news COVID-19 [Day 1600]

[Genius1111]

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/bodies-pile-up-in-china-as-covid-surge-overwhelms-crematoriums/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=owned_echobox_tw_m&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1672783674-1

 

 

Public notices at Longhua over the weekend explained that the crematorium had received more than 500 corpses on that day, roughly five times more than it typically handles, according to one funeral goer. 

 

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A whole gray economy has emerged to cater to those who are desperate to bury their loved ones. Everything is an opportunity for profit: scalpers hawk queue numbers to skip lines for cremation, rent out hearses and offer all-in-one packages at exorbitant rates. Some trumpet their connections to workers at various crematories and hospitals.

 

‘Bodies are overflowing everywhere’

When Bloomberg News called one such provider named De Shun Xiang in Beijing, an employee said cremation can be arranged within three days at the cost of 68,000 yuan, with same-day service going for 88,000 yuan. Normally it would cost around a few thousand yuan.

“Bodies are overflowing everywhere,” said the employee, who asked not be named. “You’ll have to wait a month if not.”

 

While funeral homes warn against trusting brokerage services, some middlemen are using creative ways to reach anguished families. On Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, videos featuring colorful visuals and stirring music advertise Mercedes-Benz hearses, elaborate burial clothes and Babaoshan cremation slots.

“We couldn’t afford to live under lockdown,” wrote a person on Weibo, sharing a view commonly expressed on the social-media platform over the past few weeks. “And now we can’t afford to die.”

[Genius1111]

 

 

For most cities around the world, they probably took about 2 years to hit 70%. In Shanghai, it probably took less than 2 months after being at perhaps at under 3% for a long while. (~600K infected after the mid-2022 wave, in a city of 23 million, and obviously lower before that.)

[Genius1111]

 

 

On the first day that the measures were implemented, 61 Chinese visitors tested positive for Covid despite presenting a negative Covid test before their arrival. 309 people were tested overall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 4, 2023 by Genius1111

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some good news

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The world outside has forged ahead, but those who live and work inside shelters meant to house the region’s most vulnerable are still battling covid day after day. They’re testing, enforcing mask-wearing and trying to keep infection rates low as the shelter’s winter population explodes. What they really need is a chance to breathe, assess and try to get ahead of the next crisis. They haven’t gotten it.

“It feels like we’re right back where we were before,” said Betsy Frantz, president and chief executive of PathForward. “We’ve never been able to really recover. When hypothermia [season] was about to start, I was talking to a vendor and he said, ‘You don’t seem ready. You don’t seem where you usually are.’ And the reality is we’re just exhausted. There’s an overwhelm, a fatigue from never being able to stop. There’s this sense of ‘When is it going to end?’” …

[Genius1111]

 

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https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/public_surveys/died_suddenly_more_than_1_in_4_think_someone_they_know_died_from_covid_19_vaccines

 

 

‘Died Suddenly’? More Than 1-in-4 Think Someone They Know Died From COVID-19 Vaccines

 

Nearly half of Americans think COVID-19 vaccines may be to blame for many unexplained deaths, and more than a quarter say someone they know could be among the victims.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that (49%) of American Adults believe it is likely that side effects of COVID-19 vaccines have caused a significant number of unexplained deaths, including 28% who think it’s Very Likely. Thirty-seven percent (37%) don’t say a significant number of deaths have been caused by vaccine side effects, including 17% who believe it’s Not At All Likely. Another 14% are not sure.

[Genius1111]

 

 

But there was also criticism of demonstrators who took to the streets in November in rare political protests calling for the end of leader Xi Jinping's zero-Covid policy.

"Are those people happy now, seeing old people... now paving the way for their freedom?" asked one social media user.

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Only for German expats in selected cities though.

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[Genius1111]

And now for something completely different...

 

 

 

 

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