Ambergris

This business with the J&J vaccine is concerning in no small part because they have been lying about the problems. At one point, they said they were pulling it because of specific problems, enumerated and detailed, that did not include blood clots in these specific places. Now, suddenly, there were blood clots in those specific places after all. Keep the lies consistent, people!

Some brambles are primocane, and some are floricane. Primocanes send out canes that flower and fruit in one year, so you can mow them down once they fruit. Floricanes fruit on year-old wood, so you have to wait and prune out canes after they fruit, but you have to leave this year's vines to grow so they will flower and fruit next year. Whoever tells you to pull out your plants every year probably wants to sell new plants.

Specifically, 11 people out of 1700 at one site reported nausea and dizziness. Countrywide, a handful fainted. "Severe side effects" are not named for a reason. Anyone who's spent much time around a vaccination site has seen people go green just looking at needles, has heard people wail when swabbed with the alcohol prep pad.

Now that younger women are getting it, the vaccine, particularly Moderna, is being associated with period irregularities. The Moderna is often causing spotting and causing women well past their twenties to "gush" like they did back then. Less often, women report skipping or lighter periods. Here's a group of Reddit threads, if you want to track some:

Experts are debating whether a so-called fourth wave is upon us. It’s a race between the vaccines and the variants, they say. But the truth is a bit more complicated — and perhaps a bit less scary. Zooming in on California, Florida and Michigan helps explain why. These big states have some things in common. All three previously experienced large waves of infection. All three have at least partially vaccinated about a third of their residents, with California at 35 percent, Michigan at 31 percent and Florida at 31 percent, in line with the U.S. overall. And all three appear to be rife with variants; nationwide, Florida, Michigan and California currently rank No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6, respectively, in the number of B.1.1.7 cases detected to date. Yet their COVID-19 outbreaks couldn’t be more different. On one end of the spectrum is California. “California now has the lowest positivity rate in the country,” Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted Monday, and he’s right: Just 1 percent of the state’s COVID tests are coming back positive at the moment, half the rate of the next closest state. New cases (current average: 2,700 per day) have fallen to their lowest level since last June, and hospitalizations (current average: 2,500) are lower than they’ve been since last April, at the very start of the pandemic. On Tuesday, Newsom announced that California — which has spent the last few months steadily advancing through a tiered reopening system while keeping its public mask mandate in effect — will “fully” reopen on June 15 if current trends continue. Florida is closer to the center of the spectrum. There, masks are not mandatory, bars and restaurants have been open for months — and test positivity (9.5 percent) is more than nine times as high as California’s, with a daily case count that’s twice as high in absolute terms (5,500, on average) and nearly four times as high on a per capita basis. Infections are also heading in the wrong direction, rising 20 percent over the last two weeks — just like the U.S. as a whole. Hospitalizations may be starting to tick up as well. And then there’s Michigan. The Great Lakes State is currently suffering through the worst COVID outbreak in America. Over the last two weeks, Michigan’s average number of new daily cases has soared by 88 percent, to 6,700, and hospitalizations have risen even more (114 percent). The percentage of residents currently hospitalized in Michigan is five times as high as in California and nearly twice as high as in Florida. Statewide, hospitalizations have been doubling every 12 to 14 days for the last three weeks, and the absolute increase in hospitalizations over the last week — about 1,000 patients — represents the biggest weekly change since the spring 2020 surge. Unless something changes soon, Michigan is on track to surpass its winter peak for cases and hospitalizations later this month. So how to account for the enormous differences right now among the COVID outbreaks in California, Florida and Michigan? All three have a relatively high level of variant spread. All three have the same level of vaccination. It doesn’t compute to say the only two factors here — the only two contestants in the race — are variants and vaccines. There’s more going on. What exactly is going on, however, is harder to unravel. Democrats might credit Newsom’s more cautious approach, citing GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rush to fully reopen indoor drinking and dining late last year — and the spring-break revelry it invited — as the cause of today’s rising case counts. There’s probably some truth to the idea that California’s caution has helped — mask mandates and capacity limits work — but ultimately viruses aren’t partisan. For instance: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is a Democrat who reopened indoor entertainment venues in December and indoor bars and restaurants in February — later than Florida. Her state’s new daily cases per capita are now two and a half times higher than DeSantis’s. The three other states with the most daily COVID cases — New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — are all run by Democrats, and many of the states with today’s best positivity numbers (Louisiana, Arizona, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana) are run by Republicans. Epidemiologists would go further. They would start by agreeing that reopening always gives the virus an opportunity to spread. But they would also note that now, with pretty much every state approaching full reopening, the key variable is really how prevalent new, more contagious variants have become in particular jurisdictions. Unfortunately, we don’t have that information. To be sure, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can tell us that California has detected 873 B.1.1.7 cases, Michigan has detected 1,649 and Florida has detected 3,192. But it can’t tell us how many B.1.1.7 cases each state hasn’t detected — a vastly larger number. As such, the CDC also can’t tell us whether the reason Michigan’s outbreak is worse than Florida’s is that it actually has more undetected B.1.1.7 going around. In other words, reopening timelines and variant numbers are important, but they’re not the end of the story. Weather probably matters too, both in terms of how it affects the virus and how it affects behavior. (Michigan, it turns out, is a lot colder than Florida, which makes it harder to gather outdoors in March and April.) Previous waves shape the current situation as well; California experienced a much larger winter surge than Michigan or Florida — a surge amplified by its own homegrown variant — meaning that its population could be benefiting from a higher level of fresh, infection-induced immunity. And chance is also a major factor — perhaps the major factor. Michigan, it seems, was unlucky enough to encounter B.1.1.7 as indoor school sports were getting underway; spread in prisons surged at the same time. The state’s outbreak spiraled from there. On the surface, the apparent randomness of this stage of the U.S. pandemic — the fact that no simple formula can explain why the virus is afflicting a state like Michigan while sparing a state like California — seems frightening. Who’s to say that what’s happening in Michigan today won’t happen somewhere else tomorrow? But in another, deeper sense, today’s uneven pandemic should be taken as a sign of progress — and a source of optimism. “Based on our most recent estimates from CDC surveillance, the B.1.1.7 variant is now the most common lineage circulating in the United States,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announced Wednesday. Despite that, cases remain low — lower, on average, than 15 new daily cases per 100,000 people over the past week — in roughly half the states. Test positivity in many of the states with the highest case counts, meanwhile, is still below 5 percent — see: New York (3.6 percent), Connecticut (4.3 percent), Maryland (4.7 percent), Rhode Island (2.4 percent) and Massachusetts (2.5 percent) — suggesting that the virus might not be as prevalent there as the overall numbers make it seem. While a handful of states are worth worrying over — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Minnesota, for instance, have both relatively high case counts and positivity — nowhere is spiking like Michigan. And far from skyrocketing, the national daily case numbers have actually held steady at about 65,000 for the last week, while national hospitalizations have leveled off at about 40,000. Given all the variables at play, it is of course possible that the U.S. pandemic will take another turn for the worse. Even if roughly half the country already has some degree of immunity through infection or immunization, the other half doesn’t. That’s more than 100 million potential hosts. Yet the chances are a turn for the worse now wouldn’t be nearly as devastating as America’s previous waves. Every day, the U.S. is vaccinating another 1 percent of its population; eligibility is open to everyone in more than half the states, and the rest should follow by April 19. Hundreds of millions of additional vaccine doses — all of which have proven effective against variants — will be flooding the zone this spring. More than three-quarters of all Americans over 65 have received one shot; nearly 60 percent have been fully vaccinated. The effect of this protection is already apparent in the data, with emergency room visits and hospitalizations among seniors — previously the most vulnerable age group — continuing to fall nationwide. Today, younger, still-unvaccinated Americans comprise a growing share of reported cases. But that means COVID deaths — down 20 percent over the last two weeks to an average of fewer than 800 a day, the lowest level since October — are unlikely to ever again reach winter’s terrible highs.

About nine people were absent Monday/Tuesday, so we were covering for them. It was crazy-town. People were yelling at me, partly because I was calling early or late and partly because I was getting tangled up after a normal day's worth and beginning to move slow. I started having seizures at some point and realized it around three. Taking it a lot easier today, but my head is still so cloudy and clogged up, it's hard to think.

French restaurants have been closed since October to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and the country just entered a new partial lockdown in response to intensive care units again filling with COVID-19 patients. Yet a TV expose has shown footage of secret restaurants operating with impunity, and supposedly serving government ministers. At one venue, white-gloved waiters presented fixed-price menus running from 160 to 490 euros (around $190 to $575) per person. One host said guests don’t wear masks, despite France’s indoor mask requirements, because “it’s a private club. We want people to feel at home.” At another venue, reportedly offering a 220-euro ($260) meal, visitors in elegant attire shared cheek kisses and strolled a red carpet. “I’m getting sick of this. There’s no point in going to work,” said Michele Feret, a nurse providing home care to virus patients in the town of Creil, north of Paris. She noted that a clandestine restaurant in a working class district of Creil was also recently shut down. “Let them go to restaurants,” she told The Associated Press, but warned that no one, including top officials, “has special protection” from the virus. Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said ministers “have a duty to be totally irreproachable and exemplary.” Speaking on LCI television Sunday night, Attal said authorities have been investigating reports of underground parties and restaurants for months, and 200 suspects have been identified and face “heavy punishment.” When asked by the AP last month how many government officials had been fined for violating virus restrictions, Prime Minister Jean Castex instead listed the number of fines issued to the overall French public. For those who are caught, the endangerment charge carries a potential prison term and fines of 15,000 euros ($17,600), while participants face fines of 135 euros ($160) for violating curfew and another 135 euros for not wearing masks. The restaurant revelations came as France’s health minister warned Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients in the country’s intensive care units could reach the level of the first crisis a year ago. France has reported more virus infections than any European country, and among the world’s highest death tolls, at 96,650.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh is enforcing a lockdown for a week from Monday, shutting shopping malls and transportation, to help curb the spread of coronavirus as the rate of infections and deaths have increased in recent weeks. Health authorities said they were facing overwhelming pressure for intensive care units in hospitals in recent weeks because of the severe cases of infections. Domestic flights, river transport and railway operations were suspended Monday while only emergency services will remain operational. Banks will operate for only two and a half hours daily. Industries are allowed to operate but must help their workers commute. The government has asked people not to go out from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. But owners and workers of shopping malls in Dhaka’s Elephant Road area took to the streets, demanding that authorities allow them to run their shops. Some three-wheelers and cars were seen running on the streets of the capital, Dhaka, which are usually clogged during any busy day. Traffic police intercepted bikers and checked their documents. Local TV stations reported that the lockdown in many towns were being enforced loosely. The nationwide lockdown is the second for the South Asian nation after it shut down for two months from late March last year. On the eve of the lockdown, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged people to help curb the spread of the virus in a speech in Parliament. “I know everyone will face difficulties. Despite this, I say lives should be given preference over everything,” Hasina said. Bangladesh has reported 637,364 cases including 9,266 deaths from COVID-19.

The Navajo Nation’s about-face Once, the Navajo Nation had one of the worst coronavirus case rates in the country. Indigenous Americans have died at rates nearly twice those of white populations in the U.S. A. The Navajo Nation imposed curfews and checkpoints as entire families grew sick. Navajo have followed strict lockdown orders and a mask mandate, which was imposed nearly a year ago. In the spirit of community protection, many have lined up to get a shot. Now more than half of its 170,000 residents living on tribal lands are fully vaccinated. The Navajo Nation has vaccinated more of its population than any state, and recently reached an extraordinary milestone: zero cases and zero deaths in a 24-hour period. It is, perhaps, the place in the continental U.S. that has best contained the coronavirus pandemic.

Wonderful news! Many fewer deaths per infection is what they are hoping to see with some of the vaccines, yes. Remember that deaths run about two weeks behind infections also. News: RUSS BYNUM and MICHELLE R. SMITH Tue, April 6, 2021, 3:42 PM Nearly half (44%) of new coronavirus infections nationwide are in just five states: New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, in the latest available seven-day period. Total U.S. infections during the same week numbered more than 452,000. These states account for 22% of the U.S. population. I heard passing mention of a spike in the last two days in the midwest, but I have not run the figures yet.

Asia/MidEast countries reporting the most new infections each day (7 day average) India 84,313 TURKEY 41,289 IRAN 11,569 PHILIPPINES 10,215 BANGLADESH 6,221 New reported deaths INDIA 490 INDONESIA 176 TURKEY 175 IRAN 122 JORDAN 90 As for the world leader board, calculated on a seven-day average, it hasn't changed much since yesterday: Countries reporting the most new infections each day INDIA 84,313 USA 65,185 BRAZIL 62,855 TURKEY 41,289 FRANCE 39,797 Countries reporting the most deaths each day BRAZIL 2,698 USA 817 INDIA 490 ITALY 425 POLAND 382

Countries reporting the most new infections per day: INDIA 78,489 USA 64,560 BRAZIL 64,324 TURKEY 39,840 FRANCE 39,554 Countries reporting the most deaths each day BRAZIL 2,747 USA 834 INDIA 465 ITALY 442 POLAND 439

A study in Israel, where the UK variant B.1.1.7. accounts for 90% of the Covid cases, found that the Pfizer vaccine is effective in preventing symptoms and sneeze transmission, including asymptomatic transmission. The measurement is that it was " preventing symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, severe and critical hospitalizations, and deaths." This study was largely funded by Pfizer, and that the data was gathered by Israel's extensive system of spy cameras watching for people exhibiting symptoms.

Deaths in the week ending March 28: Chart arranged by number of deaths: DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 549,485 166 6,987 2.1 –10.3% California 58,431 148 1,396 3.5 +14.2% Texas 48,315 167 743 2.6 –17.6% New York State 49,737 256 596 3.1 +27.1% Florida 33,819 158 450 2.1 –11.6% Georgia 18,926 178 396 3.7 +26.1% Kentucky 6,031 135 293 6.6 –61.2% Massachusetts 17,115 248 248 3.6 +11.7% New Jersey 24,389 275 215 2.4 –20.7% North Carolina 12,028 115 208 2.0 +61.2% Pennsylvania 25,058 196 205 1.6 –26.0% Ohio 18,526 159 186 1.6 –60.3% Arizona 16,918 232 173 2.4 –9.9% Illinois 23,521 186 164 1.3 +8.6% Michigan 17,047 171 141 1.4 +2.9% South Carolina 9,122 177 115 2.2 –12.9% Tennessee 11,816 173 107 1.6 +52.9% Louisiana 10,087 217 99 2.1 –4.8% Alabama 10,526 215 90 1.8 –17.4% Virginia 10,198 120 81 0.9 –17.3% Maryland 8,251 137 81 1.3 –33.6% Indiana 13,023 193 77 1.1 –14.4% Missouri 8,757 143 76 1.2 +28.8% Nevada 5,236 170 64 2.1 +18.5% Oklahoma 4,850 123 62 1.6 –28.7% Arkansas 5,595 185 56 1.9 –13.8% Utah 2,114 66 52 1.6 +48.6% Iowa 5,725 182 50 1.6 +47.1% Kansas 4,891 168 49 1.7 +172.2% Minnesota 6,830 121 48 0.9 +33.3% Colorado 6,196 108 47 0.8 –39.0% Mississippi 7,001 235 45 1.5 –18.2% Washington 5,218 69 44 0.6 –13.7% Nebraska 2,175 112 40 2.1 +400.0% New Mexico 3,925 187 36 1.7 –2.7% Wisconsin 7,274 125 34 0.6 –46.9% Connecticut 7,865 221 33 0.9 –50.7% West Virginia 2,634 147 28 1.6 –63.2% Montana 1,436 134 22 2.1 +0% New Hampshire 1,237 91 20 1.5 +11.1% Puerto Rico 2,112 66 16 0.5 –15.8% Delaware 1,544 159 15 1.5 –31.8% Rhode Island 2,608 246 13 1.2 –53.6% Idaho 1,954 109 13 0.7 –58.1% Oregon 2,375 56 12 0.3 –70.7% South Dakota 1,933 219 10 1.1 –9.1% Hawaii 462 33 8 0.6 +166.7% Maine 736 55 7 0.5 +40.0% Vermont 225 36 6 1.0 +20.0% Washington, D.C. 1,056 150 6 0.9 –33.3% North Dakota 1,466 192 5 0.7 +25.0% Alaska 313 43 3 0.4 –25.0% Wyoming 695 120 2 0.3 +0% arranged by where this is going for the state: DEATHS up to 3-28 ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. Nebraska 2,175 112 40 2.1 +400.0% Kansas 4,891 168 49 1.7 +172.2% Hawaii 462 33 8 0.6 +166.7% North Carolina 12,028 115 208 2.0 +61.2% Tennessee 11,816 173 107 1.6 +52.9% Utah 2,114 66 52 1.6 +48.6% Iowa 5,725 182 50 1.6 +47.1% Maine 736 55 7 0.5 +40.0% Minnesota 6,830 121 48 0.9 +33.3% Missouri 8,757 143 76 1.2 +28.8% New York State 49,737 256 596 3.1 +27.1% Georgia 18,926 178 396 3.7 +26.1% North Dakota 1,466 192 5 0.7 +25.0% Vermont 225 36 6 1.0 +20.0% Nevada 5,236 170 64 2.1 +18.5% California 58,431 148 1,396 3.5 +14.2% Massachusetts 17,115 248 248 3.6 +11.7% New Hampshire 1,237 91 20 1.5 +11.1% Illinois 23,521 186 164 1.3 +8.6% Michigan 17,047 171 141 1.4 +2.9% Montana 1,436 134 22 2.1 +0% Wyoming 695 120 2 0.3 +0% New Mexico 3,925 187 36 1.7 –2.7% Louisiana 10,087 217 99 2.1 –4.8% South Dakota 1,933 219 10 1.1 –9.1% Arizona 16,918 232 173 2.4 –9.9% Florida 33,819 158 450 2.1 –11.6% South Carolina 9,122 177 115 2.2 –12.9% Washington 5,218 69 44 0.6 –13.7% Arkansas 5,595 185 56 1.9 –13.8% Indiana 13,023 193 77 1.1 –14.4% Puerto Rico 2,112 66 16 0.5 –15.8% Virginia 10,198 120 81 0.9 –17.3% Alabama 10,526 215 90 1.8 –17.4% Texas 48,315 167 743 2.6 –17.6% Mississippi 7,001 235 45 1.5 –18.2% New Jersey 24,389 275 215 2.4 –20.7% Alaska 313 43 3 0.4 –25.0% Pennsylvania 25,058 196 205 1.6 –26.0% Oklahoma 4,850 123 62 1.6 –28.7% Delaware 1,544 159 15 1.5 –31.8% Washington, D.C. 1,056 150 6 0.9 –33.3% Maryland 8,251 137 81 1.3 –33.6% Colorado 6,196 108 47 0.8 –39.0% Wisconsin 7,274 125 34 0.6 –46.9% Connecticut 7,865 221 33 0.9 –50.7% Rhode Island 2,608 246 13 1.2 –53.6% Idaho 1,954 109 13 0.7 –58.1% Ohio 18,526 159 186 1.6 –60.3% Kentucky 6,031 135 293 6.6 –61.2% West Virginia 2,634 147 28 1.6 –63.2% Oregon 2,375 56 12 0.3 –70.7% For the week ending Sunday, March 28, 2021, arranged by "per 100k" CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED State Avg. this week Per 100K 1-wk chg. New Jersey 2,110 24 +10.1% New York State 4,586 24 +1.1% Washington, D.C. 134 19 –5.4% Michigan 1,793 18 +48.6% Maryland 921 15 +13.0% Pennsylvania 1,703 13 +9.6% Florida 2,866 13 –2.8% Missouri 813 13 –5.9% Georgia 1,397 13 –10.9% Connecticut 429 12 +7.1% Delaware 116 12 +7.7% West Virginia 214 12 +15.9% Virginia 1,002 12 –2.9% Texas 3,385 12 –11.4% Tennessee 795 12 +16.0% Rhode Island 116 11 –10.9% South Carolina 534 10 –6.7% Illinois 1,264 10 +10.4% Mississippi 286 10 –14.2% Nevada 292 10 –6.4% Kentucky 413 9 –9.6% Massachusetts 629 9 +4.6% Indiana 608 9 +0.6% North Carolina 944 9 –4.2% Louisiana 393 9 –7.3% Arizona 621 9 –14.1% South Dakota 73 8 +7.8% Ohio 910 8 +5.1% Alabama 373 8 –3.9% Idaho 135 8 +14.0% California 2,850 7 –15.3% Iowa 197 6 +14.8% Colorado 358 6 –3.5% Minnesota 340 6 +16.2% Arkansas 176 6 –25.4% Maine 77 6 –3.1% Nebraska 110 6 –14.9% Oklahoma 223 6 –4.7% New Mexico 115 6 –11.3% New Hampshire 73 5 +3.2% Washington 413 5 +5.0% Puerto Rico 169 5 +23.6% Utah 157 5 –18.9% Alaska 32 4 –7.4% Montana 47 4 –13.2% Kansas 129 4 –4.6% Vermont 25 4 +9.2% Wisconsin 226 4 +5.5% Oregon 127 3 –7.1% Wyoming 17 3 +14.4% Hawaii 37 3 +56.6% North Dakota 18 2 +17.3% Arranged by where this is going for the state: CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED State Avg. this week Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 35,771 11 –0.5% Hawaii 37 3 +56.6% Michigan 1,793 18 +48.6% Puerto Rico 169 5 +23.6% North Dakota 18 2 +17.3% Minnesota 340 6 +16.2% Tennessee 795 12 +16.0% West Virginia 214 12 +15.9% Iowa 197 6 +14.8% Wyoming 17 3 +14.4% Idaho 135 8 +14.0% Maryland 921 15 +13.0% Illinois 1,264 10 +10.4% New Jersey 2,110 24 +10.1% Pennsylvania 1,703 13 +9.6% Vermont 25 4 +9.2% South Dakota 73 8 +7.8% Delaware 116 12 +7.7% Connecticut 429 12 +7.1% Wisconsin 226 4 +5.5% Ohio 910 8 +5.1% Washington 413 5 +5.0% Massachusetts 629 9 +4.6% New Hampshire 73 5 +3.2% New York State 4,586 24 +1.1% Indiana 608 9 +0.6% Florida 2,866 13 –2.8% Virginia 1,002 12 –2.9% Maine 77 6 –3.1% Colorado 358 6 –3.5% Alabama 373 8 –3.9% North Carolina 944 9 –4.2% Kansas 129 4 –4.6% Oklahoma 223 6 –4.7% Washington, D.C. 134 19 –5.4% Missouri 813 13 –5.9% Nevada 292 10 –6.4% South Carolina 534 10 –6.7% Oregon 127 3 –7.1% Louisiana 393 9 –7.3% Alaska 32 4 –7.4% Kentucky 413 9 –9.6% Rhode Island 116 11 –10.9% Georgia 1,397 13 –10.9% New Mexico 115 6 –11.3% Texas 3,385 12 –11.4% Montana 47 4 –13.2% Arizona 621 9 –14.1% Mississippi 286 10 –14.2% Nebraska 110 6 –14.9% California 2,850 7 –15.3% Utah 157 5 –18.9% Arkansas 176 6 –25.4%

Please keep us posted on your brother.

The danger of going to basketball games: https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/2021/04/02/alabama-basketball-super-fan-luke-ratliff-known-fluffopotamus-dies-23/7072066002/ He died of Covid complications on April 2. And he was at the game on March 29 as always, yelling and cheering, with his black gauze mask pulled down to his chin, spewing germs into the air. He probably didn't know he was all that sick, if he realized he was sick at all. But he might have singlehandedly turned that game into a super-spreader event. Indianapolis has mobilized every resource to contain that potential.

To clarify what I said above, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine advertises itself as something to keep you from getting the virus, but when they did their testing, they pointedly only tested it for how well it kept people from dying or going to the hospital. That's why I say it's only designed to prevent serious illness or death.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only designed to keep you from dying or going to the hospital, not from getting sick, so you are exactly right as far as that goes. The vaccines that are designed to keep you from getting sick with the Italian variant will generally not keep you from getting sick with the other variants, but (as far as anyone can tell) will keep you from dying from the other variants or going to the hospital with the other variants, so you are pretty much right as far as that goes.

The daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is on the rise yet again after dropping precipitously from January highs. The latest 7-day moving average of confirmed cases was at 60,425 on March 27, and the U.S. is continuing to see an average of roughly 50,000 new cases a day. Dr. Calvin Sun, an NYC-based emergency medicine physician, cites three main factors driving this recent uptick: the virus mutating, the rolling back of safety measures, and the recent increase in travel. “One is the variants,” Sun said. “People are getting reinfected again.” Less than 1% of adults report getting reinfected with the virus. But those who do get reinfected could experience more severe symptoms the second time around if they're positive for one of the several variants (mutant strains). The second reason for the surge in cases "is a half-hearted response,” Sun said. “Mask mandates only do so much. Not all businesses are forcing it, and only half of them are or three-quarters. That’s like only vaccinating 80% of the population. That 20% is going to get reinfected, create a new variant, recombination, and then we have to start all over again. Not all of us are safe until everybody is safe.” The "population" is only the portion of the larger population that is physically healthy enough to be vaccinated to start with. Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Arizona, West Virginia, and Connecticut all rolled back restrictions like mask mandates and indoor capacity limits within the last month. (Other states like Georgia and Alaska never had mask mandates to begin with.) As restrictions ease, Connecticut is among the top five in terms of most daily cases per capita. The third factor in the recent rise in cases, according to Sun, is people traveling a lot more. “Most of the people I’ve been telling are positive since last Thursday and Friday [have said] ‘I was on a plane,'" Sun said. "Where did you come from? And it’s usually one of four or five states.” As more places roll back their restrictions, the number of travelers has increased substantially. The CDC still recommends not traveling, both domestically and internationally. Nevertheless, the latest TSA data showed that 1,406,234 traveled in the U.S. on Monday, one of the highest numbers since the pandemic began. On March 12, the TSA screened more than 1.3 million travelers, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. “That’s a decision they have to live with,” Sun said. “That is based on your ethical guidelines and what you feel is right or wrong. But when something bad happens, that’s on you when you infect other people.”

I hope it's one of those fibrous thickenings people tend to pick up after having another baby.

The final straw is alive and well. Dangerous information that is demonstrably false should not be thrown around even if it is amazingly funny. Perhaps especially if it is amazingly funny, because that guarantees it will go further and be seen by more people, some of whom will believe it. Information that is demonstrably false, dangerous or not, should not be thrown around without good reason even if it is funny. And I would want to know the reason. Dangerous information of questionable veracity should be scrutinized and treated with respect. Memes and jokes are not the way to convey this, because people will not understand that it needs to be chewed over and scrutinized. I believe in spreading dangerous information when it is true. The safety of the vaccines appears to fall into the category of dangerous information of questionable veracity. It is being withheld from children and from women of childbearing age so far. I strongly question the wisdom of releasing it next month to young women, but that has been seen as a political necessity. I hope the US will rethink that. The US is being flooded with information that is demonstrably false but is dangerous if only because people are suggestible enough to raise the chance of adverse effects by ... was it 25%? Something substantial. There is no need to slather the demonstrably false stuff on top of the questionable information, which is itself circulating in conjunction with the dangerous but true information. And we are talking about a different part of the world, a place where tuberculosis is endemic. Tuberculosis will already kill you. It is barely held in check in American prisons and homeless camps now because people who take the medication for a while and then don't for a while have bred resistant strains inside their bodies. They have done the same all over New Guinea. They will do the same with with this Covid.

From Reuters, mostly: Brazil leads the world in the daily average number of new deaths reported, accounting for one in every 4 deaths reported worldwide each day COVID-19 infections in Brazil are at their peak — the highest daily average reported — now at 77,049 new infections reported each day. There have been 12,320,169 infections and 303,462 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. There have been at least 24,160,000 reported infections and 758,000 reported deaths caused by the novel coronavirus in Latin America and the Caribbean so far. Countries reporting the most deaths each day over the last seven days, averaged: BRAZIL 2,280 MEXICO 515 PERU 161 COLOMBIA 126 ARGENTINA 101 Countries reporting the most new infections over the last seven days, averaged: BRAZIL 77,050 PERU 8,135 ARGENTINA 7,337 CHILE 6,185 COLOMBIA 5,807 This region accounts for 27% of the world's reported infections in the last 7 days and is currently reporting about a million infections every eight days. Remember that death surges run about two weeks behind infection surges, if testing is evenly applied. Big if. Also, the death graph is flatter than the infection graph. When reports of infection spike, death becomes a less common reported effect of it. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the BBC reported on March 17 that almost half the people tested in Papua New Guinea had Covid, and that there was a crisis brewing. They asked for a million Astra Zenica (British) vaccine doses (for nine million people, if I recall correctly). A week later, it's 70% per the Times, and the crisis is boiled over. They are now relying more on Covax, which if I recall correctly is produced in India and is much cheaper and still can't get enough. They have the field hospital in the stadium, so the medical people in their protective gear are drenched in sweat trying to work out there. Meanwhile, the stupid memes on social media are have kept and are still keeping a lot of people from getting vaccinated, which is making the situation worse. Before you click the button, think of keeping a team of miserable people out there sweating in the stadium because something you transferred, directly or indirectly, made the difference to someone who could have been immunized. Also, this is tuberculosis territory, and ... guess what that means? Following information per the CDC: CDC | Updated: Mar 25 2021 1:47PM State/Territory Deaths in Last 7 Days California 1,273 Texas 857 Kentucky 807 New York City* 390 Florida 346 Georgia 301 Ohio 274 Arizona 256 New Jersey 247 Massachusetts 233 Pennsylvania 187 New York* 161 Illinois 153 Michigan 140 North Carolina 137 Tennessee 134 Alabama 124 Louisiana 101 Maryland 101 Oklahoma 90 Indiana 82 Missouri 71 Wisconsin 62 Nevada 56 West Virginia 54 Arkansas 53 Mississippi 49 Connecticut 45 Utah 45 Kansas 44 Washington 44 Minnesota 42 New Mexico 37 Montana 35 Nebraska 35 South Carolina 35 Colorado 28 New Hampshire 26 Iowa 23 Delaware 19 Oregon 19 Puerto Rico 18 Rhode Island 18 Idaho 17 District of Columbia 9 South Dakota 9 Hawaii 6 North Dakota 6 Alaska 5 Vermont 5 Maine 4 Wyoming 2 American Samoa 0 Federated States of Micronesia 0 Guam 0 Northern Mariana Islands 0 Palau 0 Republic of Marshall Islands 0 Virginia 0 Virgin Islands 0 Look at Virginia, down there with the territories! Go Virginia, go! I hope that's not just someone's failure to send in the statistics. CDC | Updated: Mar 25 2021 1:47PM State/Territory 7-Day Death Rate per 100,000 Kentucky 18.1 New York City* 4.6 Arizona 3.5 Massachusetts 3.4 Montana 3.3 California 3.2 Texas 3 West Virginia 3 Georgia 2.8 New Jersey 2.8 Alabama 2.5 Ohio 2.3 Oklahoma 2.3 Louisiana 2.2 Delaware 2 Tennessee 2 New Hampshire 1.9 Arkansas 1.8 Nebraska 1.8 New Mexico 1.8 Nevada 1.8 Maryland 1.7 Mississippi 1.7 Rhode Island 1.7 Florida 1.6 Kansas 1.5 New York* 1.5 Pennsylvania 1.5 Michigan 1.4 Utah 1.4 Connecticut 1.3 District of Columbia 1.3 North Carolina 1.3 Illinois 1.2 Indiana 1.2 Missouri 1.2 Wisconsin 1.1 Idaho 1 South Dakota 1 North Dakota 0.8 Vermont 0.8 Alaska 0.7 Iowa 0.7 Minnesota 0.7 South Carolina 0.7 Puerto Rico 0.6 Washington 0.6 Colorado 0.5 Oregon 0.5 Hawaii 0.4 Wyoming 0.4 Maine 0.3 New hospital admissions on March 23, 5165. 7 day average March 17-23: 4707. Per the CDC, that's up 1% from the prior seven day average. I would like to see myself, preferably on a simple chart, but it's really difficult to keep up with. As best I can tell, we're just about where we were in August.

Per the Columbus Dispatch: ...In a five-page statement explaining Tuesday why he vetoed Senate Bill 22, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said it is believed that all of those individuals, the letter listed 44 people being actively being monitored, are at a "very low risk" of having contracted the deadly virus. Ohio has been coordinating with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since March 6 to monitor people traveling from affected countries Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, medical director of the Ohio Department of Health said during DeWine's Monday COVID-19 briefing. Travelers who may have been exposed to the Ebola virus are to be monitored for 21 days to see if any symptoms develop, Vanderhoff said. "The CDC and the World Health Organization believes the risk to the U.S. is very low," Vanderhoff said. "However, it's not absent." Earlier this year, the WHO confirmed the first cases of Ebola since the outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 that killed more than 11,000 people. On Feb. 14, WHO declared an Ebola outbreak in Guinea after three fatal Ebola cases were confirmed in the rural community of Gouéké in N’Zerekore prefecture.

New Delhi (CNN)India on Thursday recorded 53,476 new Covid-19 cases, marking the highest single-day rise in cases since October 23, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. The country has been reporting more than 35,000 new cases daily for over a week in a recent surge in cases after they fell in January and February this year. Randeep Guleria, director at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, told CNN on Wednesday that "it is the beginning of a second wave." The rise in cases comes as the country's top researchers announced that there are nearly 800 variants of concern present in the country. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics -- which has been carrying out genome sequencing and analysis of coronavirus strains since December -- says 771 cases of variants of concern have been detected in India. Most of the cases are the coronavirus variant first identified in the UK, according to a statement from the Indian Ministry of Health on Wednesday. While the Health Ministry has not correlated these to the recent rise in cases, these variants have been primarily detected in states such as Punjab and Maharashtra, two states that the health ministry has called states of "grave concern," given that they are contributing to most of the nation's case load. Guleria said the emergence of the more infectious UK variant in some states may be one of the factors contributing to the recent surge in case numbers. The Health Ministry has said "such mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity," while adding that further analysis is being conducted. The country's first wave of infections started climbing last summer and peaked in September, with numbers slowly declining since then. By February, the number of daily cases had fallen by nearly 90%, to about 10,000 a day. But by the start of March, it became clear that cases were slowly on the increase again -- and they have exploded in the past few weeks. India has now reported a total of more than 11.7 million cases and 160,000 related deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Guleria said the second wave "is something that has already been seen in many European countries; we seem to be following them." A number of factors are contributing to that rise, Guleria explained. "One of the factors is that today it's been one year since India had the lockdown and there are people who seem to have gone into Covid fatigue," he said, adding that "you see that in the community, when you go out, wearing a mask has become less and less. "We see crowds developing, partying, a lot of marriage ceremonies are happening in India," he added. Variants and mutations All viruses evolve over time, and sometimes make changes when they replicate, causing mutations. Some mutations have little effect -- but others could make the variant more easily transmissible, or cause infections with more severe symptoms. From around 10,787 samples analyzed by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics from 18 states, 771 cases of variants of concern were detected, the majority of which were the UK strain, according to the Ministry of Health. Thirty-four were the variant first identified in South Africa and one was variant P.1 from Brazil. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also said it has found a variant with mutations that don't match previously identified variants of concern. It's not unusual to see multiple mutations in one variant. "All of these viruses (variants) which we are dealing with are already mutants," said virologist T Jacob John. The strain that became globally prevalent was already different from the first strain that originated in Wuhan, China, he added. The strain first found in the UK, the B.1.1.7 variant, has 23 mutations compared to the original strain found in Wuhan, according to the American Society of Microbiology. The Brazil variant known as P.1 has 17 mutations, and the South Africa variant known as B.1.351 also has multiple mutations, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). How dangerous a mutation is depends on where in the virus it's happening. For instance, the South Africa variant has mutations that change the structure of the spike protein, which appear to affect the receptor binding domain -- the part of the spike protein most important for attaching to and infecting cells. Researchers are now investigating whether it could help the virus partly escape the effects of vaccines. Guleria cautioned that a new variant was not necessarily cause for alarm, since researchers are still investigating the effect of the mutations. "They are not clear as to what is the significance of this," he said. "Does it have clinical significance or is it just an observation? And that has to be linked to epidemiological data, which is what is being done." One question is which variants -- and which mutations -- might be able to evade the effects of our existing vaccines. "If somebody was infected with coronavirus six months ago, that person is immune to the non-mutated coronavirus," John said. "But is the person still immune against the variants? (That has to be) studied." India's vaccination drive In the meantime, Indian authorities are working to control the spike by implementing new restrictions and stepping up the country's vaccine program. India is administering two vaccines domestically. One is Covishield, a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca and produced by the Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine maker. The other is India's first homegrown coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, developed jointly by Bharat Biotech and the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research. So far, India has administered more than 50 million doses of vaccines, with more than 8.1 million people fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Serum Institute of India not only produces most of the vaccines for India -- it is also responsible for many of the vaccines distributed to the rest of the world. In September last year, SII pledged to manufacture and deliver 200 million doses for COVAX -- a WHO vaccine alliance set up to ensure fair access to Covid-19 vaccines. But SII has had to halt or delay its exports several times in recent months as global and domestic demand surged. India embarks on one of the world's most ambitious vaccine rollouts after emergency use approval India embarks on one of the world's most ambitious vaccine rollouts after emergency use approval On January 4, India restricted the export of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by SII until at least March. "We were given a restricted license only to give it and provide it to the government of India because they want to prioritize for the most vulnerable and needy segments first," SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said at the time. "The only condition is that we can only supply to the government of India, we can't sell it in the private market, and we can't export it." Thursday, Reuters reported that India would likely delay deliveries of AstraZeneca vaccines to COVAX, citing UNICEF. India had put a temporary hold on all major exports of AstraZeneca shots made by SII to meet domestic demand, according to Reuters. CNN has reached out to SII, UNICEF and the Ministry of External Affairs for comment, but has not yet received a response. The Ministry of Home Affairs also introduced new infection control guidelines Tuesday that will be in place until the end of April. Some of the measures include quickly isolating positive cases and tracing their contacts within 72 hours. Several cities and states including Mumbai, Delhi and Odisha have banned gatherings during Holi, the upcoming festival of colors, on March 28.