Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of April 25

I think it's interesting how China is implementing closed-loop workplaces so that its supply chain can remain running even as they lock down. Such measures would never be accepted in western countries.

It raises (well, forces) deeply uncomfortable questions about how our western standards of living depend on systems of production antithetical to our professed values.

People in the West—both liberal and conservative—raise hell over increased consumer prices. But they would also be appalled if Chinese-style tactics were used to keep supply chains running here. I guess by outsourcing all of this to a country on the other side of the planet we get to have our moral cake and eat it too.

I'm sorry if this isn't appropriate for this topic, but do people who live in countries without a mask mandate find it harder to wear masks around people who don't?

I had to be in two different social situations this week where I was the only masked person and I felt so awkward. I did get a couple of judgmental looks too, which didn't help. I don't think the awkwardness will ever take over my need for self-preservation, but I'm nonetheless surprised how quickly wearing a mask became the weird thing to do.

I guess I'm doing updates on Tuesday now. Here's how the statistics look in the US.

US cases are up 29% since last week (seven day average from the Washington Post / John Hopkins), to 15 per 100k. The low point was April 7 and it's up 70% since then. (Also keep in mind that more people use home tests these days, and might not get officially counted.) East coast states seem generally higher. New York City looks flat, possibly having peaked? California is rising slowly. San Francisco is over twice the state average at 21 per 100k.

US hospitalizations up 5% to 4.9 per 100k. This is still lower than it was any time previously during the pandemic. But remember that hospitalizations tend to lag cases by a couple weeks.

US deaths down 17% to .12 per 100k, or 393 per day. It's not yet reached the low of last July. Deaths lag hospitalizations, but I don't know if this can still be attributed to the Omicron wave?

Looking at variants, BA.2 is the majority variant and BA.1 almost entirely gone. The up-and-coming variant is BA.2.12.1 which is rising fast and looks like it will become the majority. It already is in New York. (See tweet.)

The CDC released data that 60% of all Americans and 75% of kids have been infected by the coronavirus (USA Today).

Ruby Princess cruise ship docked in San Francisco with 143 cases of COVID-19

For the third time this year, the same Princess Cruise Lines ship has docked in California with passengers who tested positive for COVID-19.

The Ruby Princess arrived in San Francisco on April 11 after a trip to Hawaii in which 143 passengers on board tested positive for the virus, the city's health department told CBS MoneyWatch. More than 70 people were found to have COVID-19 in March while on the same ship after it returned from a 15-day cruise to the Panama Canal. In January, 12 passengers arriving in San Francisco following a 10-day Mexico cruise on the Ruby Princess were found to have COVID-19 after being randomly tested for the virus.

Passengers on the Hawaii cruise told the San Jose Mercury News that they noticed signs of an outbreak almost immediately.

"It was quite clear that there were a large percentage of passengers that were sick, but unless you self-reported, you were free to keep going and infect other passengers," California resident Ted Vomacka told the Mercury News. "It was obvious from observing all the coughing and hacking that some form of infection was going around."

San Francisco's health department said everyone aboard the Hawaii cruise was vaccinated and that the people who tested positive showed mild or no symptoms.

"Only one person was hospitalized, which speaks to the incredible efficacy of vaccination," the department said in a statement.

Serum Stops Making Covid Vaccines With 200 Million Doses Spare - Bloomberg - Archive

Serum Institute of India Ltd., the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer and a key supplier of Covid-19 inoculations to developing countries, has stopped making fresh batches of shots after its stockpile grew to 200 million doses amid a global supply glut.

“We have got 200 million doses of stock. We had to shut down production in December,” Serum’s chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla said at the India Economic Conclave organized by Times Network on Friday, saying he was worried about wastage if the shots expired. “I have even offered to give free donations to whoever wanted to take it.”

Serum’s predicament underscores the vaccine oversupply that has crept up across a world once desperate for immunization against the coronavirus. Vaccine makers invested in massive production capacity over the past year and some of that has come online only after most countries covered much of their populations with two doses. The global adjustment to living with the virus -- with the exception of Covid Zero-practising China and Hong Kong -- has also diluted the urgency for booster shots.

[...]

Like in most other countries, life in India has largely moved past the Covid era, though cases have been on the rise again, pushing capital New Delhi to reinstate a mask mandate in public spaces this week.

A fight over coronavirus safety at journalists’ gala event (Washington Post)

More than 2,000 journalists, celebrities and politicians, including President Biden, are set to descend on the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this weekend in what is shaping up to be a major test of whether large gatherings can be safely held at this stage of the pandemic.

Organizers say they are committed to holding an event that significantly reduces the risk of coronavirus infections, pointing to vaccine and testing requirements that were strengthened after a dinner hosted by Washington’s Gridiron Club this month was linked to at least 80 infections that sickened Cabinet members, reporters and other guests.

Yet some White House officials and experts worry that those measures are insufficient and that this weekend’s events may become another high-profile superspreader event, said three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue. Behind the scenes, one prominent coronavirus expert is scrapping with party organizers hesitant to install devices that disinfect the air using ultraviolet light because of concerns the devices might interfere with the program.

Don Milton, a University of Maryland environmental scientist who has advised the White House and others on airborne transmission, said his offer to have a company install the devices at no charge was rebuffed by both the correspondents’ association and the Washington Hilton, which is hosting the event. “I enlisted a team of scientists and germicidal UV lighting companies to provide, as a demonstration project at no cost, a temporary installation to help protect the White House correspondents’ dinner,” Milton said. “Unfortunately, it has not worked out.”

[...]

Many coronavirus experts say that new infections linked to the dinner and the accompanying parties are inevitable, noting that local cases have climbed, key officials such as Vice President Harris tested positive for coronavirus this week and the sheer number of attendees means that some infected people will unknowingly slip through the protections put in place. The correspondents’ association says it has sold 2,600 tickets to Saturday’s dinner.

[...]

[...] WHCA officials said the conversations with Milton and Far UV came too late in their planning, and that they feared the lights might irritate the eyes of attendees, interfere with servers trying to navigate the ballroom — and even make someone like Biden look blue when addressing the crowd.

[...]

Other experts said the WHCA’s fears about the technology are groundless.

If installed correctly, UV disinfecting lights “can be used safely. They do not penetrate the skin. They don’t cause eye damage. They don’t affect photography,” said David Michaels, a George Washington University professor who led the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and has touted the technology’s potential, along with Milton. “It’s absolutely feasible” to install the lights before Saturday’s gala, Michaels added.