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Coronavirus updates January 2021...please add yours.

missy

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Calliecake

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The strain that originated in South Africa has now been found in South Carolina.
 
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missy

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Daisys and Diamonds

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A happy little snippet for 6 people in a snow storm traffic jam
 

seaurchin

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I read a glimmer of hope in the NYT today. I get a daily email briefing from them but then when I tried to post a link to the article itself here, it was blocked because I haven't bought a subscription. But if anyone is interested, they could probably google it.

Anyway, it said new cases are down 35% this week in the USA, for the first time, I believe.

It went on to say that 1 million people in the US have already been exposed (three or four additional people for each person who shows symptoms). And, 24 million people have been vaccinated. With 3.3 million people in the US (I think?) that's quite a chunk.

The article said we MAY be seeing the very beginning of herd immunity. So, a little more possible light at the end of the tunnel, though it's been way too hard earned.
 

josieKat

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I read a glimmer of hope in the NYT today. I get a daily briefing from them but then when I tried to post a link to the article itself here, it was blocked because I haven't bought a subscription. But if anyone is interested, they could probably google it.

Anyway, it said new cases are down 35% this week in the USA, for the first time, I believe.

It went on to say that 1 million people in the US have already been exposed (three or four additional people for each person who shows symptoms). And, 24 million people have been vaccinated. With 3.3 million people in the US (I think?) that's quite a chunk.

The article said we MAY be seeing the very beginning of herd immunity. So, a little more possible light at the end of the tunnel, though it's been way too hard earned.

330 million population, or thereabouts.
 

seaurchin

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Here it is, quoted correctly this time. Sorry about that!


"We may be in the very early stages of herd immunity. Roughly 100 million Americans seem to have had the virus. (For every person who tests positive, three more have had it without being diagnosed, studies suggest.) Another 24 million people have received a vaccine shot.

Put those two groups together, and you realize that about one-third of all Americans have at least some degree of immunity from the virus. That may be enough to begin — begin — slowing the spread, as my colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr. explained on “The Daily.”"
 

missy

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"
With more than 30% of its population vaccinated, Israel leads the fight against Covid-19. Yet the emergence of more infectious variants is overwhelming its hospitals, showing the long road ahead for the rest of the world.

After inoculating 82% of Israelis aged 60 and more, going into a nearly month-long lockdown and shutting down the national airport this week, Israel is indicating the end of the tunnel may be further away. That dents hopes for a rapid vaccine-driven global recovery after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge at Davos to make Israel a test case for how quickly Covid shots can help reopen economies.



Vaccination Center as Israel Forges Nationwide Covid Effort

A nurse administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine inside a mass vaccination center in Tel Aviv, on Jan. 4.
Photographer: Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg
“We see a wave of infection that refuses to decline, apparently because of the mutation,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said at a press conference on Thursday.

As the European Union fights to get adequate supplies of vaccines and the U.S. pushes to get more shots into arms, the Israeli situation is evidence of the difficulty of fighting a virus whose ability to quickly mutate keeps it a step ahead of efforts to contain it.




People in Israel who have gone through the vaccination cycle made up 2% or less of those hospitalized, said Head of Public Health Sharon Alroy-Preis, adding that “they were definitely more protected.” Still, not enough people have completed the inoculation cycle to draw conclusions about the efficacy of the vaccine, Ran Balicer, head of the Covid-19 National Experts Team, said on Ynet television.

The so-called British variant, 50% more infectious and possibly more virulent than the original virus, is to blame for the inability so far of the vaccination campaign and the lockdown to curb the spread, Israeli health ministry officials said.






Although the vaccine is believed to work against the British variant, the mutation’s more contagious nature means higher infections and hence more hospitalizations. The health ministry’s main goal now is to bring down the numbers of the seriously ill who are overwhelming hospital wards and exhausting medical teams.

The rate of infections in Israel has declined to just over 9% from 10.2% earlier this month, and people seriously or critically ill has stabilized at about 1,100. But the number of patients on respirators has hit a record, Corona Commissioner Nachman Ash has said. More than 4,600 people in Israel have died from the virus, and more than 7,600 people are being diagnosed with it daily.


Balicer said it would likely take another 10 days before the country sees critical cases decline, allowing the economy to begin to return to normal.

relates to World’s Most Vaccinated Nation Struggles With Virus Variants

Netanyahu has set a target of inoculating all Israelis older than 16 by the end of March.

“The faster we vaccinate and the faster the population goes to get vaccinated, the faster we can bring the spread under control,” said Hezi Levi, Health Ministry director."
 

missy

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Here it is, quoted correctly this time. Sorry about that!


"We may be in the very early stages of herd immunity. Roughly 100 million Americans seem to have had the virus. (For every person who tests positive, three more have had it without being diagnosed, studies suggest.) Another 24 million people have received a vaccine shot.

Put those two groups together, and you realize that about one-third of all Americans have at least some degree of immunity from the virus. That may be enough to begin — begin — slowing the spread, as my colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr. explained on “The Daily.”"

Is this the article?

"

A 35 percent decline​

The United States has never experienced a sharp and sustained decline in new coronavirus cases — until, perhaps, now.​
Last year, new cases in the U.S. went through cycles of rising rapidly and then leveling off or falling only modestly. That was different from the situation in many other countries, where sharp drops sometimes occurred. Look at how much bigger the declines were in Western Europe last spring and last fall than in the U.S.:​
v9O6i1u0NA5DeFxt__9UGDj1ikuO4U4wQlQDz3mQlfKgjiF_w3RF7MuR7ziZGiLN98ja3IPDyZVwD_teg1mTy_kOwb8xNZ1s5B31X8xkrlXY10N8j4E7SilRE46jLutbkrnIdjoyRbxiqyITY_dAvjeDE1UWItsr2v_Q=s0-d-e1-ft
By The New York Times | Sources: Governments and health agencies​
But now the situation may be changing.​
New cases in the U.S. have fallen 35 percent over the past three weeks. Hospitalizations have dropped, as well. Deaths have not, but they have stabilized — and the death trend typically lags the cases trend by a few weeks.​
“I like the trends we are seeing, and I am personally hopeful that things are going to get better,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told me. “But there are a number of things that could also wrong.”​

The good news​

Let’s start with two possible explanations for the recent improvement:​
1. We may be in the very early stages of herd immunity. Roughly 100 million Americans seem to have had the virus. (For every person who tests positive, three more have had it without being diagnosed, studies suggest.) Another 24 million people have received a vaccine shot.​
Put those two groups together, and you realize that about one-third of all Americans have at least some degree of immunity from the virus. That may be enough to begin — begin — slowing the spread, as my colleague Donald G. McNeil Jr. explained on “The Daily.”
2. More Americans may be wearing masks and staying socially distant. Many still are not, as I saw on my recent 1,600-mile road trip. But any increase in safe behavior matters.​
And there are signs of change. Multiple states tightened restrictions late last year. The country just elected a president who echoes scientific advice rather than flouting it. Some Americans may also be inspired by light at the end of the tunnel.​
“I’m hearing from a lot of people that one of the reasons why they’re really hunkering down now is that it would be a shame to get a severe Covid case while waiting to get the vaccine,” Dr. Lee Harrison, the chairman of a local health board, told The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette this week.​
Dr. Mark Escott, who runs the a local health agency around Austin, Texas, told the CBS affiliate there: “Folks are changing behavior. Folks are wearing masks, folks are staying home, and that is resulting in these decreasing cases.”​
Dr. Alex Garza, a member of a pandemic task force in St. Louis, told The Associated Press: “The fact that this is happening in the winter when respiratory viruses typically spread the most shows us just how effective all the preventative measures actually are when we use them.”​

It could get worse again​

I want to emphasize that the pandemic has not entered an inexorable decline.​
The biggest reason for concern is the newly infectious variants that could cause case numbers to surge again, especially if people become blasé about masks and distancing — or the Biden administration fails to accelerate vaccinations. And the current rate of death from Covid-19 remains horrific.​
But the U.S. has it within its power to make this month a true turning point."​
 

missy

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GK2

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DH was contacted today about his vaccine - booked in for Wednesday next week, same day he sees his consultant haematologist for monthly blood results and next lot of chemo

we don’t know which one he is getting yet, but a little bit of the cloud we’ve been living under for the last year is starting to part ( he has one of the blood cancers specifically mentioned in the UK govt shielding advice, so extreme caution has been his watchword throughout)
 

mellowyellowgirl

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And just like that they locked everyone in Perth up!


Good old Australia! We move fast and we move efficiently. I don't even need to worry because Perth has closed their borders to us for months now due to them thinking we are feral diseased folk!
 

Daisys and Diamonds

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I just read after 10 months Perth may have continuity transmission and is in Lock down
A security guard at a quareteen hotel has tested positive
Just as Australia reopen the travel bubble today with NZers allowed back in without having to guareteen after our case last week out in the community had no further transmission

So much of this virus is about luck
Good or bad
 

missy

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I just read after 10 months Perth may have continuity transmission and is in Lock down
A security guard at a quareteen hotel has tested positive
Just as Australia reopen the travel bubble today with NZers allowed back in without having to guareteen after our case last week out in the community had no further transmission

So much of this virus is about luck
Good or bad

This is what much of life is too.

lifeispreparationmeetingopportunity.png


We have a big snowstorm coming and I just hope that the people who are scheduled to get their Covid vaccines tomorrow and Tuesday can get there and that no vaccine goes to waste. Talk about luck...there are people who have been waiting for their appointments and now this snowstorm is hitting the city and surrounding areas hard. :(
 

MamaBee

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