COVID-19 in America

[Lord Camomile]

What school starts in August??

 

[cupid_stunt]

What school starts in August??

Clearly some in the US.

 

[maomao]

Clearly some in the US.

Scotland starts almost as early. My little cousins are back next week.

 

[Lord Camomile]

Whit?? August is still the summer! School starts in September!

 

[Dogsauce]

Universities do. I did an exchange year and got a a relatively short summer holiday before going out there for late August (rather than first week in October as per UK). Think term finished in May so just shifted a bit really.

 

[Sue]

Scotland starts almost as early. My little cousins are back next week.

Yeah, back from the 11th so a little bit earlier than usual.(it does vary a little bit by LA). We used to typically go back third week ish in August.

 

[BlanketAddict]

That interview reminded me of the Spinal Tap interview with its mannerisms... But this goes to 11 (cue dumbfounded look)!

 

[spring-peeper]

Whit?? August is still the summer! School starts in September!

I totally agree. What type of school opens at the beginning of August? Do they get extra holidays or something?


Here in Ontario (and Quebec), there are four school options - English-Catholic, English-non-region, French-Catholic and French- non-religion.

Traditionally, the French schools start a couple of days before Labour Day and the English schools start after the long weekend.

The rational for starting early is to get the students settled, text books are given out, etc. When the students come back from the long week-end, they are set to go.

My granddaughter goes to French school.

This year, however, all school boards will be opening after the long weekend.


eta: In the past, both Quebec and Ontario had March/Spring break at the same time.

Florida was flooded with ouryouth, and asked the two provinces to stagger the March break.

This decision influenced the number of corona infections.

Quebec went to Florida a week before Ontario.

Ontario was supposed to be the week that Trudeau declared that all Canadians must return to Canada, NOW!!!!

Quebec had/has a higher infection than Ontario, and the Florida March break was one of the defining reasons for the difference in infections.

 

[quimcunx]

Scottish holidays start end of june.

 

[krtek a houby]

This is a long piece but goes someway to explaining the factors that have led to where the US is today (in regard to the virus).

It's terrifying and very sad. Capitalism doesn't come out of it very well.

How the Pandemic Defeated America

 

[two sheds]

Not got all the way through but a couple of interesting paragraphs so far:

I’ve learned that almost everything that went wrong with America’s response to the pandemic was predictable and preventable. A sluggish response by a government denuded of expertise allowed the coronavirus to gain a foothold. Chronic underfunding of public health neutered the nation’s ability to prevent the pathogen’s spread. A bloated, inefficient health-care system left hospitals ill-prepared for the ensuing wave of sickness. Racist policies that have endured since the days of colonization and slavery left Indigenous and Black Americans especially vulnerable to COVID‑19. The decades-long process of shredding the nation’s social safety net forced millions of essential workers in low-paying jobs to risk their life for their livelihood. The same social-media platforms that sowed partisanship and misinformation during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa and the 2016 U.S. election became vectors for conspiracy theories during the 2020 pandemic.
...
SARS‑CoV‑2 is something of an anti-Goldilocks virus: just bad enough in every way. Its symptoms can be severe enough to kill millions but are often mild enough to allow infections to move undetected through a population. It spreads quickly enough to overload hospitals, but slowly enough that statistics don’t spike until too late.

Eta

Travel bans make intuitive sense, because travel obviously enables the spread of a virus. But in practice, travel bans are woefully inefficient at restricting either travel or viruses. They prompt people to seek indirect routes via third-party countries, or to deliberately hide their symptoms. They are often porous: Trump’s included numerous exceptions, and allowed tens of thousands of people to enter from China. Ironically, they create travel: When Trump later announced a ban on flights from continental Europe, a surge of travelers packed America’s airports in a rush to beat the incoming restrictions. Travel bans may sometimes work for remote island nations, but in general they can only delay the spread of an epidemic—not stop it. And they can create a harmful false confidence, so countries “rely on bans to the exclusion of the things they actually need to do—testing, tracing, building up the health system,” says Thomas Bollyky, a global-health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. “That sounds an awful lot like what happened in the U.S.”

 

[two sheds]

This interesting too, saying it's relatively easy to develop diagnostic tests by genetic sequencing - presumably also telling you where that infection came from?

As the coronavirus established itself in the U.S., it found a nation through which it could spread easily, without being detected. For years, Pardis Sabeti, a virologist at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, has been trying to create a surveillance network that would allow hospitals in every major U.S. city to quickly track new viruses through genetic sequencing. Had that network existed, once Chinese scientists published SARS‑CoV‑2’s genome on January 11, every American hospital would have been able to develop its own diagnostic test in preparation for the virus’s arrival. “I spent a lot of time trying to convince many funders to fund it,” Sabeti told me. “I never got anywhere.”

The CDC developed and distributed its own diagnostic tests in late January. These proved useless because of a faulty chemical component. Tests were in such short supply, and the criteria for getting them were so laughably stringent, that by the end of February, tens of thousands of Americans had likely been infected but only hundreds had been tested. The official data were so clearly wrong that The Atlantic developed its own volunteer-led initiative—the COVID Tracking Project—to count cases.

Diagnostic tests are easy to make, so the U.S. failing to create one seemed inconceivable. Worse, it had no Plan B. Private labs were strangled by FDA bureaucracy. Meanwhile, Sabeti’s lab developed a diagnostic test in mid-January and sent it to colleagues in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Senegal. “We had working diagnostics in those countries well before we did in any U.S. states,” she told me.

 

[two sheds]

I'm sure this not new to you elbows but seems really good summary of what happened in the US (also UK). Any thoughts?

 

[editor]

And it's getting wire every day

Over the last seven days, a grim new COVID-19 calculus has emerged: one person died every 80 seconds from the coronavirus in America.

And the pace at which those 7,486 people died appears to be accelerating, a new NBC News tally revealed Wednesday.

In July, a total of 26,198 deaths were reported, meaning one every 102 seconds. As of Wednesday morning, more than 158,000 people in the U.S. had died of the virus since the start of the pandemic.

The numbing new national snapshot of how COVID-19 is claiming more and more lives came as Johns Hopkins University reported another milestone: The world death toll from this plague had eclipsed 700,000.

The U.S. has logged over 4.8 million confirmed cases. And around 1.8 million of those have come since July 7, when the 3 millionth case was reported, NBC News figures show.

NY is getting tough

Starting Thursday, people who live in — or who have visited — the 35 states and territories currently grappling with high coronavirus rates will have to pass through checkpoints when they arrive in New York City. They will be required to fill out a traveler health form and reminded to quarantine for 14 days. New York City sheriff's deputies and other law enforcement will be deployed to key entry points like Penn Station as well as the airports, bridges, tunnels, and major roadways that feed into the city.
“New York City is holding the line against COVID-19, and New Yorkers have shown tremendous discipline,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “We’re not going to let our hard work slip away and will continue to do everything we can to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy."

One death every 80 seconds: The grim new toll of COVID-19 in America

“It will go away like things go away," President Trump claimed. Joe Biden says Trump is living in a world of delusion.

www.nbcnews.com

And then there's this:

Margot Kagan, 54, of Teaneck, told police she was using a fax machine at a Staples store in Hackensack last Wednesday, when a woman, identified by police as Thomas, approached a machine next to her with a mask pulled down below her mouth.

Kagan, who, according to police, had a liver transplant four months ago and was walking with a cane, told Thomas to put her mask on, which police said angered Thomas.

Police said Thomas yelled at Kagan and then violently threw her to the ground.

Woman charged with assault after mask dispute at Staples leaves customer with broken leg

The customer, walking with a cane, asked the woman to put her mask on at the New Jersey location. The woman then threw the customer to the ground, video shows.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[petee]

NY is getting tough

b/c things are moving in the right direction

New York City reported zero COVID-19 deaths for 3 straight days — now it's setting up checkpoints for visitors

"We cannot go back to the hell we experienced just a few months ago," Governor Cuomo said.

www.google.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

Trump seems to finally be accepting it's a big problem, and there's a chance of a second wave, ignoring the fact they haven't got on top of the first wave.

Donald Trump has admitted the United States could be hit by a second wave of coronavirus. The President of the United States, who has repeatedly struck an extremely optimistic tone about the outbreak going away, told Fox and Friends Wednesday: ‘You could have a second wave.

‘Other countries have had a second wave.’ Trump cited countries previously hailed for doing a good job to stamp out coronavirus, only to see it resurge.

He said: ‘They’re having massive second waves now – Australia, France, Spain is in a big big second wave….a lot of countries are having a second wave and nobody is talking about that.’

Donald Trump admits coronavirus-stricken US could be hit by second wave

The president made the admission during an interview with Fox and Friends on Wednesday

metro.co.uk

 

[frogwoman]

According to this website the testing is now at its lowest level since the start of July. However some places in Florida have temporarily had to close testing sites because of bad weather etc. abe11825 might know more

 

[Yossarian]

I would like Jonathan Swan, that Australian interviewer on Axios who finally called Trump on his bullshit, to just follow him everywhere now and challenge his statements.

"A lot of people are talking about the second wave in Australia, especially in Australia. But do you think it's a relevant example when Rhode Island, the smallest state in the country you run, has had four times as many deaths as Australia?"

 

[frogwoman]

How on earth did he get that interview?

 

[krtek a houby]

How on earth did he get that interview?

Afaik, he was previously all too deferential to him in another interview, which got him some flak but obvious Trump thought he was ok.

 

[spring-peeper]

Here is a cool chart that shows infections per million - a comparison of the individual states and Canadian provinces.

COVID-19 in the U.S.: How do Canada's provinces rank against American states?

Looking at confirmed coronavirus cases per million people, how do the U.S. states compare to Canada's provinces and territories?

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[Yossarian]

 

[Dogsauce]

That has a whiff of ‘fake news’ about it tbh. Check sources?

 

[maomao]

That has a whiff of ‘fake news’ about it tbh. Check sources?

Students at school touted by Pence for reopening must quarantine due to COVID-19

Students at school touted by Mike Pence for reopening must quarantine after positive COVID-19 test

abcnews.go.com

 

[Dogsauce]

Yep, bollocks. Checked the news site (WTVD) and the second story doesn’t exist (but Pence’s visit is reported)

Edit: cross posted with maomao , but it’s not the same school (or fourth graders) but one from the same group of schools.

 

[cupid_stunt]

What's the fucking matter with these idiots?



NY Daily News - We are currently unavailable in your region (you'll need a US idetit

Update on this - at least 100,000 people are expected to attend the 10-day annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota’s Black Hills, down from the usual 500,000, however this worker thinks it's actually busier!

“I’ve not seen one single person wearing a mask,” said Jessica Christian, who is working at a bar at the sprawling event. “It’s just pretty much the mentality that, ‘If I get it, I get it.’”

Christian, 29, said: “This is my third year, and it’s actually busier than previous years. People are basically treating it as a family vacation.”

The bar where Christian working has adopted safety protocols, she said, including hand sanitizer and distancing tables. She said it was a different story in other parts of town. “In downtown Sturgis it’s just madness,” she said. “People not socially distancing, everybody touching each other. It’ll be interesting to see how that turns out.”

'It's just madness': bikers throng South Dakota town despite Covid threat

At least 100,000 expected for Sturgis rally in state’s Black Hills as officials urge attendees to take precautions and ‘work together’

www.theguardian.com

 

[cupid_stunt]

And, this is a scary forecast, I hope it's not that extreme.

Nearly 300,000 Americans could be dead from Covid-19 by December 1, University of Washington health experts forecast on Thursday, although they said 70,000 lives could be saved if people were scrupulous about wearing masks.

The latest predictions from the university’s widely cited Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) comes as top White House infectious disease advisers warned that major US cities could erupt as new coronavirus hot spots if officials there were not vigilant with counter-measures.

The latest predictions from the university’s widely cited Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) comes as top White House infectious disease advisers warned that major US cities could erupt as new coronavirus hot spots if officials there were not vigilant with counter-measures.

But, it's certainly spreading across the country...

The IHME said infections were falling in the former epicentres of Arizona, California, Florida, and Texas, but rising in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Virginia. Those findings are consistent with Reuters tallies.

Forecast: 300,000 US Covid-19 Deaths By December 1

Health experts at the University of Washington said 70,000 lives could be saved if people were scrupulous about wearing masks.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

 

[Yossarian]

Yep, bollocks. Checked the news site (WTVD) and the second story doesn’t exist (but Pence’s visit is reported)

The story exists here:

Fourth-graders at Thales Academy to be quarantined after student tests positive for COVID-19

A student has tested positive for COVID-19 at Thales Academy in Wake Forest.

abc11.com

Might not be the same class Pence visited, but I think the main takeaway is "Fourth-Graders at Thales Academy Quarantined Days After Mike Pence Visited a Fourth-Grade Class and Praised Reopening," not "Fourth-Graders in Class Mike Pence Visited Have Coronavirus - Did They Give It to Him? Because That Would Be Great."

 

[pesh]

Update on this - at least 100,000 people are expected to attend the 10-day annual Sturgis motorcycle rally in South Dakota’s Black Hills, down from the usual 500,000, however this worker thinks it's actually busier!

we were watching the Sturgis webcams last night, should be renamed the pre-existing condition corona carnival.

Official Website of the City of Sturgis, SD - Webcams in and around Sturgis

Official Website for the City of Sturgis South Dakota

www.sturgis-sd.gov

 

[abe11825]

According to this website the testing is now at its lowest level since the start of July. However some places in Florida have temporarily had to close testing sites because of bad weather etc. abe11825 might know more

To my knowledge, most places across the state didn't close as the storm didn't hit as expected.

We're still spiking in bigger counties though (Miami-Dade for example).