COVID-19 news & status

Please do.  And keep in mind that the recent weeks numbers, both deaths, CV deaths, and CV cases will all increase from week to week as more death certificates make it through the administrivia channels and get recorded by CDC.

NO! you don't mean to say you think there might possibly be a "power play" in place to increase the use of vaccines?  Given that Trump has just announced that the military will be involved in the distribution of the "expected" CV19 vaccine by year end. He did say that it was, paraphrased, "for those who want it." And from what I hear, the US has ordered enough injection units to inject everyone in the country, some more than once, so they should be really well protected.  And, of course, here in the US you can't sue the makers if you are hurt by the vaccine or killed by it.  But you can go to vaccine court and wait for several years for your case to grind through.

I'll take the vaccine, but "they" will have to hold me down and forcibly inject me. To borrow a catch-phrase "My body, my choice"

Rig D wrote:

I'll take the vaccine, but "they" will have to hold me down and forcibly inject me. To borrow a catch-phrase "My body, my choice"

Rig, I had to quote that bit by you. I'm not sure if you remember this from previous posts of mine but I am an anti-vaxer. We anti-vaxers have a saying, "If there is a risk there should be a choice".

What you said sums up what I think. Unless something is 100% risk-free one should not be forced to do it. Period.

Besides, when you start taking away one's rights to make health decisions it's a slippery slope. Today it is one's right to one's health. Tomorrow it might be equality rights, the right to bear arms, the right to not be unlawfully imprisoned, etc, etc etc. If one right is okay to put on the chopping block then in theory they all are. And it's always okay to breach one person's rights until it's your rights.

This is terribly long but worth every minute of reading:

https://lissarankin.com/17-things-we-dont-know-and-shouldnt-pretend-to-know-about-covid-19/

^ interesting reading, Ontario.

Well, it's official - schools closed until September. It was announced today. Today is also the first day businesses can reopen. Malls, however can not. It's like it's back to normal out there! There are people everywhere. You can't tell me the majority of people are afraid.

Thank you for that awesome article. I have been asking so many of those same questions myself.

A lot of those questions come when we see people grocery shopping or the stores lucky enough to have stayed open through out all of this. It hasn't seemed to cause the spread. And now all the extra restrictions placed on us with the masks and one way stores etc. Why this after we made it to the downhill? We went downhill without it.

Not sure I mentioned over the week, but it felt so good to be at my friends and able to be out and about. Some wore masks (we did) other didn't. I probably would have fallen among the no mask crowd, but my friend was wearing hers and I wore mine out of respect to her and the fact I was staying in her home. That's not to say we wore them everywhere.

But alas, I came back home to clamp down. From checking on the internet, it seems many stores that could be open haven't done so yet. I will check tomorrow.

Oregon has been in a legal battle over the shut down. Our governor has done things wrong according to our constitution and someone filed suit. She had authority to close down the state for only 30 days (maybe 28?) and beyond that point she needed to take it before the legislature. She failed to do so. A rural judge overthrew her shut down order, but within 24 hours the state supreme court issue a hold on her order. Oregon has a very small number of hospitalizations, 548 cases and 13 deaths. This out of a population of just over 4 million.

Our governor is an idiot.

Tomi, where are you getting your Covid numbers? From this site it seems we have 3801 cases and 144 deaths:
https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/fff9f83827c5461583cd014fdf4587de?fbclid=IwAR3qjwgWoyoHr7wtvjePSTlnGJ8sXgwOw2qBMIQKmcyHoBq_o7qEemGT98M

From my data downloads from USAFACTS Oregon has 140 deaths, 3726 cases (data through 5/19). No data posted for yesterday as yet. I'd say Marcadav's data is right on.
Usafacts CV19

Tomi, yes, there seems to be a lot of provinces and states whose premiers and governors are not following the laws and rights of freedoms. I know that our premier, here in Ontario, has done it all above board. At least we can be thankful for that. I voted for him and, for the most part, I think he's done a pretty good job of things. He hasn't been over the top on restrictions and not one to get all in a tizzy and make rash decisions. And, while I still think the economy was closed too long I realize he's answering to not only people like me but the millions of the fear-mongered. It's likely akin to walking a tightrope.

Yesterday Ohio had 50 deaths attributed to CV19. This also pushed the age range  of these deaths from <1-108 to <1-109. Average age 50, M/F %: 53/46. 1% undetermined.

The sad part of the statistics that we are learning is that they may not all be Covid deaths. They may have died with Covid, but not from Covid. It's hard to know what to believe anymore.

One thing you learn when you take 3 statistics classes, is that you can make the numbers say what you want them to. It all depends on how you enter them and present them.

And on that topic here is the latest info I have, the death number for week 20 just became available on the CDC web site.

And to expand on Pedi's comment always remember the old saying: "figures don't lie, but liars figure."

The 2020 data continues to be adjusted as time goes by. Most is the delay in getting info into CDC, some I think is due to reclassification. I've added a 2020 death forecast column calculated with a linear regression on the corresponding week number for years 2012-2019.

Data sources: Total deaths: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/
scroll down (a long way) to “Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I) Mortality Surveillance” click view chart data)

Current Covid & population Data: https://usafacts.org/visualizations/coronavirus-covid-19-spread-map/  scroll to “download data”

You are correct Rig, liars do figure....

Thanks for the stats.

As for where I'm at most things are still closed. Walmart keeps getting crazier and crazier. I sure hope they don't ever have a fire in there because with all the blockades they've put in to direct traffic, it would be very hard to get out in a hurry. How many lives might that save? or rather cause to die. And most of the shelves are picked over some empty, but we now have TP and PT.

Your WM has actual blockades inside? The stores here have the stupid fenced entryway queue so they can restrict the # bodies inside, but inside there are only green squares with "shop this way arrows" on the aisles (other end of the aisle has a red "do not enter") These are widely ignored, which I find amazingly humorous.

I saw what looked like a family out for a walk in our neighborhood. As they passed by on the walk I couldn't help but observe the lunacy: All wearing their baby blue face masks, and walking about 6 ft apart. I mean, seriously people, do you have any kind of clue?

Yes Rig. We have that same walking path outside. Once you enter and grab your cart you have to walk about 25 ft or so and you could make a left to go behind the register area and over to pharmacy or the little bit of food we have as we are not a Super WM. However they first had water stacked, now it's fireworks so that you can't go behind the registers, you have to head further back into the store. About 1/2 back you were able to turn. And if you tried to cut through the clothing area, they have tape to keep you from doing that. At the half way point they now have the water stacked you basically have to go all the way to the back of the store. Then they have the arrow isles. However where isles meet at a cross isle the dummies put different directions, so you can't make 1 long isle because the second half is going the opposite direction. Not sure who the brainiac was the that did that stupid move. There are many who ignore, or like me at times don't even look. The CDC says get in and get out - don't browse. Yeah right, not it this store.

In latest news, a 96-year-old lady has died. She got Covid19 a few weeks ago, went to hospital, got well again, then returned to her rest home.  Then later she died, but she no longer had the virus. They have nevertheless decided to add her to our Covid19 death tally, bringing it to a whopping 22.

Meanwhile, I am going back into the schools to teach piano.  I'm supposed to be sanitising my hands whenever I enter the room, and the gear whenever I leave.  But there's no wipes, and the kids are sharing keyboards, and some of the "rooms" are just cupboards.  And no one cares.  Including me, because there is NO coronavirus.  Not at school, not in the supermarkets, not in the streets, not in the hospitals and certainly not in ICU.  

Everyone coming into the country goes straight to isolation or quarantine for two weeks.  We've had no new cases for a week and in the entire country just one person is still recovering.  

Yet, no one could enter the bank after me until someone had cleansed the counter where I briefly put down my wallet, and wiped the pen I signed with.  And you can't go into the gym until they have blasted the place with chemicals every hour or so.

They say we are headed down towards level 1, within a month (should be now).  Even so, my music organisation has cancelled all their exams, which had been scheduled for September.  This is gutting for me and the students who have been working hard for months already.

It's beyond bizarre, the whole scenario.

Annie, lots of talk here about Covid19 deaths that are really something else and are falsely attributed. And I think that shows in the spreadsheet above, the "other deaths" has the "covid19" deaths backed out of total deaths, and it is lower than any year back to 2017 or so. All in all 2020 is shaping out to be completely in line with prior years on total deaths, and all the hyperbole about the CV19 really seems to me to be way, way overblown. As a long time tinfoil hat wearing conspiracy theory follower it does indeed make you think that something is up.

And from what I'm hearing, New Yuck city and close surrounds is accounting for about 10% of worldwide CV deaths all on its own.

Rig, thanks for doing those figures.  At first I had difficulty understanding them, but this is the info that we need to know.  Is Covid decimating the population? Clearly not.  

In our case, the virus did not take hold in NZ because we locked down early and blocked the chain of transmission.  However, we'll never know how many lives this might have saved, as we don't know how deadly it actually is. All we know is that there have been 22 deaths of frail folk, from 1154 total confirmed cases, which is 1.9%.  

I have no idea how that compares to other diseases.

The thing that really irritates me is how some gov's, my state and esp NY, sent Covid patients to nursing homes. That's like pulling a pin on a grenade and hoping it won't go off. It makes me wonder if they didn't do that on purpose so they could make the disease look worse than it actually is. Who in their right mind would send someone with Covid or even just the flu to a nursing home. We all know anytime something catchy gets in a home it has its reign of destruction.

We may be going green in a week or two and hopefully, finally be able to get hair cuts.

Our county judge is spending money on a mobile hospital for the 2nd wave because of the opening. I do not believe we have had a sharp increase in cases since the governor’s phased opening.

NM, that sounds wicked. Pedi, talk about Being Prepared! Perhaps it will be needed, perhaps not.

Wonder what the Vegas betting line is on that? I'll place my money on "not needed"

NM -- have to agree on the nursing home thing. Cuomo in NY reminds me so much of a petulant 3 yr old, wants it his way, is very demanding on what is needed, "not me" is responsible if its wrong, and arrogant to boot. Your gov is largely invisible to me, only occasionally hear anything about him, but he seems like a nother pea in the Cuomo pod.

They spent billions on the first pop up hospital and it was never used. My guess, is it is another waste of money. The county judge is new, very young, and has no clue what she is doing.