COVID-19 News and Discussions

[Yuli Ban]

Things are pretty sucky down here

New Orleans EMS can't keep up with calls due to the Covid-19 surge as mayor restores a mask mandate

Emergency medical responders in New Orleans have been hit so hard by the resurgence in Covid-19 cases that the city doesn't have the capacity to handle 911 calls, the mayor said Friday as she announced a new mask mandate and a contract to increase EMS resources.

"Thanks to the Delta variant, the Covid pandemic is once again raging out of control," New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a news conference.
"We have been here before; we've seen the movie. ... What was once unpreventable, today is preventable. And it's through our people getting vaccinated."
Over the past week, the city saw more than 1,000 new Covid-19 cases, Cantrell said. And the daily case average also spiked to 272, up from 104 last week, she said.

[Yuli Ban]

Texas Gov. Abbott issues executive order prohibiting cities from requiring masks, vaccines

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Thursday signed an executive order prohibiting cities and other government entities in the state from enacting vaccine requirements or mask mandates to protect against the coronavirus, even as the virus's more contagious delta variant drives another surge in covid-19 cases in Texas.

Abbott's order applies to any government entities receiving state funds, including counties, cities, school districts, public health authorities and government officials. He also declared that there be "no covid-19-related operating limits for any business or other establishment" in the state in order to "ensure the ability of Texans to preserve livelihoods while protecting lives."

[Yuli Ban]

Delta Variant Rampant in Asia; Tokyo, Thailand, Malaysia Post Record COVID Infections

The Olympics host city Tokyo, as well as Thailand and Malaysia, announced record COVID-19 infections on Saturday, mostly driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant of the disease.

The surge in Delta variant cases is rattling parts of Asia previously relatively successful in containing COVID-19, such as Vietnam, which will from Monday impose strict curbs on movement in several cities and provinces.

[weatheriscool]

Florida sets a record with 21,683 new COVID-19 cases reported Saturday, the CDC says
Source: The Miami Herald

Saturday, the state of Florida reported more new COVID-19 cases to the Centers for Disease Control than any previous day in the coronavirus pandemic, 21,683.

That’s a jump over the previous record, 19,334, on Jan. 7, during the worst month of the pandemic, when daily case counts were routinely topping 10,000. It was the second peak of the pandemic and in the months following cases returned to average levels of between 2,000 and 8,000 daily cases.

The late half of July is so far looking to be the start of Florida’s third COVID-19 peak, as the case numbers reported Thursday (17,093), Friday (17,589) and Saturday mix in with Jan. 6-8 to comprise the top six individual case count days. The average over the last seven days is 15,818 cases.

Read more: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/coronaviru ... story.html

[caltrek]

Texas Gov. Abbott issues executive order prohibiting cities from requiring masks, vaccines

I actually had to read the relevant article over several times to make some kind of sense of it.

It is kind of strange that Abbot would declare that Texans had "mastered the safe practices" that help prevent and avoid the spread of covid-19, then issue guidelines prohibiting "cities and other government entities in the state from enacting vaccine requirements or mask mandates."

Are not part of the "safe practices" the very measures that he wants to see prohibited?

The GOP is also further inconsistent in its policies. On the one hand, they often insist on "local control." Yet, as is here the case, that local control often does not extend to instances in which they disagree with local government actions. So it becomes something like "we favor control by local government as long as local governments agree with us." For local governments that disagree...well that has to be made illegal. More "just us" kind of thinking. Only they, in their infinite wisdom, can over-rule local government for the sake of providing "clarity and uniformity." Heaven help liberals who make the same sort of argument applied to slightly different circumstances.

Meanwhile, all of the governor's "clarity and uniformity" will result in more deaths and suffering.

I suppose for many folks who participate in this forum, I am just stating the obvious. There the problem is that such knowledge is restricted to the few, while all too many keep spouting this GOP nonsense and shake their heads in agreement with Abbot.

[weatheriscool]

Berlin protesters decry coronavirus measures; 600 detained
Source: Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Thousands turned out in Berlin on Sunday to protest the German government’s anti-coronavirus measures despite a ban on the gatherings, leading to clashes with police and the detention of some 600 protesters.

Local authorities had banned several different protests this weekend, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, but protesters in Berlin defied the ban.

Berlin’s police department deployed more than 2,000 officers to try and disperse the protests, but it said officers who sought to redirect protesters or disband larger groups were “harassed and attacked.”

“They tried to break through the police cordon and pull out our colleagues,” Berlin police said, adding that officers had to use irritants and batons.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-healt ... 15351cc3ad

[Yuli Ban]

Japan's COVID-19 cases rise 87% during first week of Olymics

Halfway through the Summer Olympics in Japan, coronavirus cases are surging in the nation during a state of emergency though the outbreak is nowhere near as severe as other places as the world deal with a more contagious Delta variant.

Tokyo 2020 boss Toshiro Muto said at a news conference Sunday that the COVID-19 surge is not linked to the Games, which included 11,000 athletes representing 206 countries. The positivity rate is only 0.02% -- 72 out of around 350,000 tests through Friday, which includes participants and other stakeholders.

[wjfox]

See additional posts/replies in her thread.

[wjfox]

China Covid: Concerns grow as Delta outbreak spreads

34 minutes ago

A fresh Covid outbreak in China has spread to more locations, raising concerns over the country's vulnerability to the highly contagious Delta variant.

More than 300 cases have been detected within a span of 10 days.

Chinese media is dominated by news on the outbreak, and the country's top respiratory diseases specialist has reportedly expressed grave concern.

The government has imposed fresh travel restrictions and is testing millions.

[...]

The outbreak is the largest in China for months. The country was largely successful in controlling the virus within its borders last year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-58052894

[wjfox]