There is increasing likelihood the mass Covid breakout in China will lead to a new dangerous variant which will spread around the world. China’s Covid Wave Spurs New Variant Worry as Sequencing Falls https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...e-spurs-new-variant-worry-as-sequencing-falls In the meantime China is lying about its Covid death toll. China Covid: Five deaths under country's new counting method https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64044204
As China claims they only had five Covid deaths in one day, a single hospital documents many times that number. At this point China has a low vaccination rate compared to western nations. Additionally China's homegrown vaccines are not effective -- in fact nearly all the nations outside of China rejected the Chinese vaccines as being completely worthless more than a year ago. Drop the "zero Covid" policy -- while not importing effective western mRNA Covid vaccines -- and you have a recipe for a complete disaster. But China never really had a problem with the government killing millions of people --- they probably view it as an effective policy to wipe out mainly older people as part of population reduction of people older than retirement age. Shanghai hospital warns of 'tragic battle' as COVID spreads https://www.reuters.com/world/china...out-free-fever-drugs-covid-flares-2022-12-22/ WHO "very concerned" about reports of severe COVID in China The head of the World Health Organization said the agency is “very concerned” about rising reports of severe coronavirus disease across China after the country largely abandoned its “zero COVID” policy https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...tion-tedros-adhanom-ghebreyesus-b2249483.html
US breaks world record for COVID infections in the midst of extreme cold snap https://mundonow.com/en/us-breaks-world-record-for-covid-infections/
A country with a national health strategy to deal with pandemics would have a universal plan to reimpose certain restrictions to mitigate spread in a community when infection magnitude reached high red levels. The best we have is a few cities trying to do it on their own as mere "advisories". Chicago indoor mask 'advisory' imminent as city nears COVID high-risk status https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/chicago-indoor-mask-advisory-imminent-with-covid-trend
To further underline the lack of a national U.S. plan and that every county/city does their own thing. LA County health officials urge 10 days of mask wearing following New Year's Eve The strategy is being used in other large cities like New York and Boston, according to officials. https://abc7.com/coronavirus-los-angeles-la-covid-cases-new-years-eve/12629266/
Another example of every county/city doing their own thing without any overall national policy regarding public health restrictions. There should be a clear national policy which must be followed by local counties and cities where restrictions are added or removed based on the prevalence of Covid in the community and the ability of local hospitals to support surges in severe cases. Charlotte in ‘code yellow’ for COVID exposure as cases rise. Wearing masks encouraged https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article270467597.html
Why America was uniquely vulnerable to COVID https://www.axios.com/2023/03/24/why-america-uniquely-vulnerable-covid The pandemic experience varied sharply from state to state, with some of the highest adjusted death rates reported in Arizona, the District of Columbia and New Mexico, according to an analysis published in The Lancet. Why it matters: It's among the first deep dives to explore the social and economic factors at play during the pandemic in the U.S., and found a nearly four-fold variation in COVID infection and death rates between states. What they're saying: "What is clear from our study is that COVID-19 exploited and compounded existing local racial inequities, health disparities, and partisan politics," co-lead author Thomas J. Bollyky, director of the Council on Foreign Relations' Global Health Program in the USA, said in a statement. The combination of local factors increased the burden of disease and the likelihood of poor outcomes, he said. By the numbers: States with higher poverty, lower rates of educational attainment, less access to quality health care and lower levels of interpersonal trust saw disproportionately higher rates of COVID infections and deaths. When adjusting the data to account for age and comorbidities, Arizona saw the highest COVID death rate (581 deaths per 100,000 people) in the nation. Washington, D.C. (526 per 100,000) and New Mexico (521 per 100,000) were the second and third worst. On the flip side, Hawaii had the lowest adjusted COVID death rate with 147 COVID deaths per 100,000 people. It was followed by New Hampshire 215 per 100,000) and Maine (281 per 100,000), respectively. The big picture: Previous studies have connected state politics with better or worse COVID outcomes or honed in on racial disparities links to poorer outcomes. But this study offers a more nuanced view of how the combination of factors made certain states more vulnerable than others. For example, the analysis found no association between the political affiliation of the state governor and death rates. But one key predictor of infections and total COVID deaths was the share of people that voted for President Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Researchers also considered the benefits of protective measures like mandates against their harms, such as lost employment and drops in test scores. "Our study suggests that the policy mandates and protective behaviours adopted in this pandemic were effective in reducing SARS-CoV-2 infections but might have been associated with employment and educational trade-offs," the authors wrote, adding the tradeoffs warrant study that could inform future protective measures. "The more robust a health system, the better a state performed in the pandemic, but only in states where the public was willing to make use of health care services for vaccination or to get early treatment for their conditions," senior author Joseph Dieleman, an associated professor from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said in a statement. Between the lines: The analysis found states with more mandates, such as those that encouraged mask use, mobility restrictions and vaccination — and kept them longer — experienced lower infection rates. But, they said, only vaccine coverage had a strong association with the state-by-state variation in COVID death rates. "Ultimately our public health policies seem capable of preventing transmission, but other societal factors like poverty, education attainment, and access to high-quality healthcare might have muddled the response and led to death rates being highest in some states that didn't have tremendously high infection rates," the authors wrote.
Brazil hits 700,000 virus deaths, 2nd highest in the world https://news.yahoo.com/brazil-hits-700-000-virus-224950000.html SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's government on Tuesday reported the 700,000th death from COVID-19 in the South American nation, which has the second most victims of the virus after the United States. Brazilian health experts say most people dying of COVID-19 in recent days are either unvaccinated or suffer from other debilitating diseases. "The vaccine currently available in every health care unit in Brazil could have changed the lives of families who lost beloved ones in the pandemic,” said the country's Health Ministry Health Minister Nisia Trindade criticized former President Jair Bolsonaro for his handling of the pandemic. Bolsonaro, who became ill with COVID, later declined to take the coronavirus vaccine and flouted health restrictions. “We have to look at the past, but at the same time we have to say the health ministry cannot make the mistake of not coordinating, not taking care, not treating (the disease). We need to be united so new tragedies do not happen,” Trindade said. Miguel Lago, executive director of Brazil’s Institute for Health Policy Studies, which advises public health officials, said the figure is a reminder of the country's obligation to punish those who failed to act against the virus or sabotaged those who were trying. “There was direct responsibility of public agents, who could have answered to this in a much better fashion,” Lago told The Associated Press.
Guess which region of the country has the most counties with persistent poverty? I assume they will correlate quite well with Republican leadership and high Covid death rates. 341 U.S. Counties Experiencing Persistent Poverty https://www.census.gov/library/stor...overty-areas-with-long-term-high-poverty.html