adding that pursuing herd immunity would be dangerous. The idea of letting the virus run unchecked through communities ‘misses the basic point that we’re all connected,’ former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Thomas Frieden told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“Frieden was responding to recent efforts to promote herd immunity as an answer to Covid-19. The idea is being pushed by those eager to stop the economic damage the pandemic has caused…A vaccine could be available to some groups by the end of the year. But some politicians hoping to reverse the economic havoc from the pandemic have embraced the idea of letting the virus spread until enough people have been infected and developed immunity that there is no where for it to spread next…
“But the idea is ‘a dangerous fallacy unsupported by scientific evidence’ that risks ‘significant morbidity and mortality across the whole population,’ 80 scientists from around the world wrote in an open letter. ‘Any infection anywhere is potentially a threat somewhere else because even if you feel fine and get over it with no problems, no long-term consequences, you might spread it to someone who dies from it. And that’s what we’re seeing all over the country,’ Frieden said.
“It is impossible to keep just the vulnerable protected from the spread, Frieden said. And letting the virus run rampant would likely lead to recurring epidemics because there is no evidence that people are protected long-term after they have been infected, according to the letter.
“The best way to achieve widespread immunity, Frieden said, will be through a vaccine. ‘The concept (of herd immunity) really comes from vaccines,’ Frieden said. ‘When you vaccinate enough people, the disease stops spreading, and that might be 60%, 80%, 90% for different diseases.'”
anita
October 16, 2020 at 9:53 am #367888AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 16: The all-time pandemic high of new cases in the U.S. was on July 24, almost 79 thousand new cases on that day. Sept 7 had the lowest number of new cases since July 24: just over 25.8 thousand new cases on that day. Yesterday, Oct 15, there were over 66 thousand new cases, higher than yesterday, and the highest since Aug 1. There were 874 new deaths yesterday in the U.S..
Yesterday was an all-time pandemic high for the following countries: France, with over 30.6 thousand new case; the Czech Republic with over 9.7 thousand new cases; Italy, with just over 8.8 thousand new cases; Poland and Belgium, with over 8 thousand new cases each; the Netherlands, with almost 7.8 thousand new cases; Germany with over 7 thousand new cases; Austria, with over 1.5 thousand new cases, and Bulgaria with close to a thousand new cases.
Yesterday was the U.K. second all-time pandemic high of new cases, just under 19 thousand(second to the day before yesterday); Romania over 4 thousands (second to the day before yesterday); Switzerland with over 2.6 thousand new cases (second to the day before yesterday), and Ireland, with over a thousand new cases (second to April 10).
The Hill: Key coronavirus model predicts nearly 80 percent rise in deaths by February (Oct 16): “A key model foresees approximately 171,000 more coronavirus related deaths by February 2021, a number that would represent a spike of 78 percent. The model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine suggests there will be roughly 389,087 deaths by Feb. 1.
“If all Americans use face masks, the model’s best-case scenario projects 314,000 deaths by that date. The model, however, foresees more than 477,000 deaths if mask mandates are eased. ‘We expect deaths to stop declining and begin increasing in the next one to two weeks,’ researchers said, according to CNN. ‘The winter surge appears to have begun somewhat later than the surge in Europe. Daily deaths will reach over 2,000 a day in January even with many states reimposing mandates before the end of the year.’…
“Public health experts are warning that rising cases will continue to spike as the weather cools and people move indoors… Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, on Thursday warned that American families should ‘evaluate the risk-benefit’ of having a Thanksgiving gathering with regard to spreading coronavirus… He called the current situation in the U.S. ‘quite concerning [and] we’ve really got to double down on the fundamental public health measures that we talk about every single day because they can make a difference.'”
anita
October 17, 2020 at 11:07 am #367909AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 17: there were over 71.6 thousand new cases in the U.S. yesterday, an increase from the day before. (There were only seven days in July with higher daily new cases than yesterday). The following U.S. stated experienced their all-time pandemic high of new cases yesterday: Wisconsin (3,861), North Carolina (2,684), Minnesota (2,290), Kansas (1,805), Colorado (1,312), Idaho (1,094), North Dakota (864), Wyoming (290). The following US states experienced their second all-time pandemic high of new cases yesterday: Illinois (5,103), Michigan (2,206), Ohio (2,104) and Iowa (1,790).
In the U.S., there were 928 new deaths yesterday, an increase from the day before.
The following countries experienced their all-time pandemic high of new cases yesterday: Russia (15,150), The Czech Republic (11,102), Belgium (10,448), Italy (10,010), The Netherlands (7,984), Ukraine (5,992), Romania (4,026). Poland had its second all-time pandemic high yesterday, of 7,705 new cases.
CNN: US Coronavirus, Fauci warns that Covid-19 infection rates are too high heading into winter (Oct 16): “The number of coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed 8 million on Friday as health officials from coast to coast scramble to contain the rising rate of infections. The case numbers are steadily increasing daily, according to data from Johns Hopkins University… ‘You can’t enter into the cool months of the fall and the cold months of the winter with a high community infection baseline,’ Fauci said in a John Hopkins virtual event posted Friday…
“Hospitalizations increased as well. Seven states saw a record for Covid-19 hospitalizations Thursday — Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin, according to the Covid Tracking Project. The test positivity has gotten much worse in certain states — sitting above 20% Friday in Idaho, Iowa, South Dakota and Wisconsin. US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Friday in a news conference that Wisconsin is now considered a ‘red state’ because the positivity rate is “going in the wrong direction.”..
“It doesn’t have to be this way. Experts have repeatedly said that doubling down on simple safety measures including masks, social distancing and hand washing can help slow transmission of the virus. Universal mask wearing could save the lives of more than 70,000 Americans in the next three and a half months, according to IHME” (Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a research institute working in the area of global health statistics at the University of Washington in Seattle).
The Wall Street Journal, More than 1,000 current and former CDC officers condemn U.S Covid-19 response (Oct 16): “More than 1,000 current and former officers of an elite disease-fighting program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have signed an open letter expressing dismay at the nation’s public-health response to the Covid-19 pandemic and calling for the federal agency to play a more central role.
“‘The absence of national leadership on Covid-19 is unprecedented and dangerous,’ said the letter, signed by current and former officers of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service of outbreak investigators. ‘CDC should be at the forefront of a successful response to this global public health emergency.’… All of the signatories were writing to ‘express our concern about the ominous politicization and silencing of the nation’s health protection agency’ during the current pandemic, said their letter, which was published Friday in the Epidemiology Monitor, a newsletter for epidemiologists.
“‘CDC has today, as it has every day during its 74-year history, provided the best available information and recommendations to the American public,’ the agency said in a response to the letter. ‘Since January, more than 5,200 CDC personnel have dedicated themselves to protecting the health of the American people.’
“Long regarded as the world’s premier public health agency, the CDC normally plays a leading role globally in a response to epidemics. The Trump administration has been deeply involved at times in the shaping of scientific recommendations at the CDC during the pandemic, raising objections to guidelines for reopening churches and schools and for wearing masks, The Wall Street Journal reported. An administration spokesman said that ‘the CDC occupies a critical seat on the (coronavirus) task force, which is made up of public health leaders with an array of valuable expertise.’
“Trust has eroded in the agency, a recent poll showed. Former agency officials and other public health professionals have spoken up in defense of the CDC, and argue it needs to resume its leading and science-based role heading the nation’s pandemic defenses…The CDC’s recommendations and leadership are critical to help often under-resourced state and local health departments respond effectively in a pandemic, said Jeanette Stehr-Green, a public-health consultant in Port Angeles, Wash., who signed the letter…”
anita
October 21, 2020 at 12:55 pm #368066AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 21: There are over 8.5 million cases and 226,684 deaths in the U.S., with over 62 thousand new cases and 952 new deaths yesterday (over 5.6 thousand new cases and 81 new deaths in Texas; over 4.5 thousand new cases and 33 new deaths in Wisconsin; almost 3.9 thousand new cases and 62 new deaths in California; over 3.7 thousand new cases and 41 new deaths in Illinois; over 3.6 thousand cases and 85 new deaths in Florida; over 2 thousand new cases and 8 new deaths in Ohio; over 1.5 thousand new cases and 53 new deaths in North Carolina; almost 1.3 thousand new cases and 10 new deaths in New York).
There were over 54 thousand new cases (total of over 7.7 million cases) and 714 new deaths (total 116,639 deaths) in India, yesterday.
Yesterday, there were over 21.3 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic high) in the UK, and 241 new deaths; over 20.4 thousand new cases in France, and 262 new deaths; over 16 thousand new cases in Russia (an all-time pandemic-high)and 269 new deaths in Russia; over 13.8 thousand new cases in Spain (a second all time pandemic high and 218 new deaths; over 10.8 thousand new cases (a third all-time pandemic high) and 89 new deaths in Italy; over 8 thousand new cases (a second all-time pandemic high) and 46 new deaths in the Netherlands; high over 7 thousand new cases (second all-time pandemic high) and 56 new deaths in Germany.
CNN: US Coronavirus: US is nearing ‘rapid acceleration’ of Covid-19 cases, expert warns, as daily infections top 60,000 (Oct 21): “A leading health expert says US Covid-19 cases will begin to rapidly accelerate in a week as the country topped 60,000 new infections Tuesday — triple what the daily average was back in June, when restrictions had begun to ease. The prediction comes after several state leaders reimposed some measures to help curb the spread of the virus, fueled by small gatherings increasingly moving indoors with the colder weather, as well as other factors such as college and school reopenings…
“‘It’s going to be a difficult fall and winter,’ Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC Monday. ‘I think we’re about two or three weeks behind Europe — so we’re about a week away from starting to enter a period where we’re going to see a rapid acceleration in cases.’ The difference is many European countries were able to suppress their numbers of new cases over the summer, but the US entered the fall season with a relatively high baseline average of new infections — something experts warned wouldn’t help in containing another surge of cases…
“‘We’re seeing hospitalizations go up in 42 states right now, cases are going up in 45 states, and there really is no backstop,’ Gottlieb said. ‘This fall and winter season is when the coronavirus is going to want to spread.’.. By next week or the week after that, the US could be recording up to 70,000 new cases daily, Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said Tuesday. And the numbers could keep rising after that, he said.”
The New York Times: ‘It has hit us with a vengeance’: Coronavirus surges again across the United States (Oct 21): “As the coronavirus races across the country, it has reached every corner of a nursing home in Kansas, infecting all 62 residents inside. There are so few hospital beds available in North Dakota that patients sick with the virus are being ferried by ambulance to facilities 100 miles away. And in Ohio, more people are hospitalized with the virus than at any other time during the pandemic.
“After weeks of warnings that cases were again on the rise, a third surge of coronavirus infection has firmly taken hold in the United States… But if earlier surges were defined by acute and concentrated outbreaks — in the Northeast this spring, and in the South during the summer — the virus is now simmering at a worrisome level across nearly the entire country…
“‘It is a really dangerous time,’ said Dr. Tom Inglesby, an infectious-disease expert at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ‘The majority of states are on the rise,’ he said. And at the same time, ‘there are very few places where things are stable and going down.’ The latest wave threatens to be the worst of the pandemic yet, coming as cooler weather is forcing people indoors and as many Americans report feeling exhausted by months of restrictions. Unlike earlier waves, which were met with shutdown orders and mask mandates, the country has shown little appetite for widespread new restrictions…
“The newest surge sets the stage for a grueling winter that will test the discipline of many Americans who have spent warmer months gathering in parks and eating outdoors, where the virus is known to spread less easily. At the current rate of growth, new daily confirmed cases could soon surpass 75,687, the record set on July 16… The latest developments represent a serious new level of spread. Deaths are considered a lagging indicator of new infection, and experts believe the daily toll is likely to rise in the coming months. Nationwide, hospitalizations, the most accurate gauge of how many people are currently sick from the virus, are already trending upward, at a pace slightly lower than new infections. In North Dakota, which is leading the nation in new coronavirus cases per capita, hospitalizations and deaths are at a high, and just 20 intensive care beds were available statewide.”
CNBC: Coronavirus likely to become as ‘endemic’ as the flu and a vaccine might not be able to stop it, top UK scientist says (Oct 20): “Covid-19 is likely to become as “endemic” as the annual flu virus, according to the U.K.’s chief scientific advisor. A vaccine is not likely to eradicate the virus, the advisor cautioned. London- .. Some potential vaccines are in late-stage trials, but Patrick Vallance said none is likely to eradicate the virus.
“‘The notion of eliminating Covid from anywhere is not right, because it will come back,’ he said, noting there had only been one human disease ‘truly eradicated’ thanks to a highly effective vaccine and that was smallpox. ‘We can’t be certain, but I think it’s unlikely we will end up with a truly sterilizing vaccine, (that is) something that completely stops infection, and it’s likely this disease will circulate and be endemic, that’s my best assessment,” Vallance told the National Security Strategy Committee in London on Monday.
“‘Clearly as management becomes better, as you get vaccination which would decrease the chance of infection and the severity of disease … this then starts to look more like annual flu than anything else, and that may be the direction we end up going,’ he said… Vallance concluded he didn’t believe there would be any vaccine available for widespread use in the community until at least spring.
anita
October 25, 2020 at 6:32 pm #368239AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer: An all-time pandemic high of new cases in the U.S. happened on Oct 23, with over 81.4 thousand new cases. The second all-time pandemic high of new cases in the U.S. happened yesterday, Oct. 24, with over 79.4 thousand new cases. On these two days, combined, there were There were 1,687 new deaths, making it a total of more than 230.5 thousand deaths, in the U.S.
CNN: White House chief of staff Mark Meadows: ‘We are not going to control the pandemic’ (Oct 25):
“White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday that the US is ‘not going to control’ the coronavirus pandemic, as cases surge across the country and nearly 225,000 Americans have died from the virus. ‘We are not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation areas,’ Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper on ‘State of the Union.’
“The comments from President Donald Trump’s chief of staff come as coronavirus cases surge across the US and the administration continues to consistently disregard advice from government health experts to wear masks, social distance and avoid large gatherings as a way to curb the spread of the virus. The White House is also facing a potential second outbreak of the virus after at least five people in Pence’s inner circle have tested positive in recent days, according to a source familiar with the situation…
“Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden echoed that sentiment in a statement later Sunday, saying that Meadows ‘admitted this morning that the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that they’ve given up on their basic duty to protect the American people’
“‘It’s long past time for President Trump and his administration to listen to the scientists, take action, and finally take seriously the threat of a virus that’s costing thousands of lives each week, shuttering our schools, and forcing millions of Americans out of work,’ Biden said.”
anita
October 27, 2020 at 12:29 pm #368302AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer (Oct 27): more than 44 million cases and 1,168,562 deaths worldwide. Almost 9 million cases 231,528 deaths in the U.S., with almost 70 thousand new cases and 529 new deaths yesterday.
Within the U.S. yesterday (in increasing order of new cases, listing all the states with a 2,000 new cases or more)- there were over 2.1 thousand new cases and 11 new deaths in Ohio; over 2.11 thousand new cases and 30 new deaths in Michigan; over 2.18 thousand new cases and 23 new deaths in Kansas; over 2.21 thousand new cases and 3 new deaths in Colorado; over 2.26 thousand new cases and 8 new deaths in Missouri; almost 2.5 thousand new cases and 7 new deaths in Pennsylvania; over 2.8 thousand new cases and 10 new deaths in Wisconsin; over 3.3 thousand new cases and 19 new deaths in Florida; over 3.8 thousand new cases and 43 new deaths in California; over 4.7 thousand new cases and 17 new deaths in Illinois; and over 6.7 thousand new cases and 52 new deaths in Texas.
On the same day, Oct 26, there were (in order of decreasing numbers of new cases): over 36.8 thousand new cases and 505 new deaths in India; over 26.7 thousand new cases and 257 new deaths in France; over 20.8 thousand new cases and 102 new deaths in the UK; over 17.4 thousand new cases and 288 new deaths in Brazil; almost 17.4 thousand new cases and 93 new deaths in Spain; over 17.3 thousand new cases and 219 new deaths in Russia; over 17 thousand new cases and 141 new deaths in Italy; over 15.6 thousand new cases and 73 new deaths in Belgium; over 10.3 thousand new cases and 26 new deaths in the Netherlands; over 10.2 thousand new cases and 45 new deaths in Poland; over 4.3 thousand new cases and 181 new deaths in Mexico; over 4.1 thousand new cases and 27 new deaths in Canada.
Business Insider: Fauci says the US’s record-high Covid-19 cases put it in a precarious position: ‘No matter how you look at it, it’s not good news’ (Oct 26): “‘Now we’re at the highest baseline we’ve ever been, which is really precarious,'” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on COVID-19, said in an interview Monday. Fauci said in September that Americans needed to “hunker down” as the weather turned cold or face increased outbreaks. When it comes to daily COVID-19 cases, the US is experiencing ‘the worst that we’ve ever had,’ Dr. Anthony Fauci said Monday during an interview with Yahoo Finance…
“In September, Fauci said Americans would need to “hunker down and get through this fall and winter” or else play a game of whack-a-mole with the virus as blips and outbreaks pop up. Since the weather has turned colder, new COVID-19 cases have sharply risen. New COVID-19 cases clocked in at 82,929 on Friday and 83,851 on Saturday, breaking the previous record of 74,818 set in July, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
“In the face of surging infections, Fauci reminded Americans that measures like universal mask-wearing, avoiding crowds and indoor public settings, and handwashing could go a long way in stemming outbreaks. ‘We can do this. I’m absolutely convinced that as a nation, if we pull together and do some fundamental common-denominator public-health measures, that we can get through this with a lot of help in the future from vaccines and adequate therapies,’ Fauci said. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has surpassed 43 million cases worldwide, the US has experienced the worst toll of any country. There have been nearly 8.7 million reported cases in the US and about 225,000 reported deaths, according to Johns Hopkins data.”
BBC News: Coronavirus in the U.S. is spreading like ‘wildfire,’ epidemiologist says, (Oct 26): “Coronavirus cases are climbing at an alarming rate in the U.S., raising fears that parts of the country are in a third wave of Covid-19… Fewer than 10 states in the country are not experiencing increases of infection. During an outbreak, a “wave” comes from the curve used to visualize the number of people infected. If more people get sick every day, the curve goes up. If fewer people get sick every day, the curve goes down. Even during the summer, experts say cases in the U.S. never got to a low-enough level of new cases to make it out of the first wave from the spring when cases rose astronomically.
“‘I look at it more as an elongated exacerbation of the original first wave,’ Fauci said Monday at an annual event for Yahoo Finance. ‘It’s kind of semantics. You want to call it the third wave or an extended first wave, no matter how you look at it, it’s not good news.’
“Fauci and other experts are particularly concerned that the recent surge in cases is starting from a higher baseline of roughly 40,000 cases per day, compared with 20,000 cases per day during the summer surge. ‘Each wave we start from a higher baseline and we start climbing,’ Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health said, noting that during the summer, infections were rising most in the South and Southwest. ‘This time, it’s all around the country and we’re heading into winter, where the virus becomes more efficient in spreading.’..
“‘The metaphor of a wildfire is probably better,’ said William Hanage, an associate professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. ‘It’s indisputable that the U.S. is now seeing a pretty widespread transmission across the board.’ Unlike a wave, which comes and passes through, wildfires can be patchy and more intense in areas, similar to the situation in the U.S., Hanage said. Community mitigation efforts such as masking and social distancing can stamp out the spread, but then infections tend to pop up in other areas with more relaxed measures…
“Small gatherings are now playing a larger role in driving transmission, Smith said, and can be tied to the fatigue from a pandemic nearing its eighth month. ‘Everyone wants to feel a bit of normalcy, even if for an evening,’ she said. As the U.S. heads into the winter holiday months, doubling-down on basic public health measures is even more crucial, especially wearing a mask and avoiding crowds and close contact in closed spaces with poor ventilation, experts say. ‘When you’re dealing with the first full winter of the worst pandemic that we have seen in a century, the capacity for chaos is there and is real,’ Hanage said. ‘The virus likes chaos.'”.
The Wall Street Journal: Study shows Covid-19 antibodies waning over time, suggesting immunity may wear off, Oct 26: “LONDON—A large English study showed the number of people with Covid-19 antibodies declined significantly over the summer, suggesting that getting the virus may not confer long-lasting immunity from future infection… The results also suggested that people who didn’t display symptoms were likely to lose detectable antibodies before those who had showed symptoms…
“Doctors don’t yet know whether antibodies confer any effective immunity against reinfection by Covid-19. But even if they do and the results of this survey are confirmed, it suggests the prospect of widespread long-term herd immunity to the virus will be difficult to achieve. Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population develop an immune response, either through previous infection or vaccination, so that the virus can’t spread easily and even those who aren’t immune have protection.
“The findings showed 18-24 year olds lost antibodies at a slower rate than those aged 75 and over. The smallest decline of 14.9% was of people aged between 18 and 24 years, and the largest decline of 29% was of people aged 75 and over.
“The study reflects earlier smaller trials and suggests that antibodies to the virus decline over 6-12 months after infection, as in other seasonal coronaviruses such as the common cold. The study doesn’t indicate whether other types of immune responses—such as that contributed by so-called T cells—would help protect against reinfection.”
anita
October 28, 2020 at 1:24 pm #368367AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 28: yesterday there were
– more than 75 thousand new cases and 1,039 new deaths in the U.S.
– more than 33 thousand new cases and 523 new deaths in France
– more than 22.8 thousand new cases and 367 new deaths in the UK
– almost 22 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic high) and 221 new deaths in Italy
– more than 18 thousand new cases and 267 new deaths in Spain
– more than 16.5 thousand new cases and 320 new deaths (an all-time pandemic high) in Russia
– more than 16 thousand new cases (and all-time pandemic high) and 130 new deaths in Poland
– more than 15.6 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic high) and 182 new deaths (an all-time pandemic high as well) in the Czech Republic
– more than 13 thousand new cases and 81 new deaths in Germany
– more than 12 thousand new cases and 89 new deaths in Belgium
– more than 10 thousand new cases and 70 new deaths in the Netherlands
– more than 4 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic high) and 28 new deaths in Canada.
— a total of more than 44.6 million worldwide coronavirus cases and more than 1.176 million worldwide coronavirus deaths.
anita
October 29, 2020 at 2:19 pm #368417AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 29: Yesterday there were 1,030 new deaths in the U.S., and an all pandemic high of more than 81,581 new cases.
The Hill, Fauci expresses support for national mask mandate, Oct 29: “The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, expressed support for a national mask mandate in an interview late Wednesday with CNBC. Fauci explained that the U.S. rate of new coronavirus infections is trending in the wrong direction, adding that mask mandates are likely the only option to slow the spread… ‘This is going to get worse because we’re going more into a colder season, as we get through the fall and into the winter with the holiday season going, we’ve got to do something different. We can’t just let this happen,’ Fauci continued…
“President Trump has resisted the idea of national mandates and criticized Fauci personally in recent weeks, telling supporters that his opponent, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, would follow the doctor’s advice. ‘He wants to listen to Dr. Fauci,’ Trump said at a rally this month. ‘He’ll listen to the scientists. If I listened totally to the scientists we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.'”
The New York Times, Death rates have dropped for seriously ill Covid patients (Oct 29): “The coronavirus struck the United States earlier this year with devastating force. In April, it killed more than 10,000 people in New York City. By early May, nearly 50,000 nursing home residents and their caregivers across the country had died. But as the virus continued its rampage over the summer and fall, infecting nearly 8.5 million Americans, survival rates, even of seriously ill patients, appeared to be improving. At one New York hospital system where 30 percent of coronavirus patients died in March, the death rate had dropped to 3 percent by the end of June.
“Doctors in England observed a similar trend. ‘In late March, four in 10 people in intensive care were dying. By the end of June, survival was over 80 percent,’ said John M. Dennis, a University of Exeter Medical School researcher who is first author of a paper about improved survival rates in Britain, accepted for publication in the journal Critical Care Medicine. ‘It was really quite dramatic.’
“Though the virus has been changing slowly as it spreads, and some have speculated that it has become more easily transmissible, most scientists say there is no solid evidence that it has become either less virulent, or more virulent. As elderly people sheltered inside and took precautions to avoid infection, however, more of the hospitalized patients were younger adults, who were generally healthier and more resilient. By the end of August, the average patient was under 40. Were the lower death rates simply a function of the demographic changes, or a reflection of real progress and medical advances in treatment that blunted the impact of the new pathogen?
“Researchers at NYU Langone Health who zeroed in on this question, analyzing the outcomes of more than 5,000 patients hospitalized at the system’s three hospitals from March through August, concluded the improvement was real, not just a function of changing demographics. Even when they controlled for differences in the patients’ age, sex, race, underlying health problems and severity of Covid symptoms — like blood oxygen levels at admission — they found that death rates had dropped significantly, to 7.6 percent in August, down from 25.6 percent in March.
“‘This is still a high death rate, much higher than we see for flu or other respiratory diseases,’ said Dr. Leora Horwitz, director of NYU Langone’s Center for Healthcare Innovation & Delivery Science and senior author of the paper in Journal of Hospital Medicine. ‘I don’t want to pretend this is benign. But it definitely is something that has given me hope.’ Other doctors agreed. “The mortality rates are way lower now,” said Dr. Robert A. Phillips, author of a research letter in JAMA that compared the first and second surges of Covid-19 patients in Houston. But he emphasized that the disease remains ‘not only deadly — 10 times more deadly probably than a bad influenza — but it also has long-term complications. You don’t have that from the flu.’
“While the studies evaluated the death rate, they did not assess the burden of what Dr. Phillips called ‘post-Covid syndrome,’ which leaves many patients with lasting respiratory and neurologic problems, cardiac complications, and other lingering issues. ‘It’s relatively easy to measure death, but that doesn’t capture all the other health issues,’ said Dr. Preeti Malani, an infectious disease expert at the University of Michigan. Many hospital patients face grueling and protracted recoveries and may require long-term care, while even those who had mild bouts of disease are often left with continuing health problems, like headaches, chronic fatigue or cognitive problems. ‘It will take a long time to understand the full clinical spectrum of this disease.’…
“A combination of factors contributed to the improved outcomes of hospital patients, the authors of the two studies and other experts said. As clinicians learned how to treat the disease, incorporating the use of steroid drugs and non-drug interventions, they were better able to manage it. The researchers also credited heightened community awareness, and patients seeking care earlier in the course of their illness. Outcomes may also have improved as the load on hospitals lightened and there was less pressure on the medical staff, both of which had been overwhelmed by a surge of patients in the spring. ‘We don’t have a magic bullet cure, but we have a lot, a lot of little things, that add up,’ Dr. Horwitz said. ‘We understand better when people need to be on ventilators and when they don’t, and what complications to watch for, like blood clots and kidney failure. We understand how to watch for oxygen levels even before patients are in the hospital, so we can bring them in earlier. And of course, we understand that steroids are helpful, and possibly some other medications.’..
“Early on, physicians were placing patients on mechanical ventilators to assist with their breathing; over time they learned to position patients on their stomachs and provide them with supplemental oxygen through less invasive means, and postpone ventilation or avoid it altogether if possible.
“By mid-June, clinical trials in England had proven that treatment with a cheap steroid drug, dexamethasone, reduced deaths of patients on ventilators by one-third, and death in patients getting supplemental oxygen by one-fifth. But the early recommendations from China and Italy were ‘to absolutely not use steroids, even though a lot of us thought it made sense to use them,’ said Dr. Gita Lisker, a critical care physician at Northwell Health. ‘I think it’s making a big difference. But when we started with this in March, the data and recommendations from China and Italy were saying, ‘Do not use them, steroids are bad.’”
“Doctors also weren’t aware at first that the Covid-19 illness caused by the new virus caused life-threatening blood clots. Now patients are put on blood thinners early on in treatment when necessary.
“But the other problem in the spring was that hospitals in hard-hit areas like New York City were overwhelmed. Doctors who hadn’t worked in critical care for many years were being drafted to care for seriously ill patients, nurses were short-staffed, and equipment was in short supply. ‘There was a sheer overwhelming tidal wave that overtook the health care system,’ Dr. Lisker said. ‘You had critical care units run by doctors who hadn’t done critical care in 10 years, or even ever.’ She added, ‘There is no question that whether you lived or died in April, some of it had to do with what unit you landed in.’
“Indeed, she said, ‘The whole idea of flattening the curve was to avoid overwhelming the health care system.’
“Medical experts are worrying that the surges in cases around the country could reverse or roll back those gains. The number of hospitalized Covid patients has increased by 40 percent over the last month, and more than 41,000 patients are now hospitalized in the United States. Hospital administrators in Idaho, Utah and Kansas City, Mo., have warned they are already close to capacity…
“‘If you compare the number of people who are dying from every 100 cases diagnosed in the U.S., it’s obviously substantially lower than it was in the summertime, and a lot lower than it was in the springtime,’ said Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University. But, he added that the lessening death rate was not assured to remain steady, given the resurgence in higher caseloads. ‘If hospitals that aren’t prepared for large numbers of people have to deal with a large influx of Covid patients, or small hospitals get pulled into it, we should expect that mortality could change unfortunately,’ he said. ‘That’s a warning.’
“Though some have speculated that the virus is less virulent than it once was, experts say there is no evidence that is the case. The improvements in survival are ‘a testament to modern medical care,’ said Dr. Howard Markel, a physician and medical historian at the University of Michigan. ‘The virus is still just as stealthy and dangerous as it was,’ Dr. Markel said. ‘We’re just getting better at managing it.'”
anita
- This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by .
October 31, 2020 at 2:44 pm #368489AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer, Oct 31: yesterday, there were 101,461 new cases in the U.S- an all-time pandemic record high; there were 988 new deaths yesterday, in the U.S.
France had 49,215 new cases yesterday and 545 new deaths; Italy had 31,802 new cases yesterday- its all-time pandemic record high, and 199 new deaths; Spain had 25,955 new cases yesterday- its all-time pandemic record high, and 239 new deaths; The UK had 24,405 new cases yesterday and 274 new deaths; Belgium had 23,921 new cases yesterday- its all-time pandemic record high and 138 new deaths; Germany had 19,367 new cases yesterday- its all-time pandemic record high and 88 new deaths, Iran’s all-time pandemic record high of 8,293 new cases occurred the day before yesterday (8,011 new cases and 365 new deaths yesterday).
Politico: U.S. surpasses 9 M Covid cases (Oct 30): “The U.S. coronavirus case count passed 9 million on Friday with the disease surging across the northern tier of the country and public health officials urging tough new steps to promote use of masks and social distancing… White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx told governors on a call Friday that a third of the country, or 1,200 counties, meets the definition of a ‘hot spot’
“Cold weather is forcing people indoors where the virus can spread easier. Birx told the governors that reaching a plateau will take “every single person in your states moving forward with” masking, hygiene, distancing and reducing the size of gatherings in public, according to notes of the call.
“The pandemic is rebounding in Europe as well, with countries including Germany and France imposing new restrictions. Global cases are nearing 45 million, with India and Brazil following the United States. The U.S. continues to outpace all other countries in Covid-19 deaths.
“Meanwhile, President Donald Trump and members of his administration continue to downplay the virus threat. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, falsely claimed n Thursday that the number of Americans dying from the coronavirus amounts to ‘almost nothing.'”
Business Insider, Lockdown looms in the UK as Europe braces for a significant spike in coronavirus infections in the run-up to Christmas (Oct 31): “UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce national lockdown restrictions next week. Johnson has succumbed to the advice of his science experts, hoping that the national measures could ‘save Christmas from the coronavirus.’ European countries including Germany, France, and Belgium all reported record numbers of new daily infections this week. Most European countries have either reimposed partial or full lockdowns again, with France going back to measures that were imposed during the first lockdown in March.”
Reuters, Iran imposes new restrictions to stem coronavirus spread (Oct 31): “Weddings, wakes and conferences will be banned in the Iranian capital until further notice as the Middle East’s hardest-hit nation battles a third wave of COVID-19, police said on Saturday… Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raisi said in a televised press briefing that the new restrictions from next week in the 25 provinces and 89 counties will include include the closure of institutions such as schools, universities, libraries and mosques. Rouhani said in televised remarks that strict health protocols should be observed when holding weddings and funerals in those provinces and counties. Iranian authorities have blamed a sharp increase in cases on people failing to follow restrictions, and Rouhani said an operations headquarters will be set up to ensure compliance with the health protocols.”
anita
- This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by .
November 4, 2020 at 10:36 am #368656AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer (Nov 4): worldwide, there are close to 50 million cases and close to 1 million and 223 thousand deaths. In the U.S. it is getting close to 10 million cases and close to 240 thousand deaths.
Yesterday– there were close to 95 thousand new cases (second to the all-time pandemic high of over 100 thousand new cases in Oct 30), and 1,199 new deaths in the U.S..
Yesterday- there were close to 19 thousand new cases in Russia (second to the all-time pandemic high of Nov 1), and 355 new deaths. There were 854 new deaths in France, a record high in this second pandemic wave (1,437 was the first wave and all-time pandemic record high of new deaths, April 15).
Yesterday- there were 422 new deaths in Iran (and an all-time pandemic high of close to 9 thousand new cases); 397 new deaths in the UK; 353 new deaths in Italy; 238 new deaths in Spain; 227 new deaths in Poland; 149 new deaths in Germany; 121 new deaths in Belgium; 120 new deaths and close to 4 thousand new cases in Hungary, both are all-time pandemic highs; close to 8 thousand new cases in Romania, both are all-time pandemic highs; 84 new deaths and 71 new deaths and an all-time pandemic high of closer to 5 thousand new cases in Canada; an all-time pandemic high of 33 new deaths in Austria; 13 new deaths and an all-time pandemic high of over 2 thousand new cases in Greece; zero new deaths and 8 new cases in Australia where summer is one month away.
CNN, U.S Coronavirus: Second highest number of new Covid-19 cases reported on Election Day with more than 91,000 infections, Nov 3: “The country’s five highest days of coronavirus cases have all been recorded since October 29, affirming experts’ warnings another surge is well on its way and will only get worse… while doctors have stressed basic public health measures like masks and social distancing can turn things around, such measures remain a point of contention in some parts of the US.
“Now only five states are trending in the right direction — Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Tennessee and Vermont — while at least 36 are reporting more new cases than the previous week, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. And states including Idaho, Ohio, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin all reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases Tuesday…
“Across the country, more than 50,000 people are hospitalized with the virus, according to data from the COVID Tracking Project — an increase of more than 67% in a month. Hospitalizations are ‘sharply increasing’ in the Midwest, according to the project… In Nebraska, health officials say a surge of infections have put a strain on hospitals statewide. Chief medical officers of three major hospital systems said Monday Covid-19 hospitalizations had increased 91% in the Omaha metro area between October 17 and October 31. Now, hospital capacity and staff are approaching their limits, the hospital officials said…
“And in Arkansas, the governor announced Tuesday Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the state, preceded only by cancer and heart attacks. ‘It is a deadly virus that takes people’s lives,’ Gov. Asa Hutchinson said. ‘We want to make sure everybody understands the seriousness of it.’ And across the state, more than 660 people remain hospitalized, he added…
“More than 130,000 lives could be saved in the US if most Americans chose to wear masks, Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, wrote in a blog post Tuesday. Collins cites data from the team of the IHME model, which predicts the drastic decline in the country’s projected death toll if 95% of Americans wore masks. ‘What’s important here aren’t the precise numbers,’ Francis wrote. ‘It’s the realization that, under any scenario, this pandemic is far from over, and, together, we have it within our power to shape what happens next.”
anita
November 5, 2020 at 10:30 am #368689AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer (Nov 5): With total number of Covid-19 infection cases approaching 10 millions and a total number of Covid-19 deaths approaching a quarter of a million deaths in the U.S., yesterday was the all-time pandemic record high of new infections: more than 108 thousands. On the same day, there were 1,201 new deaths.
Yesterday, there were over 50 thousand new infections in India, over 40 thousand new cases in France, over 30 thousand new cases in Italy, over 25 thousand new cases (and 492 new deaths- a record high in this second wave of the pandemic) in the UK.
There were over 24 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic record high of new cases, as well as 273 new deaths being an all-time pandemic record high as well), over 23 thousand new cases in Brazil, over 20 thousand new cases in Germany, almost 20 thousand new cases in Spain, over 19 thousand new cases in Russia (an all-time pandemic record high, also 389 new deaths, an all-time pandemic record high of new deaths), and over 15 thousand new cases in the Czech Republic (an all-time pandemic record high).
anita
November 6, 2020 at 12:14 pm #368733AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer (Nov 5): Getting closer to 10 million Covid-19 cases in the U.S., and closer to a quarter million Covid-19 deaths, in the U.S. An all-time pandemic record high of more than 118 thousand new cases were recorded yesterday. 1,127 new deaths were recorded yesterday in the U.S.
Yesterday- more than 47 thousand new cases were recorded in India, more than 19 thousands in Russia, an all-time pandemic high record of over 58 thousands in France, an all-time pandemic high record of over 34 thousand new cases in Italy (428 new deaths yesterday, a second-wave record high), an all-time pandemic high of over 27 thousand new cases in Poland, more than 22 thousand new cases in the UK, an all-time pandemic record high of almost 22 thousands in Spain, an all-time pandemic high record of over 21 thousand new cases in Germany (and 162 new deaths, a second wave record high).
CNN: Europe Covid-19: Italian regions lock down and Paris tightens rules as Europe smashes virus records, Nov 5: “Italy is under a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nationwide curfew, with bars and restaurants closing at 6 p.m., while certain areas face harsher restrictions. Residents in “red zone” regions — Lombardy, Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta and Calabria — may only leave home for necessities, health or work… In neighboring France, Paris also announced stricter measures as the country reported a record 58,046 new cases Thursday, according to the French health agency. The country has Europe’s highest case number, at 1.6 million infections… ‘The second wave is already upon us, and it is brutal,’ French health minister Olivier Véran told a news conference Thursday. If the virus keeps spreading at this rate, he said ‘the second wave could be worse and longer’ than the first, and could take ‘until mid-December’ to stabilize… Greece will enter a three-week national lockdown from Saturday… Denmark also announced new restrictions…
“Earlier this week Sweden announced it will tighten restrictions in three additional regions, including limiting gatherings in bars and restaurants to eight people. Austria and Poland also both reported record case rises Thursday as Austria entered its second national lockdown this week, which includes an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and the closure of leisure facilities. Norway, which has one of Europe’s lowest infection rates, has seen a “sharp rise” in cases, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.”
CNN: Boris Johnson accused of ‘giving in to scientific advisers’ as England heads for lockdown, Nov 2: “Boris Johnson was accused of ‘giving in to scientific advisers’ by a former leader of his Conservative Party after the UK Prime Minister announced a lockdown for England following weeks of warnings from the experts. His Saturday announcement of a strict national lockdown against the spread of coronavirus came after UK cases passed one million and its death toll reached 46,555.
“The infection rate in the country has been rising steeply for weeks. The Office for National Statistics now estimates that 1 in 100 people in England have Covid-19, compared with 1 in 2,300 in July and 1 in 200 at the start of October. Johnson’s cabinet was advised that if no action was taken, the National Health Service’s bed capacity would be surpassed by the first week of December…
“The new lockdown, which will come into place in England on Thursday morning following a Wednesday vote in Parliament, will see all bars and restaurants closed except for takeout and delivery, as well as the closure of all non-essential businesses including gyms and hair salons. Schools, universities and childcare facilities will remain open. Residents will only be allowed to leave their homes for specific purposes including education, work (if they cannot work from home), exercise, medical issues, or to buy food and essential items.”
anita
- This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by .
November 11, 2020 at 12:23 pm #369050AnonymousGuestDear Reader:
Worldometer (Nov 11): There are over 10.6 million cases and close to a quarter million deaths in the U.S.. Yesterday there were over 142 thousand new cases (an all-time pandemic record high), and 1,465 new deaths (a third wave record high).
There were over 44 thousand new cases and 511 new deaths in India yesterday. Also, yesterday, there were 857 new deaths in France, 580 new deaths in Italy (a pandemic second-wave record high), 532 new deaths in the UK (a pandemic second-wave pandemic record high), 453 new deaths in Iran, 411 new deaths in Spain, 368 new deaths in Russia, 330 new deaths in Poland, 249 new deaths in the Czech Republic (an all-time pandemic record high), 203 new deaths in Germany (a pandemic second-wave record high), 191 new deaths in the Ukraine, 161 new deaths in Belgium.
CNN, US Coronavirus: Hospitalizations in the US reach an all-time high (Nov 10): “With the number of coronavirus cases in the United States skyrocketing, many health experts warned the total number of people hospitalized in a given day would rise too… The United States currently averages about 1,661 new hospitalizations per day.. rises in hospitalizations are usually followed by rises in the US death toll. Last week saw five days in a row with more than 1,000 Covid-19 deaths — the first time that’s happened since August. More than 1,300 deaths were reported Tuesday…
“Dr. Anthony Fauci knows people across the country are weary from the daily bad news about the pandemic, but he has some advice for Americans. ‘Hang in there a bit longer,’ he told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday. ‘Do the things you need to do and we’ll be OK.’ Fauci said that with almost all states seeing rising numbers of cases, and some reporting records in new reported positive tests and hospitalizations, the situation could get much worse. ‘That’s the reason why we really are pleading with the American public to really take (it) seriously,’ he said.
“Help is coming soon through vaccines, which could be dispensed as early as December, said Fauci, who has been the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 36 years. Until a vaccine is approved, Fauci urged Americans to continue practicing public health measures that health officials have recommended: avoid crowds, social distance when outside your home, wear a mask and wash hands frequently and thoroughly.
“A vaccine combined with people following public health measures will be a game-changer, Fauci said. He added that he hoped a vaccine would motivate people to practice the public health measures ‘because when you know help is on the way, you don’t give up.’
“Drugmaker Pfizer announced Monday that its Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective, according to preliminary data. Fauci said having a highly effective vaccine may get more people to overcome any doubts about getting vaccinated. ‘When you hear something is 90 to 95% effective, it makes it much more likely that someone would want to get vaccinated,’ he said. Fauci said he thinks the majority of Americans will be able by the end of April get the two shots required for vaccination.”
anita
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