The World-O-Meter Thread

[Jimmy Higgins]

Geesh. I guess The South (‘s Covid-19 case numbers) will rise again!

 

[Derec]

Hey - that's only like 600 something more than yesterday, just an 8% increase - FLATTENING THE CURVE!

And it's "only" 5,266 today and 8.539 yesterday. So the curve is not only FLATTENED, but bent downward ignificantly. Maybe. Or it's a fluke. Which is why we should put too much emphasis on daily numbers, but rather to 7 day running average.

 

[Derec]

It will be REALLY interesting to see if the body count follows the case count into record territory in 2-3 weeks, or perhaps longer.

Since the daily new cases started increasing about 2-3 weeks ago, I should expect daily deaths to start increasing any day now. But don't expect them to go into record territory. In March and April COVID was still new and the medical system was scrambling as well as they could. Now, several months later, the medical professionals know how to deal with the disease much better. There are even drugs like Remdesivir.

As we learn more about the residual effects of the disease, its effects seem to stretch out further and further; patients deemed "recovered" are still suffering from lingering disabilities.

Some patients. It seems that this affects only a small percentage of cases. Still more than enough reason to try not to get infected though.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

MAGA USA!!!

On June 25th the US reported over 40,000 new cases for the first time ever. The previous high occurred on April 24th, with 39,116 cases.
Now, we have recorded four days in a row with over 40,000 new cases each day, INCLUDING SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.
How long until record deaths follow from this unprecedented level of infections?

View attachment 28395

Lots of cases over the weekend don't get reported until Monday. I worry that those last couple days will show a steep spike once the rest of the weekend gets reported.

Yeah, the "curve" still shows a 5-high/2-low pattern, I suspect we are actually looking at 50k cases now.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I find the surges in Alabama and Tennessee somewhat sudden.

 

[lpetrich]

New Zealand's Prime Minister Touts 4-Day Week To Boost Domestic Tourism : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR -
May 21, 2020 4:03 PM ET

New Zealand opposition leader replaced as Ardern popularity soars | News | Al Jazeera - 21 May 2020

Coronavirus in New Zealand: How Jacinda Ardern Sold a Drastic Lockdown - The New York Times - May 23, 2020

Pandemics are often described as crises of communication, when leaders must persuade entire populations to suspend their lives because of an invisible threat. Watching Ms. Ardern on Facebook, her favored conduit, is a lesson in rhetorical blending: epidemiology brightened with empathy, law leavened with mom jokes. And it has been strikingly effective.

Ms. Ardern helped coax New Zealanders — “our team of five million,” she says — to buy into a lockdown so severe that even retrieving a lost cricket ball from a neighbor’s yard was banned. Now the country, despite some early struggles with contact tracing, has very nearly stamped out the virus, exiting isolation with just 21 deaths and a few dozen active cases.

More COVID-19 Lockdown Restrictions to Be Eased in New Zealand | Voice of America - English - May 26, 2020 06:28 AM

By the end of this week New Zealand will have some of the world’s most relaxed COVID-19 controls. Gatherings of up 100 people will be permitted starting Friday (May 29), up from the previous limit of ten people. New Zealand has had about 1,500 reported or probable coronavirus infections. 21 people have died.

...
“The shift to [a] 100-person maximum means many more gatherings will be able to occur from now on," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. "These changes are good news for business and for those looking to plan larger gatherings. It is another step in [the] renormalizing of life as we continue to stamp out the virus. It is the government’s view that we should also move as quickly as we safely can to alert level one.”

 

[lpetrich]

New Zealand lifts all Covid restrictions, declaring the nation virus-free - BBC News

At midnight local time (12:00 GMT), all of New Zealand moved to level one, the lowest of a four-tier alert system.

Under new rules, social distancing is not required and there are no limits on public gatherings, but borders remain closed to foreigners.

New Zealand has reported no new Covid-19 cases for more than two weeks.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters she did "a little dance" when she was told the country no longer had any active virus cases.

"While we're in a safer, stronger position, there's still no easy path back to pre-Covid life, but the determination and focus we have had on our health response will now be vested in our economic rebuild," Ms Ardern said.

"While the job is not done, there is no denying this is a milestone. So can I finish with a very simple, 'Thank you, New Zealand'."

With No Current Cases, New Zealand Lifts Remaining COVID-19 Restrictions : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR -
June 8, 2020 5:30 AM ET

"At Level 1, we expect the continuation of recovery," she told reporters, but cautioned, "we will almost certainly see cases here again. That is not a sign we have failed."

She reiterated the need for New Zealanders to stay home if they feel sick, follow a doctor's orders to self-isolate if necessary and to continue frequent hand-washing and other measures.

New Zealand Declares Coronavirus Eliminated, Lifting Lockdown - The New York Times - June 8, 2020

The country had already begun to ease some initial measures first put in place on March 25 when it shut most businesses, closed schools and required residents to stay at home. At the time, the country outlined a four-stage plan to move toward some semblance of normalcy.

Those restrictions were walked back over the past five weeks, moving to Level 3 in April, and then Level 2 in mid-May. The move to Level 1 had been planned for June 22, but was brought forward when no new cases were reported. The restrictions lifted at midnight Monday.

...
Ms. Ardern also announced that QR codes would be appearing wherever people gather. She asked businesses to remind people to scan the codes into the government’s contact tracing app to make any future outbreak easier to track and isolate.

“This is a key new habit we’re asking all New Zealanders to adopt,” she said.

It's a job well done for New Zealanders, and we can thank Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for being such a great leader. She got the nation through while staying compassionate the whole time.

 

[lpetrich]

New Zealanders now face the challenge of keeping the virus outside of their country, and keep it from ruining all that they've worked for.

'Stay away from us': New Zealanders returning home to Covid 'lifeboat' face backlash | New Zealand | The Guardian - Wed 24 Jun 2020 19.33 EDT - "Some Kiwis find a harsh homecoming amid concern about importing coronavirus after months of lockdown sacrifice by ‘team of 5 million’"

New Zealand says trans-Tasman 'travel bubble' up to Australia | Daily Mail Online - 11:00 EDT, 29 June 2020

• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said travel-bubble up to Australia
• Ms Ardern said she won't risk a return of transmission of COVID-19 in NZ
• Border controls and no community transmissions would be required

Jacinda Ardern decries 'dangerous' calls to reopen New Zealand borders | World news | The Guardian - "The prime minister appeared to be responding to the opposition leader, who has said keeping the borders closed for months or years is ‘untenable’"

Telling reporters on Tuesday that she had heard “calls for our borders to be opened to the world”, the New Zealand prime minister referred to “a world where the virus is escalating not slowing and not even peaking in some countries yet, where cases exceed 10 million globally and deaths half a million, where countries are extending and returning to lockdown”.

“All of the while, we get to enjoy weekend sport, go to restaurants and bars, our workplaces are open, and we can gather in whatever numbers we like,” she said.

That's likely to be a contentious issue, as some places get farther ahead than others in freeing themselves from the virus.

 

[lpetrich]

European Union Says U.S. Travelers Aren't Among Those Allowed To Visit : Coronavirus Live Updates : NPR

U.S. travelers won't be among those allowed to visit the European Union when the bloc begins opening its external borders on July 1. EU ambassadors endorsed a list of 15 travel partners on Tuesday, including South Korea, Japan and China – countries that were hit early by the pandemic but have been able to bring the coronavirus under control.

...
Another factor: The EU list requires reciprocal easing of travel bans — and the U.S. currently bars most travelers from European countries. China's inclusion on the travel list is predicated on its removal of EU members from its own travel restrictions.

Teri Schultz on Twitter: "They've done it! Border battle over.
Citizens from these countries can come to the EU tomorrow: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, S Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay & China when it drops restrictions on EU nationals." / Twitter

Teri Schultz on Twitter: "The U.S. does not qualify to be included based on the main criteria considered for this first round of external border relaxation:
coronavirus infection rate similar to the EU's of ~16 cases/100k people
declining trend
no restrictions on EU nationals' travel" / Twitter

Teri Schultz on Twitter: "The list will be reviewed every couple of weeks to add or remove countries based on epidemiological conditions and reciprocity of border rules." / Twitter

Now that the EU travel list has been released, the bloc plans to revise it on a regular basis, perhaps as frequently as every two weeks. For now, the U.S. is excluded along with other countries that are struggling to fight the coronavirus, such as Brazil and Russia.

...
And in a troubling sign of how deeply the coronavirus has taken root in the U.S., the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that the official tally is vastly undercounted, with more than 20 million Americans possibly infected.

 

[Elixir]

50,647 new US cases today.

MAGA!
(Make the Asshole Go Away!)

 

[blastula]

It will be REALLY interesting to see if the body count follows the case count into record territory in 2-3 weeks, or perhaps longer.

Since the daily new cases started increasing about 2-3 weeks ago, I should expect daily deaths to start increasing any day now. But don't expect them to go into record territory. In March and April COVID was still new and the medical system was scrambling as well as they could. Now, several months later, the medical professionals know how to deal with the disease much better. There are even drugs like Remdesivir.

There are better treatments and the new cases of late are composed of higher proportions of younger people compared to the earlier peak, so hopefully all that will mean fewer deaths than before.

 

[marc]

Such stupidity.....

Teen girl dies after her QAnon following, anti-vaccine mom took her to a COVID party.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Such stupidity.....

Teen girl dies after her QAnon following, anti-vaccine mom took her to a COVID party.

I saw this elsewhere, and as far as I can tell, there is no provided evidence this is true. Yes, her daughter was the poster child for 'pre-existing' conditions and definitely would have been at risk for serious health problems if she got Covid-19, but I can't find evidence that she attended a "covid party".

 

[blastula]

This article has the ME report.

Medical examiner: Teen who died from COVID-19 attended large church event days before death - NBC2

The report doesn't call it a "covid party," but does say social distancing was not practiced at the event. NBC2 talked to Pastor Dumbass:

NBC2 spoke with Pastor David Thomas at the First Assembly of God Church on Monday. He said the church did take precautions to keep kids safe during the June 10 event. Thomas said if kids weren’t practicing social distancing, that was their decision. He said the church wasn’t going to be policing the event.

Even worse is that the mother is a nurse and the father is a physician's assistant. The ME report says that they gave her hydroxychloroquine.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

This article has the ME report.

Medical examiner: Teen who died from COVID-19 attended large church event days before death - NBC2

The report doesn't call it a "covid party," but does say social distancing was not practiced at the event. NBC2 talked to Pastor Dumbass:

NBC2 spoke with Pastor David Thomas at the First Assembly of God Church on Monday. He said the church did take precautions to keep kids safe during the June 10 event. Thomas said if kids weren’t practicing social distancing, that was their decision. He said the church wasn’t going to be policing the event.

Even worse is that the mother is a nurse and the father is a physician's assistant. The ME report says that they gave her hydroxychloroquine.

Thanks! An oxygen level at 40%?! I've got to think, yeah, teens are smart enough to make their own choices, but to self-medicate with medicine that a fuckwad President shilled? Gotta wonder how legal that prescription was. Her mother (parents?) failed her on multiple levels. Died because she went to fucking church event? At least people that went to the beach, went to the beach. It is just insane! Our country has lost its damned mind.

I want Government out of my health care! Now what drug did the President say I should take?

 

[blastula]

The best that can be said for the church is that she might have caught it somewhere else

 

[dannyk]

Over 70,000 daily case count now for the US. Any thoughts on what this will peak at?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Very hard to tell. Positive rates of 20% in heavy outbreak areas in Florida, or the entire state of South Carolina. Many states are above 15%, so the actual number is much probably a good deal higher. But states are closing back down... in stages... in some places.

And we are peaking capacity of testing, I think. So who knows. Probably at least one more week of increases before the new actions start being seen in daily numbers. Sadly, deaths are trending up now and will continue to do so.

 

[Elixir]

And we are peaking capacity of testing, I think. So who knows. Probably at least one more week of increases before the new actions start being seen in daily numbers. Sadly, deaths are trending up now and will continue to do so.

It's a sick and perverted equation. You suppress testing to make the apparent cases go down. As a result mortality goes up, yes. But that effect is damped by the fact that many who die were never diagnosed. They die at home so the DC reads 'respiratory failure", "pneumonia" or whatever. Now you go play the hero and get re-elected for driving down the numbers.
But I think Plan A is to infect the whole country as fast as possible. Once that happens, new cases and new deaths will precipitously decline.
And when will that happen? Here's a clue from World-o-meters projections, showing what FLORIDA is projecting:


https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america/florida

That graph looks TOTALLY disconnected from any possible reality other than what some FL State Bureau of Bullshit might put out to appease Trump.
What in the world could possibly cause that utterly precipitous decline in deaths projected for just before the election, and in the face of still-rising rising cases?

 

[Elixir]

Time to bring this thing back to the top for a brief redux.


Coronavirus hospital data will now be sent to Trump administration instead of CDC

This is a serious Orwellian breakdown of western civilization.

I'm getting the fuck out of the US stock market before the Emperor's nakedness becomes apparent to all survivors, even the supporting morons.

Washington (CNN)Hospital data on coronavirus patients will now be rerouted to the Trump administration instead of first being sent to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to CNN on Tuesday.
The move could make data less transparent to the public at a time when the administration is downplaying the spread of the pandemic, and threatens to undermine public confidence that medical data is being presented free of political interference.

Gee, and I thought the body count would be the final arbiter of the seriousness of the Trump Virus. But no - it will be Trump himself, as the public is deprived of the body count data as well as the infection rate.
The good news: Anyone who believes one thing coming from this administration is now even more likely to get what they deserve.