Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Actually, I favor Bamatracker.com. He's a neutral and I've seen him be more trustworthy and on top of the data than the state office. I don't trust their stats worth a damn.

edit: I'll try those, thanks.

 

More good times ahead!

Dangers of third coronavirus surge in California focus on young people, essential workers

 

If I owned a bar, I would tell my workers to go to college or trade school. Not one bar in this land should open until COVID is wiped out.

 

Iowa had a 79 percent positive rate today

https://www.thegazette.com/subject/...28?template=amphtml&__twitter_impression=true

 

79 percent! Holy shit!

 

Ah, the joys of Sturgis.

I'm surprised that Jerry and Becki Falwell weren't up there catching something.

 

Still in Dallas, 24 hours after my flight across the Pacific took off. I was allowed to fly out of Omaha, but the gate staff at DFW turned me back. Said my test was unacceptable because it didn't have my middle name on it ("it has to be EXACTLY like your travel document"). Also, the sample has to be taken within 72 hours of your flight to Hong Kong's departure -- not your initial departure -- which the Hong Kong government and Cathay Pacific's guidance did not specify.

Took another Covid-19 test -- second this week, fourth overall -- yesterday at a lab that said they would have the results in 48 hours. Until then, all I can do is wait at the airport. American Airlines has said they'll get me on the earliest flight to Hong Kong (via LAX or SFO) as soon as the documentation is in hand, so I have that going for me, which is nice.

 

So very sorry to hear it.. I was afraid of something like that from what you'd posted. I hope things line up for you to get back to work safely and with a minimum of further bureaucratic hassle. Here's hoping that the airline remains helpful and cooperative.

 

This time I actually am here for the long pointless argument about semantics.

The story: Lab confirms first case of coronavirus reinfection in the US | Live Science

We know that there are two different versions of the coronavirus out there, one of which evolved spikes that make it easier to infect cells.

So:

The researchers analyzed the genomes of the coronaviruses from both times he was infected and found that the viruses had differences in some of their genes, caused by natural mutations. The findings strongly suggested the patient was infected twice, with two slightly different versions of the coronavirus, rather than having a prolonged infection with a single virus.​

Is this a reinfection, or is this two different infections? I would argue that it’s the latter.

 

This one pushed my button pretty hard. The NY Times published a story incorrectly identifying UAB as the university with the highest number of Covid cases in the nation. Seems that the reporter rolled up the number of cases on campus with the cases treated at UAB Hospital. That's not the sort of bad publicity that a leading medical school and research university wants to find in a headline, particularly if the information is completely inaccurate.

Tracking Coronavirus Cases at U.S. Colleges and Universities

Students decry list ranking UAB as top COVID-19 hotspot

"The 972 cases at UAB reported by the Times trumped the 835 cases at the University of North Carolina, which has already moved all its classes online in response to a largescale campus outbreak. It also dwarfs the tallies at the University of Alabama’s flagship campus in Tuscaloosa and Auburn University in Lee County, which had 568 and 557 cases, respectively, which earned them fourth- and fifth-place slots on the list."

It might be added that UAT's Covid number was increased to over 1,000 yesterday.

“In an effort to be transparent, UAB has provided the number of positive cases among UAB students, faculty and staff year-to-date, including data from our clinical and non-clinical enterprises. These data were posted out of context in a New York Times article about ‘colleges and universities’ in a misleading way,” the statement said.

While the UA System’s online coronavirus dashboard showed early Thursday that its flagship campus in Tuscaloosa has had 531 “cumulative COVID-19 Positives since August 19, 2020,” the dashboard indicated that UAB had only six such “cumulative cases for students, academic faculty, and staff” over that timeframe. UAB said in its Wednesday statement that it was only aware of 239 current UAB students, staff and employees who have tested positive for the virus at any point this year, the overwhelming majority of whom contracted it before the fall semester began.

By the Times’s own admission, the data used to rank UAB was different than that used for most other schools. UAB has an asterisk next to it on the Times list; the associated footnote states that the “[t]otal is known to include cases from a medical school, medical center, teaching hospital or clinical setting.” But the article and list remained online early Thursday without a correction, update or additional clarifying language."

Then there's Al.com's story from this morning:

UAB will suspend students who break COVID rules

“Part of that safety training explains that we will have a zero-tolerance policy for non-compliance with the safety measures such as masks and social distancing,” Watts said. “For our students there’s a progressive Code of Conduct disciplinary path. For employees, their supervisors and others will advise them that they need to be compliant. If they’re not, then they will not be able to come on this campus.”

UAB spokesman Tyler Greer confirmed later on Friday that so far one student had been removed from class and issued an interim suspension due to non-compliance.

The warning comes as college campuses across the state have experienced outbreaks of COVID-19 cases shortly after students returned to campus."

 

My grocery store has a little trouble deciding in which direction people should walk. Does this mean I have to stop before I get to my Diet Pepsi?

 

Turned away again. The lab report doesn't have the exact time my sample was taken and thus is unacceptable. I could get a written letter from the lab spelling out all the required details, but it's the Lord's day and no one is at the office. It'll be past the 72-hour window by the time they open, so it's three Covid-19 tests in a week for me. I'll have dropped a couple thousand dollars on this little excursion by the time it finishes.

It feels like I'm living a damned Kafka novel. At this rate, turning into a bug sounds more appealing than returning to Hong Kong.