Coronavirus, Monkeypox, and Other Contagious Diseases

[AnBr]

A non-like like.

[indy]

This is pretty interesting.

Basically, all the dots in the the lower right quadrant represent counties where Trump received 60% or more of the vote.  The lower left quadrant is highly correlated with significant minority populations, especially black and native american counties. One of the counties in the upper right includes the villages in FL.

Right wing media and tribe loyalty is killing people.

[jackd]

The ignorance and misinformation is overwhelming.

[LFC]

Floriduh.

Nearly 20 percent of the nation's new coronavirus infections are now happening in Florida alone, according to a White House official.

Cases are rising across the nation as a whole as the more transmissible delta variant spreads but are concentrated in areas with low vaccination rates.

"Just four states accounted for more than 40 percent of all cases in the past week, with 1 in 5 of all cases occurring in Florida alone," White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during a briefing Friday.

"We will likely ... continue to experience an increase in COVID cases in the weeks ahead, with these cases concentrated in communities with lower vaccination rates," Zients said

Florida is seeing some of the highest coronavirus hospitalizations, new infections and deaths per capita in the country. The numbers bottomed out as vaccinations became available but recently have been climbing.

Currently, the state is reporting an average of 29 new infections for every 100,000 people per day — more than four times the national average.

The positivity rate is hovering around 10 percent, and according to federal data, the seven-day moving average is more than 5,600 cases a day.

About 55 percent of eligible people in Florida have received at least a single dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, putting it around the middle of all states and the District of Columbia.

Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R) campaign team this week began selling "Don't Fauci My Florida" merchandise, the latest in a string of conservative attacks on the nation's top infectious diseases doctor, Anthony Fauci.

DeSantis has proudly bucked the advice of federal health officials — schools remained open, and statewide public health mitigation measures were minimal.

The governor has encouraged people to get vaccinated but also banned businesses from requiring proof of vaccination and has banned local governments from enacting mask mandates. He also successfully sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent the federal government from enforcing coronavirus precautions on cruise ships, like vaccination requirements for staff and passengers.

Think about this: The asshat who has been doing almost everything in his power to make things worse is being floating as a presidential candidate. Welcome to the modern GOP where everybody is crazy and competence doesn't matter.

[pnwguy]

Jul 19, 2021 15:45:09 GMT LFC said:

Floriduh.

Think about this: The asshat who has been doing almost everything in his power to make things worse is being floating as a presidential candidate. Welcome to the modern GOP where everybody is crazy and competence doesn't matter is a disqualification.

FIFY 

[Rue Bella]

Maybe this will get the GOP money contingent encouraging folks to get vaccinated. Money talks, and all. 

finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-futures-slide-virus-spread-121204283.html

U.S. stock markets suffered among their steepest single-day declines of the year on Monday as the recent rise in COVID-19 infections stoked fears of an economic slowdown.

New COVID-19 infections jumped 70% last week to about 30,000 a day as the Delta variant continued to spread. Deaths rose to an average of 250 a day, mostly in unvaccinated people.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 19, 2021 23:57:56 GMT Rue Bella said:

Maybe this will get the GOP money contingent encouraging folks to get vaccinated. Money talks, and all. 

finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-futures-slide-virus-spread-121204283.html

U.S. stock markets suffered among their steepest single-day declines of the year on Monday as the recent rise in COVID-19 infections stoked fears of an economic slowdown.

New COVID-19 infections jumped 70% last week to about 30,000 a day as the Delta variant continued to spread. Deaths rose to an average of 250 a day, mostly in unvaccinated people.

The titans of Wall Street read the news.  Does anyone else?

[Rue Bella]

I'm sure the titans of Wall Street have already been vaccinated. As are some of the prominent, vocal anti vaxxers (aka Tucker Carlson - or so I read). But the serious money men need to get involved somehow in getting the lower rung GOP innoculated or there well may be an economic slow-down.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 20, 2021 1:11:02 GMT Rue Bella said:

But the serious money men need to get involved somehow in getting the lower rung GOP innoculated or there well may be an economic slow-down.

Alas, things have "progressed" beyond the point where PSAs, or even begging and pleading by medical professionals personally acquainted with the vaccine-resistant is going to move the needle (so to speak) much. The lies and disinformation have taken firm root in the minds of the gullible; there's too much childish petulance along the lines of "You can't make meee!! Neener, neener!"

And the numbers are back up in my area, as they are in the entire state of Flori-DUH. I'm back to wearing a mask in stores.

[LFC]

In an Economist/YouGov poll 1 in 5 Americans think the government is using the COVID vaccine to microchip people. Among those refusing to be vaccinated it's half.

Those who reject vaccinations believe two negative theories about the effects of COVID-19 vaccines: half think it is likely that vaccines in general cause autism and that this vaccine in particular is being used by the government to microchip the population. Most Americans reject these theories, but only minorities of those who oppose their vaccinations do. Nearly one in three say they aren’t sure what to believe.

 These people are a pair of jeans and a pickup from sacrificing virgins in volcanoes.

[LFC]

Wow.

A month after India started to crawl out from under the weight of its horrific third COVID-19 wave, a new report suggests the situation was far worse than has been reported. According to the Indian government’s chief economic adviser, the true extent of the death toll in the country is likely 10 times higher than the 414,000 official deaths attributed to the pandemic. The report suggests that the estimated excess deaths, which it defines as those recorded and those that were expected, is more likely between 3 million and 4.7 million between January 2020 and June 2021. Many of those who died in homes were buried or cremated privately, and not recorded as official COVID-19 deaths. The report said an accurate figure will in all likelihood “prove elusive” and that the true picture may never fully emerge. “True deaths are likely to be in the several millions not hundreds of thousands, making this arguably India’s worst human tragedy since Partition and independence,” the report said, referring to the bloody battle for independence in 1947 that saw more than one million people slaughtered.

[AnBr]

[Rue Bella]

In an Economist/YouGov poll 1 in 5 Americans think the government is using the COVID vaccine to microchip people. Among those refusing to be vaccinated it's half.

Perhaps it would be best if these people were microchipped so when they are found rooting through trash behind McDonalds, they can be bathed, dusted with flea powder, neutered, and returned to their owners. Some creatures just are not able to safely live on their own.

[pnwguy]

Jul 20, 2021 17:47:13 GMT Rue Bella said:

Perhaps it would be best if these people were microchipped so when they are found rooting through trash behind McDonalds, they can be bathed, dusted with flea powder, neutered, and returned to their owners. Some creatures just are not able to safely live on their own.

If only they could have been neutered BEFORE they had litters of MAGAts.  

[LFC]

Jul 20, 2021 19:31:49 GMT pnwguy said:

If only they could have be neutered BEFORE they had litters of MAGAts.  

[Rue Bella]

A day after the stock market takes a big hit? Coincidence?

www.thedailybeast.com/sean-hannity-begs-fox-viewers-to-please-take-covid-seriously-says-i-believe-in-the-science-of-vaccines

Fox News host Sean Hannity took some time out of his broadcast Monday night to deliver a direct message to Fox News viewers, telling them to take the coronavirus pandemic “seriously” and declaring that he believes in the “science of vaccination.”

Amid a frightening surge of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant and stagnating vaccination rates, Fox News has come under intense fire in recent days over its hosts and pundits relentlessly peddling vaccine hesitancy and skepticism. With the unvaccinated making up over 99 percent of recent COVID deaths, critics have wondered aloud whether Fox’s anti-vaccine rhetoric is “killing people.”

[MSheridan]

In these circumstances, I somehow cannot help but think of Proverbs 1:20-33, especially the last five lines.

WISDOM'S REBUKE

20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:

22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?

23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.
24 But since you refuse to listen when I call
and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,
25 since you disregard all my advice
and do not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me,
29 since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the Lord.

30 Since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

[Deleted]

Americans are dying because of their stubborn refusal to get vaccinated. And, Joe Biden's to blame for it. How so one might ask. Well Joe defeated Trump to become the President. Which pissed off a lot of people. In their pissed-offness they refused vaccination to show Joe who's the boss. That wouldn't have happened if Trump was reelected. Obviously, Joe's fault these people are dying.

[MSheridan]

Jul 21, 2021 4:10:10 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Americans are dying because of their stubborn refusal to get vaccinated. And, Joe Biden's to blame for it. How so one might ask. Well Joe defeated Trump to become the President. Which pissed off a lot of people. In their pissed-offness they refused vaccination to show Joe who's the boss. That wouldn't have happened if Trump was reelected. Obviously, Joe's fault these people are dying.

No, no - ultimately it's our fault. Had Joe Biden run and lost, there would have been no problem. Our votes for him clearly make US the true villains of this piece.

A line from Lincoln's Cooper Union address comes to mind here:

A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, and mutters through his teeth, "Stand and deliver, or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer!"

[RichTBikkies]

Jul 21, 2021 2:57:00 GMT MSheridan said:

In these circumstances, I somehow cannot help but think of Proverbs 1:20-33, especially the last five lines.

WISDOM'S REBUKE

20 Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,
she raises her voice in the public square;
21 on top of the wall she cries out,
at the city gate she makes her speech:

22 “How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?

23 Repent at my rebuke!
Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,
I will make known to you my teachings.

That's the stuff to give the troops!



In the old days, on Charles's old TRS, more than once I felt that you and I were singing from the same hymn sheet, brother.

[Deleted]

Jul 21, 2021 4:32:20 GMT MSheridan said:

Jul 21, 2021 4:10:10 GMT @probabilistic3 said:

Americans are dying because of their stubborn refusal to get vaccinated. And, Joe Biden's to blame for it. How so one might ask. Well Joe defeated Trump to become the President. Which pissed off a lot of people. In their pissed-offness they refused vaccination to show Joe who's the boss. That wouldn't have happened if Trump was reelected. Obviously, Joe's fault these people are dying.

No, no - ultimately it's our fault. Had Joe Biden run and lost, there would have been no problem. Our votes for him clearly make US the true villains of this piece.

Putting the blame on 83 million people dilutes it terribly. Doesn't serve the Republican '22 agenda well. 

[LFC]

Two more chapters in the book Why America Can't Have Nice Things. First up we have states banning school districts from requiring a COVID vaccine to attend school.

The states that have barred schools and universities from requiring vaccinations are Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Arizona and Utah, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Next we have states banning school districts from even instituting mask mandates.

Eight states have banned local districts from instituting a mask mandate in their schools: Utah, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Vermont, and South Carolina.

All this while the new Delta variant, which appears to be impact younger people more than previous variants, is surging (upcoming post).

[LFC]

More on states banning vaccine requirements.

With the Delta variant spreading and younger children ineligible for vaccines, more states are barring schools from requiring COVID vaccinations as 2021-22 approaches.

An Ohio law approved last week bars public schools from mandating vaccines not fully authorized by the FDA and preventing unvaccinated individuals from participating in school activities.

In June, a bill prohibiting schools from requiring vaccines, vaccine passports or masks became law in Oklahoma.

“Masking children should not be an easily taken step, especially when many enforcing the mandate were often not wearing masks themselves,” the law’s author, State Sen. Rob Standridge, said in a statement. “Most importantly, schools cannot force unvaccinated children to wear masks. Additionally, students should not be forced to get the COVID vaccine to enroll or attend school.”

Oklahoma schools are also not allowed to post on their website vaccine options for parents.

“This bill is about protecting a student’s right to attend public school in person even if that student or their parent decide the COVID-19 vaccine is not the right choice for them,” Rep. Kevin West said the statement. “This also will protect unvaccinated students from being forced to wear masks when mask mandates do not apply to all.

Here are some very short summaries of the laws passed by the 8 states banning the requirement of a COVID vaccine to attend school. It's tough to say from the few sentences provided but it looks like half of them cut across all vaccines and not just COVID. The Florida law sounds like complete overreach.

Some of the states have passed explicit bans on vaccination mandates while others have buried the restrictions in laws that create programs for military children or prohibit vaccine passports. Some of the new laws are prominently posted on state websites while officials elsewhere gave their anti-vaccine legislation scant publicity.

Here’s a look at immunization laws passed this spring and summer:

• Alabama: In May, a newly enacted Alabama law prohibits schools from forcing students to receive any newly approved vaccines as a condition of attendance.
• Tennessee: A law enacted in May prohibits schools and other government agencies from “from promulgating, adopting, or enforcing an ordinance or resolution that requires a person to receive an immunization, vaccination, or injection for the SARS-CoV-2 virus or any variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.”
• Florida: Hurricane emergencies are now the only legal reason administrators can suspend in-person instruction. A law passed in May prohibits government entities from “denying service” to anyone based on their vaccination status.
• Arkansas: Government entities, including public schools, can recommend vaccinations as long as they are not required, according to a law passed in April.
• Montana: A law passed in May makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone based on vaccination status.
• Indiana: Government entities cannot issue or require vaccine passports under a law enacted in April.
• Utah: The state took action in March, passing a law that doesn’t single out public schools but “prohibits a governmental entity from requiring that an individual receive a 16 vaccine for COVID-19.”

[LFC]

The Delta variant now accounts for 83% of diagnosed cases in the U.S.

The nation’s top health officials said Tuesday that the Delta variant of the coronavirus is racing through the country and now is responsible for 83% of all U.S. cases.

That’s a massive increase from a week ago, when Delta was seen as responsible for just more than half of new cases, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, told a Senate committee.

The South, America's anus, is responsible for much of the surge.

Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri are reporting full-fledged outbreaks, and neighboring states such as Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas are following behind.

“4th wave is here,” Thomas Dobbs, MD, the state health officer for Mississippi, wrote on Twitter on Monday.

Dobbs posted a graph of hospitalizations in Mississippi, which showed numbers climbing dramatically in July after hitting a low in May and June.

“Very sad indeed,” he wrote. “Didn’t have to be this way.”

Mississippi reported more than 2,300 new COVID-19 cases over the weekend, which is the state’s largest 3-day increase in cases since February, according to The Associated Press. Mississippi has one of the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country.

Florida has become one of the country’s biggest COVID-19 hot spots, now accounting for a fifth of new infections in the U.S., according to NBC News.

In Jacksonville, UF Health broke its record for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, jumping from 86 patients on Sunday to 126 on Monday.

“We’re gaining cases at such a rapid rate, we don’t really know where it’s going to stop,” Chad Neilsen, the director of infection prevention at UF Health, told NBC News.

“We aren’t even thinking a couple of months,” he said. “We’re thinking what’s going to immediately happen in the next week.”

Hospitals in Arkansas and Missouri are also preparing for a surge of patients that could strain staff and resources again, according to NBC News. If hospitalizations triple in the next 2 weeks, as projected by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), it could feel like the chaotic period at the end of 2020.

The Lambda variant, which I literally just heard about today for the first time, is coming up from South America.

At Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, COIVD-19 hospitalizations have increased by 70% during the last week, according to the Houston Chronicle. On Monday, the hospital had 184 COVID-19 patients, which is double the number it had on July 1.

The Delta variant accounts for about 85% of the cases, and the hospital recorded its first hospitalization with the Lambda variant, the Chronicle reported. The Lambda variant, which was first identified in Peru, has been spreading throughout South America and is now reaching the U.S.

[Rue Bella]

The Lambda variant, which I literally just heard about today for the first time, is coming up from South America.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/20/lambda-variant-coronavirus/

Experts are generally confident that the lambda variant won’t erupt in the United States the way it did in Peru, which already had the world’s highest covid-19 mortality.

Lambda has quietly circulated for months in the United States without taking off. By comparison, the delta variant was first identified in the United States in March and now accounts for more than 80 percent of new infections over the past two weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cases of COVID are heading up again in my SoCal county.  From maybe 3-7 (?) per day in June, the past 10 days or so, we are up to 30-50 per day. Not sure if that's from more testing or general concern when sick.  Back to shopping at 6 am I guess.