According to the New York Times, a Texas man (unvaccinated) may -- may -- be the first American to die from the Omicron variant. May. Well, the New York Times can always hope.
Covid-2019
Covid-2019
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
We can think of stupider moves than for the Biden administration to distribute 500 million home test kits for Covid. We've already tried 'em all.
Covid-2019
Monday, December 20, 2021
In "Recommended Reading," a story in The Atlantic catches the mood about Omicron: The sub-head states, "More data will soon be coming in. But how much do they really matter?" In other words, we've made up our minds that this is a catastrophe. Don't confuse us with the facts if it turns out not to be.
Regional bias, perhaps? Look at page 11 -- there's all the difference in the world between cases in New York, and in the US ex-New York. What's so strange is that New York, with its surging cases, reports officially only 1% of cases are Omicron.
Covid-2019
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Reality-check time. Let's look at the data in South Africa, where 100% of new cases are reported as being the Omicron variant. New cases have been falling for a week. No change in fatalities. The case-fatality rate has been falling, long-term and short-term, for months. "When faced with a paradox, check your premises."
Covid-2019
Saturday, December 18, 2021
As stimulus to thought, today we are adding to our large China chart a running counter of the number of days since the last Covid death. Today it's 96. If you believe that, well, we have a little red book we think you will like.
Covid-2019
Friday, December 17, 2021
There's a new-case surge happening in the Commonwealth countries, in suspiciously perfect synchronization. Big new highs in UK, Canada and Australia, even though they are separated from each other by oceans and thousands of miles. They're blaming Omicron, yet none are reporting especially large shares for the variant among the cases. This dog doesn't hunt.
Covid-2019
Thursday, December 16, 2021
More and more countries are starting to publicly report Omicron cases as a share of total cases. There are surges here and there -- and in some places cases are slowing. None of it is correlated systematically with the share of Omicron.
Covid-2019
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
In "Recommended Reading," cracks in the lockdown consensus. In the UK, Johnson's Tories abandon him, requiring votes from the opposition for his newest lockdown regulations. In the US, the Colorado governor (a Democrat) declares the Covid crisis "over."
Covid-2019
Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Yesterday the UK reported the first Omicron fatality. It was inevitable.
Covid-2019
Monday, December 13, 2021
In "Recommended Reading," the New York Times is walking back its intense Omicron panic-mongering of the last two weeks, with a lead editorial calling for an end to "Covid theatre," and an op-ed speculating that the coronavirus is getting milder. Now they tell us!