Coronavirus Facts and Information thread:

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
94,315,331
view by country

Deaths:
2,017,913

Recovered:
67,346,640

 

[Subduction Zone]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
94,315,331
view by country

Deaths:
2,017,913

Recovered:
67,346,640

It is interesting to sometimes compare countries and how they are doing. Australia, which does have the advantage of being an island continent, has had a grand total number of cases that is roughly a tenth of our daily new cases. What did we do wrong and what did they do right?

 

[Stevicus]

Fauci says 100 million vaccinations in 100 days 'absolutely a doable thing' | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden’s goal of delivering 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine within the first 100 days of his presidency “is absolutely a doable thing,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday.

Fauci, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press”, said two new vaccines under development by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson could “very soon” be presented to U.S. regulators for approval, which would increase the pace of vaccinations. “We’re weeks away, not months away, for sure,” he said.

Fauci’s remarks came amid criticism of the pace at which the United States is administering vaccines for a disease that has killed more than 390,000 people in the country. About 10.6 million Americans have so far been vaccinated, about half as many as President Donald Trump’s administration hoped would have received injections by the end of 2020.

Biden has said ramping up the pace of vaccinations will be one of his top priorities when he takes office on Wednesday.

“One thing that’s clear is that the issue of getting 100 million doses in the first 100 days is absolutely a doable thing,” Fauci said. “The feasibility of his goal is absolutely clear. There’s no doubt about that, that that can be done.”

 

[Stevicus]

The incoming CDC director predicts 500,000 deaths by next month.

Incoming CDC director expects 500,000 coronavirus deaths by mid-February (msn.com)

The incoming Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director said Sunday that she expects the U.S. will reach 500,000 COVID-19 deaths by mid-February.

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Rochelle Walensky, President-elect Joe Biden's named CDC director, told CBS News' "Face The Nation" that she "unfortunately" agrees with outgoing CDC Director Robert Redfield that the pandemic is going to get worse.

She noted the U.S. has reached nearly 4,000 deaths a day and almost 400,000 coronavirus deaths total.

"By the middle of February we expect half a million deaths in this country," she said.

Walensky emphasized that those numbers do not account for the "tens of thousands" of people who recovered from COVID-19 but have an "uncharacterized syndrome." She also said the U.S. has not yet seen "the ramifications of what happened from the holiday travel," which the incoming director said will lead to "high rates of hospitalizations and deaths thereafter."

"I think we still have some dark weeks ahead," she said.

 

[Subduction Zone]

The incoming CDC director predicts 500,000 deaths by next month.

Incoming CDC director expects 500,000 coronavirus deaths by mid-February (msn.com)

Unfortunately that does not look like an unreasonable prediction.

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
95,480,678
view by country

Deaths:
2,039,607

Recovered:
68,167,725

 

[sun rise]

Mutation in COVID being seen in CA is potentially a problem

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/01/18/california-coronavirus-variant/

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
95,989,878
view by country

Deaths:
2,048,559

Recovered:
68,608,080

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
96,625,827
view by country

Deaths:
2,065,698

Recovered:
69,299,718

 

[Stevicus]

U.S. adds another 4,000 COVID-19 deaths; 3-day toll over 11,000 - UPI.com

Jan. 22 (UPI) -- There were about 4,000 new coronavirus-related deaths in the United States on Thursday and close to 190,000 new cases, according to updated data from Johns Hopkins University.

The updated data showed Friday there were about 3,950 new deaths nationwide and 189,000 additional cases, a slight increase from the day before.

About 11,000 patients in the United States have died of COVID-19 in the last three days alone, according to Johns Hopkins.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been about 24.64 million cases and 410,400 deaths nationwide.

The worldwide case count to date is close to 100 million.

According to a survey Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than half of Americans don't know when or where they can receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The survey found that 6 in 10 U.S. adults said they didn't have any information about where the vaccines are available.

Other COVID-19 updates on Friday:

• NFL scouts are having more difficulty this year evaluating potential draft picks after the spring combine was canceled due to the pandemic.
• Experts say the currently available coronavirus vaccines should still be effective against variants of the disease that are emerging around the world.
• A United Nations report says that more than 45% of North Koreans are undernourished -- the highest rate in the Asia-Pacific region -- and that COVID-19 hardships could "erase" improvements in food security in recent years.
• Comedian Dave Chappelle has tested positive for the coronavirus disease.

 

[Stevicus]

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/j...-ruling-coalition-member-20210122-p56w3i.html

The future of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics has been thrown into doubt after a report surfaced suggesting the Japanese government has concluded the coronavirus pandemic will force the event to be cancelled.

The article, published by the Times, and reported by Reuters, comes as both Japanese Prime Minister Suga and International Olympic Committee President Bach this week strongly reaffirmed their commitment to the Tokyo Olympic Games going ahead in July this year.

So, they may have to cancel the Olympics due to the coronavirus.

 

[Stevicus]

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/j...-ruling-coalition-member-20210122-p56w3i.html



So, they may have to cancel the Olympics due to the coronavirus.

On the other hand, Japan and the IOC are denying any plan to cancel the Olympics, claiming the report was fabricated.

Japan and IOC deny that Olympics will be cancelled | Reuters

So, who knows? I wouldn't be surprised if it still ends up cancelled.

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
98,250,969
view by country

Deaths:
2,103,729

Recovered:
70,629,964

 

[Martin]

The "R" number in the UK is now estimated to be back below 1, however the infection rate is still very high and demand on hospitals has peaked, with ICUs operating at 95% of expanded capacity.
Vaccine rollout for priority groups continues well, but there are problems with supply.
National lockdowns are still in place, and unlikely to be eased before Easter.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Apple Smart watch user? - might show promise as to detecting the virus:

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-smart-symptoms-covid-wearer-infected.html

 

[Secret Chief]

- European countries mandate medical-grade masks over cloth face coverings - CNN

 

[Martin]

- European countries mandate medical-grade masks over cloth face coverings - CNN

It seems that some people are more concerned with making a fashion statement than wearing an effective mask.

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
99,774,476
view by country

Deaths:
2,139,043

Recovered:
71,762,891

 

[Quagmire]

Today:

Coronavirus Cases:
100,279,849
view by country

Deaths:
2,149,381

Recovered:
72,288,230

 

[Stevicus]

Study: Current, former smokers with COVID-19 twice as likely to need hospital care - UPI.com

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Current and former long-time smokers are more than twice as likely to require hospital care after being infected with COVID-19 and nearly twice as likely to die from the virus compared to those who never smoked, a study published Monday by JAMA Internal Medicine found.

Those who smoked an average of one pack of cigarettes per day for 30 or more years were at a 125% higher risk for being hospitalized if they contracted COVID-19 compared to people who never smoked, the data showed.

They were also 89% more likely to die from the virus than non-smokers, the researchers said.

People who smoked a pack a day on average for more than 10 years, but less than 30 years, were 40% more likely to require hospital care due to COVID-19 and 47% more likely to die from the virus than non-smokers, according to the researchers.

According to study co-author Katherine E. Lowe, a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in Cleveland, a current smoking habit or the potential after effects of being a smoker increase the risk for more severe COVID-19.

"This may be due to damage to the lungs from smoking, but may also be due to other diseases associated with smoking," including heart disease, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, Lowe told UPI.

The findings are based on an analysis of more than 7,100 people included in the Cleveland Clinic's COVID-19 registry, a database of patients diagnosed with the virus at the hospital, between March 8 and Aug. 25 of last year.

"The best thing that smokers can do, other than quitting, is avoid catching COVID-19, [so they] should follow the same distancing and masking guidelines that are recommended to everyone [and] get the vaccine" when it's available, Lowe said.