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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.

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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.”

The Guardian The Seattle Times
3 May here here
4 May here here
5 May here here
6 May here here
7 May here here
8 May here here
9 May here here

https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live

https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/