by ezs | Aug 30, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – UK deaths rising, continued mask and vaccine resistance.
Brazil – Argentina WCQ game called off because of Covid restrictions.
On a personal note – we attended our first live music gig since Covid started – fully vaccinated requirement, masks also required. This is going to be the new normal.
Weekly local data from The Seattle Times. 14 day average cases >4000 still.
Friday – UK NHS GPs are cancelling flu shots because of vaccine shortages.
Thursday – Delta still raging; average cases >3200 per day in Washington State, which is higher than the peak of last winter. Graph from The Seattle Times.
Wednesday – is mu the variant that will breakout? It’s the newest VOI.
Tuesday – Back to school, masks on. Washington State hospitals are full, with similar stories from Idaho, Oregon and beyond.
Monday – US travelers to the EU face restrictions again. Back to school in Washington State, across much of the US and Canada, and the UK and Europe. Fears of escalating cases.
This time last year – vaccine is on the way; half a year of blogging and working from home. News changing from hopeful to grim.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Aug 22, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – Washington State is now averaging more than 3000 cases per day; which is more than the peak of November/December 2020. Return to school in the northern hemisphere “will lead to sharp rise in cases”
Weekly graphic from The Seattle Times
Friday – UK cases, hospitalisations are rising again. EU moves to restrict travel from the US.
From The Guardian.
Thursday – 990% increase in hospitalisations since July 9th in Portland, OR. Washington State and Oregon State are adopting strict requirements for masking and social distancing.
Wednesday – the continued politicisation of vaccines and masking. Extremely polarising. Locally, King County positive case rates are starting to drop; mask mandate working? Back to school next week – so fingers crossed.
Key indicators of COVID-19 activity – King County
Tuesday – Hawaii heading to shutdown tourists; more US school districts move back to remote learning. School starts here in Washington next week.
Monday – FDA give full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – moving from Emergency Authorisation granted in December 2020.
This time last year – in the plateau before the fall wave; 500 or so cases per day and declining. Compare to a year later – and it’s over 3,800 cases per day.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Mar 8, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – Almost 3MM vaccinations in the US yesterday. Phenomenal rate. This is the only way to beat the variants; run faster and vaccinate. Plenty of concern about the 50% who say they won’t get the vaccine however. 🙁 100M vaccinated. Concerns in Europe on blood clot risk of AstraZeneca vaccine.
Weekly graph from The Seattle Times. Positive test rate is picking up slightly. 20% with first dose, 11% with two.
Friday – All US adults eligible for vaccine by 1 May, “independence from Covid 4th July”.
Thursday – real concern in Brazil over spiraling cases and overrun hospitals.
Wednesday – Mixed directions in Europe, relaxed rules vs. increased lockdown and a “fourth wave”.
Tuesday – some excitement – as “extra” vaccines are being given at the close of day in many locations in Washington. We made appointments, then were told there was an error. Mid-March – and we must be just weeks away from open vaccinations.
Monday – the year rolls over. A year, 52 weeks, since I started the daily updates on COVID and capturing the news summaries for posterity. So what are my main observations? Firstly I’m glad that The Guardian, The Seattle Times and many other media outlets are still summarising the pandemic news on a daily basis. The BBC news website stopped this in the summer. Secondly – there’s sadly little shock value of dozens, hundreds or thousands dying on a daily basis. >500K deaths in the US – and that number really doesn’t resonate with many. Thirdly – everything is political. Masks, eating out, return to school, vaccination.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Mar 1, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Weekend – 28M fully vaccinated in the US (two shots), WA is still slowly, but surely getting vaccines out. Almost a third of the UK have received at least one vaccine dose. “Hundreds of deaths per day” across European countries; sadly that isn’t newsworthy after the brutal waves of the past year. 90M vaccines have been delivered in theUS, including over 2.4M yesterday.
UK numbers from The Guardian. That massive peak, and the climb into it, seems so long ago.
Weekend numbers from The Seattle Times. A year on – they are still doing a daily roundup and regular stats.
Friday – @YearCovid tweeting last years news.
Thursday – last day in the office one year ago. The start of “vaccine passports” and “vaccinated only” events.
Wednesday – a year ago was the week of panic buying and stripped shelves.
Tuesday – amidst positive talk about vaccinations and decreasing positive tests and a decline in deaths; there are still huge risks of a fourth wave.
Monday – a year since the first COVID death in the US and in Washington State. It’s still a race against time – vaccinate and beat the variants. CDC/NIH tracking five variants across the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
by ezs | Feb 24, 2021 | evilzenscientist
Saturday – huge demand for vaccinations; this story from Portland, OR describing how 400,000 attempts to book for 3,400 slots. Washington State at around 13% first vaccination, UK is at just under 30% of the population having at least one dose. That reaches almost 40% in Wales. That’s actually quite the testament to the role of the NHS.
Track and Trace (contact tracing) is partially working, depending on location. Great results in New Zealand, missed contacts in England (with a possible Brazil variant escaped into the wild), unknown results in the US.
Usual weekend state of the State from The Seattle Times. Positive test rate is steady at around 5.4% – still a good way to go to below 2% trend.
Friday – next week I will start the “one year ago” retrospectives. The first cases of COVID in the US were in Washington State, first identified in late January. The first death was 29 February.
Thursday – reluctance over taking the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Wednesday – J&J single shot vaccine approved
Tuesday – >112M global cases, >2.5M global deaths.
Monday – officially 500,000 deaths due to Covid in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/series/coronavirus-live
https://www.seattletimes.com/tag/coronavirus/
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