Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
'Grave concern' over Covid in Europe as German cases soar
Source: AFP
Frankfurt (AFP) – The World Health Organization expressed "grave concern" Thursday over the rising pace of coronavirus infections in Europe, as Germany registered its biggest daily increase since the start of the pandemic.
"We are, once again, at the epicentre," WHO Europe director Hans Kluge told a press conference.
He warned that according to "one reliable projection" the current trajectory would mean "another half a million Covid-19 deaths" by February.
Alarm bells were ringing especially in Germany, the European Union's most populous country, where the number of new cases over the past 24 hours soared to almost 34,000 on Thursday -- an all-time high, according to the Robert Koch Institute health agency.
Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211104-grave-concern-over-covid-in-europe-as-german-cases-soar
41 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
who are getting hit the hardest.
"German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Wednesday that the country of 83 million people was facing a "massive" pandemic among the unvaccinated and that intensive care beds were starting to run out in some regions".
Cold weather is sending more people inside, and that means easier transmission of the virus. Northern red states will be hit first - Alaska is already in the grip of another spike - and as the winter progresses southern red states will feel the punch in the gut of another spike.
The unvaccinated in blue states will also be hit hard. Anyone not getting the jab is a fool. They'll clog up the hospitals again, so many others who need life saving surgery for non-COVID issues will die as well.
Fuck you Trump, and everyone who politicized this pandemic. 
happening in Europe. That's been the trend since in early 2020, but it seems we aren't learning that lesson 
NEWS EXPLAINER
02 November 2021
Why scientists worldwide are watching UK COVID infections
The country’s relaxation of measures such as masking — especially in England — is showing the limits of relying on vaccines alone.
Luke Taylor
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has often foreshadowed what came later elsewhere. The highly contagious Alpha variant was first detected there, and the country then reported high caseloads of the more-contagious Delta strain before this variant dispersed around the rest of the world. The United Kingdom also saw a wave of infections that seems to have preceded a similar glut now sweeping Western Europe. Furthermore, England was among the first regions in Western Europe to lift almost all of its COVID-19 restrictions, following one of the world’s fastest vaccine roll-outs.
It ended the legal requirements for social distancing and mask use on 19 July, with Wales and Scotland — which set their own public-health policies — lifting most of their restrictions on 7 and 9 August, respectively. Northern Ireland followed on 31 October. As one of the first countries to trust high vaccine coverage and public responsibility alone to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the United Kingdom has become a control experiment that scientists across the world are studying. “We are watching the increase in cases closely, trying to dissect what is going on and how that might influence our situation right now,” says Rafael Radi, a biochemist and coordinator of Uruguay’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group.
Can vaccines alone prevent infections from surging?
The United Kingdom was hit by three million infections between July and October this year — comparable to when the country was under a strict lockdown in late 2020. This is despite 79.5% of those aged 12 years and older having received two vaccine doses as of 31 October. UK infection rates are higher than those in countries in continental Europe, where COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed later or remain in place. In the 7 days between 17 October and 23 October, Spain recorded 286 infections per one million people, and Germany 1,203. The United Kingdom registered 4,868 over the same week.
The surge in infections shows that vaccines alone cannot contain the virus, say scientists calling for the introduction of ‘soft’ public-health measures to avoid another lockdown. “The vaccines are amazing and doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” says Susan Butler-Wu, director of medical microbiology at the LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. “But why don’t we want to give them the best chance by combining them with other measures?”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03003-6
02 November 2021
Why scientists worldwide are watching UK COVID infections
The country’s relaxation of measures such as masking — especially in England — is showing the limits of relying on vaccines alone.
Luke Taylor
The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom has often foreshadowed what came later elsewhere. The highly contagious Alpha variant was first detected there, and the country then reported high caseloads of the more-contagious Delta strain before this variant dispersed around the rest of the world. The United Kingdom also saw a wave of infections that seems to have preceded a similar glut now sweeping Western Europe. Furthermore, England was among the first regions in Western Europe to lift almost all of its COVID-19 restrictions, following one of the world’s fastest vaccine roll-outs.
It ended the legal requirements for social distancing and mask use on 19 July, with Wales and Scotland — which set their own public-health policies — lifting most of their restrictions on 7 and 9 August, respectively. Northern Ireland followed on 31 October. As one of the first countries to trust high vaccine coverage and public responsibility alone to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the United Kingdom has become a control experiment that scientists across the world are studying. “We are watching the increase in cases closely, trying to dissect what is going on and how that might influence our situation right now,” says Rafael Radi, a biochemist and coordinator of Uruguay’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group.
Can vaccines alone prevent infections from surging?
The United Kingdom was hit by three million infections between July and October this year — comparable to when the country was under a strict lockdown in late 2020. This is despite 79.5% of those aged 12 years and older having received two vaccine doses as of 31 October. UK infection rates are higher than those in countries in continental Europe, where COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed later or remain in place. In the 7 days between 17 October and 23 October, Spain recorded 286 infections per one million people, and Germany 1,203. The United Kingdom registered 4,868 over the same week.
The surge in infections shows that vaccines alone cannot contain the virus, say scientists calling for the introduction of ‘soft’ public-health measures to avoid another lockdown. “The vaccines are amazing and doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” says Susan Butler-Wu, director of medical microbiology at the LAC+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. “But why don’t we want to give them the best chance by combining them with other measures?”
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03003-6
So far here in Philly, we have actually validated some of this by reintroducing mitigation such as mandating masking indoors and in schools (since August). And while we are 66+% ages 12+ fully vaxxed here, our positivity rates are lower (by half in fact) than the higher-vaxxed surrounding suburbs, none of which have mask mandates for indoors (only recommendations).
Link to tweet
TEXT
Philadelphia Public Health
@PHLPublicHealth
November 4, 2021 COVID-19 update:
233 new cases
169,242 Philadelphians diagnosed with COVID-19
3,997 Philadelphians have died from COVID-19
2.2% positivity rate
For more information: http://ow.ly/oD5Q50F9ZpR
Image
12:30 PM · Nov 4, 2021
@PHLPublicHealth
November 4, 2021 COVID-19 update:
233 new cases
169,242 Philadelphians diagnosed with COVID-19
3,997 Philadelphians have died from COVID-19
2.2% positivity rate
For more information: http://ow.ly/oD5Q50F9ZpR
Image
12:30 PM · Nov 4, 2021
That has caused hand-wringing by the local media here who make insulting the city a spectator sport (as they all live in the 'burbs). For example, CDC has us at 66% fully vaxxed (12+) (link - https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view|Risk|community_transmission_level), but the Inky is still showing old data of only "56%" in their articles that they refuse to update out of spite or lazy journalism.
Philly is less vaccinated than the suburbs, but those counties’ COVID-19 cases are higher. Does masking make the difference?
by Jason Laughlin and Aseem Shukla
Published Oct 30, 2021
The latest pandemic paradox in the Philadelphia region is that the city, while less vaccinated than virtually all its neighboring counties, has a lower rate of COVID-19 cases than any of them. This has continued even as the suburban counties outstrip Philadelphia’s vaccination rates. The city has fully vaccinated about 56% of its total population. Only Gloucester County has a lower vaccination rate. Bucks, Delaware, and Burlington Counties all have vaccination rates of nearly 65% or better.
Yet COVID-19 is still infecting a larger percentage of their populations. The reasons for the seemingly counterintuitive trend are not clear, but the Philadelphia Department of Public Health has a theory. “The only difference I see is the mask mandate,” said Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s acting health commissioner. “It’s hard to see what the difference is otherwise.”
Philadelphia reinstated its indoor mask mandate in August as the delta variant drove a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The mandate remains in effect and the city said in early September that it had no intentions of ending it any time soon. There is no similar indoor mask mandate through the rest of the state. New Jersey recommends indoor masking but does not mandate it.
City-gathered data from early October found about 80% of people entering and exiting shops had masks on, and the majority were wearing them correctly, said James Garrow, a health department spokesperson.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/mask-philadelphia-pennsylvania-mandate-covid-montgomery-chester-20211030.html
by Jason Laughlin and Aseem Shukla
Published Oct 30, 2021
The latest pandemic paradox in the Philadelphia region is that the city, while less vaccinated than virtually all its neighboring counties, has a lower rate of COVID-19 cases than any of them. This has continued even as the suburban counties outstrip Philadelphia’s vaccination rates. The city has fully vaccinated about 56% of its total population. Only Gloucester County has a lower vaccination rate. Bucks, Delaware, and Burlington Counties all have vaccination rates of nearly 65% or better.
Yet COVID-19 is still infecting a larger percentage of their populations. The reasons for the seemingly counterintuitive trend are not clear, but the Philadelphia Department of Public Health has a theory. “The only difference I see is the mask mandate,” said Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s acting health commissioner. “It’s hard to see what the difference is otherwise.”
Philadelphia reinstated its indoor mask mandate in August as the delta variant drove a new surge in COVID-19 cases. The mandate remains in effect and the city said in early September that it had no intentions of ending it any time soon. There is no similar indoor mask mandate through the rest of the state. New Jersey recommends indoor masking but does not mandate it.
City-gathered data from early October found about 80% of people entering and exiting shops had masks on, and the majority were wearing them correctly, said James Garrow, a health department spokesperson.
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/mask-philadelphia-pennsylvania-mandate-covid-montgomery-chester-20211030.html
To me it's common sense and as a trained scientist myself, there is absolutely nothing wrong with including "common sense" (like masking up in close quarters) when doing scientific data evaluations.
we saw a similar situation of mitigation vs no mitigation in a "pre-vaccination" situation, where Sweden had little or lockdowns, let alone any masking or social distancing mandates (only recommendations). They were initially "praised" by the media for a "success" until that flawed strategy was finally laid to rest. 
October 29, 202111:25 AM EDT Last Updated 7 days ago
World
Sweden acted too slowly as pandemic swept country, commission finds
By Johan Ahlander and Niklas Pollard
STOCKHOLM, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Sweden's response to the spread of coronavirus was too slow and preparations to handle a pandemic were insufficient, a commission investigating the country's response to COVID-19 said on Friday. Sweden's strategy, shunning lockdowns and measures such as widespread use of face masks and only gradually tightening curbs, made the country an outlier in the first year of the pandemic when many countries across Europe chose to implement far tougher restrictions.The country kept most schools, businesses, bars and restaurants open in startling contrast with a locked-down Europe, relying on voluntary recommendations even as its death toll rapidly eclipsed those if its Nordic neighbours.
Meanwhile, mass testing for the virus and contact tracing only got underway after a first wave which killed over two thousand people in the nation's nursing homes had all but petered out. The commission said it would address Sweden's no-lockdown strategy in its final report, but that its preliminary findings showed that measures were introduced late both in relation to the country's Nordic neighbours and the spread of the virus in Sweden during the spring of 2020. "Sweden's handling of the pandemic has been marked by a slowness of response," the commission said.
"The initial disease prevention and control measures were insufficient to stop or even substantially limit the spread of the virus in the country." The commission, appointed by the government amid pressure from parliament, also noted that it had taken "far too long" to build sufficient testing capacity with initially only targeted groups, such as healthcare staff, being tested.Health Minister Lena Hallengren told Reuters she would wait for the final report before assessing the overall handling, but said that there were things that could have been done better."We have started work in many areas, such as preparing a new communicable diseases act. We are, of course, trying to learn in many areas from this crisis," she said.
(snip)
Mass testing took months to get up and running amid discussions over responsibility and funding, a delay the commission labelled "a complete failure", while it noted the health agency had adopted some tougher measures during the second wave which it had rejected during the first, likely sowing confusion and undermining compliance. Sweden has recorded more than 15,000 deaths from coronavirus, many times the per capita level of its Nordic neighbours that implemented tougher restrictions, but still lower than in most European countries that locked down tightly, such as Britain. Its pandemic strategy has been controversial at home and abroad. Critics have called it reckless and cruel but the approach has also earned praise for being more sustainable and business-friendly and as a model for living with the virus as it becomes endemic.
(snip)
https://www.reuters.com/world/sweden-acted-too-slowly-pandemic-hit-commission-finds-2021-10-29/
World
Sweden acted too slowly as pandemic swept country, commission finds
By Johan Ahlander and Niklas Pollard
STOCKHOLM, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Sweden's response to the spread of coronavirus was too slow and preparations to handle a pandemic were insufficient, a commission investigating the country's response to COVID-19 said on Friday. Sweden's strategy, shunning lockdowns and measures such as widespread use of face masks and only gradually tightening curbs, made the country an outlier in the first year of the pandemic when many countries across Europe chose to implement far tougher restrictions.The country kept most schools, businesses, bars and restaurants open in startling contrast with a locked-down Europe, relying on voluntary recommendations even as its death toll rapidly eclipsed those if its Nordic neighbours.
Meanwhile, mass testing for the virus and contact tracing only got underway after a first wave which killed over two thousand people in the nation's nursing homes had all but petered out. The commission said it would address Sweden's no-lockdown strategy in its final report, but that its preliminary findings showed that measures were introduced late both in relation to the country's Nordic neighbours and the spread of the virus in Sweden during the spring of 2020. "Sweden's handling of the pandemic has been marked by a slowness of response," the commission said.
"The initial disease prevention and control measures were insufficient to stop or even substantially limit the spread of the virus in the country." The commission, appointed by the government amid pressure from parliament, also noted that it had taken "far too long" to build sufficient testing capacity with initially only targeted groups, such as healthcare staff, being tested.Health Minister Lena Hallengren told Reuters she would wait for the final report before assessing the overall handling, but said that there were things that could have been done better."We have started work in many areas, such as preparing a new communicable diseases act. We are, of course, trying to learn in many areas from this crisis," she said.
(snip)
Mass testing took months to get up and running amid discussions over responsibility and funding, a delay the commission labelled "a complete failure", while it noted the health agency had adopted some tougher measures during the second wave which it had rejected during the first, likely sowing confusion and undermining compliance. Sweden has recorded more than 15,000 deaths from coronavirus, many times the per capita level of its Nordic neighbours that implemented tougher restrictions, but still lower than in most European countries that locked down tightly, such as Britain. Its pandemic strategy has been controversial at home and abroad. Critics have called it reckless and cruel but the approach has also earned praise for being more sustainable and business-friendly and as a model for living with the virus as it becomes endemic.
(snip)
https://www.reuters.com/world/sweden-acted-too-slowly-pandemic-hit-commission-finds-2021-10-29/
As a note, Sweden has around the same population (10.4 million) as the state of Georgia (10.6 million).
There was an interesting study published by Nature over the summer comparing the strategies deployed by the UK, Sweden, and Norway and how the timing of implementing certain strategies may have lead to different outcomes - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-95699-9
... despite our head start.
