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/
by ezs | Apr 26, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – The tale of rich vs poor. US and UK having a significant program for immunisation and re-opening; vs India and Brazil.
Washington State numbers tell two stories; of vaccines in arms and re-opening, and a fourth wave of new infections hitting younger people. The infection rate, cases per day and death rate are all above last fall.
Friday – WA pushing hard to over come “vaccine reluctance”, especially in more red counties. Very clear male/female divide too.
Thursday – “Indian variant” B1617 detected in the UK. This is the massive risk; a new variant emerges in India, Russia, another country with huge numbers of cases – and that is the “perfect virus” – virulent, deadly and not touched by the current vaccines
Wednesday – King County, WA (home of Seattle) is almost certain to slide back into Phase 2 restrictions. More cases, less compliance. I’ve been flagging this for a month plus. This is looking very much like November 2020; with younger folk getting sick.
Tuesday – Headlines are about India. Oxygen, hospitals, hundreds and hundreds of cases. Variants, election season and mass events over the past month have built up to this.
Monday – another week of commentary; and we roll over into May. Seattle Times paywall again. This time last year I did a coronavirus antibodies test to see if I was exposed in early 2020. Negative. Also this time last year 65k deaths in the US – and NY was getting overwhelmed. Early discussions about “return to the office”. Looking back – so naive.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Apr 19, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – the never ending grim news from India. Oxygen shortages, oxygen being moved from steel plants to hospitals, dead and dying, overwhelmed and collapsing healthcare. Over half of UK population have had first vaccination. Real concern about runaway Covid in India; and the risk of the “one variant” that escapes and starts this all over again.
Usual weekly from The Seattle Times. Lots of positive cases; more than Summer 2020; positive test rate is right up too. Lots still to do here.
Friday – Today the Seattle Times was not paywalled. Interesting read on the Brazil variant running through Latin America; and the India variants. Japan cases surge; Olympics at risk again. Left – Global daily cases are galloping towards 1M per day, Right – the India case numbers are heartbreaking – “a wall”. From JHU. This also from the BBC in Indian healthcare crisis following these cases.
Thursday – 314K cases today in India. New variant BV-1 in Texas. Washington State in wave 4.
Wednesday – India – not a wave, a wall of cases. My second Pfizer shot. The beginning of the end? I hope so; I expect annual shots just like the flu. US meets 200M shots in 100 days. Phenomenal.
Tuesday – The Seattle Times seems to have reverted back to the paywall for Covid news. I’ll see if this is few days or a more permanent change.
Monday – daughter back at High School for the first in-person classes since last March. Social distancing, one-way traffic, masks required, half of the numbers. It is a start back to normalcy. Fauci calls out Republican vaccine deniers as hurting efforts to lift restrictions. Turkey, India have huge case numbers.
This time last year – tide pods, bleach injections, general idiocy. We did a roadtrip to buy our first 50lb bag of flour.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
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