COVID-19 Pandemic (Coronavirus)

[Mr. Jack Napier]

Once the Virus Epicenter, New York and New Jersey Rates Lead Nation Again

A year after becoming a global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, New York and New Jersey are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of new infections in New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The two states now rank No. 1 and 2 in new infections per capita among U.S. states. New Jersey has been reporting about 647 new cases for every 100,000 residents over the past 14 days. New York has averaged 548.

The situation in New York and New Jersey mirrors a national trend that has seen case numbers inch up in recent days. The U.S. is averaging nearly 62,000 cases a day, up from 54,000 two weeks ago.

Asked Sunday what’s going wrong in the U.S. as cases rise, President Joe Biden told reporters: “Based on what I’m hearing, apparently people are letting their guard down.” Biden said he hopes to have a better sense of the situation after a meeting with his White House pandemic team on Monday.

Neither New York nor New Jersey is experiencing anything like what they saw last spring, when hospitals — and morgues — were overflowing. And like the rest of the country, both are in a much better place than in January, at the peak of the pandemic's winter spike.

But the lack of improvement or even backsliding in recent weeks has raised concerns that the states are opening too quickly and people are letting down their guard too much, just as potentially more contagious variants of the virus are circulating more widely.

“When we’re seeing leveling off of cases or increase, that’s when it’s a time to rethink policies,” said Roy Gulick, chief of the infectious diseases division at Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

In February, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowed the state's largest stadiums to host sporting events and concerts again, albeit at only 10% of normal capacity. New York City movie theaters have been allowed to reopen. Restaurants can now operate at 50% capacity in New York City and 75% capacity elsewhere in the state. Indoor fitness classes have resumed, too.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has led a similar reopening, with the state's restaurants also allowed to operate at half capacity and barbers, salons and other personal care businesses resuming trade.

That's happened in other parts of the country, too.

Utah, Alabama, Arkansas and Indiana will end mask mandates in early April, joining states including Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Montana and Iowa that have eliminated face covering requirements in recent weeks. Some states are allowing businesses to operate at full capacity.

But in Illinois, the state public health director on Friday emphasized the need to keep wearing masks and socially distancing amid an increase in cases and hospitalizations. The single-day total of confirmed and probable cases of the illness topped 3,000 Friday for the first time in seven weeks, and hospitalizations have jumped 15% in the past five days.

Murphy said in recent days that he is hitting pause on further loosening of the rules because of New Jersey's resurgence.

The number of people hospitalized with the virus in New York has plateaued around 4,600 since mid-March. New Jersey hospitals are reporting about 2,200 virus patients — up by roughly 300 in the past couple of weeks.

“They’re spreading more quickly and our vaccination rates are improving every week, but they are certainly not where we want them to be,” said Bruce Farber, chief of infectious diseases and public health and epidemiology for Northwell Health.

Experts cite several potential factors, including the spread of potentially more contagious variants in the densely populated region.

“Is there something different that’s happening in this part of the country compared to some other parts of the country?” asked Dr. Ed Lifshytz, the medical director of New Jersey’s communicable disease service within the state Health Department. “And the answer is probably yes.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has questioned whether Cuomo is easing restrictions “for political reasons," despite cause for concern. The governor is facing calls for his resignation over sexual harassment allegations.

But then de Blasio himself announced that 80,000 more city employees would no longer work from home, starting in May.

New York City's Public Advocate Jumaane Williams urged New York to pause reopening plans.

“I ask the governor to stick to the science, trust the experts, and pause the planned reopenings now, before they take effect and more are infected,” Williams said.

Experts worry the public is getting the message that increased vaccination means the state is in the clear, even though only a fraction of the public has completed a full course. Vaccines lessen the risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19, but scientists are still studying how well they prevent the spread of the virus.

“To allow larger groups to gather, to give the message to the public that we’re over the worst and that we can go back to normal is a mistake,” Farber said.

Stony Brook University professor and neuroepidemiologist Sean Clouston said growth in new cases is concentrated in younger people, who can't get vaccinated in New York unless they have specific health conditions or certain jobs. He said their infection rates could drop once they’re eligible, too.

 

[Atlrocafella]

This vaccine really prevents death/hospitalization

This is the metric that should be covered the most, but media is stuck on infections the majority of the time. Even doctors are saying the message should be more on vaccinations.

 

[winb83]

This vaccine really prevents death/hospitalization

I thought this was known. The vaccine prepares the body for how to deal with the virus in a non-lethal test run. Once you come in contact with the real thing the body has dealt with something similar before so either it beats the brakes off it right away and you don’t get sick at all or if you do get sick it’s minor.

 

[Sinnerman]

Finally eligible in Texas tomorrow

 

[douche]

Walk-up church drive helps 1,000 on Chicago’s West Side get vaccinated

 

[Malcolmxxx_23]

I thought this was known. The vaccine prepares the body for how to deal with the virus in a non-lethal test run. Once you come in contact with the real thing the body has dealt with something similar before so either it beats the brakes off it right away and you don’t get sick at all or if you do get sick it’s minor.

kinda sucks for all these recent deaths now that we have a vaccine.

 

[Malcolmxxx_23]

This is the metric that should be covered the most, but media is stuck on infections the majority of the time. Even doctors are saying the message should be more on vaccinations.

read a story where a long term care was exposed to covid..none of the elderly were taking to the hospital since they were all vaccinated
pretty impressive...

 

[winb83]

This is the metric that should be covered the most, but media is stuck on infections the majority of the time. Even doctors are saying the message should be more on vaccinations.

From how I understand it nobody that has been vaccinated has died or really even needed to be hospitalized from COVID-19. That was the main factor in me deciding to get it. You might not get sick at all but even if you do it will be manageable and unlikely to kill you or put you in the hospital. If you aren’t vaccinated who knows how your body reacts to COVID?

I can’t wait till I can get this second shot and put it behind me for a while.

Also I was shytting on Johnson and Johnson but it was ran at a different time than the other two and in different countries and most of the people that got sick in the trial caught a variant of COVID not the original and even still they had good outcomes.

 

[Chronic]

China and India finally kickstart their mass vaccination programs. China vaccinated 4.9 million a day and India 2 million.



@♛ ★ ⋯ Éminence grise
Stop quoting former Trump officials about Covid's origin, they're as trustworthy about China as Bolton is about Iran. People like Redfield and Pottinger were responsible for US's failure to contain Covid so they try to shift all the blame to China. If the proof about lab leak is so overwhelming then Biden admin will aggresively pursue it as well instead of just former Trumps officials.

 

[Atlrocafella]

From how I understand it nobody that has been vaccinated has died or really even needed to be hospitalized from COVID-19. That was the main factor in me deciding to get it. You might not get sick at all but even if you do it will be manageable and unlikely to kill you or put you in the hospital. If you aren’t vaccinated who knows how your body reacts to COVID?

I can’t wait till I can get this second shot and put it behind me for a while.

Also I was shytting on Johnson and Johnson but it was ran at a different time than the other two and in different countries and most of the people that got sick in the trial caught a variant of COVID not the original and even still they had good outcomes.

I get my first shot Tuesday and I can’t wait

my parents are already vaccinated, so that fear of them catching it and dying from it is no longer a threat.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Stop quoting former Trump officials about Covid's origin, they're as trustworthy about China as Bolton is about Iran. People like Redfield and Pottinger were responsible for US's failure to contain Covid so they try to shift all the blame to China. If the proof about lab leak is so overwhelming then Biden admin will aggresively pursue it as well instead of just former Trumps officials.

It came out the lab bruh. I work with a few PI's in labs who believe its the most plausible answer and its not impossible nor is it the first time its happened. And these are progressive/lefty scientists. Plus, Biden's administration is starting to confirm aspects of this leak.

 

[winb83]

It came out the lab bruh. I work with a few PI's in labs who believe its the most plausible answer and its not impossible nor is it the first time its happened. And these are progressive/lefty scientists. Plus, Biden's administration is starting to confirm aspects of this leak.

fukk outta here with that conspiracy theory bullshyt about a Chinese lab. They released the shyt on their own people right to kick it off? Aimless release of a disease to kill people off for no reason. Like new diseases and pandemics aren’t natural.

 

[Chronic]

It came out the lab bruh. I work with a few PI's in labs who believe its the most plausible answer and its not impossible nor is it the first time its happened. And these are progressive/lefty scientists. Plus, Biden's administration is starting to confirm aspects of this leak.

Lab leaks usually involved previously known viruses that being studied, ex: Smallpox, Influenza, SarsCov-1. Many Coronaviruses have been found and reported by Chinese scientists, If this is leaked accidentally from their lab why they didn't report the existence of this virus before? It's not like the could predict this virus would leak nor they could retroactively retract their report to hide its existence.
In order for this to be "lab accident" it would require:

• Chinese scientists found a new coronavirus but instead of reporting and patenting it like dozens other coronaviruses they've reported before they kept it a secret from international community
• Instead of performing experiment on well known and studied virus like scientists usually do, they somehow perform experiment on a newly found and unreported virus with unknown characteristic.
• They somehow didn't have test kits and genetic sequence of the virus on standby in case of potential lab leak.

Even if this is true it's pretty farfetched compared to other more plausible theories like wildlife trade or infected people from other part of China brought it to Wuhan, which is one of the largest transport hub and location of many international schools, research intitutes and international events.
Also some of your "lefty" coworkers believing it is not proof, many left leaning persons also believed 9/11 was an inside job.

 

[null]

Lab leaks usually involved previously known viruses that being studied, ex: Smallpox, Influenza, SarsCov-1. Many Coronaviruses have been found and reported by Chinese scientists, If this is leaked accidentally from their lab why they didn't report the existence of this virus before? It's not like the could predict this virus would leak nor they could retroactively rectract their report to hide its existence.

In order for this to be "lab accident" it would require:

• Chinese scientists found a new coronavirus but instead of reporting and patenting it like dozens other coronaviruses they've reported before they kept it a secret from international community
• Instead of performing experiment on well known and studied virus like scientists usually do, they somehow perform experiment on a newly found and unreported virus with unknown characteristic.
• They somehow didn't have test kits and genetic sequence of the virus on standby in case of potential lab leak.

Even if this is true it's pretty farfetched compared to other more plausible theories like wildlife trade or infected people from other part of China brought it to Wuhan, which is one of the largest transport hub and location of many international schools, research intitutes and international events.
Also some of your "lefty" coworkers believing it is not proof, many left leaning persons also believed 9/11 was an inside job.

they were performing gain of function studies on a previously reported strain of corona virus.

there nothing "far-fetched" about this scenario at all.

Why US outsourced bat virus research to Wuhan

your invented scenario being "far-fetched" is your issue alone.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

Lab leaks usually involved previously known viruses that being studied, ex: Smallpox, Influenza, SarsCov-1. Many Coronaviruses have been found and reported by Chinese scientists, If this is leaked accidentally from their lab why they didn't report the existence of this virus before? It's not like the could predict this virus would leak nor they could retroactively retract their report to hide its existence.
In order for this to be "lab accident" it would require:

• Chinese scientists found a new coronavirus but instead of reporting and patenting it like dozens other coronaviruses they've reported before they kept it a secret from international community
• Instead of performing experiment on well known and studied virus like scientists usually do, they somehow perform experiment on a newly found and unreported virus with unknown characteristic.
• They somehow didn't have test kits and genetic sequence of the virus on standby in case of potential lab leak.

Even if this is true it's pretty farfetched compared to other more plausible theories like wildlife trade or infected people from other part of China brought it to Wuhan, which is one of the largest transport hub and location of many international schools, research intitutes and international events.
Also some of your "lefty" coworkers believing it is not proof, many left leaning persons also believed 9/11 was an inside job.

There’s classified intel probably showing China fukked this up which is why the USA keeps hinting at it. Look. It’s important research and needs to continue but China should just own up to it. Plus, the specificity of the virus and certain generic signatures have been studied for years. People know everything about it which is why certain targets were identified so quickly in the literature.