COVID is getting worse

[Moksha]

CDC officials ‘directed to destroy’ records of potential ‘political interference’ by Trump
Stephanie Guerilus, Thu, December 10, 2020, 12:18 PM MST

https://news.yahoo.com/cdc-officials-di ... 00053.html

[Res Ipsa]

Excellent summary of where we are in this pandemic: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1337 ... 35457.html

[Icarus]

By trusting in its scientists, Australia is down to zero new COVID-19 cases

Regardless of who you vote for, most Australians would agree their leaders have a real care for their constituents and a following of science'

As North America, Europe, India, Brazil and other regions and countries struggle to bring tens of thousands of daily infections under control, Australia provides a real-time road map for democracies to manage the pandemic. Along with New Zealand, the experience also shows that success in containing the virus isn’t limited to East Asian states (Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan) or those with authoritarian leaders (China, Vietnam).

Several practical reasons contributed to Australia’s success, experts say. The country chose to quickly and tightly seal its borders, a step some others, notably in Europe, did not take. Health officials rapidly built up the manpower to track down and isolate outbreaks. And unlike the U.S. approach, every one of Australia’s states either shut their domestic borders or severely limited movement for interstate, and in some cases intrastate, travellers.

Perhaps most importantly, though, leaders from across the ideological spectrum convinced Australians to take the pandemic seriously early on and prepared them to give up civil liberties they had never lost before, even during two world wars.

“We told the public: ‘This is serious; we want your cooperation,’ ” said Marylouise McLaws, a Sydney-based epidemiologist at the University of New South Wales and World Health Organization adviser.

A lack of partisan rancour increased the effectiveness of the message, McLaws said in an interview.

The conservative prime minister, Scott Morrison, formed a national cabinet with state leaders, known as premiers, from all parties to coordinate decisions. Political conflict was largely suspended, at least initially, and many Australians saw their politicians working together to avert a health crisis.

[Jersey Girl]

Fabulous...


New variant of Covid-19 identified in UK, minister says, as London heads back into strict lockdown
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/uk/londo ... index.html

[Res Ipsa]

Fabulous...


New variant of Covid-19 identified in UK, minister says, as London heads back into strict lockdown
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/uk/londo ... index.html

The press always reports this kind of thing as a huge event. It's not. It's a virus. Viruses mutate. It's interesting from an evolutionary standpoint, but the odds that the virus will mutate in a way that makes it immune to vaccines or suddenly become more deadly are very, very low.

ETA: As of September, scientists had discovered about 12,000 mutations in the virus. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02544-6

[Res Ipsa]

Our results point to an unequivocal conclusion: partisanship is a far more important determinant of an individual’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic than the impact of COVID-19 in that individual’s local community. The implications of this are significant. The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States is currently as much a political problem as it is a public health problem. Given the differences in perceptions and behavior we document between Democrats and Republicans exposed to the same level of COVID-19 in their local communities, simply highlighting the public health concerns associated with COVID-19 seems unlikely to encourage the collective decline in social mobility that is required to help mitigate the further spread of the pandemic. Instead, political leadership – especially by Republicans – seems essential for changing the partisan-related differences we document in individuals’ behaviors and opinion.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content ... um=Twitter

[Some Schmo]

Instead, political leadership – especially by Republicans – seems essential for changing the partisan-related differences we document in individuals’ behaviors and opinion.

Good luck with that.

There are very few actual leaders in the Repulsivcan party. They are weak, spineless embarrassments. Whatever is the will of the ignorant GOP base becomes their nonsensical truth. They do not appear to think for themselves.

[Res Ipsa]

Well, at least Trump will be able to brag that more people attended his inauguration than Biden's, and that's a good thing. https://Twitter.com/AliceOllstein/statu ... 60514?s=20

[Jersey Girl]

Price tag on this little hummer* is 30 bucks.


FDA Authorizes 1st Home Coronavirus Test That Doesn't Require A Prescription

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... escription


*hummer? Where in the hell do these words come from?

[Res Ipsa]

Blech.