Free Republic

China has put several more of its cities and tens of millions of residents under new lockdowns, including the world’s largest wholesale hub and port cities. Many travelers are now stranded and struggling for food, production orders have been canceled, and businesses are closing because of the Chinese regime’s strict “zero-COVID” measures. According to Chinese media, since early August, a new wave of COVID-19 has swept through 25 of China’s 31 provinces, spanning from the southernmost Hainan Province to the Xinjiang region and Tibet in the west. World’s Largest Wholesale Hub Under Full Lockdown.. Yiwu city in the eastern Zhejiang...

While fears may be growing that another COVID-19 surge will be upon us in the coming months, there is some indication that the future is now.There’s a reason data show that, while the positivity rate of COVID tests has spiked to five-month highs, and hospitalizations have steadily climbed to four-month highs, new daily COVID cases have held steady for the past couple of months.The new cases are being undercounted because results of widely available at-home tests aren’t being reported for government tabulation. The Fourth of July holiday has also caused reporting delays. And many states have stopped providing daily updates,...

COVID-19 cases have risen in the U.S. to around 100,000 per day, and the real number could be as much as five times that, given many go unreported. But the situation is far different from the early months of the pandemic. There are now vaccines and booster shots, and new treatments that dramatically cut the risk of the virus. So how much do cases alone still matter? That question has prompted debate among experts, even as much of America goes on with their lives, despite the recent surge in cases.

As the US marks Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of summer, the seven-day average for COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are more than six times what they were a year ago. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center showed a seven-day average of 119,725 cases as of Saturday. That figure held at 17,887 cases on May 28 of last year. Despite the rising infection rate, COVID-related deaths were down from last year, a sign of increased immunity through vaccines and prior infections, along with wider availability of treatments.

COVID-19 cases are on the rise, but many Americans are over thinking of the virus as a crisis. Even in blue cities, restaurants are packed with people, and many Americans don’t wear masks even on the subway or on airplanes. Amid this national attitude, it may be extremely difficult for local or national leaders to try to reimpose any COVID-19 restrictions.

Haines welcomed its first large cruise ship last week since September 2019. It marks the start of what could be a record-breaking cruise season for Upper Lynn Canal communities. But with little public data about COVID-19 cases on ships, some community members worry that the cruise ships could also bring a surge in coronavirus cases. Listen to this story: The town’s Deputy Mayor Cheryl Stickler welcomed passengers as they got off the Serenade of the Seas last Thursday. “You’re the first large cruise ship we’ve been able to host since September 18, 2019. That’s only 967 days,” she said laughing....

Theaters in Washington, D.C. will extend a mask and vaccine requirement for patrons through at least the end of July. The announcement arrives as case numbers of the virus in the Northeast and Midwest have begun to rise and some government officials have urged those in charge to consider reinstating indoor mask mandates.

Beijing residents rushed to supermarkets on Thursday (May 12) as Chinese officials tried to curb mounting panic over a rumour the capital would be placed under stay-at-home orders. The city has been trying to stamp out a wave of cases in recent weeks, closing subway stations and telling many residents to work from home, with hundreds of communities sealed off to contain cases. On Thursday there were rumours online that authorities were about to impose a strict lockdown, prompting many to rush to food stores and stock up. SNIP "I can't say for sure whether there will be a lockdown,...

COVID-19 cases among attendees at the White House Correspondents Dinner last weekend are mounting, highlighting the continued threat of the virus as cases rise nationally. High-profile cases following the dinner include ABC reporter Jonathan Karl, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and reporters from The Washington Post, Voice of America, and other outlets.

New York City raised its COVID alert level to medium on Monday as cases surpassed a rate of 200 per 100,000 people in the five boroughs, health officials said. It marks the first time the health department has adjusted that level since debuting the new system under Mayor Eric Adams' administration earlier this year. Manhattan and Staten Island, respectively, have the highest transmission rates per 100,000 residents, the latest health data show, but it's the first borough that is having a disproportionate impact on the city's overall rolling new case rate. Those two boroughs are also now classified as "medium"...

A new peer-reviewed study entitled: "Correlation Between Mask Compliance and COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe" has demonstrated that use of face masks, even widespread, did not correlate with better outcomes during the COVID epidemic, based on data from 35 European countries with populations of over one million people each, encompassing a total of 602 million people. The study noted that the average proportion of mask usage in the period investigated (October 2020 until March 2021) was 60.9% ± 19.9%. Governments and advisory bodies have recommended and often mandated the wearing of face masks in public spaces and in many areas mandates...

As new Omicron variants further infiltrate the U.S., a jumble of signals suggest the latest increase in Covid-19 infections hasn’t sparked a commensurate surge in severe illness even as risks remain.

Upstate New York has become one of the most concentrated hubs of rising Covid-19 cases in the U.S., driven in part by a highly contagious sub-variant that was recently identified, according to health officials and researchers.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Here we go again?COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are rising once again across the country, driven by more contagious subvariants of the virus and leaving health experts unsure whether vaccination and immunity from prior infection will be protective enough to prevent yet another deadly wave of infections.

When Philadelphia’s health commissioner announced this week that the city’s indoor mask mandate would be reinstated as Covid-19 cases there rise, something unusual happened: Not a single other major U.S. city followed suit. Throughout the pandemic, local, state and federal precautions have followed a predictable pattern. As key Covid indicators, such as infections, hospitalizations and deaths, have gone up, so has the number of officials who have required masks, proof of vaccination or other measures to slow the rate of transmission of the coronavirus.

Yet again, the U.S. is trudging into what could be another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. One big unknown? “We don’t know how high that mountain’s gonna grow,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. No one expects a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population.

Covid cases are now rising in 26 U.S. states and are up 25% nationwide, reversing the months-long trend of case declines coming off of the winter Omicron surge Dr Ashish Jha, the White House Covid response coordinator, told NBC Monday that he is not overly concerned about this recent shift Hospitalizations with the virus are at their lowest point of the pandemic so far, Jha notes, with Covid deaths having cratered 25% over the past week as well The 'stealth' variant is largely responsible for these increases, now making up 72% of US cases, the CDC reports . Covid cases...

While COVID-19 cases have remained loe in the U.S. since the decline of the omicron wave this winter, the “stealth” BA.2 variant has reached the U.S. and is causing a rise in cases in some parts of the country, particularly in regions in New York state. The BA.2 strain is currently the dominant strain in the U.S., accounting for about three out of four new coronavirus cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At first glance, U.S. Covid cases appear to have plateaued over the past two weeks, with a consistent average of around 30,000 cases per day, according to NBC News' tally. But disease experts say incomplete data likely masks an upward trend. In Washington, D.C., for example, several high-profile government figures recently tested positive, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, White House press secretary Jen Psaki and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Counties with the highest rates of vaccination against COVID-19 are currently experiencing more cases than those with the lowest vaccination rates, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The 500 counties where 62–95 percent of the population has been vaccinated detected more than 75 cases per 100,000 residents on average in the past week. The 500 counties where 11–40 percent of the population has been vaccinated detected about 58 cases per 100,000 residents on average in the past week.The data is skewed by the fact that the CDC suppresses figures for counties with very low...