>= 1,000 - 498 100 to 999 - 1,783(New) grand total of counties reads at 3,126. While I've not gotten into an argument with the Topo folks over this re-definition of 'affected' counties, it certainly looks like a move to bolster ex-President AuH2O 2020's perpetual lying.
Still no direct southern route, but you can get there once you're past South Dakota and dive down to Arizona, and thence onto California. Once in SoCal, you can wend your way up to the Canadian border. Just don't try to cross into BC. No, no, no!!
The number of counties in the two bottom groups is down to 82, which means, of course, that nearly the entire country is up to its sphincter in Covid. These are in low population areas, so getting to 100 current infections in such counties would mean rather considerable devastation. We already know that populated rural areas are nearly out of hospital space, ICU or not.
The Pfizer/German vaccine reported data today, claiming 90% immunity. Color me skeptical. There's 0 evidence that an mRNA vaccine can be so effective. Previous attempts with mRNA vaccines haven't been so hot. May be the tenth time's the charm. Or not. The duration of immunity measured in the trial may well not be long enough to get from Patient 0 to Patient 70% (or whatever). Without that level of durability, it's just a case of a dog chasing its tail. Here's a somewhat more measured report.
Keep in mind what that 90% is actually measuring: of the Covid cases naturally occuring, 90% were in the placebo group, NOT that 90% of the vaccine group did NOT get infected when exposed to the same level of Covid in the same environment etc., whether in placebo or vaccine. In stat terms, are both groups balanced with respect to factors of disease? Figures don't lie, and all that. Based on reports, we have no idea what the incidence of Covid exposure is in either group.
Or, as a paid pundit puts it:
"When the trials started there were a lot more cases in the U.S. at that time," said Dr. Vamil Divan, an analyst at the bank Mizuho. "That's a key unknown. How many of these participants are enrolled in hotter areas versus New York or Boston?"And so on for numerous factors, known and unknown.
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