BBC: China pneumonia outbreak: COVID-19 Global Pandemic

[China]

China Covid: Young people self-infect as fears for elderly grow

 

When Mr Chen's 85-year-old father fell ill with Covid in December, it was impossible to get an ambulance or see a doctor.

 

They went to Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, where they were told to either try other hospitals or sit in the corridor with an IV drip.

 

"There was no bed, no respiratory machine, no medical equipment" available, Mr Chen tells the BBC.

 

His father managed to find a bed at another hospital, but only through a special contact, and had by then developed a severe lung infection.

 

The elder Mr Chen has now recovered, but his son worries that a second infection in the future could kill him.

 

Three years of Covid prevention measures were a complete waste and failure, he says, because the government eased controls too quickly, with no preparation, and so many have caught the virus.

 

"The outbreak will come back again. For elderly people, they can only count on their own fate," Mr Chen says.

 

The final step in China's swift reversal of its contentious zero-Covid policy comes on Sunday when it reopens borders for international travel. With mass testing, stringent quarantines and sudden, sweeping lockdowns gone, families like Mr Chen's are wary of what lies ahead.

 

But younger Chinese, all of whom did not wish to be named, feel differently - and some told the BBC they were voluntarily exposing themselves to infection.

 

A 27-year-old coder in Shanghai, who did not receive any of the Chinese vaccines, says he voluntarily exposed himself to the virus.

 

"Because I don't want to change my holiday plan," he explains, "and I could make sure I recovered and won't be infected again during the holiday if I intentionally control the time I get infected." He admits he did not expect the muscle aches that came with the infection, but says the symptoms have been largely as expected.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Almost everyone in China's third most populous provice has been infected with COVID

 

Almost 90 per cent of people in China's third most populous province have been infected with COVID as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases.

 

Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, said "as of January 6, 2023, the province's COVID infection rate is 89.0 per cent."

 

With a population of 99.4 million, the figures suggest about 88.5 million people in Henan have been infected.

 

Visits to fever clinics peaked on December 19, Mr Kan said, "after which it showed a continuous downward trend".

 

China has been battling a surge in cases following its decision last month to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing that had hammered its economy and sparked rare nationwide protests.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Fresh pandemic fears after China declares 1000% rise in Covid cases

 

Rising numbers of Covid-related deaths have sparked fears of another pandemic in China after 60,000 people died from the virus in just one month.

 

China has only recently lifted the majority of their strict rules regarding Covid restrictions, but already the decision has wreaked havoc on the country where the virus was originally discovered. Latest official figures show the death toll has risen 1000% from the previous tally of 5,272, which was only announced on January 8.

 

In total, the authorities recorded 59,938 deaths between December 8 and January 12. The vast majority of those (54,435) were from both underlying diseases and Covid, while 5,503 were due to failures in respiratory function.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

‘People aren’t taking this seriously’: experts say US Covid surge is big risk

 

n the fourth year of the pandemic, Covid-19 is once again spreading across America and being driven by the recent holidays, fewer precautions and the continuing evolution of Omicron subvariants of the virus.

 

New sub-variants are causing concern for their increased transmissibility and ability to evade some antibodies, but the same tools continue to curtail the spread of Covid, especially bivalent boosters, masks, ventilation, antivirals and other precautions, experts said.

 

Yet booster uptake has been “pitiful”, said Neil Sehgal, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Antiviral uptake has been low, and few mandates on masking, vaccination and testing have resumed in the face of the winter surge, which is once again putting pressure on health systems.

 

New Covid hospital admissions are now at the fourth-highest rate of the pandemic, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Covid hospitalizations declined somewhat after the summer wave, but never dropped to the low levels seen after previous spikes, persisting through the fall and rising again with the winter holidays.

 

“Hospitals are at maximum capacity,” said Brendan Williams, president and CEO of the New Hampshire Health Care Association, of his region’s current rates. “I’m not sure what the trajectory of this thing’s going to be, but I am worried.”

 

The majority of Covid hospitalizations are among those 65 and older, although the share for children under four roughly doubled in 2022.

 

In the past week, Covid deaths rose by 44%, from 2,705 in the week ending 4 January to 3,907 in the week ending 11 January.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

The surge is real.  I got Covid for the first and second times in the three week between Dec. 20 and Jan 4th.  My wife and son got it as well.  We also knew several other people and family members that contracted it over the same time period, independently of us (as we had not seen them).

 

[dfitzo53]

Yep, daughter just got it. 

[China]

China says COVID outbreak has infected 80 percent of population

 

The possibility of a large-scale COVID-19 rebound in China over the next few months is remote as 80 percent of the country’s population has been infected, a prominent government scientist has said.

 

Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Saturday that the mass movement of people during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some areas, but that a second COVID wave is unlikely in the next two to three months.

 

This is because the ongoing wave of the epidemic — driven mostly by multiple sub-branches of the Omicron strain — “has already infected 80 percent of the population”, he was quoted as saying on the Weibo social media platform.

 

Wu’s statement came as hundreds of millions of Chinese people travelled across the country for holiday reunions that had been suspended under recently eased COVID-19 curbs.

With some five billion passenger trips expected, fears have risen of new outbreaks in rural areas that are less equipped to manage large numbers of infections.

 

But the government has moved to assuage concerns, with the National Health Commission saying on Thursday that China has passed the peak of COVID-19 patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and with critical conditions.

 

Nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died in hospital as of January 12, according to government data, roughly a month after China abruptly dismantled its zero-COVID policy.

 

But some experts said that figure probably vastly undercounts the full effect, as it excludes those who die at home and because many doctors have said they are discouraged from citing COVID-19 as a cause of death.

[TheGreatBuzz]

9 minutes ago, China said:

China says COVID outbreak has infected 80 percent of population

 

The possibility of a large-scale COVID-19 rebound in China over the next few months is remote as 80 percent of the country’s population has been infected, a prominent government scientist has said.

 

Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist at the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Saturday that the mass movement of people during the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday period may spread the pandemic, boosting infections in some areas, but that a second COVID wave is unlikely in the next two to three months.

 

This is because the ongoing wave of the epidemic — driven mostly by multiple sub-branches of the Omicron strain — “has already infected 80 percent of the population”, he was quoted as saying on the Weibo social media platform.

 

Wu’s statement came as hundreds of millions of Chinese people travelled across the country for holiday reunions that had been suspended under recently eased COVID-19 curbs.

With some five billion passenger trips expected, fears have risen of new outbreaks in rural areas that are less equipped to manage large numbers of infections.

 

But the government has moved to assuage concerns, with the National Health Commission saying on Thursday that China has passed the peak of COVID-19 patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and with critical conditions.

 

Nearly 60,000 people with COVID-19 had died in hospital as of January 12, according to government data, roughly a month after China abruptly dismantled its zero-COVID policy.

 

But some experts said that figure probably vastly undercounts the full effect, as it excludes those who die at home and because many doctors have said they are discouraged from citing COVID-19 as a cause of death.

 

So herd immunity?

[China]

Just now, TheGreatBuzz said:

 

So herd immunity?

 

Seems like that's what they're banking on since they can't effectively vaccinate their whole population.

[China]

Three years ago today:

 

COVID flashback: On Jan. 30, 2020, WHO declared a global health emergency

 

On Jan. 30, 2020, the World Health Organization sounded the alarm about an unfamiliar and deadly new virus, declaring it a global health emergency.

 

"Over the past few weeks, we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen, which has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

 

Tedros was talking about what would later be named SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease now known as COVID-19, which is all too familiar today. As of Jan. 25, 2023, almost 700 million people have had confirmed infections with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and nearly 7 million people have died.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

U.S. Plans to End Public Health Emergency for Covid in May

 

The Biden administration plans to let the coronavirus public health emergency expire in May, the White House said on Monday, a sign that federal officials believe the pandemic has moved into a new, less dire phase.

 

The White House wants to keep the emergency in place for several more months so hospitals, health providers and health officials can prepare for a host of changes that will come when it ends, officials said. Millions of Americans have received free Covid tests, treatments and vaccines during the pandemic, and not all of that will continue to be free once the emergency is declared over.

 

An average of more than 500 Americans are still dying daily from Covid. But at the three-year mark, the coronavirus is no longer upending everyday life to the extent it once did, partly because much of the population has at least some protection against the virus from vaccinations and prior infections.

 

Still, the White House said on Monday that the nation needed an orderly transition out of the public health emergency. The administration said it also intended to allow a separate declaration of a national emergency to expire in May.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Captain Wiggles]

😒

 

[88Comrade2000]

[China]

Politics May Trump Medicine In Shaping Doctors' COVID Treatment Beliefs

 

Conservative physicians were about five times more likely than their liberal and moderate colleagues to say that they would treat a hypothetical COVID-19 patient with hydroxychloroquine.

 

The authors of a new study suggest that this willingness to prescribe controversial pandemic drugs shows just how much political ideology shapes a physician’s attitudes towards scientific evidence. 

 

Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study found that participants with conservative political beliefs were more inclined to view hydroxychloroquine favorably and vaccination unfavorably, and that this was true of laypeople and physicians alike. Conservative ideology was also linked with favorable beliefs about ivermectin among laypeople, though not necessarily physicians.

 

“In the United States, conservatives and liberals disagree about the facts,” University of Pittsburgh scientists wrote in their paper. 

 

To test this theory, the researchers surveyed nearly 600 board certified critical care physicians and 900 average Americans. They chose the critical care specialty because they are on the frontlines of COVID care yet less involved in patient preferences than most other specialties, the authors explained. 

 

In a series of questionnaires, physicians were asked to evaluate a clinical vignette about a severely ill COVID patient and then decide on the best course of action. They were also asked to assess all of the available treatment options based on their perception of the data’s scientific rigor. The average joes filled out the same assessment minus the treatment recommendations and both groups were surveyed for their thoughts on COVID vaccines. 

 

On average, physicians’ beliefs were less polarized than laypeoples’ but their political leanings did influence their opinions about vaccination and hydroxychloroquine, with liberal docs polling more pro vaccine and anti hydroxychloroquine than their conservative counterparts. 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Fergasun]

I haven't gotten the bivalent booster.  I have concluded I am just being a dumbass... although it would make sense to time the vaccine to peak periods (winter) if the vaccine effects do wane after a couple of weeks. 

 

Edit:  Couple of months, I think!  

 

 

Edited February 16, 2023 by Fergasun
weeks is months

[Larry]

42 minutes ago, Fergasun said:

I haven't gotten the bivalent booster.  I have concluded I am just being a dumbass... although it would make sense to time the vaccine to peak periods (winter) if the vaccine effects do wane after a couple of weeks. 

 

 

Why I got mine in November, anticipating a winter surge.  

[The Evil Genius]

All I can say is I'd listen to the health experts and get the booster Fergasun. Then get it again in the Fall with you Flu shot (assuming it will an annual booster).

 

 

[The Evil Genius]

 

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

On 12/1/2020 at 10:00 AM, skinsmarydu said:

I'm afraid of NOT living.  I've lost enough, and I'm determined to be happy again at some point. 

 

@skinsmarydu I was going through the worst period of my life right around the time you wrote this. That last part just struck me… “I’m determined to be happy again.”

 

It inspired me and I decided that I was going to be determined to be happy again, also. I had to put in a lot of work over the last few years... dropped 50 pounds, broke away from a bad situation, started teaching again, etc. Anyway, I'm pleased that I can say, "I am happy again." I hope you are too. 🙂

Edited February 25, 2023 by Sacks 'n' Stuff

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[EmirOfShmo]

^^If they want the 'mectin then give it to them!

 

 

[Jabbyrwock]

3 hours ago, EmirOfShmo said:

^^If they want the 'mectin then give it to them!

 

Well I, as a librul, would feel totally owned if they didn't get vaccinated and instead relied on ivermectin.  Just oh so very owned...I mean truly triggered.  Just beside myself and all.

[Spaceman Spiff]

The conservatives that are chest thumping about this DOE report about their “low confidence” that it started in a lab really are something. 

[Captain Wiggles]

The same deep state department of energy they wanna completely eliminate. 🤣

[Spearfeather]

1 hour ago, Spaceman Spiff said:

The conservatives that are chest thumping about this DOE report about their “low confidence” that it started in a lab really are something. 

 

Looking back at what some of the characters in the media were saying a couple years ago, is really something too. 😄

[JCB]

Which sword would you like to fall on @Spearfeather?