by ezs | May 30, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – “97% of new COVID cases in King County are from unvaccinated” – the virus is now infecting a smaller and smaller pool. That pool is broadly consisting of black and latino populations who have been historically lacking access to good healthcare options. The second group is white, Republican voters. Different approaches to reach both groups – outreach, local vaccination teams, making it quick and easy for the first. Education for the second.
UK is seeing a real uptick in numbers from the Delta variant, reported to be 40% more transmissible.
Usual weekly snapshot from The Seattle Times. Vaccination rate sharply down.
Friday – our first sports event in over 450 days. Masked; wristbands for vaccinated; vaccinated only areas. The Seattle Storm did this well, it felt safe. Still tiny number of people present. As for the game – Storm won in the last second of overtime.
Thursday – UK is in the uptick of a third wave. Hammer and Dance time again. Will the politicians go with data or popularity of reopening instead?
Wednesday – good read from The Guardian on rural, red, America – and vaccine reluctance, mask avoidance – and exploding COVID cases.
Tuesday – India seems to have peaked in new cases; looking at >10M vaccinations per day by July. That’s still three months to vaccinate enough to break the cycle.
Monday – “speed up second jabs” in the UK, UK in early stages of third wave. Bank Holiday weekend in the UK – and plenty of folk out, about, unmasked. Same here in the US with Memorial Day. WHO names variants – UK/Kent “Alpha”, South Africa “Beta”, Brazil “Gamma”, India “Delta” – to avoid regional stigma. Washington State still has patchy vaccination rates; closely correlated to voting intent.
COVID-19 Data Dashboard :: Washington State Department of Health
This time last year – Curfew in Issaquah, Seattle. BLM protests, parallel violence and police response.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | May 24, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – Protests in London around ending lockdown. UK at >74% adults with first vaccine; 47% with two.
From The Seattle Times – positive cases are still bumping along at >1000 per day; and slightly increasing. Huge disparities in vaccine take-up.
Friday – EU “vaccine passports” starting to be unrolled. UK in the midst of more variant outbreaks.
Thursday – The Seattle Times url structure has rotated around after a year. Now ending with -2.
Wednesday – Covid infections “at lowest levels for months” in Germany, UK, France. India still ramping new cases.
Tuesday – Into the office for the first time in 434 days. A ghost town. Pripyat-esque. Masks and protocol.
Monday – 18 months on – the news cycle rotates back to Wuhan and the earliest days of the pandemic. Japan rushes to vaccinate ahead of the Olympics.
This time last year – protests and riots, Seattle curfew. “250 cases per day” in Washington State; we are currently at >1600 and “emerging from the pandemic”. I think the first mention of variants and mutation.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | May 17, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – Washington State positive case rates are down. Vaccination is continuing at around 50k per day.
Weekend stats from The Seattle Times.
Friday – Mask use in stores is really inconsistent. REI – masks required, PCC – masks optional.
King County rates are really clearly below the Phase 2/Phase 3 boundary. Ballsy call by Gov Inslee – but proved correct.
Thursday – Potentially a half day “in the office” next week, with a vaccinated coworker, for planning and whiteboard. Exciting times! New York State offering lottery tickets to encourage vaccination.
Wednesday – Discussions on vaccine passports; mobility and opening up. India, Brazil, Mexico still showing huge numbers of cases and deaths.
Tuesday – In Europe – the conversation is about vaccination and returning to normal. UK Border Patrol predict “4-6 hour waits for immigration” because of the vaccine passport checking.
Monday – India variant – and the UK is looking closely at moving back to partial, regional lockdowns.
This time last year – US entering the second wave. Exams, work, politics.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | May 10, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – new look for the regular Seattle Times infographic on the state of Covid cases in Washington State. Some good data here on vaccination rates.
India variant still continues to raise concerns; UK NHS flagging this as a major issue and risk to re-opening.
Second time around for Covid birthdays – and this time we felt the risk significantly reduced and ate out.
Continued grumbling about mask rules; ultimately it boils down to trust. Many that are vaccinated don’t trust those that never wore masks.
Friday – Washington State delayed further restrictions; with the anticipation that the vaccinations would cause the positive cases to plateau and fall. It looks like that is happening. Gov Inslee looks at potential lifting of restrictions by end of June – that’s just six weeks away.
King County health data:
Thursday – the boy had his first Pfizer jab. Counting the weeks to a fully vaccinated household. CDC announces major change for those fully vaccinated: “Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.” Now it’s a gamble of “who is vaccinated, who is not” because both groups will be maskless :\ India variant B.1.617.2 could be escaping.
Wednesday – warm weather here; and it’s as if COVID never happened. Folk out and about. We need a push to incentivize the many who have not been vaccinated to get theirs.
Tuesday – India variant “critical global risk” – I’m still expecting an escape variant that is untouched by the current vaccines. That would be incredibly disruptive.
Monday – Pfizer vaccine soon to be approved for 12-15 year olds. That’s really going to make school in September viable – especially for middle school upwards. India continues to ride the wave of cases.
This time last year – “Warp Speed”, 4MM global cases, WHO say Covid might never go away.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | May 3, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – much grumbling about opening up vs. case rates in Washington State. Vaccination rates slowing in the US.
Still large positive rates across Washington State; again data from The Seattle Times.
Friday – “COVID never going away” from Prof Chris Whitty “In the long term, I do expect that this will become a much milder, chronic disease overall”
Thursday – US vaccine patent waivers should help with vaccine production globally. New Moderna vaccine tested to protect against variants. The mRNA route looks like science fiction; but could be a rapid way of getting variant specific vaccines out of the door.
Wednesday – new goal of getting 70% of US adults with at least one shot by July 4th. Very clear that there will be lingering Covid-like infection in the US for the foreseeable future. Annual shots along with flu.
Tuesday – a pause on rolling back to Phase 2 (i.e. more restricted opening) – with a two week wait to watch numbers.
Is this a real downward trend? From King County Health Indicators.
Monday – looking back to last year. This was week 9 of working from home – and the routine was pretty established. The news items seem familiar too – early re-opening, increased cases. I wrote early about the “Hammer and The Dance” – and it was so insightful. We are in that “ongoing” phase. New York Times: “there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable — at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
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