COVID work from home – week 21 – 27 July – 2 Aug

by ezs | Jul 27, 2020 | evilzenscientist

Weekend – Russia planning mass vaccinations. FA Cup with no crowd. Hong Kong delays elections. India as the newest hotspot. European cases continue to pick up. Looks like a second wave is really rolling in now across Europe.

A fresh look for the data from The Seattle Times; maybe six months of data needs it. The 14 day average death rate has picked up; cases are still climbing.

Friday – UK pauses coming out of lockdown/quarantine. 300k new cases globally today. UK beaches are “packed” – look for another bump in numbers from this mid-August. Good read on numbers in Europe.

Thursday – almost 4.5MM US cases; 152k deaths. I know more and more people who have “had” COVID-19 and are completely wiped out afterwards. Staying home, staying safe. England worst excess deaths in Europe between Feb – June. Shocking. Spain heading back to lockdown. US economy crashed 32% in Q2.

Wednesday – WA State positive cases still running >5%; target is 2% which shows measures are working. Graphic from The Seattle Times.

Tuesday – US daily cases – as reported by JHU dashboard – seems to have flattened. Whether this is because cases have flattened, or a result of the changes in reporting (CDC to HHS) remains to be seen. Pandemic economic costs are vast – including $320B for tourism alone. I do wonder what will be left after this. Spain, Iran, Italy – all reporting renewed surge of cases.

Monday – heading into August this week. US is still struggling with 4.2M cases; almost 150k deaths. Good “how to control it” thread from Andy Slavitt – unpopular, political U turns, acknowledgement and humility that it’s not a hoax. I don’t see any of this happening. WHO: ‘most severe health emergency WHO has faced’. New travel restrictions in Europe. More positive cases in the White House.

COVID work from home – week 19 – 13 July – 19 July

by ezs | Jul 13, 2020 | evilzenscientist

Weekend – the usual look at the ever more bleak numbers. This does feel like a slow roll to millions of deaths in the US.

US daily cases; via JHU. Surely on the path to 100k per day by month end. Lack of strong policy on mask wearing, distancing and healthcare will make this become a reality. This is WA, NY, NJ played out large four months later.

The Seattle Times- rolling average new cases is now way higher than March/April – so the Governor is having to roll back reopening. I’m planning for no school, no in-office work until at least the new year.

Friday – UK looks at “significant normality by Christmas”, US has record 77.3k new cases, GA Gov v Atlanta major legal action over masks. Restrictions returning to WA state as cases continue to creep upwards; more new cases now than back in March/April.

Thursday – WA DOH changing the counting mechanism again. Back to school is going to be a real issue, really soon. Health, safety, funding – and possible labour cuts (no buses, no schools – what to do with bus drivers and custodians?). What is a hybrid model? K-2 in school?

Wednesday – Fauci is an honourable man. Work from home until 2021 is likely.

Tuesday – masks required in UK shops. WA COVID death reporting via the state is broken again. Lockdown returns around the world. Second wave? Continued first wave? Unknown what September brings for return to school – quarantining teachers on every positive case amongst pupils would remove the workforce within a week.

Monday – back in March I had thoughts that this would be through the spring; looking at Wuhan and Italy, then New York, then New Zealand – it seemed like the coronavirus could be contained and a planful return to work sometime in the summer.

Where we are today, in both WA state and across the US, is anything but contained. Local hotspots in Yakima County, national runaway cases across many, many states who opened early.

Without national leadership, and some selfless actions to distance, wear masks and quarantine – the US is going to be isolated and work from home for another six months minimum.