Ambergris

That looks so good.

I've spent a while trying to find gopher apples on my place. They're supposed to be thick as excuses around here, but I haven't identified any. I do have a gracious plenty of bidens, which is a great antiviral, an okay antibiotic, and a better-than-nothing potherb. There's also plenty of wild persimmon, beautyberry, greenbrier, widow's tears, Florida betony, a couple of blackberries, sparkleberry, and two kinds of plantain. I've planted many other herbs, shrubs, vines, and trees, but lost nearly everything to a lack of irrigation and record-breaking heat.

Thank you Miki

Freezing for a few days won't make any difference. Most bug eggs are adapted to endure a hard frost. You need to leave it in there for several weeks. Oven-proofing it is so much faster. I forget the temperature but under 200. You have to be careful about changing flavor.

USA TODAY People hospitalized with COVID-19 now have one overwhelming thing in common. They're not vaccinated. Elizabeth Weise and Aleszu Bajak, USA TODAY Wed, June 16, 2021, 5:38 AM In Minnesota, the HealthPartners system has seen a “precipitous decline” in COVID-19 hospitalizations, says Dr. Mark Sannes, an infectious disease physician and senior medical director for the system, which operates nine hospitals and more than 55 clinics. But now, nearly every admitted patient he does see is unvaccinated. “Less than 1% of our hospitalized COVID patients are vaccinated," he said. In Ohio, at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, only 2% of the COVID-19 patients admitted in the last month were vaccinated, said Dr. Robert Salata, the hospital's physician-in-chief. And at Sanford Health, which runs 44 medical centers and more than 200 clinics across the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, less than 5% of the 1,456 patients admitted with COVID-19 so far this year were fully vaccinated, said spokesperson Angela Dejene. Falling rates of COVID-19 across the United States mask a harsh reality – the overwhelming majority of those getting sick and being hospitalized today are unvaccinated, while vaccinated people are vanishingly rare. Hospitals in states with the lowest vaccination rates tend to have more COVID-19 patients in intensive care units, according to hospital data collected in the past week by the Department of Health and Human Services and vaccination rates published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wyoming, Missouri, Arkansas and Idaho currently have the highest percentage of COVID-19 patients on average in their ICUs; those states all have vaccinated less than 40% of their population. Medical centers say there's also an obvious change in the age of their sickest patients, as older people are much more likely to be vaccinated than younger. "We're all seeing the same thing – when someone does get sick and comes to the hospital, they're much more likely to be young and unvaccinated," said Dr. Robert Wachter, professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. Cathy Bennett, president and CEO of the New Jersey Hospital Association, said the picture is the same in her state. "As COVID vaccinations rolled out across New Jersey, there’s been a major shift in the ages of patients admitted to the hospital," said Bennett. "Unlike last spring, when those 65 and older accounted for the majority of hospitalizations, we’re now seeing more young people hospitalized with COVID." In Ohio, Salata said the shift should be reassuring, showing the vaccines work. "It sends a very strong message to the hesitancy people out there because the data speaks for itself," he said. 'It's not all about you' Doctors say there are multiple reasons people aren't yet vaccinated. There are the hesitant, who still have questions and sometimes fall prey to misinformation, and the opposed, who often harbor anti-government or anti-science sentiments. "We've had a little success when we've spoken to them on a one-to-one basis. We can give them the information that they need to make their decision," said Dr. Gerald Maloney, chief medical officer for hospital services at Geisinger health network, which runs nine hospitals in Pennsylvania. Some still can't easily access vaccine, either because it's not available nearby or because they can't get time off work. And while the U.S. government paid for all vaccines and vaccinations so no one should be charged, others remain fearful they will be on the financial hook for a shot, Maloney said. Last week, Health and Human Services secretary Secretary Xavier Becerra clarified in a letter that providers may not bill patients for COVID-19 vaccines. There's still a lot of work to be done to create the trust necessary for these groups to embrace vaccination, Maloney said. "The people who say, 'It's my body, my choice?' Well, it's not all about you," he said. "It's also about the people that you're around." At this point, every vaccination is a win, one more person who can't pass the virus along. That's especially true in families where children can't be vaccinated and are still at risk. At Akron Children’s Hospital in Ohio, “we have not seen any kiddos who have been admitted to the hospital who have been vaccinated,” said Dr. Michael Bigham, a pediatric intensivist in the critical care unit. Among children 11 and younger, who can’t yet get the vaccine, having vaccinated family members is keeping them out of the hospital, and protecting them against MIS-C, the multisystem inflammatory syndrome that can be a rare but dangerous aftereffect of a COVID-19 infection in children. “Most of the kids we’re seeing in the hospital with COVID or MIS-C had COVID in their household, maybe a parent or a grandparent, and most of those individuals had not been vaccinated,” he said. The message from health care workers is unanimous: They just aren't seeing many vaccinated people get sick. In New Jersey, the percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations among those ages 18 to 29 has increased 58% since the beginning of the year. By comparison, the percentage of COVID-19 hospitalizations among the 65 and older age group – with a statewide vaccination rate of more than 80% – declined by 31.2%. The numbers are no coincidence, Bennett said. "Vaccination," she said, "works in preventing severe COVID illness."

The Delta/Indian variant now accounts for about 6% of new infections in the US. The Delta variant has already become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the UK. A study by Public Health England found that the Pfizer vaccine is 88% effective against the Delta two weeks after the second shot, but just one dose of the Pfizer vaccine was only 33% effective against this strain. 41% of the people in the UK are fully vaccinated. As of Thursday, only three fully vaccinated people were hospitalized there. There have been hints of trouble in Russia for a week or so. Now they are reporting an upswing in cases, sometimes topping 10,000 cases and averaging 9,200 cases a day, meaning 44 infections per 100k people. Putin says it's nothing to worry about, but he doesn't let out news without a reason. Watch how the new stories develop, and watch how the money flows.

Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 130,648 BRAZIL 62,261 ARGENTINA 29,537 COLOMBIA 26,279 USA 15,491 Countries reporting the most deaths each day INDIA 2,970 BRAZIL 1,685 MEXICO 757 ARGENTINA 536 COLOMBIA 525 (And again the USA is not on this list) How the number of cases changed in the last week For the week ending Sunday, June 6, 2021 CASES TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total cases Per 100K New cases Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 33,522,313 10,097 99,609 30.0 –30.1% Vermont 24,252 3,887 43 6.9 –58.3% New Hampshire 98,877 7,272 151 11.1 –64.3% South Dakota 124,261 14,046 99 11.2 –60.6% Nebraska 223,558 11,557 254 13.1 –39.5% Maryland 460,789 7,622 800 13.2 –46.9% Virginia 676,741 7,929 1,349 15.8 –42.9% California 3,796,336 9,608 6,394 16.2 –46.0% Massachusetts 708,083 10,273 1,138 16.5 –36.9% Connecticut 347,748 9,754 611 17.1 –24.8% Oklahoma 453,552 11,462 775 19.6 –18.2% Wisconsin 675,150 11,596 1,147 19.7 –27.5% New Jersey 1,017,904 11,460 1,769 19.9 –13.6% South Carolina 594,130 11,539 1,038 20.2 –50.8% New York State 2,093,759 10,763 3,977 20.4 –36.7% Tennessee 863,840 12,649 1,439 21.1 –37.9% Iowa 402,489 12,757 706 22.4 –23.2% Minnesota 602,686 10,687 1,302 23.1 –50.3% Ohio 1,104,648 9,450 2,714 23.2 –41.4% Rhode Island 151,992 14,348 249 23.5 –48.7% Georgia 1,128,931 10,633 2,558 24.1 –30.2% Washington, D.C. 49,068 6,953 170 24.1 +13.3% Hawaii 36,616 2,586 370 26.1 –2.4% Mississippi 318,189 10,691 782 26.3 –31.1% Illinois 1,387,648 10,951 3,592 28.3 –41.8% Pennsylvania 1,210,213 9,453 3,773 29.5 –39.5% Kansas 314,855 10,808 858 29.5 –14.2% Michigan 994,935 9,962 2,994 30.0 –45.6% New Mexico 203,472 9,704 651 31.0 –31.7% Delaware 109,126 11,207 305 31.3 –33.1% North Carolina 1,004,669 9,579 3,515 33.5 –34.9% North Dakota 110,199 14,461 264 34.6 –20.5% Texas 2,959,933 10,208 10,021 34.6 –12.0% Alaska 70,469 9,633 261 35.7 –14.7% Arkansas 342,433 11,347 1,082 35.9 –10.9% Missouri 620,299 10,107 2,247 36.6 –30.8% Maine 68,232 5,076 494 36.8 –34.9% Arizona 883,821 12,143 2,732 37.5 –37.3% Oregon 202,995 4,813 1,735 41.1 –32.5% Florida 2,329,867 10,848 9,049 42.1 –13.7% Montana 112,260 10,504 451 42.2 –25.6% Indiana 746,972 11,096 2,859 42.5 –18.5% Idaho 192,795 10,788 783 43.8 –17.1% Alabama 545,585 11,127 2,180 44.5 +70.2% Kentucky 460,412 10,305 2,137 47.8 –14.0% Louisiana 472,981 10,174 2,296 49.4 –20.0% Utah 407,642 12,715 1,615 50.4 +4.2% West Virginia 162,232 9,052 945 52.7 –39.1% Nevada 325,392 10,564 1,644 53.4 +17.8% Washington 440,057 5,779 4,208 55.3 –49.6% Colorado 546,874 9,496 3,985 69.2 –27.4% Puerto Rico 268,596 8,410 2,453 76.8 –7.3% Wyoming 60,623 10,475 479 82.8 –1.0% Deaths in the last week For the week ending Sunday, June 6, 2021 DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 597,462 180 2,708 0.8 –40.0% Alaska 369 50 0 0.0 N/A California 62,735 159 -192 0.0 correction Nebraska 2,249 116 0 0.0 –100.0% New Hampshire 1,355 100 2 0.1 –77.8% Vermont 256 41 1 0.2 N/A Wyoming 720 124 1 0.2 –83.3% Kansas 5,084 175 8 0.3 –57.9% Utah 2,311 72 10 0.3 –9.1% South Carolina 9,754 189 22 0.4 –54.2% Connecticut 8,245 231 15 0.4 –16.7% Hawaii 505 36 5 0.4 –16.7% Nevada 5,600 182 14 0.5 –58.8% Mississippi 7,325 246 15 0.5 –51.6% Oregon 2,691 64 23 0.5 –50.0% Tennessee 12,476 183 35 0.5 –42.6% North Dakota 1,516 199 4 0.5 –20.0% Iowa 6,072 193 17 0.5 –15.0% Arkansas 5,846 194 14 0.5 –6.7% Maryland 9,645 160 38 0.6 –93.7% Oklahoma 7,316 185 25 0.6 –93.3% Puerto Rico 2,519 79 18 0.6 –33.3% Massachusetts 17,911 260 39 0.6 –20.4% Washington, D.C. 1,136 161 4 0.6 –20.0% Idaho 2,101 118 11 0.6 +10.0% North Carolina 13,151 125 73 0.7 –39.2% Minnesota 7,465 132 39 0.7 –30.4% Virginia 11,236 132 63 0.7 –6.0% New Mexico 4,280 204 17 0.8 –87.1% New Jersey 26,279 296 72 0.8 –37.9% Louisiana 10,615 228 39 0.8 –27.8% Texas 51,937 179 232 0.8 –16.2% New York State 53,132 273 149 0.8 –2.0% Rhode Island 2,717 257 9 0.8 +125.0% Colorado 6,770 118 52 0.9 –39.5% Washington 5,836 77 71 0.9 +12.7% Florida 37,717 176 205 1.0 –32.8% Ohio 19,980 171 119 1.0 –21.7% Missouri 9,495 155 61 1.0 –17.6% Indiana 13,685 203 65 1.0 –3.0% Arizona 17,700 243 72 1.0 –1.4% Maine 839 62 14 1.0 +180.0% Pennsylvania 27,408 214 145 1.1 –16.2% Alabama 11,198 228 52 1.1 +52.9% West Virginia 2,813 157 21 1.2 +5.0% Illinois 25,352 200 167 1.3 –9.2% Georgia 20,986 198 149 1.4 –15.3% South Dakota 2,022 229 12 1.4 +33.3% Delaware 1,677 172 16 1.6 +700.0% Montana 1,632 153 19 1.8 +90.0% Michigan 20,588 206 212 2.1 –10.2% Wisconsin 7,954 137 124 2.1 +51.2% Kentucky 7,091 159 309 6.9 +368.2% People in hospitals in the last week For the week ending Sunday, June 6, 2021 CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED State Avg. this week Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 19,975 6 –12.8% Vermont 2 0 –70.7% New Hampshire 30 2 –35.6% Connecticut 94 3 –24.4% Alaska 19 3 +11.5% Iowa 90 3 –19.7% Hawaii 39 3 –8.1% Oklahoma 116 3 –18.5% Puerto Rico 97 3 –26.1% Massachusetts 205 3 –17.5% Nebraska 63 3 –15.1% California 1,337 3 –6.5% North Dakota 28 4 –27.3% Wisconsin 238 4 –13.7% Kansas 119 4 +0.1% South Dakota 39 4 –19.6% Utah 142 4 –3.9% South Carolina 232 5 –14.2% Rhode Island 48 5 –28.2% Minnesota 262 5 –23.4% Delaware 47 5 –18.3% New York State 949 5 –22.2% New Mexico 103 5 –13.0% Maryland 323 5 –20.3% Oregon 227 5 –15.0% Montana 57 5 –11.5% Virginia 465 5 –9.7% Alabama 263 5 –3.4% Texas 1,590 6 –17.0% New Jersey 500 6 –18.8% Ohio 658 6 –12.0% Mississippi 169 6 –6.9% Maine 78 6 –32.1% North Carolina 623 6 –9.9% Idaho 108 6 –11.2% Arkansas 188 6 –4.1% Louisiana 292 6 +7.2% Tennessee 444 7 –13.8% Kentucky 307 7 –9.0% Washington 536 7 –6.8% Nevada 227 7 –9.5% Wyoming 44 8 –4.0% Arizona 555 8 +1.0% Illinois 999 8 –24.9% Colorado 477 8 –10.2% Florida 1,826 9 –10.0% Washington, D.C. 60 9 –6.5% Georgia 909 9 –14.7% Michigan 928 9 –27.1% Indiana 663 10 –12.7% Pennsylvania 1,315 10 +5.5% West Virginia 189 11 –12.0% Missouri 647 11 –1.3%

Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 137,947 BRAZIL 64,211 ARGENTINA 30,425 COLOMBIA 25,068 USA 15,687 Countries reporting the most deaths each day INDIA 3,081 BRAZIL 1,685 MEXICO 815 ARGENTINA 530 COLOMBIA 526 Notice Mexico: the new country on the list.

NY Post: Fears have been sparked after cases of deadly black fungus from the Indian COVID variant have been found outside India. Medics in Chile reported a case of virus-related fungus, with scientists in Uruguay logging a patient there suffering with the condition. The Chilean Society of Infectology said: “Cases of fungal infections have been detected since the start of the pandemic but the frequency has increased and serious cases have risen.” India, which is being ravaged by variants, is battling hundreds of black fungus infections. About 750 patients in Delhi have been recorded, and more than 50 deaths. The rare condition is caused by molds known as mucromycetes which can kill people whose immune systems are weak. When the spores – which occur naturally in the environment — are breathed in, they attack the lungs and sinuses before spreading to the face and the brain. Mucormycosis causes blurred or double vision, chest pain and breathing difficulties. It is thought the condition has exploded in India due to a lack of drugs available to treat it. Patients with suppressed immune systems are most at risk — and scientists fear a rise in infections is being triggered by steroids used to treat ill COVID patients. Medics in India are now seeing around five or six cases a day, but would usually see three or four a year. It comes after we told how thousands of patients in India have had their eyes removed after an outbreak of black fungus. Around 60 percent of patients treated in hospital have had at least one eye removed after the second wave of coronavirus caused an explosion of the creeping fungal disease. “In this battle of ours, another new challenge of black fungus has also emerged these days,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Friday. India has the second-highest tally of COVID-19 cases in the world and has been reporting around 250,000 infections and 4,000 deaths daily. Mucormycosis mainly affects people who have health problems or take medicines that lower the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness. It can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals, such as patients with cancer or organ donor recipients. In COVID patients, it’s more prevalent in patients who are on ventilatory support. Doctors think this may be due to the use of steroid drugs, which are used to treat severely ill COVID patients. Steroids reduce inflammation caused by an overactive immune response fight off coronavirus. It comes as the Indian variant threatens UK ministers plans to scrap social distancing, but keep face masks and work from home guidance in place after June 21. The mutation is behind almost three quarters of all cases in the UK and has been found in more than 250 of England’s 300-plus authorities. But the success of the UK’s vaccine rollout is believed to be responsible for recent low death tolls — despite rising cases of the Indian mutation in the UK.

Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 164,291 BRAZIL 61,467 ARGENTINA 32,915 COLOMBIA 23,115 USA 17,552 Countries reporting the most deaths each day INDIA 3,388 BRAZIL 1,881 USA 604 ARGENTINA 525 COLOMBIA 519 Where the population has been vaccinated Most recent data as of May 30, 2021 State First dose Fully vaccinated Total doses United States 50.8% 41.0% 296,912,892 Vermont 70.7% 56.6% 778,794 Hawaii 66.9% 47.8% 1,592,196 Massachusetts 66.7% 54.0% 8,081,349 Maine 63.6% 55.0% 1,493,486 Connecticut 63.5% 53.7% 4,048,712 Rhode Island 61.2% 51.9% 1,166,826 New Jersey 60.6% 49.1% 9,150,101 New Hampshire 60.1% 49.6% 1,406,869 Pennsylvania 58.6% 43.9% 12,648,220 New Mexico 57.9% 48.0% 2,154,695 Maryland 57.6% 48.2% 6,163,133 Washington, D.C. 57.2% 46.5% 791,412 California 57.0% 43.3% 38,517,344 Washington 56.9% 46.9% 7,681,161 New York State 56.0% 47.2% 19,761,096 Virginia 55.5% 45.5% 8,403,979 Illinois 55.2% 40.2% 11,718,643 Oregon 55.1% 45.6% 4,087,801 Delaware 54.9% 43.5% 944,812 Minnesota 54.5% 46.2% 5,429,911 Colorado 54.4% 45.6% 5,640,374 Wisconsin 51.2% 44.6% 5,489,190 Puerto Rico 51.1% 37.4% 2,721,924 Iowa 49.4% 44.0% 2,854,445 Florida 49.4% 39.3% 18,864,968 Michigan 48.9% 42.3% 8,720,932 Nebraska 48.6% 42.5% 1,706,314 South Dakota 48.3% 42.5% 777,353 Kansas 46.9% 38.5% 2,330,805 Kentucky 46.5% 38.6% 3,657,162 Arizona 46.4% 36.2% 5,983,627 Alaska 46.2% 39.4% 612,892 Ohio 46.0% 40.3% 9,930,040 Nevada 45.8% 37.0% 2,518,129 Utah 45.3% 32.5% 2,589,348 Montana 45.3% 38.4% 868,824 Texas 44.4% 35.7% 23,095,348 North Carolina 43.5% 36.2% 8,164,473 Missouri 42.3% 34.5% 4,689,451 North Dakota 42.2% 36.6% 614,692 Indiana 41.9% 35.5% 5,120,352 Oklahoma 41.6% 33.8% 2,962,779 South Carolina 41.0% 33.9% 3,786,610 West Virginia 40.9% 34.1% 1,319,864 Georgia 39.9% 32.1% 7,610,659 Arkansas 39.6% 31.3% 2,083,064 Tennessee 39.3% 31.9% 4,862,445 Idaho 37.7% 32.9% 1,240,621 Wyoming 37.2% 32.0% 397,488 Alabama 36.1% 29.3% 3,025,283 Louisiana 35.9% 31.4% 3,095,398 Mississippi 34.3% 27.4% 1,786,563 How the number of cases changed in the last week For the week ending Sunday, May 30, 2021 CASES TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total cases Per 100K New cases Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 33,422,704 10,067 142,500 42.9 –20.7% Vermont 24,209 3,880 103 16.5 –53.8% Washington, D.C. 48,898 6,929 150 21.3 –26.1% Nebraska 223,304 11,544 420 21.7 –23.5% Connecticut 347,137 9,737 812 22.8 –39.8% New Jersey 1,016,135 11,440 2,047 23.0 –38.5% Oklahoma 452,777 11,443 947 23.9 –3.7% Maryland 459,989 7,609 1,506 24.9 –34.1% Alabama 543,405 11,083 1,281 26.1 –37.2% Massachusetts 706,945 10,257 1,803 26.2 –41.9% Hawaii 36,246 2,560 379 26.8 –82.0% Wisconsin 674,003 11,576 1,581 27.2 –42.6% Virginia 675,392 7,913 2,363 27.7 –16.9% South Dakota 124,162 14,035 251 28.4 –6.0% Iowa 401,783 12,735 919 29.1 –33.1% California 3,789,942 9,592 11,843 30.0 +45.1% New Hampshire 98,726 7,261 423 31.1 –32.5% New York State 2,089,782 10,742 6,281 32.3 –32.3% Tennessee 862,401 12,628 2,317 33.9 –23.5% Kansas 313,997 10,778 1,000 34.3 –22.6% Georgia 1,126,373 10,609 3,663 34.5 –16.9% Mississippi 317,407 10,665 1,135 38.1 –27.3% Texas 2,949,912 10,174 11,391 39.3 –7.7% Ohio 1,101,934 9,427 4,634 39.6 –27.7% Arkansas 341,351 11,311 1,214 40.2 –10.4% South Carolina 593,092 11,519 2,111 41.0 –11.6% Alaska 70,208 9,597 306 41.8 –30.1% North Dakota 109,935 14,426 332 43.6 –33.5% Nevada 323,748 10,511 1,396 45.3 –23.0% New Mexico 202,821 9,673 953 45.4 –21.8% Rhode Island 151,743 14,324 485 45.8 –44.4% Minnesota 601,384 10,664 2,618 46.4 –39.7% Delaware 108,821 11,175 456 46.8 –66.6% Utah 406,027 12,665 1,550 48.3 –18.8% Illinois 1,384,056 10,922 6,170 48.7 –33.4% Pennsylvania 1,206,440 9,424 6,238 48.7 –35.2% Florida 2,320,818 10,806 10,483 48.8 –42.8% North Carolina 1,001,154 9,546 5,400 51.5 –15.8% Indiana 744,113 11,053 3,507 52.1 –25.8% Idaho 192,012 10,745 944 52.8 –18.6% Missouri 618,052 10,070 3,247 52.9 +3.3% Michigan 991,941 9,933 5,506 55.1 –45.5% Kentucky 458,275 10,258 2,485 55.6 –23.6% Maine 67,738 5,039 759 56.5 –40.0% Montana 111,809 10,461 606 56.7 +17.0% Arizona 881,089 12,105 4,357 59.9 +16.1% Oregon 201,260 4,772 2,571 61.0 –14.4% Louisiana 470,685 10,125 2,870 61.7 –3.8% Puerto Rico 266,143 8,333 2,647 82.9 –9.7% Wyoming 60,144 10,392 484 83.6 –16.7% West Virginia 161,287 9,000 1,552 86.6 +22.5% Colorado 542,889 9,427 5,488 95.3 –3.7% Washington 435,849 5,724 8,355 109.7 +73.0% deaths in the last week For the week ending Sunday, May 30, 2021 DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 594,754 179 4,514 1.4 +13.7% Alaska 369 50 0 0.0 –100.0% Vermont 255 41 0 0.0 –100.0% Nebraska 2,249 116 1 0.1 –111.1% Delaware 1,661 171 2 0.2 –75.0% Utah 2,301 72 11 0.3 –65.6% Maine 825 61 5 0.4 –72.2% Rhode Island 2,708 256 4 0.4 +0% Hawaii 500 35 6 0.4 +200.0% Connecticut 8,230 231 18 0.5 –53.8% Arkansas 5,832 193 15 0.5 –34.8% Iowa 6,055 192 20 0.6 –31.0% Idaho 2,090 117 10 0.6 –9.1% Alabama 11,146 227 34 0.7 –54.1% Massachusetts 17,872 259 49 0.7 –30.0% Washington, D.C. 1,132 160 5 0.7 –28.6% New Hampshire 1,353 100 9 0.7 –25.0% Kansas 5,076 174 19 0.7 +0% North Dakota 1,512 198 5 0.7 +66.7% Puerto Rico 2,501 78 27 0.8 –25.0% Virginia 11,173 131 67 0.8 –23.9% Washington 5,765 76 63 0.8 –17.1% New York State 52,983 272 152 0.8 –14.1% California 62,927 159 325 0.8 +21.3% Tennessee 12,441 182 61 0.9 –10.3% South Carolina 9,732 189 48 0.9 +54.8% Montana 1,613 151 10 0.9 +100.0% Minnesota 7,426 132 56 1.0 –24.3% Arizona 17,628 242 73 1.0 –18.0% South Dakota 2,010 227 9 1.0 –10.0% Indiana 13,620 202 67 1.0 –8.2% Texas 51,705 178 277 1.0 –1.1% Mississippi 7,310 246 31 1.0 +24.0% Wyoming 719 124 6 1.0 +500.0% North Carolina 13,078 125 120 1.1 +25.0% Oregon 2,668 63 46 1.1 +31.4% Nevada 5,586 181 34 1.1 +54.5% West Virginia 2,792 156 20 1.1 +81.8% Missouri 9,434 154 74 1.2 –49.3% Louisiana 10,576 228 54 1.2 +22.7% Ohio 19,861 170 152 1.3 –16.0% New Jersey 26,207 295 116 1.3 –10.8% Florida 37,512 175 305 1.4 –25.4% Pennsylvania 27,263 213 173 1.4 –21.4% Wisconsin 7,830 135 82 1.4 +127.8% Illinois 25,185 199 184 1.5 –10.7% Kentucky 6,782 152 66 1.5 +10.0% Colorado 6,718 117 86 1.5 +22.9% Georgia 20,837 196 176 1.7 +13.5% Michigan 20,376 204 236 2.4 –32.6% New Mexico 4,263 203 132 6.3 +633.3% Oklahoma 7,291 184 373 9.4 +832.5% Maryland 9,607 159 600 9.9 +669.2%

New reported infections May 30 7-day average Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 175,167 BRAZIL 60,685 ARGENTINA 31,378 COLOMBIA 22,432 USA 17,361 Countries reporting the most deaths each day INDIA 3,523 BRAZIL 1,848 USA 606 ARGENTINA 516 COLOMBIA 510 In trouble: Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Cambodia, and really most of the poor and/or densely populated places in Asia and the Middle East; Bolivia and Paraguay(thinly populated, isolated, and thus protected until now), Uruguay (a tropical jewel city/state with a tiny country around it, basically), Argentina, Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil; Angola, Namibia, Uganda, Egypt, Burundi, maybe others in Africa; Fiji and still Papua New Guinea. Today is one of the days when India is reporting one of every three cases of Covid that is reported in the world. Which might be about as accurate as when the US was reporting one out of three cases that was being reported in the world. More accurate? Less accurate? Who knows? At least we can compare the ups and downs in these numbers. Also, we have hospital figures and death figures, which are much more concrete. On May 26, the US reported 1000 new deaths. On May 28, the US reported 634, which is close to the average of the prior couple of weeks. This indicates a correction of paperwork on May 26, because an actual uptick in deaths would have lasted more than one day. Bear in mind this correction will, like a leap year, mess up the week's average.

link is now broken

Mon, May 31, 2021 WHO wants Covid variants to be given Greek alphabet names Global health leaders have announced new names for Covid-19 variants using letters of the Greek alphabet. Many variants of Sars-CoV-2 - the virus that causes Covid-19 - have been identified around the world. They include B.1.1.7, known in the UK as the Kent variant and around the world as the UK variant - but now labelled by the WHO as Alpha. The B.1.617.2 variant, often known as the Indian variant, has been labelled Delta, while B.1.351, often referred to as the South African variant, has been named Beta. The P.1 Brazilian variant has been labelled Gamma.

Three and a half years to full retirement, with a pension. Where else do you get a full pension these days? I have today off to handle the usual three appointments. Two of the doctors have cancelled out --of course!!!-- so I've been trying to get a work-in with another, but it's not looking good.

I'm going back to my old job in two months. This new job has ranged from wonderful to weeks of the kind of stress that my post-concussion brain and herniated spine can't quite handle any more. At least I've been working at home, right? But now people have been ordered back to the office in stages, and everyone is supposed to be back in the office--right downtown, with all that congestion--barring ADA paperwork that I don't quite have because of my neurologist's office being so disorganized. The office took four months (two months from the date of being handed a card) to find the phone number of the right mail-in pharmacy for the largest insurance company in town. I've been handed inadequate or incomplete paperwork more than once, and how they whine when told that! I'll be working split weeks: some days in the office (not all the way downtown) and some at home, and maybe shorter days in the office to accommodate the back issues. Also, I've been shorting myself on medical care because the doctors have been shuffling appointments due to illness or whatnot, and I have been unable to keep up with them because my work schedule is very strict and planned out three and four weeks ahead. Back at my old job, I'll be able to take off half a day for a medical appointment with a minute's notice unless something special is going on. The flip side is that the work itself is very much harder, and "Excellence is the minimum; perfection is expected." I'm also told the work has changed, and that it's harder than it was . . .

Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 194,953 BRAZIL 60,594 ARGENTINA 31,083 COLOMBIA 21,753 USA 21,422 Countries reporting the most deaths each day INDIA 3,815 BRAZIL 1,836 USA 655 COLOMBIA 503 ARGENTINA 490

For the week ending May 29, the US has averaged 21,422 reported new cases per day, 655 deaths per day, 23,358 hospitalizations per day attributed to Covid. Remember the flu season we didn't have? Well, the southern hemisphere isn't having one either. This means the flu shots for next year will be much more of a dice roll than usual, because the usual thing is that next year's northern hemisphere shots are based on this year's southern hemisphere flu variant. Which there isn't one.

150 is only about medium well done. This is okay for pork you lovingly hand-raised, but in these days of uncertainty, I want my bought pork to be well-done. That means 160 degrees at least, and 165 is better. For a 1-inch thick slab, broil each side for 12-15 minutes, then check the temperature. The brine will have removed color, remember. Let it rest before serving.

Yes, Jeepers. I have been watching Al Jazeera and the South China Morning Post for a couple of months, waiting to see where this would show up. I expected it in Egypt actually, but Vietnam was on my second-tier short list. The Chinese Synopharm vaccine is only about 30% useful in females against the Indian variant, it seems, so Vietnam rejecting it is just as well. Looks like the Synopharm vaccine would be next to useless against something with Indian resistance and hybrid vigor. Hopefully, the Vietnamese vaccine will be better than the oak leaf pills my great great grandfather peddled.

Per Scientific American, the black fungus has long been known to be "...particularly ferocious in patients with uncontrolled diabetes." In India, One adult in eight has diabetes, most of which is poorly controlled. S. P. Kalantri, a professor of medicine at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and medical superintendent of its hospital, says, "When these patients test COVID-positive, they often are prescribed high-dose steroids, often in the first week. Irrational and unscientific treatment of COVID is extremely common.” Identifying black fungus early can be difficult. It doesn't show up on a blood test. Diagnosis requires a biopsy and follow-up, which can be prohibitively expensive if it is available at all. Also, antifungal drugs are in short supply in India, according to news reports, and they may be unaffordable for most. There are relatively few categories of antifungals, and while some have been available for decades, newer versions that are less toxic to patients are expensive and scarce. For the preferred drug, “one-day therapy costs 30,000 rupees (about $410), a catastrophic health expenditure for 99 percent of Indians,” Kalantri says. “The therapy often lasts for weeks and requires an intravenous infusion, admission to the hospital and close monitoring of the kidney function.” It is not possible, at this point, to predict an end to the shadow epidemic of black fungus, though greater awareness of patients’ vulnerability may allow physicians in India to recognize cases earlier. For now, it remains one more way in which the pandemic caught the world by surprise and one more illustration of how its worst effects have fallen hardest on countries that can afford them least.

A large part of what's killing people in India is the black fungus, which is eating their sinuses and lungs out. It starts from the inhalers given to open the lungs, which can cause overgrowth of ordinary tongue/tonsil stuff, and can be boosted by recycled oxygen equipment that hasn't been adequately sanitized. The black fungus has a rarer subtype called yellow fungus, and there's also a so-called white fungus that is really candida. We know about candida, right? This is raging candida that is causing multiple perforations of the intestines, among other things. The black fungus that goes from the throat to the sinuses can go straight from the sinuses to the brain, and if untreated from the sinuses has about a fifty-percent fatality rate. Somehow I don't think it would be as much of a problem in the US.

As noted above, the count of Indian-variant has doubled in the past week in the England part of the UK, although they're asking whether finding is a factor of people looking harder. Well, on the one hand--obviously. And on the other hand--not likely. They won't find what's not there, and they won't "find" what they don't choose to label. (Yes, Boris Johnson has been accused of undercounting too.) One of the towns reporting the most infections of the Indian variant is Bolton, part of Manchester in the north of England. One hallmark of the Indian variant there is that it's hitting younger people. But is that unusual? Here's a chart:

And, the moment we've all been waiting for: Vietnam has found a hybrid between the UK variant and the Indian variant. It is reportedly faster and stronger and more resistant than either. The South China Morning Post and the Viet Nam Express reported first, and now western papers are picking up the news. Fun, fun.

One of the graphs I don't usually go by has a huge spike in Maryland for this week. I'm hoping they settled a backlog of cases. I'll know more in a couple of days.

NBC May 25, 2021 By Akshay Syal Of the more than 130 million people in the United States who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, there have been reports of at least 10,262 breakthrough infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A breakthrough infection occurs when someone tests positive for coronavirus more than 14 days after the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or the single Johnson & Johnson shot. Roughly a quarter of the breakthrough cases didn’t have symptoms — they were likely detected through routine testing, the CDC found in a report released Tuesday. Of 955 people who were hospitalized, about a third were in the hospital for reasons unrelated to Covid-19, or were asymptomatic. About 160 people, or 2 percent, died. Twenty eight of the deaths were unrelated to Covid-19. The CDC didn’t report whether the people had underlying conditions or comorbidities such as obesity. The majority of the breakthrough infections were women, 63 percent, and a majority of the patients were 40 to 74 years old. The report cautions, however, that these cases are likely an underestimate because most people who have been fully vaccinated aren't being regularly tested. Recently, the CDC said that, with some exceptions, people who are fully vaccinated don’t need a coronavirus test, even if they’ve been exposed to the virus, unless they show symptoms. On May 1, the CDC stopped regularly reporting on mild breakthrough infections so it could focus on investigating only cases severe enough to cause hospitalization or death. However, it's still working with local governments to understand whether variants are linked to infections after vaccination. Through genomic sequencing, the CDC found that several variants of concern played a role in most of the breakthrough cases. The B.1.1.7 variant first identified in the U.K. was linked to 57 percent of cases, and a quarter were due to the B.1.429, first found in California. A small percentage of sequenced cases were caused by the P.1 from Brazil and the B.1.315 first identified in South Africa. The proportion of cases due to variants of concern has also been similar to the proportion of these variants circulating throughout the country, the authors wrote. It’s too soon to know which variants are more likely to result in breakthrough infections, but Dr. Carlos del Rio found the report “reassuring”. “Breakthrough infections will happen as vaccines are not 100 percent effective,” del Rio, a professor of medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine, said in an email. Del Rio took away a few things from the report: Many breakthrough infections were asymptomatic, many hospitalized patients were there for reasons unrelated to the virus, and overall there were very few deaths. In the cases that tested positive after full vaccination, Del Rio added that he would have liked to see information about the cycle threshold of the cases, a value that provides information about the amount of virus that patients were carrying. He suspects many would likely not be infectious due to low viral loads in their systems.