Monday, August 10, 2020

8-10: the virus spreads in South County; 886 new Covid cases today

✅ South County Cities Top OC Coronavirus Cases by Percent Increase; Santa Ana, Anaheim Remain Hardest Hit

Voice of OC

     Cities in South Orange County saw the biggest percent growth in coronavirus cases within the county last month, while Santa Ana and Anaheim continued to be hardest hit by new cases per capita, according to testing data released by county officials.
     Overall, south county continues to have lower confirmed cases per capita than the countywide average, the data shows. But in terms of percentage growth in cases, six of the top 10 cities were in south county, led by Lake Forest, Dana Point and San Clemente.

     [Click here to see a chart of increases by city.]

     “It’s absolutely in line with what I’ve seen,” said Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at UC Irvine who has been tracking the city case counts over time.

     “I think there’s no part of the county that can be construed to be COVID-free at this point,” he added.

     “Once the pandemic grew, it’s clear that Anaheim and Santa Ana have been the sort of weight of the infections. But there may be a pendulum back a little bit now to countywide.”

     “Per reports, south county has been a center of mask defiance. And masking does work, so I do believe this has contributed to the worsening situation in South County,” Noymer added.

     South county cities also may be growing faster because they started out July with less prevalence of the virus, which can create higher percentage growths, he said.

     “You can get higher percentage growth with just a few cases. And so that is a phenomenon,” Noymer said of south county. “But I do believe there’s real growth there because of the masking, or lack thereof.”

     County health officials say it’s unknown exactly why some cities are more affected than others, since so many factors are at play in how a disease spreads. But they said the virus is more likely to spread in places where people aren’t following safety measures as much, like face coverings and staying home.

     “It is difficult to draw definitive conclusions because there are so many factors that contribute to disease transmission and case identification,” said Marc Meulman, acting director of public health services at the Orange County Health Care Agency, in a written answer to Voice of OC’s questions.
     “However, compliance with all the mitigation strategies is critical to slowing the spread, so for communities with lower level of compliance with staying home, wearing face coverings, hand washing, etc., there is a greater likelihood of seeing greater increases in disease transmission as more people engage in more risky behaviors,” he added.

     Meulman also cautioned that case rates – the number of new cases per capita – is a better metric than percentage increases.

     “Percentage increases in raw case counts isn’t necessarily the best way to measure increases in disease transmission as small numbers can create large percentage increases with relatively few number of cases, with Coto De Caza being a good example. Case rates is a better metric,” he said.

. . .

     The mayors of the two South County cities with the largest percent increases, Lake Forest and Dana Point, didn’t return phone messages seeking their perspective, nor did county Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, who represents South County.

. . .

     Meulman, the county health executive, noted that while Santa Ana and Anaheim continue to have the highest rates of coronavirus cases, the virus is spreading throughout the county and elsewhere.

     “While the noted cities reflect the highest case rates for OC, what readers should keep in mind is that COVID-19 transmission is widespread throughout the county, region, state and nation, and people should consider risk to be everywhere,” Meulman said in an emailed response to questions.

. . .

     Some tests conducted in the latter part of July haven’t yet had their results entered into the systems, due to processing delays and problems with the state’s reporting system, according to county officials.

     State and county officials say that means there’s likely an undercount statewide of confirmed cases in the last couple weeks, creating the appearance of a large drop in daily cases in the last couple weeks that may not exist….

 

✅ The Making (And Unmaking) of Jerry Falwell Jr.

Liberty University’s president, now on indefinite leave, was the introverted son of an evangelical leader. Then he befriended Donald Trump.

CHE

     He promised to be a ‘good boy,’ but it was too late.

     By the time Jerry Falwell Jr. sought forgiveness for posting on social media a photo of himself with his pants partially unzipped and his arm draped around a woman with an exposed midriff, the president of Liberty University and unwavering surrogate for President Donald J. Trump had already lost valuable allies in the evangelical and conservative circles that have helped to transform Liberty into an online education juggernaut that practically prints money.

. . .

     It didn’t help that Falwell, who oversees a campus where students are forbidden from drinking, had invited skepticism that he had imbibed. The photograph, which appeared to have been taken at a yacht party, showed Falwell holding a drink that he described as innocent “black water.” When he called the radio station, Falwell sounded — to put it charitably — a bit drowsy.

. . .

     Until fairly recently, Falwell had scant national notoriety, working in the shadow of his late father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr., who founded Liberty in 1971 and built a powerful political coalition of Christian conservatives known as the Moral Majority. It was not until 2016, when Falwell Jr. endorsed President Trump, that he seemed to take up his father’s mantle as a political player — but one with a decidedly more secular approach and a penchant for mild vulgarity. (Falwell Jr., who is a lawyer and not a minister, once tweeted that a pastor with whom he politically disagreed should “grow a pair.”)….


✅ ‘Can’t possibly be serious’: Trump’s bid to shore up jobless aid falls short

The president’s order depends on already cash-poor states being able to create and implement a new system and fund one-fourth of the aid.

Politico

     Tens of millions of jobless Americans are unlikely to see their weekly unemployment checks grow anytime soon — despite President Donald Trump’s executive action promising an extra $400 a week.

     The president’s order depends on already cash-poor states being able to create and implement a new system and fund one-fourth of the aid, which for many governors would be a difficult if not impossible task....


From Rough&Tumble:

 

✅ California’s public health director resigns amid questions about coronavirus test data -- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s director of the California Department of Public Health resigned on Sunday, an abrupt departure of a key advisor in the state’s coronavirus battle just days after the discovery of a computer system failure that resulted in the undercounting of COVID-19 cases. John Myers in the Los Angeles Times $  Sophia Bollagin the Sacramento Bee$Tony Bravo in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 8/10/20

 

✅ L.A. County reports more than 1,700 new coronavirus cases, many among younger people -- Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 1,789 new cases of the coronavirus and 10 related deaths but said the numbers still did not include a pending backlog of lab reports that could cause a spike in new cases. Alex Wigglesworth in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 8/10/20

✅ Irvine offers free masks to encourage residents to cover up -- Donated by developer FivePoint Holdings, the masks handed out on Saturday were the city’s latest salvo intended to stop the spread of the coronavirus in the community. City officials recently gave 100,000 masks to the Irvine Unified School District for students and staff, and they plan to provide masks for child care centers, seniors, emergency responders and businesses. Alicia Robinson in the Orange County Register -- 8/10/20

✅ Walters: California’s immense pension dilemma -- California’s public employee pension dilemma boils down to this: The California Public Employees Retirement System has scarcely two-thirds of the money it needs to pay benefits that state and local governments have promised their workers. Dan Walters CalMatters -- 8/10/20

 

✅ 10,000 dead of coronavirus in California. 100 dead in its capital. How did we get here? -- We have hit milestones and barely flinched. More than 10,000 in California. More than 100 in the city of Sacramento. They are those grim milestones, the death tolls we eclipsed last week because of the coronavirus. Michael McGough in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 8/9/20


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He probably had his first change around age 4 and every other one he has had since he's blown as well. The difference is the damage he has done to this country and to others who used to be allies and friends.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...