Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Until covid makes for the key distinction.

Estimates by KFF put vaxx rates for Dems at over 91% but for Pubs at only 63% (white evangelicals also at 63%, both at the bottom comparatively speaking). So if it's unvaxxed driving that death train, the conductors are much more likely to be from the right than left.

And while you might see some old tree huggers once in awhile, mis & disinfo has spread like a virus much more on the right than left...other than RFK Jr, a leader among the Disinformation Dozen But most folks on the left don't buy into his antivaxxism.

If this seems like I'm blaming folks on the right, it's because I am. Unequivocally.

The politically motivated disinformers & misinformers have gotten a lot of their own political stripe killed. Criminal as far as I'm concerned.

 

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, according to a statement from the vice president's office.
"Earlier today, the Second Gentleman tested positive for Covid-19," said Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris. "Out of an abundance of caution, the Vice President will not participate in tonight's event. The Vice President tested negative for Covid-19 today and will continue to test."

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff tests positive for Covid-19 - CNNPolitics

 

Idiots on the left, especially in the west like Oregon were responsible for measles breakout a few years ago and those not wanting to vax their kids have generally been more left leaning. However I’m not sure the scale is anywhere near the anti Covid vax movement.

 

Oh I don't doubt it. We had that out here in lil bit nutty CA too. But other than RFK Jr. and some hippie and new age lefties, I have seen little of the kind of mis and disinfo about covid/vaccines coming from the left, comparatively, even if it exists. That difference can be seen in KFF's survey on vaccinations by group. ATVL, we can be sure that dead anti-vaxx on the left is a non-zero number.

 

The Growing Influence of State Governments on Population Health in the United States

Excerpt:

"In the past decade, the growing polarization of “red” and “blue” states has further widened the divide on policies ranging from Medicaid expansion and abortion to education, immigration, redistricting, unions, and criminal justice. Conservative governors increasingly use preemption, the authority to override local governments, to block liberal health policies (eg, indoor smoking bans).6 States have preempted local regulations on nutrition (eg, menu labeling, food deserts) and, as of 2013, 45 states had enacted statutes to limit local firearm regulations.8

9 and they blunted subsequent surges by reinstating those policies. In contrast, states that had spent decades opposing public health provisions were among the most resistant to COVID-19 guidelines and took active measures to resist restrictions. Some elected officials made a political issue out of challenging scientific evidence, embracing dubious theories, and labeling public health safeguards as infringements on personal freedom. Conservative governors used preemption to reverse efforts by mayors and school districts to control local transmission rates.

9 In 2021, excess deaths were disproportionately concentrated in states where resistance to COVID-19 vaccination was prevalent. For example, excess death rates in Florida and Georgia (more than 200 deaths per 100 000) were much higher than in states with largely vaccinated populations such as New York (112 per 100 000), New Jersey (73 deaths per 100 000), and Massachusetts (50 per 100 000). States that resisted public health protections experienced higher numbers of excess deaths during the Delta variant surge in the fall of 2021 (Figure). Between August and December 2021, Florida experienced more than triple the number of excess deaths (29 252) as New York (8786), despite both states having similar population counts (21.7 million and 19.3 million, respectively).10"

The Growing Influence of State Governments on Population Health in the United States

 

Where do Indy's stack up in your blame game?

 

Caught in the crossfire

 

In California, the vax rates are 94%, 75% and 65% across the spectrum.

Also, to the best of my knowledge, independents do not have authority in any state to dictate health policy or messaging. Your point is moot.

 

Just when I thought it was going away...omicron 2.0 is more infectious than omicron

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/15/is-omicron-subvariant-bapoint2-to-blame-for-rising-covid-cases.html

LONDON — Covid cases are rising in Europe, with an increasing number being attributed to the prevalence of a "stealth" subvariant of the omicron strain.

Covid cases have increased dramatically in the U.K. in recent weeks, while Germany continues to mark record high daily infections with more than 250,000 new cases a day. Elsewhere, France, Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands are also seeing Covid infections start to rise again, aided and abetted by the relaxation of coronavirus measures and the spread of a new subvariant of omicron, known as BA.2.

 

I was more curious as to how the Indy's were following..

Kennedy was mentioned, he has zero authority to dictate anything but somehow has a large voice.

 

Gotcha. Sorry. I misunderstood your question.

 

Wow! What are the odds?

 

Many are still partisan and not truly independent. But it doesn't seem to me that it's Indys who are driving the misinformation train.

 

On vacation and having a lot of laughs. This one just surpassed them all! Thanks for the laugh!

 

That is a really interesting graph. You could chalk the early part of the graph due to denser urban areas and more northern concentration and the reversal essentially as the process of spread and equalizing. But by around August 2001 the difference starts blowing up which coincided with Delta and vaccinations. Now the R counties are twice as high as Blue, which likely correlates highly to percent unvaxed.

 

Yeah. This time series tells a story for those of us that have been diligently watching. The sharp bends representing different points of tragedy, frustration and hope.

Reminds me a bit of Minard's depiction of Napoleon's 1812 march to Moscow.

 

(Reuters) - Figures showing a global rise in COVID-19 cases could herald a much bigger problem as some countries also report a drop in testing rates, the WHO said on Tuesday, warning nations to remain vigilant against the virus.

After more than a month of decline, COVID cases started to increase around the world last week, the WHO said, with lockdowns in Asia and China's Jilin province battling to contain an outbreak.



WHO says global rise in COVID cases is 'tip of the iceberg'

 

Yea, been following this story. Plainly it's been increasing in areas in the world and there some early signs in wastewater of imminent outbreaks in various US locales. But obviously we decided that we have moved on, so I don't think will be any significant public health response. Congress is not even funding previously noncontroversial expenditures such as testing. As a nation, we have simply declared that Covid is over, even if it isn't. Other Western nations with high quality vaccines have done the same.

My understanding is that the population followed a similar psychological trajectory in the Spanish Flu of 1918. It was declared gone in 1920 and everything was opened up and precautions forgotten, although there were still localized and very deadly outbreaks through 1922. Those are only two historical examples, so I don't think we can announce an established law of human behavior that people can take two years of pandemic precautions before they decide to throw caution to the wind. But it is interesting.

 

This has probably been discussed somewhere in this mega thread, but there is some compelling evidence that the “Russian Flu” of 1889-1892 was actually a coronavirus. It was characterized mostly be 3 distinct waves.

What we can learn from the dynamics of the 1889 ‘Russian flu’ pandemic for the future trajectory of COVID‐19

 

To read that. I plainly screwed up by a century in my earlier post but I think everyone figured out what I meant