Post by mhbruin on Dec 11, 2021 9:03:52 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 481 1,721,570
Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
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This Used to Be An Amazon Warehouse
This Used to Be a Town
How Do You Like Climate Change, So Far?
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As Much As I Despise the Taliban, I Welcome This
International donors have agreed to transfer $280m (£210) from a frozen fund to UN food and health services in Afghanistan, the World Bank says.
The country faces a deep humanitarian and economic crisis made worse by the removal of financial support after the Taliban seized power in August.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that more than half of the population is under threat of acute hunger.
Three million children are suffering from malnutrition.
The situation is the result of a severe drought, which has ruined much of the wheat crop and sent prices soaring, and an economic crisis accelerated by the decision of Western nations to cut off financial aid after the Taliban takeover.
Western powers have refused to recognise the Taliban government officially. The US and other nations have frozen about $10bn of Afghan reserves, while the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have also halted the country's access to funding.
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The Economy is Falling! The Economy Is Falling
The media very definitely is selling fear and doom—and bad news for President Joe Biden. We see that every day, whether economic stories do or don’t make headlines, but if you wanted to put a number on it, Eric Boehlert has a great catch. When a poll from The Economist/YouGov asked respondents, “Have you heard mostly positive or mostly negative news stories about the economy?” 48% said “mostly negative.” Another 28% said “equally positive and negative.” Just 8% said “mostly positive.”
Does that reflect reality? Hmmm. Well, again, 2021 started out pretty badly. The recovery from the March 2020 crash as the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the country is not yet complete. But there absolutely is good news to cover.
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How Good Are the Vaccines?
The data are in: Coloradans who get a COVID vaccine booster are nearly 50 times less likely to be hospitalized
Coloradans who received a booster shot were 2.4 times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who had been fully vaccinated against the virus but had not received a boost
Between September and November, Coloradans who received a booster shot were 2.4 times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who had been fully vaccinated against the virus but had not received a booster. People who received a booster shot were 9.7 times less likely to test positive for the disease than unvaccinated Coloradans.
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GOP = Good Old Poverty
An article in the conservative journal American Affairs that is sharply critical of the last 17 years of GOP reign in Indiana is circulating among top Republicans, as they contend with whether their approach to economic development has paid dividends for Hoosier voters.
“I read it,” Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb told me of “In Indiana under Republican Rule: ‘Pro-Business’ Policy Disappoints outside the Sunbelt.” “I took exception with multiple parts of it.”
The article, written by Aaron Renn, an economic development columnist for Governing magazine and former fellow at the New York City-based Manhattan Institute, argues that “under Republican leadership the state’s relative incomes started out low and got even lower.”
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The Worst Thing Is This Isn't At All Surprising
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Omicron? Bring It On!
As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital.
That’s one of the reasons why he, along with other doctors and medical experts, suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.
“They are able to manage the disease at home," Pillay said of his patients. "Most have recovered within the 10 to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay.
And that includes older patients and those with health problems that can make them more vulnerable to becoming severely ill from a coronavirus infection, he said.
In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues.
More Good News
European leaders and scientists warned Friday that the omicron variant could become dominant in some countries startlingly soon, overtaking the delta variant, which has remained the most common version of the virus globally for months.
“We expect it to overtake delta within days, not weeks,” Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, said Friday about the spread of omicron there.
That echoes the latest update from the U.K. Health Security Agency, which has high confidence that omicron has a growth advantage over delta and estimates that, spreading at its current rate, it will become dominant in Britain by mid-December, with more than a million infections by the end of the month.
In Denmark, too, omicron on its current trajectory could become dominant by “the end of next week,” said Mads Albertsen, a professor at Aalborg University.
The sense is that Britain and Denmark aren’t standouts. Rather, they are tracking and modeling the spread especially carefully, and what they’re reporting may reflect what’s emerging elsewhere in Europe. And since so often during the pandemic Europe has served as a preview of what’s to come in the United States, U.S. officials are watching closely, as well.
Maybe We Should Stop Trying to Keep Omicron Out
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has so far caused mostly mild cases of Covid-19 in a small group of largely vaccinated people in the U.S., federal data show.
Among at least 43 people infected with the variant in 25 states in recent days, there has been one hospitalization and no deaths so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Out of 43 cases identified between Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, nearly 80% of the people infected with Omicron were fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, and one-third had received a booster shot. Fourteen percent of the people had a previous Covid-19 infection. Patients most commonly reported mild symptoms like cough, fatigue, congestion or runny nose, the CDC said. Nearly 60% of cases were in people 18 to 39 years old.
The report is an early piece of the picture scientists are working to assemble on Omicron’s infectiousness and virulence relative to other variants.
--------------
Do They Have a Ghost of a Chance to Stop This?
"Ghost guns" are untraceable firearms that can be assembled with do-it-yourself kits bought online, enabling buyers to evade background checks.
As the number of incidents involving ghost guns jumps in several parts of the U.S., particularly in California, some municipalities are firing back with lawsuits and other legal challenges that accuse manufacturers of violating laws and undermining law enforcement.
Los Angeles and San Francisco, aided by nonprofit gun control groups and private law firms, have filed civil lawsuits that argue sellers are undermining law enforcement efforts to keep illegal weapons out of people's hands and prosecute those who use the guns to commit crimes.
The District of Columbia has sued the same manufacturer targeted by Los Angeles, arguing that the company's products account for most of the ghost guns recovered by local police in recent years.
After the New Jersey Attorney General’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2018 to ghost gun parts makers nationwide, 15 companies agreed to halt their sales there. The state sued another manufacturer that ultimately agreed to pay a $70,000 settlement.
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Does Mike Pence Really Think He Has a Ghost of a Chance to Get the QOP Nomination?
Less than a year after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol targeting him for his refusal to overturn then-President Donald Trump's election defeat, former Vice President Mike Pence is traveling the country to lay the groundwork for a possible 2024 bid for the White House, according to several people close to him.
Pence is planning to visit Georgia, Florida and Texas in the next two months, according to a person familiar with his schedule.
There are competitive statewide races on the ballot in all three states, and they are among the most delegate-rich in the Republican nomination process. Pence also plans to give a February speech at Stanford University in California — the state with the most delegates in play in 2024 — the source said.
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"Mounting Woes"? 496 Out of 73,000 Workers?
The second-largest school district in the United States is facing mounting woes over its coronavirus vaccine mandate, recently terminating hundreds of employees who refused to comply and vowing to put thousands of unvaccinated students into online classes.
Board members of Los Angeles Unified School District — which has one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation — voted Tuesday to terminate 496 employees who failed to get vaccinated ahead of the deadline.
“We care deeply about all of our employees,” interim superintendent Megan K. Reilly said in a statement following the board’s decision. “Parting ways with individuals who choose not to be vaccinated is an extremely difficult, but necessary decision to ensure the safety of all in our school communities.”
Do You Want Your Child Going to School Around Unvaccinated Workers?
--------------
Doctors and Hospitals Sue To Keep Hitting Us With HUGE Bills
Nearly one in five hospital visits results in patients getting the unwelcome surprise of an unexpectedly large bill because doctors or other providers weren't part of their insurer's network.
To protect consumers, Congress passed the bipartisan No Surprises Act last December. But doctors and hospital groups are attempting to delay its Jan. 1 rollout over a narrow but critical portion that they contend unfairly favors insurers.
On Thursday, the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and individual hospitals and doctors sued the federal government to halt federal regulators’ proposed arbitration rules that would effectively end the most common forms of surprise billing.
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Million Shots (Population 333 Million)
CDC doesn't do a good job of reporting around holidays.
200 Million Fully Vaccinated
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People Fully Vaccinated | New Cases 7-Day Average | Deaths 7-Day Average | |
| Dec 11 | |||||
| Dec 10 | 1,721,570 | 238,143,066 | 201,279,582 | ||
| Dec 9 | 1,583,662 | 237,468,725 | 200,717,387 | ||
| Dec 8 | 1,611,831 | 237,087,380 | 200,400,533 | 118,515 | 1,092 |
| Dec 7 | 1,781,389 | 236,363,835 | 199,687,439 | 117,488 | 1,097 |
| Dec 6 | 1,780,807 | 236,018,871 | 199,313,022 | 117,179 | 1,117 |
| Dec 5 | 2,264,301 | 235,698,738 | 198,962,520 | 103,823 | 1,154 |
| Dec 4 | 2,009,864 | 235,297,964 | 198,592,167 | 105,554 | 1,150 |
| Dec 3 | 1,700,056 | 234,743,864 | 198,211,641 | 106,132 | 1,110 |
| Dec 2 | 1,428,263 | 234,269,053 | 197,838,728 | 96,425 | 975 |
| Dec 1 | 1,116,587 | 233,590,555 | 197,363,116 | 86,412 | 859 |
| Nov 30 | 1,152,647 | 233,207,582 | 197,058,988 | 82,846 | 816 |
| Nov 29 | 937,113 | 232,792,508 | 196,806,194 | 80,178 | 804 |
| Nov 28 | No Data | 72,008 | 719 | ||
| Nov 27 | No Data | 72,139 | 721 | ||
| Nov 26 | No Data | 73,962 | 742 | ||
| Nov 25 | No Data | 82,440 | 887 | ||
| Nov 24 | 898,833 | 231,367,686 | 196,168,756 | 93,931 | 989 |
| Nov 23 | 1,126,545 | 230,669,289 | 195,973,992 | 94,266 | 982 |
| Nov 22 | 1,521,815 | 230,732,565 | 196,398,948 | 93,668 | 1,009 |
| Nov 21 | 1,774,196 | 230,298,744 | 196,284,442 | 91,021 | 985 |
| Nov 20 | 2,136,513 | 229,837,421 | 196,128,496 | 90,823 | 996 |
| Nov 19 | 1,952,717 | 229,291,004 | 195,920,566 | 92,852 | 1,047 |
| Nov 18 | 1,870,564 | 228,570,531 | 195,713,107 | 94,260 | 1,069 |
| Nov 17 | 1,811,047 | 228,175,638 | 195,612,365 | 88,482 | 1,032 |
| Nov 16 | 1,608,906 | 227,691,941 | 195,435,688 | 85,944 | 1,028 |
| Nov 15 | 1,582,519 | 227,133,617 | 195,275,904 | 83,671 | 1,029 |
| Nov 14 | 1,375,998 | 226,607,653 | 195,120,470 | 80,823 | 1,043 |
| Nov 13 | 1,370,279 | 226,157,226 | 194,951,106 | 80,590 | 1,049 |
| Nov 12 | 1,335,066 | 225,606,197 | 194,747,839 | 78,552 | 1,038 |
| Nov 11 | No Data | 73,218 | 999 | ||
| Nov 10 | 1,316,294 | 224,660,453 | 194,382,921 | 76,458 | 1,051 |
| Nov 9 | 1,316,228 | 224,257,467 | 194,168,611 | 74,584 | 1,078 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 | 78,292 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | |
| % of Total Population | 71.7% | 60.6% |
| % of Population 12+ | 82.1% | 70.2% |
| % of Population 18+ | 84.1% | 71.9% |
| % of Population 65+ | 95.0% | 87.1% |
--------------
This Used to Be An Amazon Warehouse
This Used to Be a Town
How Do You Like Climate Change, So Far?
--------------
As Much As I Despise the Taliban, I Welcome This
International donors have agreed to transfer $280m (£210) from a frozen fund to UN food and health services in Afghanistan, the World Bank says.
The country faces a deep humanitarian and economic crisis made worse by the removal of financial support after the Taliban seized power in August.
The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that more than half of the population is under threat of acute hunger.
Three million children are suffering from malnutrition.
The situation is the result of a severe drought, which has ruined much of the wheat crop and sent prices soaring, and an economic crisis accelerated by the decision of Western nations to cut off financial aid after the Taliban takeover.
Western powers have refused to recognise the Taliban government officially. The US and other nations have frozen about $10bn of Afghan reserves, while the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have also halted the country's access to funding.
--------------
The Economy is Falling! The Economy Is Falling
The media very definitely is selling fear and doom—and bad news for President Joe Biden. We see that every day, whether economic stories do or don’t make headlines, but if you wanted to put a number on it, Eric Boehlert has a great catch. When a poll from The Economist/YouGov asked respondents, “Have you heard mostly positive or mostly negative news stories about the economy?” 48% said “mostly negative.” Another 28% said “equally positive and negative.” Just 8% said “mostly positive.”
Does that reflect reality? Hmmm. Well, again, 2021 started out pretty badly. The recovery from the March 2020 crash as the coronavirus pandemic took hold of the country is not yet complete. But there absolutely is good news to cover.
--------------
How Good Are the Vaccines?
The data are in: Coloradans who get a COVID vaccine booster are nearly 50 times less likely to be hospitalized
Coloradans who received a booster shot were 2.4 times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who had been fully vaccinated against the virus but had not received a boost
Between September and November, Coloradans who received a booster shot were 2.4 times less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who had been fully vaccinated against the virus but had not received a booster. People who received a booster shot were 9.7 times less likely to test positive for the disease than unvaccinated Coloradans.
--------------
GOP = Good Old Poverty
An article in the conservative journal American Affairs that is sharply critical of the last 17 years of GOP reign in Indiana is circulating among top Republicans, as they contend with whether their approach to economic development has paid dividends for Hoosier voters.
“I read it,” Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb told me of “In Indiana under Republican Rule: ‘Pro-Business’ Policy Disappoints outside the Sunbelt.” “I took exception with multiple parts of it.”
The article, written by Aaron Renn, an economic development columnist for Governing magazine and former fellow at the New York City-based Manhattan Institute, argues that “under Republican leadership the state’s relative incomes started out low and got even lower.”
--------------
The Worst Thing Is This Isn't At All Surprising
--------------
Omicron? Bring It On!
As the omicron variant sweeps through South Africa, Dr. Unben Pillay is seeing dozens of sick patients a day. Yet he hasn’t had to send anyone to the hospital.
That’s one of the reasons why he, along with other doctors and medical experts, suspect that the omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.
“They are able to manage the disease at home," Pillay said of his patients. "Most have recovered within the 10 to 14-day isolation period.” said Pillay.
And that includes older patients and those with health problems that can make them more vulnerable to becoming severely ill from a coronavirus infection, he said.
In the two weeks since omicron first was reported in Southern Africa, other doctors have shared similar stories. All caution that it will take many more weeks to collect enough data to be sure, their observations and the early evidence offer some clues.
More Good News
European leaders and scientists warned Friday that the omicron variant could become dominant in some countries startlingly soon, overtaking the delta variant, which has remained the most common version of the virus globally for months.
“We expect it to overtake delta within days, not weeks,” Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, said Friday about the spread of omicron there.
That echoes the latest update from the U.K. Health Security Agency, which has high confidence that omicron has a growth advantage over delta and estimates that, spreading at its current rate, it will become dominant in Britain by mid-December, with more than a million infections by the end of the month.
In Denmark, too, omicron on its current trajectory could become dominant by “the end of next week,” said Mads Albertsen, a professor at Aalborg University.
The sense is that Britain and Denmark aren’t standouts. Rather, they are tracking and modeling the spread especially carefully, and what they’re reporting may reflect what’s emerging elsewhere in Europe. And since so often during the pandemic Europe has served as a preview of what’s to come in the United States, U.S. officials are watching closely, as well.
Maybe We Should Stop Trying to Keep Omicron Out
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 has so far caused mostly mild cases of Covid-19 in a small group of largely vaccinated people in the U.S., federal data show.
Among at least 43 people infected with the variant in 25 states in recent days, there has been one hospitalization and no deaths so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.
Out of 43 cases identified between Dec. 1 and Dec. 8, nearly 80% of the people infected with Omicron were fully vaccinated, according to CDC data, and one-third had received a booster shot. Fourteen percent of the people had a previous Covid-19 infection. Patients most commonly reported mild symptoms like cough, fatigue, congestion or runny nose, the CDC said. Nearly 60% of cases were in people 18 to 39 years old.
The report is an early piece of the picture scientists are working to assemble on Omicron’s infectiousness and virulence relative to other variants.
--------------
Do They Have a Ghost of a Chance to Stop This?
"Ghost guns" are untraceable firearms that can be assembled with do-it-yourself kits bought online, enabling buyers to evade background checks.
As the number of incidents involving ghost guns jumps in several parts of the U.S., particularly in California, some municipalities are firing back with lawsuits and other legal challenges that accuse manufacturers of violating laws and undermining law enforcement.
Los Angeles and San Francisco, aided by nonprofit gun control groups and private law firms, have filed civil lawsuits that argue sellers are undermining law enforcement efforts to keep illegal weapons out of people's hands and prosecute those who use the guns to commit crimes.
The District of Columbia has sued the same manufacturer targeted by Los Angeles, arguing that the company's products account for most of the ghost guns recovered by local police in recent years.
After the New Jersey Attorney General’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter in 2018 to ghost gun parts makers nationwide, 15 companies agreed to halt their sales there. The state sued another manufacturer that ultimately agreed to pay a $70,000 settlement.
--------------
Does Mike Pence Really Think He Has a Ghost of a Chance to Get the QOP Nomination?
Less than a year after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol targeting him for his refusal to overturn then-President Donald Trump's election defeat, former Vice President Mike Pence is traveling the country to lay the groundwork for a possible 2024 bid for the White House, according to several people close to him.
Pence is planning to visit Georgia, Florida and Texas in the next two months, according to a person familiar with his schedule.
There are competitive statewide races on the ballot in all three states, and they are among the most delegate-rich in the Republican nomination process. Pence also plans to give a February speech at Stanford University in California — the state with the most delegates in play in 2024 — the source said.
--------------
"Mounting Woes"? 496 Out of 73,000 Workers?
The second-largest school district in the United States is facing mounting woes over its coronavirus vaccine mandate, recently terminating hundreds of employees who refused to comply and vowing to put thousands of unvaccinated students into online classes.
Board members of Los Angeles Unified School District — which has one of the strictest vaccine mandates in the nation — voted Tuesday to terminate 496 employees who failed to get vaccinated ahead of the deadline.
“We care deeply about all of our employees,” interim superintendent Megan K. Reilly said in a statement following the board’s decision. “Parting ways with individuals who choose not to be vaccinated is an extremely difficult, but necessary decision to ensure the safety of all in our school communities.”
Do You Want Your Child Going to School Around Unvaccinated Workers?
--------------
Doctors and Hospitals Sue To Keep Hitting Us With HUGE Bills
Nearly one in five hospital visits results in patients getting the unwelcome surprise of an unexpectedly large bill because doctors or other providers weren't part of their insurer's network.
To protect consumers, Congress passed the bipartisan No Surprises Act last December. But doctors and hospital groups are attempting to delay its Jan. 1 rollout over a narrow but critical portion that they contend unfairly favors insurers.
On Thursday, the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association and individual hospitals and doctors sued the federal government to halt federal regulators’ proposed arbitration rules that would effectively end the most common forms of surprise billing.
--------------