Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2022 Breaking News

The Quarantine Zone
461

Yeah, if you look at the day before yesterday’s post, you’ll see that the number of US deaths was higher than it was yesterday’s. I figured there was a correction, so I changed it for last night’s post, giving us the 0 deaths in the US.

I’m not particularly consistent in the time I grab the stats, which is why I add the date/time of when I retrieve them from Worldometers.

462

If I were more cynical, I’d call shenanigans, trying to delay the moment when the US his 1,000,000 deaths. But since we’ve been seeing these fluctuations from the start, I can’t convince myself.

The 1,000,000-death mark should be this week, though: what will the reaction be? Ukraine seems to have knocked covid out of the headlines, because goodness knows no human could follow two stories at once.

463

You’re doing a great job! :+1:t4:

464

Things do seem to have slowed down, for now.

Case count update as of March 16, 2022 02:32 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 462,012,958
Dead 6,073,733
Recovered 394,896,086
In the US:
Total cases 81,244,936
Dead 992,302
Recovered 56,456,450
Differences since last time
Worldwide:
Total cases 1,862,277
Dead 6,180
Recovered 1,669,282
In the US:
Total cases 28,685
Dead 1,265
Recovered 174,553
Last Time’s Numbers 3/15/2022 02:14 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 460,150,681
Dead 6,067,553
Recovered 393,226,804
In the US:
Total cases 81,216,251
Dead 991,037
Recovered 56,281,897
465
Case count update as of 3/17/2022 02:09 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 464,190,193
Dead 6,080,965
Recovered 396,413,943
Deaths / 1M pop 780.1
In the US:
Total cases 81,289,602
Dead 994,739
Recovered 56,631,117
Deaths / 1M pop 2,976
Differences since last time
Worldwide:
Total cases 2,177,235
Dead 7,232
Recovered 1,517,857
Deaths / 1M pop 0
In the US:
Total cases 44,666
Dead 2,437
Recovered 174,667
Deaths / 1M pop 0
Last Time’s Numbers 3/16/2022 02:32 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 462,012,958
Dead 6,073,733
Recovered 394,896,086
Deaths / 1M pop 780
In the US:
Total cases 81,244,936
Dead 992,302
Recovered 56,456,450
Deaths / 1M pop 2,976
466

Hope everyone heals quickly, Siam Sam. It’s looking likely we’ll have to postpone our trip to visit family in Malaysia (with extended stopover, just for fun, in Japan) for yet another year. My kid hasn’t spent time with his cousins in so long! This really sucks.

My wife just texted me: “Ah, damn Chinese vaccine. [We had lamented that it was the only option for her mother.] It’s only going to get worse after Eid.”

She’s referring to the end-of-Ramadan holiday, I believe in May this year. About 65% of Malaysians are Muslims.

467
Case count update as of 3/18/2022 02:14 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 466,472,159
Dead 6,087,899
Recovered 397,879,055
Deaths / 1M pop 781
In the US:
Total cases 81,350,883
Dead 996,072
Recovered 56,822,580
Deaths / 1M pop 2,979
Differences since last time
Worldwide:
Total cases 2,281,966
Dead 6,934
Recovered 1,465,112
Deaths / 1M pop 1
In the US:
Total cases 61,281
Dead 1,333
Recovered 191,463
Deaths / 1M pop 3
Last Time’s Numbers 3/17/2022 02:09 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 464,190,193
Dead 6,080,965
Recovered 396,413,943
Deaths / 1M pop 780.1
In the US:
Total cases 81,289,602
Dead 994,739
Recovered 56,631,117
Deaths / 1M pop 2,976
468

So at current rates, it looks like the USA will cross the sad milestone of a million deaths in the next week or so. Do you think the media will mark that at all?

469

Not the Worldometer count. The media looks at the Johns Hopkins pages. When their number goes over 1M they’ll report it. But J-H has different sources and their numbers are lower (right now it’s about 970,000) than Worldometer.

470

Moderna seeks FDA authorization for a second booster dose of its coronavirus vaccine for all adults

Pfizer asked the FDA to approve a second booster for those over 65. Moderna asked for authorization for everyone over 18, saying it would give doctors latitude in recommending boosters to their patients.

471

Roughly twenty percent of the recorded deaths for the world in the last 24 hours were in the USA. (I didn’t do the calculation, just did the “a bit over 1,000 in the USA, a bit over 5,000 around the world” estimation.)

Case count update as of 3/19/2022 02:04 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 467,956,228.0
Dead 6,093,261.0
Recovered 399,254,480.0
Deaths / 1M pop 781.7
In the US:
Total cases 81,388,590.0
Dead 997,136.0
Recovered 56,975,477.0
Deaths / 1M pop 2,983.0
Differences since last time
Worldwide:
Total cases 1,484,069.0
Dead 5,362.0
Recovered 1,375,425.0
Deaths / 1M pop 0.7
In the US:
Total cases 37,707.0
Dead 1,064.0
Recovered 152,897.0
Deaths / 1M pop 7.0
Last Time’s Numbers 3/18/2022 02:14 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 466,472,159.0
Dead 6,087,899.0
Recovered 397,879,055.0
Deaths / 1M pop 781.0
In the US:
Total cases 81,350,883.0
Dead 996,072.0
Recovered 56,822,580.0
Deaths / 1M pop 2,976.0
472

Every shot, booster or otherwise, that is refused by an anti-vaxxer who is otherwise eligible for the shot, should become available to anyone else who actually wants the extra shot.

I’ll get a booster every month until I have those anti-bodies oozing out my ears.

473

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of point in posting numbers on the weekend given the piss-poor reporting. I’ll catch up again on Monday.

474

Thanks for the well-wishes for wife and niece. They’re both out of quarantine and doing fine. The wife was supposed to have been home by now but has had to delay until next weekend to obtain the necessary clearance for the airline.

Starting April 1, Thailand is eliminating the requirement to stay in a hotel on your first and fifth nights. And Vietnam has reopened its borders.

Speaking of the wife coming home, here’s a fun fact: The time difference between Hawaii and Thailand is 17 hours, and travel time between the two is 17 hours. So when you go from Bangkok to Honolulu, after traveling for 17 hours you step off the plane on the same day and almost exactly the same time as you left Bangkok. I’ve seen other flights that were, say, one hour and you step off the plane at the same time you left because you’re in the next time zone. But I believe this to be one of the more extreme examples. Seventeen hours. It’s almost like stepping into a time portal.

475

An airplane and a photon leave Bangkok for Hawaii at the same time. Which one arrives first?

476

The airplane. Photons wouldn’t follow the curvature of the Earth.

477

We’re definitely hitting the 1,000,000 dead mark in the USA this week. Probably Wednesday, maybe Thursday.

Case count update as of March 22, 2022 01:18 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 471,925,910.0
Dead 6,104,420.0
Recovered 408,273,817.0
Deaths / 1M pop 783.1
In the US:
Total cases 81,441,002.0
Dead 998,514.0
Recovered 63,219,125.0
Deaths / 1M pop 2,983.0
Differences since last time
Worldwide:
Total cases 3,969,682.0
Dead 11,159.0
Recovered 9,019,337.0
Deaths / 1M pop 1.4
In the US:
Total cases 52,412.0
Dead 1,378.0
Recovered 6,243,648.0
Deaths / 1M pop 0.0
Last Time’s Numbers 3/19/2022 02:04 GMT
Worldwide:
Total cases 467,956,228.0
Dead 6,093,261.0
Recovered 399,254,480.0
Deaths / 1M pop 781.7
In the US:
Total cases 81,388,590.0
Dead 997,136.0
Recovered 56,975,477.0
Deaths / 1M pop 2,983.0
478

Lord…what was the thinking at the very beginning-- maybe 30,000 total? :cry:

479

I was once traveling from Okinawa to California and was able to show my family “tomorrow’s newspaper” for a couple of hours until the time caught up with me. It was pretty cool.

I have a nurse friend (New York) who happily announced yesterday that there were NO Covid cases in the ER.

480

A recent calculation for the severity of Covid in the UK shows we are now below that of seasonal flu. i.e. for a given number of people catching Covid and flu, fewer people will die in the Covid group
(for every 100k with Covid, 35 deaths, for 100k with flu, 40 deaths)

Of course with more cases doing the rounds at the moment it still means more deaths in total but vaccinations, treatments, natural immunity and variant changes now mean that whereas previously, catching Covid meant a 20x greater risk of death than with flu, the risk of death with Covid now is lower than flu.
These figures also seem to date from before any widespread use of the antivirals at our disposal.

This is a UK analysis of data and of course, seeing as all the mitigating factors above vary from country to country, I’d expect that severity figure to fluctuate on a local basis but I’d be surprised if a similar scale of reductions weren’t seen everywhere sooner or later.