North Korea announced its “first case of coronavirus.” Well, there’s virtually no way North Korea completely avoided coronavirus until now, unless the country was hermetically sealed off. … Wait, North Korea is and always has been hermetically sealed off. So perhaps it is true, and maybe the virus got in as diplomats – only people allowed in and out – brought the virus with them. In any case, North Korea has announced it is instituting a country-wide lockdown. This is somewhat of an oxymoron for a nation that has been under lockdown since the late 1940s. Oh well. Now it’s under the strictest of lockdowns, you know, Wuhan-style. If Hong Kong is any indicator – and it is – the wave about to hit North Korea will kill a lot of people. The Chinese vaccine Sinovac is inferior. Most of the people in North Korea are virus-naive, that is, they haven’t built up any immunity. It will hit hard. Omicron is not a “mild” variant. It’s just as powerful as other variants when it hits the same virus-naive populations.
People are sugar-coating it by saying “well, it’s better than it was.” That’s not really true. It’s worse than it was last year at this time. That’s concerning. You know me, I’m not an alarmist. I really thought we’d be in a better place by now. We’re not. Plain and simple.
Hospitalizations are at 743. Keep in mind, these are more narrowly defined than before. That’s a lot of people. Even in Massachusetts, I’m hearing that boosting among the elderly and vulnerable has dried up. The governor doesn’t seem to care. I never see any public official saying anything about boosting the vulnerable. It’s truly bizarre. Our level of boosting is more than two times LOWER than the average among our West European peer nations (3 times lower than the Netherlands). Their hospitalizations and deaths have been decreasing and are decreasing rapidly. Ours have been increasing and are increasing rapidly. It’s like we’re blind to our failure. The focus here seems to be vaccinating infants. It’s practically the only thing I hear about when it comes to vaccinations in the U.S. That should NOT be our focus, guys. European nations don’t vaccinate the very young children at all.
I am so discouraged with our country right now. I never thought I’d see anything like this. My best guess….which is more of a certainty than guess….is our founders didn’t either. It is as if everyone has checked out.
Once more, we’re reminded of the fact that the peak is near. This wave isn’t so bad, etc … See article below. We’ve seen this repeatedly for more than two years now. It’s not as if the articles are totally inaccurate. They do contain kernels of truths. Yet, if seen in the context of other articles that have been published over time that relay the same message, they’re factually inaccurate. I can point to almost the same article published last month and the month before that said the exact same thing. All such articles can’t be correct at the same time. And, I can do this ad infinitum, seemingly. Gottlieb and others don’t want to admit faults. They’re now just into soothsaying, I guess. I’d love to believe we’re nearing a peak. Maybe we are. But, we still need to wait and see. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/05/12/mass-covid-19-cases-and-hospitalizations-are-rising-but-experts-think-we-may-be-nearing-the-peak/?p1=hp_featurestack
Back in January, 31% of those who died of Covid were vaccinated but not boosted. That percentage is – I am sure – much higher now. Yet, we still as a nation don’t focus on boosting the vulnerable. I do not get it. https://twitter.com/LizSzabo/status/1524802996260982787
In my view, nursing homes that have even a single unboosted resident should be refused federal resources (monies) until they get everyone boosted. Plain and simple.
Joshua. Have you had your second booster?
Not my second. I was advised to wait 3 months after my first bout with Omicron – end of January/beginning of February. And now I got hit again, so I’ll wait another 3 months. I did get a first booster back in November.
Makes sense. Thanks. I think I’ll get mine in June then November but I’m not sure. I had my last Dec 1
By the way, when I speak of the U.S. not boosting, I mean the 1st booster, not the 2nd. Only 30% of Americans have gotten a 1st booster. That’s the lowest percentage by a wide margin among peer nations. Alarming is the fact that at least 25% of nursing home residents nationwide haven’t received a booster.
Well, this didn’t take long: From one confirmed case to 18,000 with 6 deaths reported. I am 100% sure that these figures are gross underestimates. North Korea is prone to lying and hiding the real facts, as TK alluded to. I do think they probably kept a lot of virus at bay initially. But once the new variants emerged with high transmissibility it became impossible to stop, even in a hermetically sealed off country. For one thing, NK has diplomats stationed in NYC. They live in NYC in a residential compound. They travel back and forth. I’m sure they’re tested upon arrival in NK. But, as we know, the tests don’t always detect the virus. https://twitter.com/medriva/status/1524860151009886218
School numbers increased 50 percent for Students. 13,380 students and 4,043 staff in five days.
We are absolute fools that we have not reinstated masking. Dangerous fools at that. I thought the reason for heading back in person was to have a consistent education. Hows that working out?
The Massachusetts data today are bad: Case numbers again soaring along with test positivity (now well above 8%); hospitalizations steadily rising along with deaths (16). I fear that the BA.2 sub-variant we have in the U.S. is qualitatively different from the BA.2 sub-variant that was circulating in Europe. It has mutated since March and is a culprit in driving the numbers higher and higher. Hospitalizations in MA are up 55% in 2 weeks (ICU usage up 45% over that time period). Keep in mind, 55% (!) of hospitalized Covid patients still have enduring symptoms 1.5 to 2 years after their hospitalization. They’ve been tracking those hospitalized in the initial wave. https://twitter.com/IteamWWLP/status/1524869037045473292
For those keeping track, never doubt that the wave that happens in Western Europe will happen here (it will; it always does). And, never doubt that it will impact us worse (it will; it always does). I doubt myself every time and think positive thoughts – foolish me – that somehow we’ll avoid it. We won’t, and it will be worse here, guaranteed.
We are living (and dying) with the virus. I accept that. I’m not in favor of lockdowns or closures. But, we could do more. Masking would help some. But, boosters would help much more, especially in the vulnerable groups. Rather than seeing ad after ad after ad on TV from National Floor Direct or Rite Window, could we for once as a state have public health service announcements on boosters. There have been some Paxlovid ads. But, that’s treating a problem that is usually preventable with a vaccine. And, I’m unsure whether Paxlovid is all that great, anyway. Promote vaccines. Make them mandatory in institutions that accept federal or state monies. Message everywhere – billboards; digital highway signs; pharmacies (make it MUCH more visible – and I mean as soon as you walk in; confront every customer with a sign saying “did you get your booster?”)
C-19 / 5-13 / ready
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Your no-hype southeastern New England weather blog!
Thanks TK.
1,000,000 🙁
North Korea announced its “first case of coronavirus.” Well, there’s virtually no way North Korea completely avoided coronavirus until now, unless the country was hermetically sealed off. … Wait, North Korea is and always has been hermetically sealed off. So perhaps it is true, and maybe the virus got in as diplomats – only people allowed in and out – brought the virus with them. In any case, North Korea has announced it is instituting a country-wide lockdown. This is somewhat of an oxymoron for a nation that has been under lockdown since the late 1940s. Oh well. Now it’s under the strictest of lockdowns, you know, Wuhan-style. If Hong Kong is any indicator – and it is – the wave about to hit North Korea will kill a lot of people. The Chinese vaccine Sinovac is inferior. Most of the people in North Korea are virus-naive, that is, they haven’t built up any immunity. It will hit hard. Omicron is not a “mild” variant. It’s just as powerful as other variants when it hits the same virus-naive populations.
This Massachusetts data isn’t good. https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/05/11/massachusetts-reports-34-jump-in-new-covid-cases-virus-hospitalizations-climb/
People are sugar-coating it by saying “well, it’s better than it was.” That’s not really true. It’s worse than it was last year at this time. That’s concerning. You know me, I’m not an alarmist. I really thought we’d be in a better place by now. We’re not. Plain and simple.
Hospitalizations are at 743. Keep in mind, these are more narrowly defined than before. That’s a lot of people. Even in Massachusetts, I’m hearing that boosting among the elderly and vulnerable has dried up. The governor doesn’t seem to care. I never see any public official saying anything about boosting the vulnerable. It’s truly bizarre. Our level of boosting is more than two times LOWER than the average among our West European peer nations (3 times lower than the Netherlands). Their hospitalizations and deaths have been decreasing and are decreasing rapidly. Ours have been increasing and are increasing rapidly. It’s like we’re blind to our failure. The focus here seems to be vaccinating infants. It’s practically the only thing I hear about when it comes to vaccinations in the U.S. That should NOT be our focus, guys. European nations don’t vaccinate the very young children at all.
I am so discouraged with our country right now. I never thought I’d see anything like this. My best guess….which is more of a certainty than guess….is our founders didn’t either. It is as if everyone has checked out.
Once more, we’re reminded of the fact that the peak is near. This wave isn’t so bad, etc … See article below. We’ve seen this repeatedly for more than two years now. It’s not as if the articles are totally inaccurate. They do contain kernels of truths. Yet, if seen in the context of other articles that have been published over time that relay the same message, they’re factually inaccurate. I can point to almost the same article published last month and the month before that said the exact same thing. All such articles can’t be correct at the same time. And, I can do this ad infinitum, seemingly. Gottlieb and others don’t want to admit faults. They’re now just into soothsaying, I guess. I’d love to believe we’re nearing a peak. Maybe we are. But, we still need to wait and see. https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2022/05/12/mass-covid-19-cases-and-hospitalizations-are-rising-but-experts-think-we-may-be-nearing-the-peak/?p1=hp_featurestack
Back in January, 31% of those who died of Covid were vaccinated but not boosted. That percentage is – I am sure – much higher now. Yet, we still as a nation don’t focus on boosting the vulnerable. I do not get it. https://twitter.com/LizSzabo/status/1524802996260982787
In my view, nursing homes that have even a single unboosted resident should be refused federal resources (monies) until they get everyone boosted. Plain and simple.
Joshua. Have you had your second booster?
Not my second. I was advised to wait 3 months after my first bout with Omicron – end of January/beginning of February. And now I got hit again, so I’ll wait another 3 months. I did get a first booster back in November.
Makes sense. Thanks. I think I’ll get mine in June then November but I’m not sure. I had my last Dec 1
By the way, when I speak of the U.S. not boosting, I mean the 1st booster, not the 2nd. Only 30% of Americans have gotten a 1st booster. That’s the lowest percentage by a wide margin among peer nations. Alarming is the fact that at least 25% of nursing home residents nationwide haven’t received a booster.
Well, this didn’t take long: From one confirmed case to 18,000 with 6 deaths reported. I am 100% sure that these figures are gross underestimates. North Korea is prone to lying and hiding the real facts, as TK alluded to. I do think they probably kept a lot of virus at bay initially. But once the new variants emerged with high transmissibility it became impossible to stop, even in a hermetically sealed off country. For one thing, NK has diplomats stationed in NYC. They live in NYC in a residential compound. They travel back and forth. I’m sure they’re tested upon arrival in NK. But, as we know, the tests don’t always detect the virus. https://twitter.com/medriva/status/1524860151009886218
School numbers increased 50 percent for Students. 13,380 students and 4,043 staff in five days.
We are absolute fools that we have not reinstated masking. Dangerous fools at that. I thought the reason for heading back in person was to have a consistent education. Hows that working out?
The Massachusetts data today are bad: Case numbers again soaring along with test positivity (now well above 8%); hospitalizations steadily rising along with deaths (16). I fear that the BA.2 sub-variant we have in the U.S. is qualitatively different from the BA.2 sub-variant that was circulating in Europe. It has mutated since March and is a culprit in driving the numbers higher and higher. Hospitalizations in MA are up 55% in 2 weeks (ICU usage up 45% over that time period). Keep in mind, 55% (!) of hospitalized Covid patients still have enduring symptoms 1.5 to 2 years after their hospitalization. They’ve been tracking those hospitalized in the initial wave. https://twitter.com/IteamWWLP/status/1524869037045473292
For those keeping track, never doubt that the wave that happens in Western Europe will happen here (it will; it always does). And, never doubt that it will impact us worse (it will; it always does). I doubt myself every time and think positive thoughts – foolish me – that somehow we’ll avoid it. We won’t, and it will be worse here, guaranteed.
We are living (and dying) with the virus. I accept that. I’m not in favor of lockdowns or closures. But, we could do more. Masking would help some. But, boosters would help much more, especially in the vulnerable groups. Rather than seeing ad after ad after ad on TV from National Floor Direct or Rite Window, could we for once as a state have public health service announcements on boosters. There have been some Paxlovid ads. But, that’s treating a problem that is usually preventable with a vaccine. And, I’m unsure whether Paxlovid is all that great, anyway. Promote vaccines. Make them mandatory in institutions that accept federal or state monies. Message everywhere – billboards; digital highway signs; pharmacies (make it MUCH more visible – and I mean as soon as you walk in; confront every customer with a sign saying “did you get your booster?”)
C-19 / 5-13 / ready