The COVID-2019 Thread

[harrybarracuda]

The Public Health Ministry plans to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease by the end of this year, using its own criteria and with or without World Health Organization confirmation.
Health permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit announced the intention after a meeting of the ministry's National Communicable Disease Committee on Thursday.
Dr Kiattiphum said the committee planned to declare Covid-19 endemic before the end of the year on its own academically acceptable criteria.
The criteria were - no more than 10,000 new cases a day, the fatality rate does not exceed 0.1% and more than 80% of at-risk people have received two doses of vaccine, he said.
The Public Health Ministry was of the view that Covid-19 had spread for over two years, trends showed the disease was under control and was now not too severe, Dr Kiattiphum said.
"In principle, the disease could spread but is not severe. The fatality rate is acceptable. There can be waves of the disease. But importantly, people must have adequate immunity. People must be vaccinated, and treatment systems efficient.
"After these criteria have been met for a while, this disease can be declared endemic in Thailand," he said.
"When the situation is promising and the criteria fulfilled, the ministry will make an announcement."
The permanent secretary for health said officials would take action to speed up the process towards the announcement, rather than waiting for the disease to naturally become endemic by itself, or for the WHO to declare it an endemic disease. Otherwise, it would take too long, he said.
After Covid-19 was declared endemic, the government would treat patients according to their individual needs and may require everyone or only patients to wear face masks, Dr Kiattiphum said.
At present, the National Communicable Disease Committee requires everyone to wear a face mask while in a public place. Violators can be fined up to 20,000 baht
Detailed criteria and appropriate future measures had yet to be finalised, he said.

Covid to be declared endemic by year's end in Thailand

[harrybarracuda]

I'm guessing Russian pre-flight PCR tests are faked or shit then. Plus the dim c u n t s rarely pay any attention to health measures by all accounts.

The 225 imported cases were made up of 85 from Russia, 20 from Kazakhstan, 13 from France, eight from Denmark and seven each from Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Still when Thailand was peaking at 24,000 cases a day, there were 300 daily deaths.

Now, with ~8000 cases per day, the death rate is less than a tenth of that.

[misskit]

Denmark to End Most COVID Restrictions and 'Welcome the Life We Knew Before'

Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on January 26 Denmark would be throwing out most of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions it placed, including mask mandates.


Restrictions currently in place are for the public to wear masks on public transportations, in restaurants, in shops, and people entering healthcare facilities and retirement homes, according to the Associated Press. However, following the February 1 change of restrictions, masks will only be required in hospitals, healthcare facilities and homes for the elderly.


"We say goodbye to the restrictions and welcome the life we knew before," Frederiksen said. "As of Feb. 1, Denmark will be open."

According to Health Minister Magnus Heunicke, Denmark's recent cases of COVID were more than 46,000 daily on average; however, only 40 people are in hospital intensive care units.


"We continue with a strong epidemic surveillance," Heunicke said according to the AP. "Then we...can react quickly if necessary."


Despite lift of restrictions, Frederiksen warned there could be a rise in infections, which may lead to a fourth vaccination shot being necessary.

"It may seem strange that we want to remove restrictions given the high infection rates," Frederiksen said. "But fewer people become seriously ill."


Denmark was one of the first European counties in 2020 to close schools and send employees home due to the pandemic.

Sweden extended their restrictions on January 20 for the next two weeks, while Austria, according to ABC News, is introducing a new mandate to take place on February 1. They have ordered bars, cafes and restaurants to close at 11 p.m., as well ad advised workers to work from home when possible, according to the AP.

Austria's new vaccine mandate is being put into effect on February 1 due to low vaccination rates, according to ABC News. They reported that in mid-March, police will start checking vaccination statuses during routine checks. If a resident cannot produce written proof of vaccination, they face a fine of up to 600 Euros ($685). Exceptions are made for pregnant women and those who cannot receive the vaccine due to medical reasons, as well as those who recovered from the virus in the last six months.


According to Reuters, Finland is going to begin to ease its restrictions in mid-February.

Denmark to End Most COVID Restrictions and 'Welcome the Life We Knew Before'

[harrybarracuda]

Fucking god botherers. I thought they were supposed to "spread the word" not spread the fucking virus.

When the coronavirus began spreading around the world, the remote Pacific archipelago of Kiribati closed its borders, ensuring the disease didn't reach its shores for nearly two full years.
Kiribati finally began reopening this month, allowing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to charter a plane to bring home 54 of the island nation's citizens. Many of those aboard were missionaries who had left Kiribati before the border closure to spread the faith abroad for what is commonly known as the Mormon church.
Officials tested each returning passenger three times in nearby Fiji, required that they be vaccinated, and put them in quarantine with additional testing when they arrived home.
It wasn't enough.
More than half the passengers tested positive for the virus, which has now slipped out into the community and prompted the government to declare a state of disaster. An initial 36 positive cases from the flight had ballooned to 181 cases by Friday.
Kiribati and several other small Pacific nations were among the last places on the planet to have avoided any virus outbreaks, thanks to their remote locations and strict border controls. But their defenses appear no match against the highly contagious omicron variant.
"Generally speaking, it's inevitable. It will get to every corner of the world," said Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccine expert at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. "It's a matter of buying enough time to prepare and getting as many people vaccinated as possible."
Only 33% of Kiribati's 113,000 people are fully vaccinated, while 59% have had at least one dose, according to the online scientific publication Our World in Data. And like many other Pacific nations, Kiribati offers only basic health services.
Dr. Api Talemaitoga, who chairs a network of Indigenous Pacific Island doctors in New Zealand, said Kiribati had only a couple of intensive care beds in the entire nation, and in the past relied on sending its sickest patients to Fiji or New Zealand for treatment.
He said that given the limitations of Kiribati's health system, his first reaction when he heard about the outbreak was, "Oh, my lord."
Kiribati has now opened multiple quarantine sites, declared a curfew and imposed lockdowns. President Taneti Maamau said on social media that the government is using all its resources to manage the situation, and urged people to get vaccinated.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in the U.S. state of Utah, has a strong presence in many Pacific nations, including Kiribati, where its 20,000 members make it the third-largest Christian denomination. The church has about 53,000 missionaries serving full time around the world, working to convert people.
The pandemic has presented challenges for their missionary work, which is considered a rite of passage for men as young as 18 and women as young as 19.
As the pandemic ebbed and flowed, the church responded. It recalled about 26,000 missionaries who were serving overseas in June 2020, reassigning them to proselytize online from home before sending some back out into the field five months later.
When COVID-19 vaccines became widely available in many countries in April 2021, church officials encouraged all missionaries to get inoculated and required it of those serving outside their home countries.
Church spokesperson Sam Penrod said the returning missionaries remained in quarantine, were cooperating with local health authorities and would be released from their service upon completion of their quarantine.
"With Kiribati's borders being closed since the onset of the pandemic, many of these individuals have continued as missionaries well beyond their 18 to 24 months of anticipated service, with some serving as long as 44 months," he said.
Before this month's outbreak, Kiribati had reported just two virus cases: crew members on an incoming cargo ship that ultimately wasn't permitted to dock.
But the Kiribati charter flight wasn't the first time missionaries returning home to a Pacific island nation tested positive for COVID-19.
In October, a missionary returning to Tonga from service in Africa was reported as the country's first — and so far only — positive case after flying home via New Zealand. Like those returning to Kiribati, he also was vaccinated and quarantined.
Tonga is desperately trying to prevent any outbreaks as it recovers from a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami earlier this month. The nation of 105,000 has been receiving aid from around the world but has requested that crews from incoming military ships and planes drop their supplies and leave without having any contact with those on the ground.
"They've got enough on their hands without compounding it with the spread of COVID," said Petousis-Harris, the vaccine expert. "Anything they can do to keep it out is going to be important. COVID would be just compounding that disaster."
In the long term, however, it is going to be impossible to stop the virus from entering Tonga or any other community, Petousis-Harris said.
Nearby Samoa, with a population of 205,000, is also trying to prevent its first outbreak. It imposed a lockdown through until Friday evening after 15 passengers on an incoming flight from Australia last week tested positive.
By Thursday, that number had grown to 27, including five front-line nurses who had treated the passengers. Officials said all those infected had been isolated and there was no community outbreak so far.
While the incursion of the virus into the Pacific has prompted lockdowns and other restrictions, there were signs that not all traditional aspects of island life would be lost for long.
"Government has decided to allow fishing," Kiribati declared on Thursday, while listing certain restrictions on times and places. "Only four people will be allowed to be on a boat or part of a group fishing near shore."

Covid hits Kiribati, one of the last uninfected places on planet | The Daily Star

[misskit]

Australia suffers deadliest day of pandemic, expands booster eligibility

Australia suffered its deadliest day of the COVID-19 pandemic on Friday with nearly 100 deaths, but several large states said they expect hospital admissions to fall amid hopes that the latest wave of infections would begin to subside.


Fuelled by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, infections exploded during the past four weeks, with around two million cases recorded. Up until then, Australia had counted just 400,000 cases since the pandemic first hit the country nearly two years ago.


But steady hospitalisation rates in recent days have raised hopes that worst could be over.


"Generally the situation is stable ... and we're expecting further falls (in hospital cases)," Queensland state Chief Health Officer John Gerrard said during a media briefing, as hospital cases in the state fell for the third straight day to 818.


But he warned the state's 5 million residents that the pandemic was far from over. "So don't go out and celebrate yet but the news at this stage is good," he said.


Hospitalisations have remained steady at around 5,000 for the last few days, peaking at just under 5,400 on Tuesday.


Fresh modelling released by New South Wales, the most populous state, showed the number of people in intensive care units had been below the numbers predicted in a best-case scenario.


A total of 98 deaths were registered in Australia by late afternoon on Friday, exceeding the previous pandemic high of 87 two days ago. Just over 40,000 new infections were reported, the lowest daily tally in nearly a month.


That takes the 25 million population country's total COVID-19 deaths to 3,500 since the pandemic began, far lower than numbers seen in many comparable countries.


Australia is among the most heavily vaccinated countries against COVID-19 with more than 93% of its adult population double-dosed and around two-thirds of eligible Australians having received a booster dose, according to official data.


The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), the country's drug regulator, on Friday expanded the eligibility for boosters to 16- and 17-year-olds, joining the United States, Israel and Britain.

Australia suffers deadliest day of pandemic, expands booster eligibility | Taiwan News | 2022-01-28 15:51:00

[katie23]

In the Philippines:

No more hotel quarantine starting Feb 1 (for fully vaxxed), then starting Feb 10 fully vaccinated foreign travelers/ tourists can now enter. Visa on arrival is back for those who could enter visa-free before. Requirements: RT-PCR test within 48 hours of flight & fill out the online One Health Pass.

By Feb 16, for foreigners: no vax, no entry. In many places: no vax, no ride and no vax, no entry in malls & restos.

PH is due to host an international tourism congress in March, thus the need to reopen. Also, covid numbers & hospitalization ratesare going down.

Link:

Palace: Facility quarantine no longer required for fully vaxxed travelers starting Feb. 1 | Inquirer News

Philippines sets new COVID-19 rules for arriving travelers | Philstar.com

[malmomike77]

Hong Kong’s government has offered to compensate pet shops after ordering a cull last week of more than 2,000 hamsters for Covid reasons. The city’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said it would offer them a one-off payment of up to HK$30,000 (£2870).

[Cujo]

I hear that's per hamster.

[panama hat]

That's a freakin' expensive hamster

[Iceman123]

Hamsters are illegal in Australia, pity as they are better suited than ferrets for trials in developing Covid vaccines.

[panama hat]

Hamsters are illegal in Australia, pity as they are better suited than ferrets for trials in developing Covid vaccines.

Never knew that . . . thanks.

[malmomike77]

Hilarious - the little froggie has done what froggies do - run away

Thousands join protest in Canada against Covid vaccine mandates

Thousands held a loud but peaceful protest in Canada’s capital Ottawa against prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, on the streets and snow-covered lawn in front of parliament.

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” started out as a rally of truckers against a vaccine requirement for cross-border drivers, but turned into a demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic with a strong anti-vaccination streak.

“I’m not able to work no more because I can’t cross the border,” said Csava Vizi, a trucker from Windsor who noted he was the family’s sole breadwinner.

“I refuse the vaccine,” he said, calling it dangerous. He spoke from inside his truck in front of parliament.

Protesters drive over the Nipigon Bridge on the Trans Canada Highway as part of a trucking convoy against Covid vaccine mandates on 27 January.

“It’s not just about the vaccines. It’s about stopping the public health mandates altogether,” said Daniel Bazinet, owner of Valley Flatbed & Transportation in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast. Bazinet is unvaccinated, but operates domestically and so is not affected by the cross-border mandate.

“Myself and a lot of other people are here because we’re just sick of the vaccine mandates and the lockdowns,” said Brendon from Ottawa, who declined to give his last name. He was carrying a sign reading: “Justin Trudeau makes me ashamed to be a Canadian”.

The rally started early and built through the afternoon on Saturday. Some handed out bag lunches to the truckers, who convoyed to Ottawa from the east and west coasts and places in between.

Few wore masks, but many were in balaclavas as the temperature with windchill was -21C (-6F). A downtown mall closed because demonstrators refused to wear masks inside, CTV reported.

The violent rhetoric used by some of the promoters on social media in the run-up to the protest had worried police, who were out in force, but mostly the protest felt like a very cold street party, punctuated by blaring truck horns.

Due to security concerns, Trudeau and his family left their downtown Ottawa home, the CBC reported. His office said it does not comment on security matters.

Earlier this week Trudeau said the convoy represented a “small fringe minority” who do not represent the views of Canadians. About 90% of Canada’s cross-border truckers and 77% of the population have had two Covid vaccination shots.

The Conservative leader, Erin O’Toole, opposes vaccine mandates and expressed support for the protest after holding talks with some of the truckers on Friday.

“I support their right to be heard, and I call on Justin Trudeau to meet with these hard-working Canadians to hear their concerns,” O’Toole said after the meeting.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance, which represents some 4,500 carriers, owner-operators and industry suppliers, has opposed the demonstration.

“We ask the Canadian public to be aware that many of the people you see and hear in media reports do not have a connection to the trucking industry,” the CTA said on Saturday.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/30/thousands-join-protest-in-canada-against-covid-vaccine-mandates

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Hilarious - the little froggie has done what froggies do - run away

Thousands join protest in Canada against Covid vaccine mandates

Thousands held a loud but peaceful protest in Canada’s capital Ottawa against prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates, on the streets and snow-covered lawn in front of parliament.

The so-called “Freedom Convoy” started out as a rally of truckers against a vaccine requirement for cross-border drivers, but turned into a demonstration against government overreach during the pandemic with a strong anti-vaccination streak.

“I’m not able to work no more because I can’t cross the border,” said Csava Vizi, a trucker from Windsor who noted he was the family’s sole breadwinner.

“I refuse the vaccine,” he said, calling it dangerous. He spoke from inside his truck in front of parliament.

Protesters drive over the Nipigon Bridge on the Trans Canada Highway as part of a trucking convoy against Covid vaccine mandates on 27 January.

“It’s not just about the vaccines. It’s about stopping the public health mandates altogether,” said Daniel Bazinet, owner of Valley Flatbed & Transportation in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast. Bazinet is unvaccinated, but operates domestically and so is not affected by the cross-border mandate.

“Myself and a lot of other people are here because we’re just sick of the vaccine mandates and the lockdowns,” said Brendon from Ottawa, who declined to give his last name. He was carrying a sign reading: “Justin Trudeau makes me ashamed to be a Canadian”.

The rally started early and built through the afternoon on Saturday. Some handed out bag lunches to the truckers, who convoyed to Ottawa from the east and west coasts and places in between.

Few wore masks, but many were in balaclavas as the temperature with windchill was -21C (-6F). A downtown mall closed because demonstrators refused to wear masks inside, CTV reported.

The violent rhetoric used by some of the promoters on social media in the run-up to the protest had worried police, who were out in force, but mostly the protest felt like a very cold street party, punctuated by blaring truck horns.

Due to security concerns, Trudeau and his family left their downtown Ottawa home, the CBC reported. His office said it does not comment on security matters.

Earlier this week Trudeau said the convoy represented a “small fringe minority” who do not represent the views of Canadians. About 90% of Canada’s cross-border truckers and 77% of the population have had two Covid vaccination shots.

The Conservative leader, Erin O’Toole, opposes vaccine mandates and expressed support for the protest after holding talks with some of the truckers on Friday.

“I support their right to be heard, and I call on Justin Trudeau to meet with these hard-working Canadians to hear their concerns,” O’Toole said after the meeting.

The Canadian Trucking Alliance, which represents some 4,500 carriers, owner-operators and industry suppliers, has opposed the demonstration.

“We ask the Canadian public to be aware that many of the people you see and hear in media reports do not have a connection to the trucking industry,” the CTA said on Saturday.

More: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/30/thousands-join-protest-in-canada-against-covid-vaccine-mandates

The trucking industry does tend to attract a cerebral crowd. In my capacity in managing logistics for a large New York High-rise construction company one of the books I held was Teamster local 282 and had the pleasure of interacting with them on a daily bases. A laziest ,more brain dead bunch of men I have yet to meet.

[harrybarracuda]

The trucking industry does tend to attract a cerebral crowd. In my capacity in managing logistics for a large New York High-rise construction company one of the books I held was Teamster local 282 and had the pleasure of interacting with them on a daily bases. A laziest ,more brain dead bunch of men I have yet to meet.

So sort of like trumpanzees then.

[pickel]

There is no vaccine mandate for truckers in Canada, and the mandate blocking them from crossing into the States is an American one.

Canadian truckers are 90% vaccinated, and the largest trucking alliance is against this protest. This protest has nothing to do with truckers, it's just Canada's version of Trumptards attaching themselves to a cause.

[pickel]

I should add that they are being called the FluTruxKlan.

[hallelujah]

Covid fatality rate to fall as reinfections added to daily statistics

Covid fatality rate to fall as reinfections added to daily statistics


Readers with a delicate constitution may want to avoid the government website at around 4pm on Monday afternoon.
For the first time since the start of the pandemic, coronavirus reinfections in England will be included on the daily Covid dashboard, in a revision that is likely to add hundreds of thousands of new cases to Britain’s cumulative total.

The wince-inducing rise will undoubtedly lead to hand-wringing from the usual quarters, and it will be remarkable if we get through this update without renewed calls to mask up and lock down.
But it is actually fairly good news. It means that we have significantly underestimated the mildness of omicron.

The biggest upside to the change is that the percentage of people dying from each positive test – the case fatality rate (CFR) – will fall.

Currently, the number of people dying after testing positive for coronavirus is hovering at around 0.95 per cent, after peaking at 10 per cent in April 2020 when testing was minimal. But adding hundreds of thousands of cases to the figures will send the CFR towards something approaching flu fatalities.

Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that around 0.1 to 0.2 per cent of symptomatic flu cases result in death. Adding such a large number of new cases will certainly take coronavirus towards that figure in Britain.

This change in the lethality of Covid can already be seen in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) infection data, which is based on a random sample of people who test positive, and so scoops up those who do not have symptoms and would not ordinarily have been tested.

Latest ONS data suggests that the infection fatality rate (IFR) has fallen to about 0.1 per cent from around one per cent last January, meaning the death rate is now a tenth of what it was.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that flu also has an IFR of 0.1 per cent or lower, while New Zealand has put it at 0.039 per cent – a little less than half.

This suggests we are very close to seeing an endemic disease which has a similar severity as flu.
Reinfections are being added now because they are much more prevalent than in previous waves, when people were only counted once to avoid recording the same infection twice in the data.

Findings published last week by the ONS suggest the risk of reinfection was 16 times higher in the omicron-dominant period in December and January compared to the delta-dominant period.

Now, if someone tests positive 90 days or more after a first infection it will count as a new infection.

Estimates of how many reinfections have been missed out of the data since omicron emerged are currently ranging between 10 and 64 per cent depending on which study you use.

There have been around six million positive cases reported in Britain since omicron got a foothold at the start of December, so we can expect hundreds of thousands of missed cases to be added, although only the English data will be updated on Monday.

There is a chance that the new case additions could be in the millions. Data from Imperial College London’s React-1 survey suggest that two thirds of the people infected with omicron have previously already had Covid.

Poised for ‘dramatic increases’

More than 3,500 people who tested positive between January 5 and January 20 were asked if they had previously tested positive for the virus, and almost two-thirds (64.5 per cent) said they had.

A further 7.5 per cent said they suspected they had caught the virus previously, but had not received a positive test.

In contrast, UK Health Security Agency figures show 11 per cent of all cases were reinfections, however experts said they are poised for “dramatic increases”.

As well as a large rise in the cumulative total, daily figures will also be noticeably higher.

Prevalence of Covid reached an all-time high in January, peaking at more than four per cent of the population, equivalent to around one infected person per 23 people. About one quarter of the population has tested positive at least once.

As well as a fall in death rates, the change will also bring a fall in the ratio of cases to hospital admissions.

At the peak of the 2021 winter wave, the number of cases ending up in hospital rose to 12 per cent, but it has since fallen to 1.95 per cent and will come down again with new cases added.

We can be thankful that these figures are only coming to light now when we already know that this wave was mild and did not overwhelm the NHS.

Had we been given this data before Christmas, the Government would have found it tricky to resist calls for more restrictions. It is the one time in this pandemic when knowing too little may have been a blessing.

[misskit]

DDC expects Covid pandemic to end this year

The Ministry of Public Health now expects the COVID-19 pandemic to end within this year as the disease transforms into an endemic, although health officials say the scenario would depend on disease control progress and timing.


Department of Disease Control (DDC) Director-General Opas Karnkawinpong said the COVID-19 pandemic started on March 11, 2020 and has continued ever since. He said large outbreaks are expected to be over this year, and Covid will become an endemic or a so-called general communicable disease.


Dr. Opas said the meeting of the DDC sub-committee on promoting disease immunity on January 28 endorsed a COVID-19 vaccination regimen using an mRNA vaccine as the 1st dose and a viral vector vaccine as the 2nd dose. The doses are to be administered 4 weeks apart, per the suggestion of the World Health Organization. People previously infected with Covid may now be vaccinated under the same timing criterion as the uninfected, meaning they may now get vaccinated as early as one month after infection.


The sub-committee also resolved to provide the option for people who had the AstraZeneca vaccine for their 1st as well as 2nd shots to receive an AstraZeneca shot as the booster dose.


The sub-committee is not yet recommending a booster dose for young people aged 12 to 17 who were fully inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine. However, those who were inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine may receive a Pfizer shot as a booster dose once 4 weeks have passed since their second shot.

DDC expects Covid pandemic to end this year

[misskit]

One Million Deaths: The Hole the Pandemic Made in U.S. Society


Covid-19 has been directly responsible for most of the fatalities, but the disease is also unraveling families and communities in subtler ways


Two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, America’s death toll is closing in on one million.


Federal authorities estimate that 987,456 more people have died since early 2020 than would have otherwise been expected, based on long-term trends. People killed by coronavirus infections account for the overwhelming majority of cases. Thousands more died from derivative causes, like disruptions in their healthcare and a spike in overdoses.


Covid-19 has left the same proportion of the population dead—about 0.3%—as did World War II, and in less time.


Unlike the 1918 flu pandemic or major wars, which hit younger people, Covid-19 has been particularly hard on vulnerable seniors. It has also killed thousands of front-line workers and disproportionately affected minority populations.


It robbed society of grandparents, parents, spouses, sons and daughters, best friends, mentors, loyal employees and bosses. Those lost include a 55-year-old Rhode Island correctional officer; a 46-year-old Texas dental-office receptionist who helped care for her granddaughter; a 30-year-old Iowan who fatally overdosed; and an active 72-year-old and grandmother of 15 who was Nashville’s first female city bus driver.


“It’s catastrophic,” said Steven Woolf, director emeritus at the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University. “This is an enormous loss of life.”


It could take years to fully realize the lasting social changes the pandemic and its human toll will yield. Major wars can redraw maps, shift the balance of global power and leave memorials in the nation’s capital. The pandemic is a reminder our biggest enemies are often too small to see.

MORE One Million Deaths: The Hole the Pandemic Made in U.S. Society - WSJ

[baldrick]

which has a similar severity as flu.

similar severity - does the alliteration please ?

[misskit]

WHO: Europe entering ‘plausible endgame’ to COVID pandemic


COPENHAGEN (AP) — The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau.


Dr. Hans Kluge said at a media briefing that there is a “singular opportunity” for countries across Europe to take control of COVID-19 transmission due to three factors: high levels of immunization due to vaccination and natural infection, the virus’s tendency to spread less in warmer weather and the lower severity of the omicron variant.


“This period of higher protection should be seen as a cease-fire that could bring us enduring peace,” he said.


As the winter subsides in much of Europe in the coming weeks, when the virus’s transmission naturally drops, Kluge said the upcoming spring “leaves us with the possibility for a long period of tranquility and a much higher level of population defense against any resurgence in transmission.”


Even if another variant emerges, Kluge said, health authorities in Europe should be able to keep it in check, provided immunization and boosting efforts continue, along with other public health interventions.


He said, however, this demands “a drastic and uncompromising increase in vaccine-sharing across borders,” saying vaccines must be provided to everyone across Europe and beyond. Scientists have repeatedly warned that unless the majority of the world’s population is vaccinated, any opportunities for COVID-19 to keep spreading means it could mutate into deadlier and more transmissible forms.


Numerous countries across Europe, including Britain and Denmark, have dropped nearly all their coronavirus restrictions after saying that omicron has peaked. Others, including Spain, are now considering whether to consider COVID-19 to be an endemic problem that might be handled more like seasonal flu.


At WHO’s Geneva headquarters, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the world as a whole is still far from exiting the pandemic.


“We are concerned that a narrative has taken hold in some countries that because of vaccines — and because of omicron’s high transmissibility and lower severity — preventing transmission is no longer possible and no longer necessary,” Tedros said Tuesday. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”


The agency has said even countries with high levels of vaccination should not succumb to political pressure and release all of their coronavirus measures at once.


Kluge noted that there were 12 million new coronavirus cases across WHO’s European region last week, the highest single weekly total during the pandemic. He said that spike was driven by the hugely infectious omicron variant, but admissions to hospital intensive care units haven’t risen significantly.


WHO: Europe entering 'plausible endgame' to COVID pandemic | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

[misskit]

COVID deaths are rising even as Omicron dies down

Omicron is finally on its way out, but it's leaving behind a death toll that is still rising.


By the numbers: New cases are plunging. The U.S. is now averaging just under 425,000 new cases per day, down from over 750,000 per day just two weeks ago.


And for the first time since the Omicron wave set in, almost the whole country is sharing in that improvement. Average daily cases have fallen over the past two weeks in all but five states.


Where it stands: Maryland and Washington, D.C., have the lowest rates of COVID spread in the country, each with fewer than 45 cases per 100,000 people. New York and New Jersey aren’t far behind.


Alaska has the country's biggest COVID outbreak, with 310 cases per 100,000 people. Most states are still well above 100 cases per 100,000 people. So there's still a long way to go. But that improvement is happening quickly.


Yes, but: Deaths are still on the rise. The virus is killing roughly 2,600 Americans per day, on average.


That's a function of two things: Deaths are always the last number to move, in any wave, and so it makes sense for Omicron deaths to be accumulating now.


But those deaths were almost entirely preventable. The overwhelming majority of people dying from COVID were unvaccinated.


The risk of dying from COVID is 60 times higher for unvaccinated people than it is for people who are vaccinated and boosted, according to the CDC's most recent data.


A more recent study in the U.K. suggested that a booster cuts the risk of death by about 95%, compared to being unvaccinated.


What's next: Cases still need to decline a lot more in order to reach safe levels of transmission. But if their rapid descent continues — and if another new variant doesn't spring up and wreak havoc all over again — the U.S. could soon be back to the relatively safe place it experienced last fall.

COVID deaths are rising even as Omicron dies down - Axios

[hallelujah]

similar severity - does the alliteration please ?

Nah.

The alliteration I'm looking for is soft cnut bit of flu that we were told about over 2 months ago by South African doctors, and then some fannies started wetting themselves cos they're a bit thick but ended up looking really fucking retarded as some of us knew they would.

I know it's a bit long-winded, and doesn't really alliterate, but it's up to you whether it pleases you.

Any short-winded version would only see you looking equally fucking thick and gullible anyway.

[Joe 90]

Sounds like you've had it Hal, did you do a test?

[hallelujah]

Sounds like you've had it Hal, did you do a test?

Maybe I've had it the last 10 days or so. It was just a normal bit of flu to me for one or two days followed by cold symptoms for a bit longer. Most of my mates at home have all tested positive for it though. They had to suffer time off work and money lost, which they all regret, and I'm not doing that for a cold.

I did a test before and it cost me 30 quid that I didn't get back. Fuck that.

Everyone here carries on, nobody does tests and it's already accepted as a way of life cos it isn't gonna kill you.

That'll do for me.