# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2022 Breaking News
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [January 1, 2022, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022 "2022-01-01T05:02:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 10
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/181 "2022-01-18T13:01:12Z")
Hong Kong:
> **[Hong Kong to kill 2,000 animals after hamsters get COVID-19](https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-covid-hamsters-animals-75f2d3507bdb8255cd2aee79e962fc35)**
>
> HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities said Tuesday that they will kill about 2,000 small animals, including hamsters, after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a pet store where an employee was also infected.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/182 "2022-01-18T15:48:40Z")
New data from the Johns Hopkins site. Daily Record High numbers of reported cases (7-day average) as of January 17, 2022:
**Wisconsin** – 19734
**Ohio** – 34352
**Alabama** – 14978
**Kansas** – 9912
**Oklahoma** – 13368
**Arizona** – 19730
**Hawaii** – 4414
Not bad. Only seven states. The US as a whole continues to decline in Daily New Cases, as well. Only 589922 as of yesterday. India is now next-highest, with 325086.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/183 "2022-01-18T16:01:53Z")
Can you remind me (provide a link) for your numbers?
---
### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/184 "2022-01-18T16:07:50Z")
Bo reports the daily [Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/) numbers.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/185 "2022-01-18T16:20:17Z")
Thank you. I’ve noticed that the deaths posted here are tens of thousands greater than the deaths reported by, say, CNN. For example, the number on Worldometer is currently 874,347. The CDC is reporting 842,873. The difference is 31,474.
Worldometer seems to be a little vague about their sources. They say they have over 5,000 trusted sources worldwide, and list organisations that trust their numbers.
So who is more accurate? Worldometer, or the CDC?
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/186 "2022-01-18T16:43:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Can you remind me (provide a link) for your numbers?
> [@squeegee](#):
>
> Bo reports the daily [Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/) numbers.
Aye; that page (thanks **squeegee**!) and this one:
> **[United States COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/)**
>
> United States Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Worldometer seems to be a little vague about their sources. They say they have over 5,000 trusted sources worldwide, and list organisations that trust their numbers.
I think they are the opposite of vague about their sources; [this is from their FAQ](https://www.worldometers.info/faq/):
> [@](#):
>
> #### [What are the sources for the coronavirus COVID-19 numbers?](https://www.worldometers.info/faq/#content-icon-v2-left-01)
>
> Official reports, directly from **Government’s communication channels** or indirectly, through local media sources when deemed reliable. We provide the source of each data update in the “Latest Updates” (News) section. Timely updates are made possible thanks to the participation of users around the world and to the dedication of a team of analysts and researchers who validate data from an ever-growing list of over 5,000 sources.
Entries for each day are listed by country with a link to the source material, for instance:
> [@](#):
>
> - **7,756 new cases** and **18 new deaths** in **[Morocco](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/morocco/)** [[source](http://www.covidmaroc.ma/Pages/AccueilAR.aspx)]
>
> - **3,150 new cases** and **4 new deaths** in **[Cuba](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/)** [[source](https://salud.msp.gob.cu/parte-de-cierre-del-dia-17-de-enero-a-las-12-de-la-noche-2/)]
I just chose those at random. Those links go to government sites listing the numbers for those countries (I’ve found that to be true of the vast majority of the source links, too).
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> So who is more accurate? Worldometer, or the CDC?
IME&O, very early on the WoM numbers were more _timely_ accurate than the CDC numbers; that’s why I switched over to using their numbers.
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/187 "2022-01-18T16:55:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> I think they are the opposite of vague about their sources;
Ah, Government sources! But they don’t say which ones. The site isn’t easy to navigate, and it took me a bit to find The United States as shown in the format in your examples. While your examples have [source], the entry for The United States doesn’t. So exactly where the data for the U.S. is coming from is vague.
Don’t get me wrong; I do appreciate your posting of these figures. It’s just that when the numbers are 30,000 higher than the CDC, I wonder where their data comes from.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/188 "2022-01-18T17:16:24Z")
No problem; I understand the curiousity.
> **[About Worldometer COVID-19 data - Worldometer](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/about/#sources)**
> [@](#):
>
> ### Definitions
>
> **Total Cases** = **reported total cumulative count of detected** and laboratory (and sometimes, depending on the country reporting them and the criteria adopted at the time, also clinically) **confirmed positive** and sometimes - depending on the country reporting standards - also **presumptive** , **suspect** , or **probable** cases of detected infection. Because it represents a cumulative count (rather than a snapshot of the number of current cases at any given time), this number can’t decrease. The size of the gap between **detected** (whether confirmed, suspect or probable) and **reported** cases versus actual cases will depend on the number of tests performed and on the country’s transparency in reporting. Most estimates have put the number of undetected cases at several **multiples** of detected cases
A little further down they discuss reporting issues:
> [@](#):
>
> ### Reporting Issues
>
> On a daily basis, we encounter an increasing number of reporting issues. Some of these include official governmental channels changing or retracting figures, or publishing contradictory data on different official outlets. National or State figures with old or incomplete data compared to regional, local (counties, in the US) government’s reports is the norm, so we try to compensate by collecting the missing data and maintaining an accurate and timely count.
>
> Below we are keeping a log with a partial list of errors, retractions, or major discrepancies (and their explanation) between our numbers and what users could see on other outlets, in the hope to clarify the many inquiries we receive:
If you scroll down the page a little you can find links to the US sources on those specific issues. Most of the links go directly to state agencies. That would presumably be 50 of the 5,000 or so sources that WoM uses, plus county level info if possible, etc.
IMO WoM does a more thorough and complete job than the CDC of gathering and collating these numbers _in a timely fashion_. What I saw two years ago was the Johns-Hopkins site lagging on reporting and when the numbers did catch up to WoM, there was no announcement or explanation of where the new info came from. WoM does a better job of that overall, IMO.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/189 "2022-01-18T17:59:30Z")
Here’s some news:
> **[US faces wave of omicron deaths in coming weeks, models say](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-omicron-covid-19-deaths-08f8db29985b992d5ef98ccfa1459eb7)**
>
> The fast-moving omicron variant may cause less severe disease on average, but COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are climbing and modelers forecast 50,000 to 300,000 more Americans could die by the time the wave subsides in mid-March.
---
### Author:  [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/190 "2022-01-18T18:28:08Z")
Some good news around testing for Omicron using the rapid antigen home tests, which have not been great at detecting Omicron:
> [@](#):
>
> The good news, researchers say, is that two newly authorized rapid tests coming to market as soon as this month work well in detecting omicron. The FDA issued emergency-use authorizations for the tests by Roche and Siemens Healthineers in late December.
>
> “Help is on the way,” said Wilbur Lam, a physician and biomedical engineer at Emory University who runs the lab tasked by the National Institutes of Health with evaluating the performance of the rapid tests on the market. “The two new [tests] coming out perform really well.
> **[They relied on rapid coronavirus tests to gather safely. Some wish they hadn’t.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/17/rapid-coronavirus-tests-accuracy-omicron/)**
>
> False-negative results have caused frustration and even heartache for some people who later got back positive PCR results and now fear they may have infected others.
---
### Author:  [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/191 "2022-01-18T20:42:52Z")
A useful scholarly discussion and current estimate of total global deaths - the 5.5 million officially reported plus estimates based on excess mortality.
Spoiler - its a much, much bigger number.
[https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00104-8?utm\_source=Nature+Briefing&utm\_campaign=628f2b80d3-briefing-dy-20220118&utm\_medium=email&utm\_term=0\_c9dfd39373-628f2b80d3-43912509](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00104-8?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=628f2b80d3-briefing-dy-20220118&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-628f2b80d3-43912509)
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2022, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/192 "2022-01-18T22:55:46Z")
Not sure how I missed this a few days ago but better late than never, eh:
> **[Anti-vaccine protesters try to storm Bulgaria's parliament | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/europe/bulgaria-anti-vaccine-protesters-intl/index.html)**
>
> Anti-vaccine protesters tried to storm the Bulgarian parliament on Wednesday and briefly scuffled with police officers during a massive rally against coronavirus restrictions in downtown Sofia.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/193 "2022-01-19T04:39:40Z")
335,364,083 total cases
5,573,533 dead
271,007,036 recovered
In the US:
68,767,004 total cases
877,240 dead
43,528,110 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> 331,369,666 total cases
> 5,563,436 dead
> 269,043,110 recovered
>
> In the US:
>
> 67,631,191 total cases
> 874,321 dead
> 43,165,667 recovered
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/194 "2022-01-19T06:54:02Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#):
>
> A useful scholarly discussion and current estimate of total global deaths - the 5.5 million officially reported plus estimates based on excess mortality.
>
> Spoiler - its a much, much bigger number.
>
> [The pandemic’s true death toll: millions more than official counts](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00104-8?utm_source=Nature+Briefing&utm_campaign=628f2b80d3-briefing-dy-20220118&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c9dfd39373-628f2b80d3-43912509)
That’s a very good article. I recommend it to anyone interested in the overall death count from this pandemic. Despite the fact that it’s in an academic journal, it’s very readable by non-scientists.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/195 "2022-01-19T13:37:00Z")
If’n ya need ‘em, go get ‘em:
> **[Biden to give away 400 million N95 masks starting next week](https://apnews.com/article/biden-government-free-n95-masks-program-2b4a59953281ca16028244ab9a5b1d6e)**
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will begin making 400 million N95 masks available for free to U.S.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/196 "2022-01-19T13:38:38Z")
The increase in new cases is easing:
> **[WHO counts 18 million virus cases last week as omicron slows](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-world-health-organization-united-nations-pandemics-6f542db59c7b6d45474a2e5c9d3d81d8)**
>
> GENEVA (AP) — The number of new coronavirus cases globally rose by 20% last week to more than 18 million, marking a slowdown in the surge caused by the omicron variant's spread, according to the World Health Organization.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/197 "2022-01-19T15:50:25Z")
New Johns Hopkins daily Reported COVID cases maps out for data as of January 18, 2022. There are new record high daily cases (7-day average) in:
**New Hampshire** – 3680
**Alabama** – 16660
**Iowa** – 6461
**Oklahoma** – 11502
**Texas** – 81838
**Arizona** – 20625
**Hawaii** – 5202
Still seven states with new record highs, the same as for the past few days (although they’re different sets of seven states)
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 19, 2022, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/198 "2022-01-19T22:57:57Z")
“Nothing to see here!”
> **[UK lifts COVID restrictions, says omicron wave 'has peaked'](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-boris-johnson-business-health-london-59417842d49e95ef556eb9b0352144dd)**
>
> LONDON (AP) — Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped for large events as infections level off in most parts of the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/199 "2022-01-20T04:34:24Z")
339,486,288 total cases
5,583,850 dead
272,917,016 recovered
In the US:
69,808,350 total cases
880,976 dead
43,892,277 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> 335,364,083 total cases
> 5,573,533 dead
> 271,007,036 recovered
>
> In the US:
>
> 68,767,004 total cases
> 877,240 dead
> 43,528,110 recovered
At the moment, the US is accounting for more than 20% of all COVID-19 deaths per day.
---
### Author:  [@Ziberian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ziberian)
#### Post date: [January 20, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/200 "2022-01-20T19:49:15Z")
> **[Severe Covid-19 Doubles Risk Of Death In The Year After Illness, Study Finds](https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/12/01/severe-covid-19-doubles-risk-of-death-in-the-year-after-illness-study-finds/?sh=36f28e9846b4)**
>
> The risk was greater in younger patients and the majority died from causes not normally associated with Covid-19, the researchers said, meaning the deaths may never have been linked to coronavirus by families or doctors.
## Key Facts
The risk following severe infection was particularly noteworthy in patients under 65, who had a 233% increased chance of dying compared to the uninfected, the researchers found.
The increased risk of death for under 65s with severe Covid-19 was greater than that for those over the age of 65, the researchers found.
The research, by academics at the University of Florida, was based on an analysis of the electronic health records of 13,638 patients who underwent a PCR test for coronavirus within the University of Florida health system and recovered from the disease.
The vast majority of patients—80%—did not die from complications typically associated with Covid-19 like blood clotting or respiratory failure and died long after the initial infection had passed, the researchers said, meaning their deaths may never have been linked to Covid-19 by families or doctors.
The findings suggest severe infection damages overall health and leaves patients vulnerable to other health issues, the researchers wrote, highlighting the importance of preventing serious illness through vaccination.
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