TallGuyJohninBKK

From the LA Times report above: "An LAPD spokesman said Sunday night that the department is not investigating the incident and that Rock would have to file a battery complaint to open an investigation."

No joke: Shell-shocked Governors Ball crowd is abuzz over Will Smith Oscars incident "things took a turn when partway through the evening, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, and her bald head. Smith later went on to win best actor for his role as Venus and Serena Williams' father Richard in the best picture-nominated film "King Richard." Smith in his speech addressed being a "protector" and "defender," and he apologized to the Academy, which released a statement denouncing "violence of any form." After Smith skipped the press room at the show – where winners usually swing by to discuss their awards – neither he nor Pinkett Smith attended the Governors Ball, instead opting to attend the Vanity Fair Oscar party, flanked by children the couple's children Willow, Jaden and his son Trey." https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/oscars/shell-shocked-governors-ball-crowd-is-abuzz-over-will-smith-oscars-incident/ar-AAVA5dN and AND AND The slap heard around the world: Will Smith really did hit Chris Rock at the Oscars "According to a tweet from Variety Executive Editor Ramin Setoodeh, what unfolded between Rock and Smith was not planned and did not happen in rehearsals the day prior. Setoodeh also reported that Smith’s publicist spoke with him during commercial breaks — as did Oscars producer Will Packer." ... Through tears, Smith apologized to the academy and his fellow nominees — but not to Rock — while accepting his award. “I want to be a vessel for love,” said Smith, who received a standing ovation upon winning the Oscar. “I want to be an ambassador of that kind of love and care and concern. I want to apologize to the academy." https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2022-03-27/oscars-2022-will-smith-chris-rock-punch-slap

Just because you keep repeating the same pretty much unsubstantiated presumption over and over again.... doesn't make it any more true. "According to CNN reporter Stephanie Elam, who is in the audience, she could hear Rock getting hit." AND Later in the ceremony, Smith told the audience: "I know to do what we do, you gotta be able to take abuse and have people talk people about you. In this business, you gotta have people disrespecting you. And you gotta smile and pretend that's ok." https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/entertainment/will-smith-chris-rock/index.html Doesn't sound like he's joking, once again.

I would imagine, Smith is pretty protective toward his wife, and probably would not respond well to someone making fun of her medical condition. Also: "this is not the first time the latter took a dig at the former and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. During the Academy Awards in 2016, Chris had taken a dig at Will and Jada. Prior to the awards show, Jada had said that she would not attend the ceremony due to the lack of diversity among nominees. In a monologue, Chris joked about the Matrix Reloaded actress and said, “Jada got mad, said she’s not coming. Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna’s panties. I wasn’t invited.” https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/hollywood/story/the-will-smith-chris-rock-punch-drama-everything-about-joke-on-jada-pinkett-smith-at-oscars-2022-1930362-2022-03-28

Not so sure about that: "Taking to his seat, Will was heard saying, "Keep my wife out of your f****** mouth." Post punch, as he shouted the above comment: He looks pretty incensed. https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/hollywood/story/the-will-smith-chris-rock-punch-drama-everything-about-joke-on-jada-pinkett-smith-at-oscars-2022-1930362-2022-03-28

I was trying to figure out what the heck this was all about, since the OP post here didn't say much... And then I found this: "For the unaware, Will Smith’s wife Jada has a condition called alopecia, which causes excessive hair fall. ... Chris, during the event, joked that Jada looked like GI Jane 2. Jada rolled her eyes at the very mention of it and Will went to the stage and landed a punch on Chris’ face. " https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/hollywood/story/the-will-smith-chris-rock-punch-drama-everything-about-joke-on-jada-pinkett-smith-at-oscars-2022-1930362-2022-03-28

Ask these folks... but you'd better hurry.... 1,718 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia, setting a new daily record high for 2022 and passing the prior yearly high of 1,672 reported yesterday The number of currently hospitalized COVID patients requiring intubation to breathe rose again to 675, setting a new daily record for 2022, and passing the prior yearly high of 644 set yesterday.

from Johns Hopkins COVID reports: "Overall, COVID-19 was significantly associated with an increased risk of incident diabetes. Individuals who survived COVID-19 were 46% more likely than those with no history of COVID-19 to develop new onset diabetes (primarily Type 2) or be prescribed medication to control their blood sugar." ... Another study, published recently in Diabetologia and based on records from a nationwide primary care database in Germany, found those recovered from COVID-19 had a 28% greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes than people who never had COVID-19." (more) https://myemail.constantcontact.com/COVID-19-Updates---March-22--2022.html?soid=1107826135286&aid=Dt-VqO_r2xk

Today's updated past two weeks COVID trends chart (March 15-28) from the MoPH: From left to right: serious COVID cases hospitalized, COVID cases requiring intubation, daily new COVID deaths, and 14-day running average of new official COVID cases. In short, most of the key trends continue to be gradually upward, though the daily deaths have been fluctuating. As reported earlier in this thread, today's numbers for serious COVID hospitalizations and intubations both once again set new record highs for 2022. The current number of serious COVID hospitalizations right now is almost one-third (and rising) of the peak numbers reached during last year's Delta wave. But the current numbers of COVID intubations is almost 60% of last year's peak Delta tally. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/530718738546455/?type=3 In red at the bottom of the middle chart, MoPH also is saying that 75 of today's 81 newly reported COVID deaths (92%) had not had their third dose COVID booster shot.

Yep, those are the raw numbers... Here's member @Eaglekott 's chart of the highest per capita rates by province: In reality, Bangkok isn't always the worst when it comes to COVID, even though it has (always has) the most raw numbers of cases, because it also has by far the largest population. The chart below shows the COVID new case rates adjusted for population size.

In the U.S., COVID deaths earlier this year were running about 10 times higher than the historical death rates from seasonal respiratory viruses such as the flu... "In years past, as many as 1,150 people died weekly from respiratory viruses like flu and RSV without the implementation emergency mitigation measures. However, Covid’s death toll remains about 10 times higher with 12,000 people succumbing to the virus some weeks, according to the report." https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/07/us-far-from-normal-with-covid-deaths-10-times-higher-than-flu-rsv-report.html Right now, I believe, the U.S. is still running about 7,000 COVID deaths per week (1,000+ per day) even as deaths have come down, so still 6+ times the historical rates for flu and seasonal virus deaths. And that report's cite of U.S. flu deaths referenced the higher end of what the annual figures have been in past years, with the lower end being down to 30,000-40,000 flu deaths per year (577 to 770 per week).

Total official new COVID cases and newly reported deaths both declined on Monday, while COVID cases hospitalized in serious condition and those requiring intubation to breathe both rose again to set new record highs for the year. Monday, March 28, 2022 Update 24,635 newly reported official COVID cases classified as: --24,601 domestic patients --34 travelers from abroad A decrease from 25,821 official new cases reported yesterday (not uncommon for weekend reports), and below the year's high thus far of 27,071 from March 18. An increase from the 23,441 new cases reported one week ago Combined official cases and unofficial cases via positive ATK tests declined to 38,835, but remained slightly above the comparable figure from one week ago of 38,618 A total of 1,330,285 official COVID cases (since Jan. 1, 2022) --------------------- 250,737 COVID patients currently being treated, a decline from the prior record 251,936 reported yesterday --------------------- 81 new COVID deaths, down from 84 yesterday, below the daily record high for COVID deaths during 2022 of 88 on March 21 -------------------- 1,718 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia, setting a new daily record high for 2022 and passing the prior yearly high of 1,672 reported yesterday Nationwide average of 22 people per province (77 provinces) hospitalized in serious condition with COVID The number of currently hospitalized COVID patients requiring intubation to breathe rose again to 675, setting a new daily record for 2022, and passing the prior yearly high of 644 set yesterday. National hospital bed occupancy rate of 27.8% ------------------------ 25,753 COVID cases newly recovered 1,109,609 total recovered COVID cases (since Jan. 1, 2022) https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/530596191892043 For added context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and intubated patients peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.

77 of the 84 new COVID deaths (almost 92%) reported by the TH MoPH on Sunday had NOT received their third booster vaccine shot. How healthy was that??? Or this kind of data from the U.S. CDC showing how vaccinations (and especially the third booster dose) substantially reduce the risk of being hospitalized with COVID in all age groups: COVID Hospitalizations in unvaccinated vs boosted: COVID Hospitalizations in unvaccinated vs fully vaccinated: Source link

Two week COVID trends chart (March 14-27) from MoPH: From left to right: serious COVID cases hospitalized, COVID cases requiring intubation, new daily COVID deaths, and 14-day average new daily COVID cases. Everything but new deaths continuing a pretty steady upward trend. https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/photos/a.106455480972785/529969431954719/?type=3 In red at the bottom of the middle graph, MoPH is saying 83 of Sunday's newly reported 84 COVID deaths were either age 60 and older (73), or, were under age 60 but had some of eight identified risk factor chronic conditions (10). Also, that 77 of the 84 deaths (almost 92%) had not received their third dose COVID booster shot, meaning the other 7 had. A separate MoPH chart said the median age of Sunday's new COVID deaths was 76 (meaning half the cases were older and the other half were younger), with a range of 6 to 104 years. As is usual, we never are told what happened with the circumstances of the COVID death of a 6-year-old.

The number of currently hospitalized COVID patients requiring intubation to breathe rose again by 4 to 644, setting a new daily record for 2022. The current number of COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition has now risen three-fold since the start of the year, while the number of intubated COVID patients has increased four-fold. Both figures continue to set new daily record highs for the year on an almost daily basis. https://ddc.moph.go.th/covid19-dashboard/?dashboard=main For added context, during the peak of the Delta wave last fall, Thailand's daily COVID case count topped out at 23,418, but the numbers of serious hospital cases and intubated patients peaked above 5,600 and 1,100 respectively, and daily deaths topped 300 for a brief period.

That's why I've been regularly including the week prior comparison whenever talking about daily case counts... ???? And, in that same direction, the govt lately has started producing a regular two-weeks past chart showing the daily trends for key indicators -- serious hospitalizations, intubations, deaths and weekly average case counts. That's a good and useful chart. I hope they continue to produce it daily. So we can continue to post it here.

Sunday, March 27, 2022 Update 25,821 newly reported official COVID cases classified as: --25,765 domestic patients --56 travelers from abroad A decrease from 26,234 official new cases reported yesterday (not uncommon for weekend reports), and below the year's high thus far of 27,071 from March 18. An increase from the 24,996 new cases reported one week ago A total of 1,305,650 official COVID cases (since Jan. 1, 2022) --------------------- 251,936 COVID patients currently being treated, a new record high for 2022, and up from the prior record 250,265 reported yesterday --------------------- 84 new COVID deaths, up from 67 yesterday, just below the daily record high for COVID deaths during 2022 of 88 on March 21 -------------------- 1,672 COVID patients hospitalized in serious condition with pneumonia, setting a new daily record high for 2022 and passing the prior yearly high of 1,619 reported two days ago Nationwide average of 22 people per province (77 provinces) hospitalized in serious condition with COVID The number of currently hospitalized COVID patients requiring intubation to breathe rose again by 4 to 644, setting a new daily record for 2022. National hospital bed occupancy rate of 27.6% ------------------------ 24,066 COVID cases newly recovered 1,083,856 total recovered COVID cases (since Jan. 1, 2022) https://www.facebook.com/informationcovid19/posts/529877851963877

Biden says Putin 'cannot remain in power' President Joe Biden declared forcefully Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin should no longer remain in power, an unabashed challenge that came at the very end of a swing through Europe meant to reinforce Western unity. ... The White House afterward said Biden wasn't calling for regime change... ... Biden, standing along NATO's eastern edge, in Poland, issued a stern warning during his speech, telling Putin: "Don't even think about moving on one single inch of NATO territory." (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-calls-for-regime-change-in-russia-putin-cannot-remain-in-power/ar-AAVw4et There's more elaboration in the full version of the report linked above... But the messaging re Putin here seems not very clear....

Republicans are backing Ukraine in the war. So why is there support for Russia on America's far right? "Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there has been near unanimous denunciation of President Vladimir Putin, from President Joe Biden calling Putin a "war criminal," to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell describing him as a "ruthless thug." But the Ukraine invasion has found a significant pocket of support from prominent figures on the far right including white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who regularly gushes about Putin on his Telegram channel. The war is also a hot topic in QAnon chatrooms where Putin is often portrayed as a hero. ... In Putin, the far right sees a strongman capable of remaking the world order and rejecting liberal values such as gay rights, said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University. (more) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/republicans-are-backing-ukraine-in-the-war-so-why-is-there-support-for-russia-on-america-s-far-right/ar-AAVweuL

You haven't said where your "here" is exactly. But as my posted info above clearly shows, the U.S. at large is a whole different matter, at 1000+ new COVID deaths per day and 2,000 or so new hospitalizations each day. Better, but hardly normal.

I think you need to read my posting history (even one day's worth would do) a bit more closely...

Interesting news on that front from a yet-to-be-peer reviewed study from the University of Hong Kong comparing Sinovac vs Pfizer (the latter still not used in China) for the elderly in Hong Kong that was funded by the Chinese government: "For people 60 and older, two Sinovac doses were 72 percent effective against severe or fatal Covid-19 and 77 percent effective against Covid-related death, the study found. Those levels of protection were lower than those provided by two Pfizer-BioNTech doses. The same study found they were 90 percent effective against severe or fatal Covid and 92 percent effective against death among Hong Kong residents of the same age group. A Sinovac booster shot helped considerably, proving to be 98 percent effective against severe or fatal Covid among people at least 60 years old, the study found." And that rate was comparable to the protection provided by a third booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine, the study found. "The new study from Hong Kong received funding from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention as part of what one of the study’s co-authors described this week as an effort to understand the comparative effectiveness of vaccines. It was posted online as a preprint, but has not yet been vetted by peer scientists for publication in a scientific journal." https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/health/sinovac-coronavirus-booster-hong-kong.html https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.22.22272769v1 http://www.sinovac.com/news/shownews.php?id=1426&lang=en https://seekingalpha.com/news/3816826-sinovac-booster-shows-98-protection-against-deathsevere-covid-in-people-over-60-in-study However, the real shocker didn't get mentioned in any of the news reports above, but was buried in the details of the study itself: "We found two doses of CoronaVac provided no protection against mild/moderate disease across all age groups, with some protection offered by BNT162b2 in younger age groups (VE: 31.0%, 95% CI: 1.6%, 51.7%)." And regarding 3rd dose boosters among younger adults: "Three doses of BNT162b2 was estimated to have a VE of 71.5% (95% CI: 54.5%, 82.1%) against mild/moderate disease in younger adults while for three doses of CoronaVac the VE was estimated as 42.3% (95% CI: 11.4%, 62.4%) against the same outcome.

From the WHO's March 23 weekly COVID update: "there were 33,000 deaths across the globe, with Russia nudging ahead of the United States in reporting the most weekly [COVID] fatalities. At a briefing today, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said several countries are now experiencing their highest death rates of the pandemic, which he said reflects the speed of Omicron spread and the heightened risk in unvaccinated people, especially seniors. "We all want to move on from the pandemic. But no matter how much we wish it away, this pandemic is not over," Tedros said. "Until we reach high vaccination coverage in all countries, we will continue to face the risk of infections surging, and new variants emerging that evade vaccines." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/03/global-covid-19-cases-climb-second-week-row

Anti-vaxers getting sick with COVID? There's a shocker! Dunno about your city, because you haven't mentioned it... But more broadly in the U.S. -- still about one-third of the total population has not been fully (two-shots) vaccinated. And that's worse than Thailand, where the not fully vaccinated share is about 28%. So that leaves a lot of room for unvaccinated people to continue getting sick! Source link

The U.S. CDC has updated their findings for February during the Omicron pandemic that compare COVID hospitalization rates for the unvaccinated vs fully vaccinated vs boosted, as follows: (in short, it pays to get boosted!) Boosted vs unvaccinated: Fully vaccinated vs unvaccinated: Source link "COVID-NET is a population-based surveillance system that collects data on laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among children and adults through a network of over 250 acute-care hospitals in 14 states. Additional data on vaccination status for individual cases are collected and available from COVID-NET catchment areas in 13 of the 14 states. ... These data were posted on March 24, 2022 and reflect hospitalizations through February 26, 2022. COVID-NET hospitalizations data are preliminary and subject to change as more data become available." The following is a narrower snapshot of the same data just for the most recently available week: Age-Adjusted Rates of COVID-19-Associated Hospitalizations by Vaccination Status in Adults Ages ≥18 Years - per 100,000 population: