by ezs | Aug 9, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – King County is exploding with new cases. Data from King County Health: Key indicators of COVID-19 activity – King County Incidence rates are about where they were in November, before the vaccines. The overwhelming majority of these cases are in unvaccinated people.
There are areas (Mercer Island, Issaquah, Sammamish, Redmond, Kirkland, parts of Seattle) with vaccination completion at >90%. The majority of the county is at >70%. There are some very specific outliers in South King County and the more rural parts. There is strong evidence showing this is both via race/ethnicity; as well as political allegiance.
Friday – Away from the PNW for a moment – and Delta driven cases are surging everywhere. UK, France, Japan, Thailand. The huge concern is a new variant being vaccine resistant; I’ve written about this for over a year. Lambda variant, first detected in Peru, looks to be of concern. Still flagged as a Variant of Interest; if not this one – then soon.
Thursday – Covid test results back – negative (phew!).
Wednesday – There is a surge in Covid cases in King County – and there are no appointments to be had for days. Eventually went to the UW/Bellevue drive through testing without an appointment, and got tested. Very busy.
Tuesday – Notified by the WA Notify app that I was potentially exposed to Covid. Concerning because working from home, carefully masking when out, avoiding crowds – and still someone was within 6 feet/2m for >15 minutes; and tested positive.
Monday – Delta surge, back to school and already we have children sick and dying in the US. Delta related cases and deaths soar across the globe – Philippines, Iran, Europe. IPCC report on Climate Change bumps Covid from the headlines.
This time last year – UK quarantine chaos (nothing changes), work from home “for at least six months”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Aug 1, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend- large rush for Covid tests reported in WA; and the cases are really skyrocketing. Push to vaccinate Latino population across Washington. More and more anti-vaccine, Covid-hoaxers are dying.
Friday – Amazon pushes any return to office to January 2022. That’s almost two years! Long list of Seattle area bars/restaurants now requiring vaccination or negative test.
Thursday – UK cases are back at 30k/day. France looks to be approving a nation wide vaccination passport.
Wednesday – “visitors to the US may require vaccination”
Tuesday – multiple Seattle areas companies – including Microsoft – will require vaccination for return to office.
Monday – 70% of US Adults have now received 1 or more vaccines. There is a rush for both testing and for vaccinations as Delta hits hard in the US South
This time last year – all over by “early summer [of 2020] changes to early 2021”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Jul 28, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – The Seattle Times seems to be cutting back on daily updates; the graphic (below) is now updated a few times per week; and for the second week no Sunday summaries. Here in Seattle bars and restaurants are starting to self-impose “vaccination required” to enter. Florida and Texas continue to see record cases. Fauci warns “things will get worse”.
Friday – this seems very similar to last summer; except that the new outbreaks and deaths are all in the non-vaccinated parts of the country.
Thursday – US Eviction ban ends this weekend. 6.4M Americans are late on rent payments.
Wednesday – Tokyo cases at all time high. Olympic Games still progressing with few new cases. Israel approves Pfizer vaccine for some children 5-11. Mask mandates returning across the US.
Tuesday – much discussion of State and Federal worker mandated vaccination.
Monday – UK cases from Delta variant; look to be a sharp peak; rapid rise, rapid fall.
This time last year – after five months the rhythm of daily updates was set. US cases flattening. Initial fiscal impact of COVID >$320BN.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Jul 18, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – more discussion on a booster or top up for vaccines. Who needs it; when it needs to be given.
Weekly from The Seattle Times; concerning jump in positive cases.
Friday – NSW, Australia in the midst of Delta Variant wave. AP – most unvaccinated American’s won’t take a vaccine. Clearly politicised.
Thursday – “half of European adults” have had vaccine. “Pandemic of the unvaccinated“
Wednesday – Fauci calls BS.
Tuesday – Tokyo Olympics running into repeated positive tests, confusion and athlete frustrations. Delayed by a year – maybe this should have been cancelled? Italian blood sample review shows possible Covid-like antibodies from before December 2019.
Monday – “Freedom Day” in the UK. More new UK cases than vaccinations. Lots of concern about hospital intake and of course new variants.
This time last year – more schools moving to online only for September school year. US at >1000 daily deaths. Vaccine positive news.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Jul 12, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – One day, probably before the end of summer, I’ll be writing about the variant that escaped, and the scramble to get a new vaccine to fight the new variant. Biden: “Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated.” In relatively vaccinated King County (>74% of 12+ fully vaccinated, >85% locally) there are pockets of low vaccination rates; that align almost perfectly with voting outcomes. In Seattle and the Eastside; it’s almost back to “normal”. Compare to areas of the south where it’s closer to 30% and raging cases.
Summary of COVID vaccination among King County residents – King County
More UK U turns on PM isolation.
Weekly snapshot of data from The Seattle Times. Note the slight uptick in new cases :\
Friday – my fears in a Guardian article. “England Covid unlocking is a threat to the world“
Thursday – 48,553 new delta variant cases in the UK. This is like late December. Hospitalisations and deaths are lagging; but because of vaccinations are at a lower rate than last year. Washington State finally reaches 70% of adults having one or more vaccine doses. US – Canada border may re-open for travel in mid-August.
Wednesday – Multiple locations returning to curfew and lockdown.
Tuesday – “Freedom Day” in the UK in a week; and an “Exit Wave”. Bold and daring; or incredibly short sighted and risky…
Monday – UK reopening full of confusion, mixed messaging and backtracking. Euro finals “devastating” for COVID transmission. Ramping cases, warnings of 1000 hospitalisations per day, 200 deaths per day. Great data on cases, admissions and deaths.
This time last year – UK predicting a “significant normality by Christmas” (it wasn’t). Restrictions returned to WA state. Work from home until 2021. Return to school in September up in the air.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Jul 4, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – Much discussion over England soccer games and being super-spreader events. Good Twitter thread from Andy Slavitt https://twitter.com/ASlavitt/status/1413929409380110337?s=20 – “2021 is the year of the unvaccinated pandemic” – in developing nations, and in unvaccinated states.
Usual graph from The Seattle Times. Vaccinations are slowing. Cases are declining slowly.
Friday – “Worst over” for some says WHO. Discussion on third Pfizer/Moderna shot as a booster in the fall. NSW/Sydney lockdown continues.
Thursday – UK re-opens; vaccine take up for those unvaccinated (mainly under 30s) slows. 4MM deaths globally. Tokyo Olympics to be without fans.
Wednesday – I feel this is going to be the summer of “super spreader” events; especially in the states with lower vaccine numbers. Here’s a starter: 125 infected at a church camp in TX. UK reopening a “dangerous experiment” – daily cases looking a lot like December. Graph from The Guardian.
Tuesday – “2M UK cases, 10M in isolation” – on these numbers I’ll be commenting on Covid for years. “About 99.2% of recent COVID-19 deaths in the United States involved unvaccinated people.” Fauci. 
Monday – UK lifting mask and distancing requirements – most rules to end by 19 July.
This time last year – runaway transmission, US cases were trending up; TX, AZ, FL hospitals overflowing; US gave notice to exit WHO.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
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