I feel like I should give a bit of a personalized update of sorts. A lot of you announced in this thread where you live, so I'll be able to give good/bad news based on your area.
19 states have been "Red zoned", which means that they have more than 100 new cases per 100 000 people. 10 of these states (and Washington) also had over 10% of the tests come back positive. Tennessee is one of the states with more than 100 new cases per 100 000 people. Stay safe WizardSpartan. WWolfe, you're in the clear for now. Maryland isn't on the list. If either of you happen to also have kids, see if homeschooling is an option this fall. No one should be going to school in-person.
In Canada, a new algorithm for Covid cases was put into place. Before, a case was only given an "outcome" if the person was either discharged from a hospital, or dead. Now if nothing is heard from the person between 14 and 28 days, it is assumed that the person recovered. As a result, Canada's active cases have dropped to less than 5000 with these new calculations.
It's not all good news for the white north. The "Alaska loophole" allows Americans to cross through Canada, on the condition that they are going to Alaska. However, a lot of Americans are instead staying in Vancouver or Calgary. Fortunately, Marshstepper78 is on the other side of the country.
Ireland is having a problem similar to the Alaska loophole. While most of Europe has banned American travelers, Ireland allows them in on the condition that they self-isolate for 14 days. Guess what's not happening? I don't know which part of the UK you're in CleanBelwas, but this is something to be aware of.
Japan (along with a few other countries) are about to hit their second wave. The number of daily new cases is steadily increasing, and has been for the past month or so. Luckily, despite Japan's high population density, they managed to keep the number of active cases really low the first time. Keep up the good work Slyvester12.
Meanwhile, Finland is putting everyone to shame, with less than 200 active cases. MustaKotka is straight crushing it. I don't actually have anything else to say about Finland, which is
a good thing when we're talking about pandemics.
And now some good news for everyone. The Oxford vaccine was able to trigger an immune response in test subjects, with only slight side effects (light fever and other minor flu symptoms). The actual name of the vaccine is ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, but no one is ever going to say that out loud, so stick to Oxford vaccine. The next stage of the clinical trial will involve increasing the sample size, as well as getting participants from Brazil, South Africa, and the UK. There are also 137 total vaccines on trial, with three of them also in stage 3 of testing. If all goes well for the Oxford vaccine, it should be ready for mass production by the end of this year.
Oh, and unlike a lot of research articles, this one isn't behind a paywall. Here's the link if you're interested.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31604-4/fulltextThis is absolutely good news. Phenomenally good. This is how we beat the pandemic. Produce the vaccine in massive quantities, and get people immunized. Give the virus no avenue for it to spread.
Until then, wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home, and stay safe.