Third Surge Worsens
Our daily update is published. States reported 1.1 million tests, 73k cases, and 41k people currently hospitalized with COVID-19. The death toll was 1,038, the highest since late September. pic.twitter.com/dzu0VTUoLn
— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) October 22, 2020
The Covid Tracking Project reports The Third Surge Worsens as Hospitalizations and Deaths Rise Nationwide.
- The upswing in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continued this week, as the United States recorded the highest number of hospitalizations in almost two months.
- Nearly 1,000 deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Wednesday alone, and that didn’t include Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, which were experiencing reporting issues.
- States reported 5,300 COVID-19 deaths since last Thursday, an increase of more than 10 percent week over week.
- Hospitals across the country saw patients increase, mirroring the widespread case growth. While the Midwest remains the region of greatest concern, Texas led the nation in increased hospitalizations over the past seven days.
Covid Metrics by Week
North Dakota vs San Francisco
To get a sense of the extent of the spread of COVID-19 in North Dakota, a comparison with San Francisco is instructive. There are more people in the city of San Francisco (883,000 people in 47 sq. miles) than in the state of North Dakota (762,000 people in 70,762 sq. miles). This week, more than 5,200 people in North Dakota tested positive for the coronavirus; San Francisco counted 213. Since the pandemic began, San Francisco has recorded just over 12,000 cases and 138 deaths; North Dakota has seen 34,165 cases and 323 deaths since March.
Hospital Data Wobbles
- In Missouri, for example, the currently hospitalized figure has been underreported since October 17; the state links the problem to hospitals’ scrambling to keep pace with HHS requirements.
- Georgia, Alabama, and Florida reported only partial updates to their hospitalization counts. Some or all of these reporting deficits may be linked to HHS reporting changes, but we haven’t yet determined a definitive reason—or set of reasons—for the apparent instabilities in hospital reporting.
- Only a few states make the actual date of testing figures available, usually well after the reported counts. This can lead to dramatic fluctuations in calculating test positivity using our data.
- We’re closely watching Louisiana because of a particular data quirk: Louisiana reports their long-term care data cumulatively, meaning we’re working with total numbers. It seems easy enough to assume we’d be able to track rises in this cumulative count, but unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. Occasionally, we’ve found that a facility in the state will report cumulative COVID-19 case and death numbers one week, but the next week, those numbers might be gone, or the facility might be marked as “closed,” “not reported,” or “data pending.”
- We’re alarmed that Florida went nearly three weeks without releasing long-term care death data, despite saying they publish numbers weekly. The state finally released data on October 22, though it’s dated October 16, reporting 599 new resident and staff deaths.
Covid Cases by Country
The above graph from Worldometers.
Record Cases
The Wall Street Journal reports New U.S. Covid-19 Cases Top 80,000 to Reach a Single-Day Record.
The U.S. reported 83,757 new cases Friday, surpassing the previous high of 77,362 reported July 16, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Daily new-case totals have risen for five straight days.
Since the pandemic began, more than 8.49 million infections have been reported in the U.S. and more than 223,900 Americans have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. World-wide, more than 42.2 million cases have been reported, and more than 1.14 million people have died.
“We are at a critical juncture in this pandemic, particularly in the northern hemisphere,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Friday. “The next few months are going to be very tough and some countries are on a dangerous track.”
New Cases vs Hospitalizations
Look at what’s happening in all the states that dissed masks.
There are now more cases per 100,000 people in nonmetropolitan counties than there are in metropolitan areas, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from Johns Hopkins and the Census Bureau. That is a shift from earlier in the pandemic, when there were more cases per 100,000 people in metropolitan areas and nonmetropolitan areas.
“People had hoped that in the summer it would get better, and it did for a short period, and then as we engaged in communities it increased again,” said Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
“If you’re talking about Covid fatigue from having to keep wearing a mask, think about the Covid fatigue for health care workers, respiratory therapists who are going to have to go through this whole episode again of trying to fight for peoples’ lives because we couldn’t figure out how to control this virus by doing some of the simple measures that have been prescribed,” Dr. Ezike said.
Ohio Governor Chimes In
Today we are reporting 2,425 new cases since yesterday. This is the highest number we have ever reported on a single day. Of the 10 highest days of new cases reported, eight have occurred in just the past nine days. Nine have occurred in the month of October alone. pic.twitter.com/NYlQHWsjZw
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) October 22, 2020
On October 9th, we had a total of 853 COVID-19 patients in the hospital. As of today, that number has grown to 1,293 patients. We must prevent overwhelming our hospital system to ensure that Ohioans can receive inpatient treatment for COVID-19 and other care. pic.twitter.com/xFQZGyBUTW
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) October 22, 2020
Last week vs. this week. pic.twitter.com/YkpGNleC6i
— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) October 22, 2020
Single Biggest Cause of Misinformation
https://twitter.com/ShironRedshift/status/1319355913531174912
Big Drop in Death Rates
NPR reports Studies Point To Big Drop In COVID-19 Death Rates.
That’s the positive side. It stems from better treatments, better understanding, and lower age groups being impacted more.
Those are the medical views. I agree but also suggest that Covid has mutated into less lethal strains.
Still this is very serious stuff. A focus on the death rate alone is horribly wrong. Covid is leaving tens of thousands of people with serious long-term medical complications.
Hospitals Crammed With Covid-19 Patients
Bloomberg reports Hospitals Across the U.S. Are Crammed With Covid-19 Patients
U.S. hospitalizations for Covid-19 hit the highest point since Aug. 22, with New York doubling its count from early September and at least 10 other states reporting records.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, cited four national studies that predicted a probable in-patient increase of as much as 6,200 daily over the next four weeks.
The U.S. on Tuesday had 39,230 people in hospitals, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Of those, 8,178 were in intensive-care units; it’s been two months since the U.S. had more under such care. The number on ventilators, 1,889, reached its highest since Sept. 10.
Across the country, 37 states are reporting increased hospitalizations, including 21 states that have recently reported new records or are approaching previous highs, according to Johns Hopkins University data. While the trend is national, the hardest-hit region is the Midwest, according to the university.
That is another blast at the fools who only look at death rates as if that’s the only measure that matters.
Spotlight Germany
DW notes Germany reports record 11,000 cases, RKI warns of ‘very serious’ situation
It is the first time since the start of the pandemic that more than 10,000 new cases in Germany were recorded in a 24-hour period and the second time in a matter of days that the country has reported a new daily high.
“The situation has become very serious overall,” Dr. Lothar Wieler, head of the RKI, said.
The German government has issued travel warnings for popular ski regions in Austria, Italy and Switzerland, as well as for all of Ireland and Poland. Mainland Britain is also now viewed as a high risk area.
Under the warnings, which take effect from Saturday, travelers coming back to Germany must quarantine for 10 days.
It’s not just Germany. Europe has been clobbered.
Spotlight Switzerland
_
Switzerland worse than France and twice as bad as the US
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Getting worse by the day
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And emergency measures aren’t being taken – only tweaks #COVID19 #Covid_19 #coronavirus #Switzerland pic.twitter.com/y7Ebne6xZC— Richard Baldwin (@BaldwinRE) October 24, 2020
Riots in Italy
There’s rioting in Italy, millions of businesses shuttered, 6 p.m. curfews, two-thirds of French people are locked down—and new COVID-19 infections continue to surge across Europe https://t.co/Li1S8SCdsY
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 24, 2020
Football First Students Second
University of Michigan students are currently on COVID-19 lockdown, but the NCAA and Big Ten are still letting Michigan football compete today. As they prepare for kickoff – one thing is clear: college athletes are employees first and students second. pic.twitter.com/Uh2Dyb8PvX
— Andrew Cooper (@runandrewcooper) October 24, 2020
Super-Spreader Event in NC Church
For just the third time in her 30-year career, North Carolina’s health director forced a church to shut down on Saturday after a superspreader event infected 121 people with COVID-19 and killed three https://t.co/Vyt8YAn8Rg
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 24, 2020
Jim Bianco on Top of Things as Usual
Western Europe
Does this vertical rise stop double again in the next few weeks? Double after that? Or is it peaking now?
When does it stop? What should Europe do?
(3/4) pic.twitter.com/GoGsHpdgzU— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) October 24, 2020
Trump Mocks Biden for Wearing a Mask
Please recall Trump Is Hospitalized With Covid-19, Days After Mocking Biden for Wearing a Mask
Trump Blames the Media
Trump downplays spike in COVID-19 cases, blames media and increased testing for high numbers https://t.co/X8qjR7h0ft pic.twitter.com/nrOrQYugRl
— The Hill (@thehill) October 24, 2020
Here’s an amusing clip of a Trump supporter.
https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/status/1281729882830057474
That is the attitude Trump has fostered whether you accept it or not.
What to do about it is a serious question.
No matter who wins the election, we need a serious discussion and coming together on Covid policy.
Mish
The charts I am looking at on the same website look somewhat different:
If Dr Fauci supported Leronlimab, it would have been approved by now and would be saving lives and preventing “Long Haulers”.
Did you think that Trump blames “high (Covid 19) numbers” on the media?
Trump’s tweet:
EndTrumpTweet
OK, the 1st Amendment applies to politicians, not advertisers, so … well … Most and best? 85% of what? People-set being tested has gotten younger, as implied but not said? Whatever.
The headline said two things (lifted from the article, itself): The first was that Trump pointed out something from elementary statistics. The second was an outright falsehood.
The quality of that TheHill headline and article is endemic to bubble proportions these days. On the left. On the right. Fun times.
oh my, the sky is falling.
we better lock ourselves down and stop living life to make sure that we stay alive.
Just should wear a god damn mask around the public and go about your business
Masks? Really ? Judging by what’s happening here on the old continent these days, I’ d say that masks don t seem to be fool proof and even that is quite an understatement ! ….Hiding in a nuclear shelter for a couple of years ? Well,maybe…Personally I d rather be dead though….’life’ is quite overhyped, all things well considered…
Haven’t you noticed that while cases are skyrocketing, deaths are not? Many believe that masks are the reason. They believe that because of masks, people are getting smaller initial doses, which in turn leads to milder cases.
Just wear your mask when in public, and go about your business.
I do not think it is likely the US would have fared better with Covid-19 had a Democratic administration been in charge instead of the Trump administration. Most of US Government is inefficient and expensive regardless, and US healthcare has been broken for at least a couple decades. Government mandates, failure to enforce long standing anti-trust laws, K-Street lobbyists, and both political parties have been key in making US healthcare and insurance industries into the giant extraction rackets they are today. Also, many Americans are in poor health. We have an epidemic of obesity, and obesity is a risk factor for Covid-19. Because of these long standing problems, the US was a soft target for Covid-19. We should all be grateful it is relatively mild compared to some of history’s more virulent pandemics.
I believe President Trump made many idiotic and egotistical public statements, but the primary effect of Covid-19 on the US is not his fault. Importantly, his administration did the most significant thing the federal government could do, which is to accelerate the development of therapeutics and vaccines (HCQ controversy aside). Because of this, vaccines should begin wide distribution around the middle of 2021. If Biden/Harris are elected then they will no doubt claim credit, despite having nothing to do with it. Vaccines will likely be in wide distribution shortly after the beginning of the next president’s term either way. Recent second waves around the world prove it is wrong for Biden to be an armchair critic of the Trump Administration’s handling of Covid-19, and it ought to count against him.
I don’t believe that a Biden administration would have abandoned all of the States when they desperately needed PPE in the early days of the pandemic. We had every state bidding against each other AND the federal government for PPE back then. The federal government should have bought as much PPE they could get their hands on and distributed it to the states.
There is a difference between “abandoned” and “disorganized and unprepared.”
I do not believe the states were “abandoned.” I do believe many people at all levels were disorganized and unprepared. The US has been hollowed out over decades to the point where we are not making many of our own basic medical supplies. When did that happen and who’s fault is that? It certainly did not happen in only the last 4 years.
The truth is not so simple as Trump “abandoned” all of the States whereas a Biden administration would not have. There’s not even a hint of hard evidence Biden would have done better, whatever he says he might have done. Why wasn’t pandemic preparedness an issue during the Obama Administration? Why weren’t medical supplies a national security issue then? Biden was VP for 8 years and a senator for 36 years before that, remember?
I’m gonna stick with my term “abandoned”. No need to look back 4, 8, or 40 years ago. When ALL the States desperately needed PPE, the federal government left them to fight against each other. Even worse, they had to fight against the federal government for it too. Completely disgraceful!
But that’s not to say that your argument isn’t valid. Yes, the stockpile had been depleted or outdated, and congress hadn’t restocked it. Yes, we had become dependent on medical manufacturing outside of the US. That doesn’t excuse the administration for completely abandoning the States in their time of need in a crisis.
Fight? Let’s consider what Trump’s opposition would have said if Trump, himself, took absolute, Soviet-style, central control of PPE allocations. And, they’d be right to fuss – but wrong because if it were their guy, they would not have fussed.
Yes, that’s a good point and a concern. The PPE would have had to have been rationed in a way that is transparent and as fair as possible — which realistically means that nobody would’ve been happy with it — but I think that would’ve been better than doing nothing and forcing the states to bid against each other.
Rationing?
I dunno. To be honest, beyond the headlines, I really don’t know how PPE were rationed or managed or whatever. Nor do I know what alternatives were really suggested. The devil in such matters is deep, deep in the details.
That all said, since we’re talking headlines here, my instinct is to trust a market rather than try to construct some kind of “transparent and fair” rationing scheme on the fly.
I’m old enough to remember the rationing response to the first Arab oil embargo. Disaster. A few years later that knee jerk rationing wasn’t so prevalent. Pffft. The price went up for a while and people complained a bit. So … well, there will always be complainers. And, “we” always could have done better, looking back from our Barcaloungers on Monday morning.
BTW, think of how much use NY got from those federal hospital ships. And Wuhan got from those instant hospitals. Well, now the US gov has paid and/or is on the hook for billions of give-aways to rich, insider, bad-guy, horrible DRUG COMPANIES for vaccines that may not even work! The horror! Looking back on that from 2023, we,@AshH and I, would have done so much better than those crooks. Right? You know it. Hey, while you’re up, pass me another brewski. 🙂
The single biggest fuckup Trump did was screw up the message on masks. If he hadn’t he would be cruising to victory even after running a fucked up campaign. It’s about jobs and making Covid go away and he’s squealing about Hunter Biden while he’s hired his family to work in his administration? I was planning on voting for him in Jan.
No question Trumped eff’d many things up. I also dislike his nepotism. However, I like some of his policies better than Democratic policies. More than anything else, I am voting in favor of keeping government divided between the D’s and the R’s. One of my big concerns with a Biden/Harris win is there is a reasonable chance the D’s will run the table.
Agreed. His mask policy is just bizarre and self defeating. I think he’s just pandering to the kooky anti-mask fringe.
“I do not think it is likely the US would have fared better with Covid-19 had a Democratic administration been in charge instead of the Trump administration.”
Even if they had done a better job, people would have said that whatever restrictions they’d adopted weren’t necessary because COVID wasn’t a problem. The fact that it wouldn’t have been a problem because of the restrictions they’d adopted would be lost on people.
Well said ! ….Trump lambasters won t appreciate your eloquent contribution though…
What are the recent COVID numbers for China? If the numbers are better or worse than the West, then why?
China reported 15 new cases today.
The reason why the numbers are waaay better in China is because the Chinese government doesn’t want to report the real numbers.
I wrote a note about this to a few media outlets today about this. There has been next to no news out of China.
If anyone thinks a county of 1.4 BILLION people completely eliminated the virus with a 5 week lockdown, then I have some real nice ocean front land in AZ to offer you. Cheap!
I work with people in China, was a hell of a lot longer than a 5 week lockdown. When they have outbreaks they lockdown an area and test millions rapidly.
I work with people in China, was a hell of a lot longer than a 5 week lockdown. When they have outbreaks they lockdown an area and test millions rapidly.
I do not believe any stats out of China and I do not know anyone or any organizations that does
There are millions of expat Chinese in the West and other Asian countries. They talk to their relatives. If there was any significant outbreak in China it would be known. The same applies to other countries like VietNam with very low rates. The truth is most Western countries have done pretty bad. Whether that reflects a lack of social cohesion or diet or perhaps in places like China to impose massive responses rapidly through martial law.
You’re not thinking logically. Lockdowns from loose to strict have been in effect across the world for the last 8 months and virtually EVERY county has had 2nd or 3rd Covid-19 waves. Spain has just announced a 6 month curfew from 11:00pm to 6am as one step in their latest attempt to battle the virus artificially.
Many countries are hoping for the magic vaccine that will stop the virus and allow their economies to get back to normal.
But OTOH, you have the 1st or 2nd most populous country in the world, with generally substandard cleanliness, urban center crowding, excessive environmental pollution, not enough food in most years to feed all of its population, many heavy smokers and so many other negatives has, w/o the help of a vaccine, using just lockdowns/quarantining and testing, not only completely obliterated the virus but has achieved nearly 5% GDP in the 3rd quarter!
That bridge is still available. Let me know!
FactsOnJoe I am really tired of your bullshit like this:
“USA has done MORE tests than the rest of the world COMBINED.”
I have not censored you yet but I am on the verge.
The US has NOT done more tests than the rest of the world combined.
Please correct your comment.
“I stand corrected” would be the proper response from him, wouldn’t it? Or a link to his source so we can calibrate such sources.
I stand corrected and apologies to Mish.
I am sorry.
I made a mistake claiming USA had done more tests than the rest of the world COMBINED.
USA has in reality done most tests numerically of any country in the world and has done about 388k tests per million people according to Statista which is the 3rd highest per capita number in the world after Israel and UK.
You’ve been spewing bullshit for months. Screw your apology, and tell the truth or shut up.
USA has NOT done MORE tests than the rest of the world COMBINED.
USA has done about 388k tests per million people and is the 3rd highest tester in the world per capita and only Israel and UK have done more tests per capita.
I originally remembered USA had done more tests than the rest of the world COMBINED and this is NOT TRUE.
USA has done MOST tests out of ALL the countries in the world and is the testing leader in the numbers of tests in the world and 3rd in the world in per capita tests after Israel and UK but USA has NOT done more tests than the rest of the world combined.
Sorry for my mistake.
“USA has done MOST tests in the world”
Sorry, that’s misleading too, because it implies that the US has done over 50% of tests worldwide.
Let me help you out – I think you mean that the US has done more tests than any other country in the world. Yes?
I did NOT think it implied that but have nonetheless changed the comment above to make it even clearer.
For some reason the latest edit does not yet show but I will refresh and check that it saved correctly and if not do it again.
More testing is good. It doesn’t matter that more people will be discovered positive because it’s the change in numbers that provides feedback on whether the situation is deteriorating or not. It also enables you to better control the spread by asking people with the virus to isolate and those without it can carry on. Comparing absolute numbers between countries, that have different testing regimes, restrictions, etc is meaningless and used mostly for political point scoring.
Please Mish, get rid of him, he just clutters up your blog with total bs
Europe is spiking as a result of August holidays in Europe. August is vacation month in Europe , Europeans let their guard down traveled and brought the virus home. They weren’t wearing masks or social distancing during that travel.
The United States is spiking because leadership is lacking. Donald Trump fights requiring masks in airports , buses etc and in many states Governors are not following whatever CDC guidelines Trump’s team haven’t blocked. Travel has picked up in the U.S. as well since Spring.
And in both Europe and the U.S. more and more of the public is suffering from Covid-19 fatigue and are not being as stringent in their routines as they were a few months ago. It would really help if we had serious leadership in Washington but we don’t.
The primary reason that the US has “Covid-19” fatigue is the divisiveness, and the lack of leadership. When you have a difficult situation, inspiration and encouragement from the top is critical. At the other extreme, divisiveness just wears people down quickly.
BS, Europeans were wearing masks in August too and still the surge came.
Spain, France, Italy etc. continued to have mask mandates.
Also Europeans did NOT travel much in august and European airlines are on the verge on bankruptcy and many have cut flights a lot.
Something for you to dismiss
Experts say the fact Europeans usually take vacations in August and go to a handful of destinations is one factor for the spike.
Shaman told Healthline that what we’re seeing in Europe “is a function of their August vacations and going down to the Mediterranean and comingling and not using face masks. That’s what got the virus going again.”
I don’t think you can put it down to anything specific. It’s returned in Europe because full lockdowns were eased and businesses and people were generally trying to get back to some sense of normality. Travel abroad was/is still heavily restricted, with people supposedly having to quarantine on their return from many destinations. Although recent surveys have suggested many avoided doing so.
It’s a cycle, tighten restrictions and the situation improves, loosen them again and it deteriorates. America seems to be behind in the cycle but it looks as if it’s beginning there as well now.
Exactly. Masking & SD can perhaps slow down the spread but so what? Once any economy reopens, the virus will be searching out new meat and will continue to do so until it runs out of new victims (because the old ones have either died or built-up immunity) or it mutates into a less infectious form, which is what typically happens with corona and flu viruses. This is what we are seeing in so-called 2nd and 3rd waves all over the world.
The take away from all of this is that economic lockdowns don’t work and should not be on offer in the future when the next virus comes knocking.
I agree…not because lockdowns don’t help reduce infection rates….but because the fragile economic system we have now isn’t resilient enough to absorb the shocks.
No work and no money is an even worse problem than COVID.
I still wouldn’t want to be one of the people hospitals turn away because they’re full. Avoiding this, protecting health workers, is the main purpose of attempts to slow down the spread, or flatten the curve as it’s described. If it ran rife, the economy would also suffer because people would take their own steps to avoid it. Of course we don’t know how bad it would be if it ran rife because of the steps taken so far.
You know SHIT about Europe to start with …AND EVERYBODY HAS BEEN WEARING MASKS here , so what tf are you on about ? With or WITHOUT Trump WITH or without MASKS , the virus is here to stay for a long long time….yes, even with a moron named Biden….
The people I know from Holland, France and Spain are not. More importantly the reporting doesn’t agree with you. Throwing insults doesn’t make your case. Just advertises you have a weak one.
In Michigan the case count is way higher, but the tests are way higher, 50.000 per day average. We also have tyranny and failing businesses. We can manage the illness, it’s our state government here that needs to be eradicated.
Vote Trump for President and vote your Democrat Governor out the next chance you get and replace her with a Republican.
The Governor, excuse me, Queen, is being recalled. The petitions started circulating yesterday (1023). They need 1, 060,000 signatures in 60 days. They will have no problem getting the signatures, we might have some traffic jams caused by it. link to recallwhitmer.com
Are people dying managing Covid? It’s not just the elderly that are at risk but those that are obese, have diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure etc. What’s the solution for these people which could be as much as 1/3 the population.
It’s mostly elderly, especially with co-morbidities. Just to give you an idea, my wife has lupus, and is on 2 immune suppressants. She also has an enlarged heart as e result of childhood rheumatic fever. She is now in the care of a nephrologist because the lupus has started attacking her kidneys. She had a follow up appointment with him in mid September. He told her that he has had several kidney transplant patients who caught covid 19, and they breezed right through it and that she probably would do just fine if she got it. So there’s that.
My oldest son had it for 3 weeks in April and it was rough, but he didn’t get as sick as I did with N1H1… If I had to get one or the other, I’ll gladly take covid 19 over N1H1.
I think you mean H1N1.
I’d rather get N1H1 over COVID, because N1H1 doesn’t exist.
Biden has been calling it N1H1 and confusing people.
Trump has been saying H comes before the N and talking about H1N1.
It’s called weeding the herd of the weak and infirm. Nature has been doing this for billions of years. Humans are not exempt.
My long post on HCQ with link to Henry Ford hospitals study showing -50% lower death rates when Covid patients were given HCQ immediately after admission and a link to collection of 148 studies showing countries that give HCQ widely through regular doctors have -89% lower death rates got deleted after one person replied to it using the long name of the medicine in question and before this it had lots of comments and was visible.
Does TheStreet have a policy on comments where they automatically delete comments on blogs hosted by them when HCQ is dicussed?
Or did Mish delete my comment?
If it is the former could you please return my comment and STOP TheStreet from censoring comments on your blog.
If it is the latter could you please read the Henry Ford hospitals study and the site listing 148 studies and then return the comment because I hope that more American people could be saved.
Is CDC , John Hopkins Tufts, Mayo clinic reccomending?
“Or did Mish delete my comment?”
not that I am aware of.
There is a spam filter in play that I do not control.
That spam filter must be setup by TheStreet to CENSOR all comments and comment threads where HCQ is mentioned by it’s full name.
Can you please ask TheStreet to remove HCQ’s full name from the list of words that cause comments to be marked spam and removed?
I need to learn more about that spam filter.
I did not set it up
Thanks Mish for allowing controversial opinions into the echo chamber……I mean it !
Filtering out HCQ advocates? Sounds like a moron filter.
It isn’t just spam that’s being filtered. I wish that were the case, but I don’t think that’s exactly what’s going on. I’d say The Street or their web-hosting choice is censoring a lot of posts (including mine) that run counter to the current politically correct narrative.
There’s no defending the indefensible US/Trump led (and sabotaged) response.
No arguments can make these facts go away.
USA–4% of the world’s population, 20% of the deaths.
South Korea(51 million people)–25,000 cases, 457 deaths
Taiwan(23 million people)–550 cases, 7 deaths
60% of American adults have other serious illnesses aka comorbidities.
Numbers of other serious illnesses in adults are MUCH MUCH lower in Taiwan and South Korea.
And your point is that just letting them die, as we did, was the best answer?
Joe, use your head, or a calculator if you cant do numbers in your head.
Check the number getting ill from the virus.
Korea is a sixth of the size of US. 6 times 25,000 cases would be 150,000 cases. The US has had over 8 million, yes 8 million cases.
Now, which is bigger–150,000 or 8,000,000? Which country did worse?
Taiwan’s 550 cases need to be multiplied by 15 to compare to the US in size..whay that would be around 8,000. Which is more–8,000 or 8,000,000
Which country failed in it’s response? Which country has deaths bigger than countries cases?
Comeon factsonJoe, you shouldn’t be so low information.
S. Korea and Taiwan are the poster children for how to handle COVID….We need to learn from them before we end up in much worse shape than we are now……Maybe it isn’t too late. Good public health behavior and real compliance matters.
…what about genetical conditions ??
I wish people would stop repeating this stupid BS!
Taiwan, NZ, SK, Vietnam are all small, relatively isolated, tightly politically controlled countries with a mostly homogeneous population. Just because something can (or might have) been done in a very small country doesn’t mean that the same thing could be done in a large country like the USA.
You simply cannot compare these countries to a wide-open country such as the USA with magnitudes greater population, land area, thousands of miles of borders, lax immigration control, freedom of travel and that is run as 50 separate states, each of which is able to make their own political, health and economic decisions independently of the national leadership in Washington, D.C.
There are major differences……and if you read what I write, you know that I’ve talked about that a great deal.
But if you think strict masking and social distancing can’t make a lot of difference, then your’e delusional. And frankly we don’t have many better options at the moment.
The things that make us different….make it harder for us. Especially travel. We will have areas getting better…and others worse…..for months or years. Some things are hard to deal with. I don’t advocate an end to interstate commerce…..although there is no doubt that in purely epidemiological terms it would be a good idea. Some things are possible and others are not.
You live in a community with mass transit. Do you ride the BART or the CalTrain? I expect they require masks, no? Do you flaunt those rules? My guess is no.
I drive everywhere. Hardly use public transit. CA is a driving state, except for real urban centers like SF. But I am one of those mask below nose people that you dislike and therefore will look for any opportunity to get away with pulling down the mask.
One thing that I haven’t seen discussed is the fear being instilled in children by making them wear masks. I saw an example of this while out jogging yesterday, where the mom made the small kids, maybe 5 & 7, turn away and put on their masks as I passed w/o a mask. So sad!
Agree with Bianco that case count is what’s politically important, even if one thinks (rationally) that serious sickness and death is what actually matters.
US weekly hospitalizations had a second peak (July/August), that got as high as the first peak. But the second hump of weekly deaths was only half as high as the first. Why?
This has been discussed ad nauseum–better treatments, better understanding, younger population
Hospitals stopped putting Covid patients onto ventilators in June that killed tens of thousands of people in the beginning March-May while Democrat governors and media were yelling for more and more ventilators to “fix” the problems.
2.
Hospitals started using Steroids to prevent some deaths.
Trump was given Steroids too.
3.
The population getting Covid in the beginning was older and sicker since Democrat governors in New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois ORDERED nursing homes to take Covid patients to save hospital beds and this caused tens of thousands of excess death with 12k in New York alone when whole nursing homes got Covid and most nursing home resident in infected nursing homes died.
4.
D-vitamin deficiency increases deaths over +50% according to studies and lockdowns were keeping people inside and their D-vitamin levels were lower after the winter and then summer and less lockdowns fixed many people’s D-vitamin deficiency.
5.
Now many of those getting Covid are younger people partying or going on BLM protests and for under 50 year olds Covid is NOT serious if they do NOT have comorbidities.
6.
Some doctors are prescribing HCQ that lowers death rates massively even though CDC still warns against it based on a faulty study that was withdrawn 2 weeks after publication because the data used in the study was made up by the data company that sold it to the scientists doing the study.
Plus, many think that mask usage leads to more mild cases. Since mask usage isn’t as strong in the US as in some other places, that would explain why our deaths haven’t fallen as much. Alternately, undertesting in the US may lead to higher reported mortality rates.
Plus, the Covid-19 virus that is commonly spread today may be an attenuated mutation of the initial Covid-19. It is not uncommon for a virus to gain better transmissibility in exchange for giving up some severity. This is the principle behind making live attenuated vaccines, where a virus is forced to replicate repeatedly in host tissue where it has trouble replicating, and it naturally sacrifices some of its severity in favor of gaining the ability to better replicate. Look up “viral attenuation.”
While Covid would be here regardless of who was President, the US could have done a much better job, and could hardly have done worse. What is missing? Two things, both important. Empathy, and leadership. When Trump got Covid, he had the opportunity to do as Christie did, and say that he was wrong, and that he understood what people were going through who had it, or who lost loved ones to it. Instead, he essentially said that it was no big deal, and anyone who died from it was weak, and it was their fault. So, rather than empathy, he insulted the sick and dead.
As far as leadership, in times of crisis, leaders step forward and offer inspiration and hope. Trump, instead, has been the anti-science President. He has never called for unity, nor tried to inspire the country to get through this. Some blame the growth of depression and suicides on the lockdowns. I blame it on Trump, and lack of even attempting to lead and inspire the country. The result is people feel helpless and unempowered.
“We have this completely under control.”
“Anyone that wants a test can get one”
“Poof, it will vanish on it’s own”
….and so on.
USA has NOT done MORE tests than the rest of the world COMBINED.
USA has done about 388k tests per million people and is the 3rd highest tester in the world per capita and only Israel and UK have done more tests per capita.
This comment has been EDITED because I originally remembered USA had done more tests than the rest of the world COMBINED and this is NOT TRUE.
USA has done MOST tests in the world out of all the world’s countries and is the testing leader in the numbers of tests in the world and 3rd in the world in per capita tests after Israel and UK but USA has NOT done more tests than the rest of the world combined.
4% of the world’s population, 20% of the deaths.
South Korea(51 million people)–25,000 cases, 457 deaths
Taiwan(23 million people)–550 cases, 7 deaths
60% of American adults have other serious illnesses.
Numbers of other serious illnesses in adults are MUCH MUCH lower in Taiwan and South Korea and Japan.
So the solution is to do less for them?
As for tests, some states have tested aggressively, such as Rhode Island. On the whole the US is 19th in the world is tests/million people, good, but nothing out of the ordinary. Part of the reason the tests have needed to be so high is that the US let it spread freely, meaning a lot more people got infected. Worse, some states have recently reduced testing, on the premise that if they reduce testing, people won’t know how many cases they really have, and the deaths won’t show up until after the election. Good thinking there.
Testing does very little if it takes several days to get the results and you don’t do any contact tracing.
The lessons from S Korea are:
If you do all of these, the results in S Korea show that you can get control of it, you don’t have to do as many tests over the long run, and the economy can stay open! The fact that the US has to do so many tests today is a result of our failure to control it early and letting it get out of control.
The results:
S Korea: 9 deaths/M
US: 694 deaths/M
Completely bogus and easily debunked.
US has done 132M tests.
The rest of the world has done almost 644M tests combined, or almost 5x as many tests as the US. Stats per Worldometers.
I have corrected my comments.
I made a mistake in claiming that USA had done more tests than the rest of the world COMBINED because this is NOT true.
USA has made more tests than any other country in the world in the pure numbers of tests and in per capita testing USA is 3rd highest in the world after Israel and UK.
Good, now maybe you can go back and correct all the other things you are wrong about.
I suspect history will remember Trump primarily as the populist president who serially lied about and minimized the danger at the start of the pandemic of 2020.
This is exactly what the anti-maskers wanted. They have been working hard all summer to seed Covid, to assure that the election takes place against a backdrop of record cases and record deaths. It has worked remarkably well. Should make for an interesting election.
More likely the BLM protests all around USA for months and still continuing seeded the current infection numbers.
Current infection numbers are also the result of USA testing MOST in the world out of all world’s countries in number of tests and 3rd highest testing numbers in the world per capita after Israel and UK
USA has NOT done MORE tests than the rest of the world COMBINED.
USA has done about 388k tests per million people and is the 3rd highest tester in the world per capita and only Israel and UK have done more tests per capita.
This comment has been EDITED because I originally remembered USA had done more tests than the rest of the world COMBINED and this is NOT TRUE.
USA has done MOST tests in the world out of all the countries in the world and is the testing leader in the numbers of tests in the world among countries and 3rd in the world in per capita tests after Israel and UK but USA has NOT done more tests than the rest of the world combined.
If H1N1 would have been tested as intensively as Covid and media had treated H1N1 with the same doomsday rhetoric as Covid then H1N1 would be the worst thing in history to hit USA in people’s minds and if people who died from ischemic heart disease and renal failure etc. would have been listed as H1N1 deaths there would have been Covid level or more deaths from H1N1.
Thanks again for the disinformation. Haven’t you figured out yet that no one reads your posts?
You seem to be reading them since you responded.
The short ones I read.
Corrected the comment since I made a mistake and Mish pointed it to me.
USA has NOT tested more than the rest of the world COMBINED.
USA leads in test numbers in the world and NO country has done more tests than USA and per capita USA is the 3rd highest tester in the world after Israel and UK.
wwwwelll …..I do !
Wrong again. It’s happens so often it’s almost like you’re paid to spread misinformation.
What happened in the areas that had the summer covid spike? Bars reopening.
What is happening now in the Fall spike? Trump rallies.
Winner, winner, chicken dinner! For dumbest post in this thread.
All the article proves is that you can always find studies and so-called experts to find evidence for any point that you want to champion.
Logically, there is no difference between the BLM protests where most people were unmasked, unless they were trying to hide their faces while looting and Trump’s rallies or the Sturgis gathering or college parties or any number of other large gatherings. D’oh.
> Sturgis gathering
Wrong again. Many of those people spent time together in bars.
“This is exactly what the anti-maskers wanted….”Hope that comment was tongue in cheek
I always knew that the US was the perfect place for COVID to hang around for a long while.
As I said in a previous comment, we are not, in an epidemiological sense, a single country.
We have hubs……lots of travel to and from those hubs….into the hinterlands. We have urban centers….and interstate highways leading in between those. Early on, it was easy to see that COVID was tracking the interstates.
So we had early problems in some places….and now we have problems in other places. I fully expect that with no effective vaccine, we could continue to see new hot spots develop…and ebb…and then occur somewhere else….for quite some time.
And here’s a news flash. Even though Trump did everything wrong…..even a sudden change to doing everything right is not going to instantly fix this. This is a very contagious disease that will take years to work its way through the population.
Herd immunity here is not anywhere close, in spite of what any so-called expert might tell you, or what you might read somewhere.
I expect people will be grimly obeying the rules before this is done…..even the deniers. It’s easy to think it’s bogus until it kills your grandmother…..or worse, your husband or your wife.
Great comment, “even the deniers”…. TRump rallies are featuring a LOT more masks than before. Amazing to me that we won’t look at the countries that have done well and just copy them !– Amazing that these are our Presidential “choices”…but at least one of them will listen to the scientists. No need for any more full lockdowns if ALL of us would just follow the guidelines- imho
“I expect people will be grimly obeying the rules before this is done…..even the deniers. It’s easy to think it’s bogus until it kills your grandmother…..or worse, your husband or your wife.”
I don’t think so. In my part of the SF Bay Area, I am seeing more people cheating at mask wearing by dropping it below their nose, putting it under their chin, wearing mesh versions that look like real masks unless you get up close or keeping the masks loose, so they don’t seal anything out/in.
My gym has been (re) opened since Oct 1 and many people ignore social distancing and drop masks all the time. When I am out hiking/jogging, I refuse to wear a mask. If I or anyone I know dies from the virus, so be it.
People are tired of the negativity, tired of the shaming, tired of Covid.
It ebbs and flows based on the current public perception imho. Your new case numbers are encouraging….although deaths are up..not sure what’s that’s about.
If it gets bad enough and people have their family and circle of acquaintance affected directly, I would expect more cooperation and stricter observance of the kind of common sense measures that help.
I hate the nose-out people. Talk about passive aggressive behavior. Sheesh.
LOL, I guess Trump is causing the Coronavirus problems in Europe as well. Look I dislike the man and would never vote for him. Im going Jo myself. Regardless, you simply cant blame a single person for this virus, all my progressive friends are hanging out too. Under the radar, while being critical of those that wont wear a mask with the 50 people they see in small groups each week. LOL.
This is a respiratory disease, watch yourself between now and May. . . whether MacDonald Trump is in office or not.
It’s pretty simple really but I can’t get anyone to answer the question. USA 4.3% of worlds population and 20% of worlds deaths…why ? The buck stops somewhere–
Other countries figured out how to treat this desease months ago…but the cure is cheap and uses well established drugs. That won’t fly in the US. Big Pharma needs the “cure” to be worth Billions before declaring it a “winner”.Also, countries like India eat spicy foods, this bug won’t last five minutes in those bodies. But point #1 is the biggie. This is a treatable nothing-burger in most poor countires.
This is just speculation, but I like to “follow the money”. So, maybe it has something to do with healthcare providers making more money from COVID deaths? Mo testing, mo treatments, mo money! Less questions from insurers because its new?
My wife works in the health insurance business, and claims aren’t pretty right now.
….a smart comment…..at last !
hates dogs belittles owners hes OFF my list https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q5IpKsOZGM&feature=emb_title
That must be the most stupidest reason to vote for a politician “he likes dogs”.
Hitler liked dogs too and was big on protecting animals and ate a vegetarian diet and farted like a madman constantly as result while doing his murderous atrocities and genocide around Europe.
Here is Trump inviting Conan the dog to Whitehouse after it bit ISIS leader Al-Baghdadi in the US special forces raid that ended with Al-Baghdadi escaping to the basement and detonating a suicide west killing himself and two of his children:
HA It is all in jest for the czars and the politburo are all senile