by ezs | Jun 6, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – that UK case number is ticking up quickly. 7 Million in the UK are in higher risk, lower vaccinated areas. Graph from The Guardian.
PHE report Delta Variant is 60% more transmissible and is the dominant variant. “Although there is some regional variation, PHE experts now believe that Delta (VOC-21APR-02) has overtaken Alpha (VOC-20DEC-01) as the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in the UK.” and “The data indicates that over 90% of new COVID-19 cases in the UK are now the Delta variant, which continues to show a significantly higher rate of growth compared to the Alpha variant.” and “New research from PHE suggests that the Delta variant is associated with an approximately 60% increased risk of household transmission compared to the Alpha variant.”
Locally – vaccines administered still above 20k per day. Seattle, King County looking good for vaccination rate.
Friday – High School graduation for the eldest – and to an all-vaccinated section at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. Vaccination records and negative tests being inspected. Another small step back to normalcy.
Thursday – UK “grand reopening” on 21 June looks to be pushed out following increased numbers of positive cases.
Wednesday – WHO warns of Autumn resurgence of COVID. Two US cruise passengers test positive for COVID, on first trip out for a year.
Tuesday – Portugal and Greece opening up to vaccinated US tourists.
Monday – Issaquah and surrounding areas such as Bellevue, Mercer Island and Sammamish are showing >70% of the population are fully vaccinated. Data from Summary of COVID vaccination among King County residents – King County The more rural areas around us – less so. It’s starting to reach levels where normal activity is starting back up. Today pool swimming for the first time in over 15 months. Felt good. On the worrying side – Delta Variant is causing concern in England. If it takes hold in the US – that would be a massive step backwards.
This time last year – day 100; re-opening; early signs of the end of the first wave and the start of a second.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Jun 5, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Patching and updates again.
Updated the PHP7 repo:
zypper ar https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/php/SLE_15_SP3/ PHP7_SLE_15_SP3
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/
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/
by ezs | Apr 12, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – A globe of rich vs poor. In-person events like the FA Cup Semi Final, soccer and baseball games in the UK and the US; in India, Brazil and other areas record breaking new cases. Washington State numbers are steadily climbing; Gov Inslee calling this “wave 4”.
Data again from the weekend Seattle Times.
Friday – “Pandemic fatigue” is the zeitgeist – and as a result cases are surging.
Thursday – more reporting on the politics behind vaccines. Red vs Blue states. Voting history being a strong correlation to intent to vaccinate.
Wednesday – J&J and AstraZeneca tests being stopped or delayed. Increasing positive tests globally – UK, France, India, US; here in Washington State I am sure this is another wave slowly breaking. If so – it’s going to be another summer of restrictions. Graph from The Seattle Times.
Tuesday – six blood clot cases from millions of doses; yet the J&J vaccine is being delayed. Two WA counties are moved back to Phase 2 of reopening; King County was close to being pushed backed.
Monday – UK reduces lockdown. Long queues for shops, bars, haircuts. WHO: Pandemic “a long way from over”.
This time last year was “week 6” – and at work we were discussion what return to work would look like. Ran my first Zoom meeting with online voting for 5th LD Dems. “Reopen America” was trending.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
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