Ambergris

I would really like a hospital bed. Instead, I sleep in this chair. It just doesn't go completely flat, which would be nice.

The ship was finally sent where it would be more widely used. 182 patients overall, with 22 Covid patients being in ICU and 10 or so Covid patients being hospitalized onboard but not in ICU when the president pulled the ship out. The ship was crewed for trauma work, not plague work, and it showed. Part of the problem with Covid is that care of patients is universally reported by nurses to be utterly exhausting--much, much worse than care of flu patients and even worse than dying cancer patients. Okay, last year New England got it in the spring, which is repeating now. The south got it in the summer, which might happen again, and the midwest and west took their turn in the fall. That's talking about infections. But talking about infections is talking about soft data, reliant on how much testing happens and when the governors decide to do waves of testing. We need to look at deaths. A person is dead or not dead, although the question remains as to why. We need also to look at hospitalizations, because it's pretty clear why people are hospitalized. As of yesterday, the running average of the prior seven days' figures show just under 41,000 people per day being admitted to the hospital in the US for Covid. (By the way, if you saw any scary news, think of this: Missouri didn't have a huge number of deaths in the week ending March 8. They just used antigens to officially classify a lot of deaths, some months previously, that had been suspected to be Rona. Expect a lot of those spikes as other states test their storage banks of blood samples.) CDC | Updated: Mar 19 2021 8:27PM Place Deaths in Last 7 Days Texas 971 California 904 Kentucky 583 Florida 558 New York City* 401 Georgia 303 Ohio 289 New Jersey 262 West Virginia 232 Pennsylvania 216 Massachusetts 208 Arizona 181 Illinois 165 New York* 165 North Carolina 161 Louisiana 146 Virginia 130 Michigan 121 Alabama 117 Arkansas 105 Indiana 105 Maryland 102 Nevada 77 Oklahoma 66 Mississippi 62 Connecticut 61 Missouri 61 Washington 61 Tennessee 58 Iowa 51 Wisconsin 48 Colorado 39 Minnesota 38 Oregon 37 Idaho 32 New Mexico 32 Rhode Island 31 South Carolina 30 Utah 26 Delaware 23 New Hampshire 16 Puerto Rico 16 Montana 15 South Dakota 14 Nebraska 9 District of Columbia 8 Vermont 6 Alaska 5 Maine 5 North Dakota 5 Hawaii 3 Wyoming 2 Guam 1

Finally got that picture to paste. This is the US reported infections. That single highest day is at January 11, but I call it mid-January. You could more accurately say right past the one-third mark of January, but not too many people mentally break months into thirds. Besides, see the after-peaks? Where would we be if we were in India's shoes? Picture the last bit of the line swinging up to December levels. If this doesn't happen in the next couple of months, it will be because we have better medicine (including more vaccines per capita) and less crowding than India.

Ghosted by tthree other people I had appointments with and one lady I was trying to contact. Feeling sick from the vaccination. Apparently, feeling sick as all get out from the first vaccination is a sign you have had Covid. well... I tested negative...

F.B.I. Investigating Whether Cuomo Aides Gave False Data on Nursing Homes The inquiry has added to the legal pressure faced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his aides over the deaths of nursing home residents from Covid-19. By J. David Goodman, Nicole Hong and Luis Ferré-Sadurní March 19, 2021 Updated 3:33 p.m. ET A federal investigation into Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic has focused in recent weeks on whether the governor and his senior aides provided false data on resident deaths to the Justice Department, according to four people with knowledge of the investigation. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation have contacted lawyers for Mr. Cuomo’s aides, interviewed senior officials from the state Health Department and subpoenaed Mr. Cuomo’s office for documents related to the disclosure of data last year, the people said. The interviews have included questions about information New York State submitted last year to the Justice Department, which had asked the state for data on Covid-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes, according to the people. False statements in such a submission could constitute a crime. In some cases, agents traveled to the homes of state health officials to interview them about the data. In others, they spoke to officials by phone, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss the active investigation. The actions, which came in recent weeks, appeared to add to the legal pressure faced by Mr. Cuomo, as well as by his most senior aides, who may have played a role in withholding the true count of nursing home deaths from the public for months. A spokesman for the Eastern District of New York, which is overseeing the investigation, declined to comment. Elkan Abramowitz, an outside lawyer hired by the state to represent the governor’s office in the federal inquiry, said in a statement that “the submission in response to D.O.J.’s August request was truthful and accurate and any suggestion otherwise is demonstrably false.” Mr. Cuomo has faced scrutiny for months over his policies related to nursing homes. The question of how many nursing home residents had died — both in the facilities and after being treated at hospitals — became a political issue for Mr. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, as he came under criticism from both Democrats in Albany and from national Republicans, including former President Donald J. Trump. The state initially publicized only the number of residents who died of Covid-19 inside nursing homes, even after it became aware that thousands more residents had died after being transferred to hospitals. Aides to the governor said they had not revealed data on residents who died in hospitals because the information was incomplete and needed to be vetted. The state revealed the full count — which added thousands of additional deaths — only in January, after a report by the state attorney general suggested an undercount, and after a state court ordered the data be made public in response to a lawsuit filed by the Empire Center, a conservative think tank. As of this month, New York has recorded the deaths of more than 15,000 nursing home residents with Covid-19. Melissa DeRosa, Mr. Cuomo’s top aide, tried to explain why the administration had withheld the data last year to state lawmakers in a conference call, saying she and others “froze” because of the federal request for data, which came in late August as the governor faced criticism over nursing homes. But more than two months earlier, in June, Ms. DeRosa and other aides removed such data from a report prepared by the Health Department, an investigation by The New York Times found. A chart included in an early draft of the report, which was reviewed by The Times, showed that the number of total deaths of nursing home residents would have been roughly 9,200 at the time, or 50 percent higher than what Mr. Cuomo’s administration had publicly acknowledged. The governor’s aides have denied altering the report to withhold the data, arguing that they did not release the figures until they could be properly audited. In her conference call with legislators, which took place last month, Ms. DeRosa also said that the Cuomo administration had fully cooperated with the Justice Department investigation last year. “They sent a letter asking a number of questions and then we satisfied those questions,” she said, according to a transcript of the conversation released by the governor’s office. Federal investigators also started questioning state officials this month about a provision in last year’s state budget that gave legal protections to hospitals and nursing homes during the pandemic, one of the people said. Investigators’ questions about the nursing home provision were first reported by The City, a local nonprofit newsroom. The change made it difficult for families of residents who died or were infected by the coronavirus to sue nursing home operators or hospitals. The provision had been lobbied for by industry representatives. The Cuomo administration is also under fire for undercounting the number of nursing-home deaths caused by Covid-19 in the first half of 2020, a scandal that deepened after a recent Times investigation found that aides rewrote a health department report to hide the real number. Several senior health officials resigned recently in response to the governor’s overall handling of the pandemic, including the vaccine rollout. [etc.] ++++++ So this is what was going on with those NY counts that kept changing.

Off work today for appointments. Notified this morning I'd been turned down for a mortgage because I checked "no" on a separate paragraph that said I would update the mortgage company on any change in my phone number and allow them to text me and call me with any marketing news, not just related to this mortgage. I'm not sure that would pass muster at the banking commission, whatever it's called these days. So I need to talk to another bank, sigh.

That's what it sounds like.

The US, Britain, Israel, and I think one or two other countries I would need to look up are down by more than 80% on reported infections (note I am using the phrase reported, because that means these are soft statistics) from the mid-January peak. While these countries continue to do well, overall, the rest of the world has hit what they call the fourth wave. India is reporting more than twice the cases it reported in mid-February, when the overall worldwide downturn ended --so far. Italy is reporting almost twice the cases this week that it reported in mid-February (which is still less than mid-January).

Paris just changed course, will be in Lockdown as of Friday Midnight article by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Richard Lough Thu, March 18, 2021, 1:12 PM PARIS (Reuters) - France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course. Since late January, when he defied the calls of scientists and some in his government to lock the country down, Macron has said he would do whatever it took to keep the euro zone's second largest economy as open as possible. However, this week he ran out of options just as France and other European countries briefly suspended use of the AstraZenca vaccine. His prime minister, Jean Castex, said France was in the grip of a third wave, with the virulent variant first detected in Britain now accounting for some 75% of cases. Intensive care wards are under severe strain, notably in Paris where the incidence rate surpasses 400 infections in every 100,000 inhabitants. "The epidemic is getting worse. Our responsibility now is to not let it escape our control," Castex told a news conference. France reported 35,000 new cases on Thursday and there were more COVID patients in intensive care in Paris than at the peak of the second wave, Now was the time to tighten restrictions, Castex said. "Four weeks, the time required for the measures to generate a sufficient impact. (It is) the time we need to reach a threshold in the vaccination of the most vulnerable." The lockdowns will kick in from Friday at midnight in France' 16 hardest-hit departments that, with the exception of one on the Mediterranean, form a corridor from the northern Channel port city of Calais to the capital. Barbers, clothing stores and furniture shops will have to close, though bookstores and others selling essential goods can stay open. Schools will stay open and people will be allowed to exercise outdoors within a 10 km (6.2 miles) radius of their homes. Travel out of the worst-hit areas will not permitted without a compelling reason. "Go outdoors, but not to party with friends," the prime minister said. TOO LATE? Castex said France would resume inoculations with the AstraZeneca vaccine now that the European Medicines Agency had confirmed it was safe. (Emphasis by Ambergris... this is a 180 degree change in the course of a couple of days--and is one reason we write things down.) Seeking to shore up public confidence in the Anglo-Swedish vaccine, critical if France is to hit its targets, Castex said he would get the shot on Friday. "I am confident public trust in the vaccine will be restored," he said, though he acknowledged it might take time. Although Macron stopped short of ordering a nationwide lockdown, the lockdowns may be extended to other regions if needed and may yet slow the country's economic recovery. The Paris region is home to nearly one fifth of the population and accounts for 30% of economic activity. A nationwide nightly curfew in place since mid-December remains in place, though it will start an hour later, at 7 p.m. The government had no regrets about not locking down earlier, Castex said. "It was the right decision in January. We would have had an unbearable three-month lockdown. We did well not to do so." Not everyone agrees. In the intensive care unit of a private hospital on the edge of Paris, doctors expressed resignation at having once again to deal with overloaded wards. "We're back here again," said ward chief Abdid Widad. Health Minister Olivier Veran said some hospitals would start using monoclonal antibodies which are synthetically manufactured copies of infection-fighting proteins, on certain patients at high risk of progressing to severe illness.

Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, and West Virginia are reporting at least a 10% average increase in infection rates over the past month. Of those, Delaware, Idaho, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon and West Virginia report an increase of at least 25% over seven days. Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Montana, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming report about the same level of infection. The other roughly one-third of states report falling infection rates. New York City now has its own variant. B.1.526 began showing up in samples collected in New York City in November (!) and is now also found in California.

The Lockdown Across Europe Ross McGuinness Mon, March 15, 2021, 10:00 AM ITALY Italy's lockdown comes as a number of countries suspend the rollouts of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine over fears the jab is linked to blood clots. Infections in Italy increased by 10% last week, leading the country back into lockdown from Monday. Schools and shops are closed in more than half of the country, including Rome and Milan, while there will be a national shutdown over Easter from 3 to 5 April. Prime minister Mario Draghi announced on Friday that Italy would return to lockdown, meaning people must stay at home except for work, health or essential reasons. Coronavirus cases have been rising for the past six weeks, reaching more than 25,000 a day. Seven of the country’s 20 regions have been moved to its most severe tier of restrictions – red – including Lombardy and Lazio comprising Milan and Rome. Three-quarters of Italians entered a strict lockdown as the government put in place restrictive measures to fight the rise of COVID-19 infections. Italy went back into lockdown on Monday as Europe battles a third wave of coronavirus infections. It is one of the European countries that has been worst hit by coronavirus, with more than 100,000 deaths, a figure second only to the UK. GERMANY At the start of this month, Angela Merkel announced plans to extend lockdown until 28 March at the earliest while, crucially, easing some restrictions at the same time. As a result, some schools as well as businesses such as florists and hairdressers have been allowed to reopen. It was also announced that regions with low infection rates could unlock more quickly. However, since then, infections have climbed with the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases now warning that the number of daily reported cases could exceed 30,000 in the 14th week of the year starting April 12. The death toll from the virus in Germany stands at 73,301, with a reported 2,558,455 infections. Frustration about the ongoing lockdown and the slow pace of vaccinations has also been denting support for Chancellor Angela Merkel. Leaders are due to meet again on March 22 to discuss whether any further relaxation of the rules is possible. PORTUGAL At the other end of the scale, Portugal has slowly emerged from a two-month lockdown that saw it, at one point, have the highest death rate on the continent. From today, nurseries, pre-schools and primary schools will reopen, as well as hair salons and book shops. Restaurants will only be allowed to open their doors in May. The measures to ease the lockdown will be revaluated every 15 days, CZECH REPUBLIC According to Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 1.4 million coronavirus cases and more than 23,300 deaths in the Czech Republic. Last month, prime minister Andrej Babis warned of "hellish days ahead". At the beginning of this month, its government announced a three-week lockdown until 21 March. Residents have been told to remain at home except for essential travel and are banned from moving between districts, apart from for work. The only shops that can open are supermarkets, pharmacies, opticians and florists. The restrictions follow a state of emergency that has been declared for 30 days between 27 February and 28 March. FRANCE At the beginning of this month, French president Emmanuel Macron said a current nationwide curfew would remain in place for another four to six weeks. Under the restriction, people in France must stay at home from 6pm to 6am. An 8pm curfew was brought in across the country on 15 December but was brought forward to 6pm a month later. An end date for the measure has not yet been set. On Sunday, France reported more than 26,000 new daily cases of coronavirus, while the country has had more than 90,000 deaths. Prime minister Jean Castex said on Sunday the country must do everything it can to avoid another nationwide lockdown. GREECE On Friday, the government announced that all schools would close nationwide. It also placed three more regions in Greece in its top red tier for COVID-19 restrictions. Greece has a current average of about 2,100 new daily cases of coronavirus. A lockdown in Athens has been extended until 22 March. Non-essential shops are also closed and curfews have been in force in Athens and other red zones since February. Greece has had more than 221,000 cases of coronavirus and more than 7,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. However, it has already started inviting Britons to book their summer holidays there. SPAIN A six-month state of alarm is currently in place and is set to run until 9 May. It allows Spain’s regional governments to introduce their own restrictions, including curfews. However, Spain’s health minister Carolina Darias said last Friday that the state of alarm could be extended. The state of alarm imposed a nationwide curfew between 11pm and 6am, although regions can alter these times by one hour. Last week, Spain announced strict measures on travelling between regions over the Easter period from 26 March to 9 April. +++++++++++++++++ Did anyone blink and wonder if these paragraphs were taken out of a 2020 article? But no, this is 2021. This is bad news, because the health information in Europe is generally better than the health information in the US. That said, the information has to be considered in the understanding that health care is a political tool there, a tool to obtain power (and thereby indirectly obtain profit) where here it is a tool to obtain profit very directly. So. You have to keep the masses of the patients alive to wring money out of them either way. They don't like this vaccine, and would rather shut down their countries than use it. The US would rather use it than shut down. Take from that what you will.

The view of the forest, not just the tree of the week, is important because even though we have had an up here and there, the overall trend is still down. I don't think the ninety three, ninety four thousand people a month we had dying in December and January is coming back unless we have a massive mutation or civil unrest. March's numbers are only a little worse than the end of February's when they are bad, and are better when they are good.

This is a chart of daily reports of new cases in the US, last updated March 3, with the red line being a running seven-day average:

Not quite two cups per light fixture. Better than nothing, but they would not be able to fulfill their entire needs on these even if they had a couple per family member--which is unlikely for the poorest.

Did you see the rest of the sentence?

Canada is closer to its corona virus peak than the US is. You don't have to isolate the child from the family at home, but you have to isolate the whole family from society if you don't, basically. That's what it takes. Otherwise, say Anne goes to school and they find out she was infected. Anne was in class with Beth, Barry, Becky, Ben, Bobbie and Boo (and others, but these were infected). They are all sent home to isolate. Becky's mother alone doesn't isolate her for whatever reason, so Becky infects her sister Charlotte, who goes to school and infects Debbie, Diane, Denise, Don, Dave, and Derwood. Diane infects some people at Eastwood Baptist Church, Debbie infects people at Edgewood Afterschool, and Don infects his dad, Eddie, who works at the Everclear old folks home when he's sober enough to find his way there. Dave infects Eva, Emily, Ethan, Erin and Ellie, who take the germs to school in their respective grades. Derwood is the one who gets horrific symptoms that cause the school to get shut down, which leaves everyone in the lurch for daytime babysitting services, but nobody blames Becky's mom.

Countries reporting the most deaths each day, averaging 7 days' reports USA 1,597 BRAZIL 1,525 MEXICO 682 RUSSIA 416 ITALY 308 US deaths last week: 11,800 down 18.0% from the prior week deaths in the last week in order of number of deaths For the week ending Sunday, March 7, 2021 DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. California 54,225 137 2,010 5.1 –30.1% Texas 45,527 157 1,496 5.2 –8.5% Virginia 9,596 112 1,044 12.2 –14.5% Florida 32,266 150 860 4.0 –11.5% New York State 48,051 247 716 3.7 –10.5% Georgia 17,906 169 611 5.8 +10.9% Arizona 16,328 224 348 4.8 –26.7% Pennsylvania 24,394 191 338 2.6 –18.8% New Jersey 23,574 265 322 3.6 –18.3% Massachusetts 16,417 238 299 4.3 +2.4% North Carolina 11,502 110 290 2.8 +1.4% Illinois 23,014 182 279 2.2 +3.7% Missouri 8,471 138 243 4.0 +6.1% South Carolina 8,754 170 224 4.4 +8.7% Alabama 10,148 207 219 4.5 –35.0% Ohio 17,502 150 205 1.8 –57.4% Kentucky 4,819 108 182 4.1 –4.2% Indiana 12,737 189 164 2.4 –18.4% Michigan 16,658 167 150 1.5 –9.6% Louisiana 9,748 210 140 3.0 –1.4% Tennessee 11,547 169 136 2.0 –51.1% Mississippi 6,808 229 127 4.3 –0.8% Oklahoma 4,534 115 106 2.7 –57.1% New Mexico 3,808 182 92 4.4 +0% Wisconsin 7,106 122 92 1.6 –35.7% Oregon 2,296 54 88 2.1 +66.0% Iowa 5,558 176 87 2.8 –35.6% Maryland 7,955 132 86 1.4 –44.2% Washington 5,041 66 85 1.1 –36.6% Connecticut 7,704 216 82 2.3 –17.2% Nevada 5,037 164 80 2.6 –5.9% Kansas 4,812 165 77 2.6 –36.4% Arkansas 5,319 176 76 2.5 –166.7% Minnesota 6,550 116 67 1.2 +31.4% Delaware 1,473 151 51 5.2 –7.3% Utah 1,976 62 41 1.3 –50.6% Rhode Island 2,541 240 39 3.7 –69.0% Colorado 5,989 104 38 0.7 –35.6% Nebraska 2,113 109 31 1.6 –11.4% Puerto Rico 2,062 65 26 0.8 –54.4% West Virginia 2,325 130 25 1.4 –35.9% Montana 1,381 129 24 2.2 +60.0% Idaho 1,879 105 19 1.1 –44.1% Alaska 305 42 15 2.1 +1400.0% New Hampshire 1,184 87 14 1.0 –12.5% Washington, D.C. 1,030 146 13 1.8 –40.9% South Dakota 1,900 215 12 1.4 –52.0% Wyoming 682 118 11 1.9 +22.2% Hawaii 445 31 6 0.4 –33.3% Vermont 208 33 4 0.6 –42.9% North Dakota 1,449 190 4 0.5 –42.9% Maine 706 53 3 0.2 –93.3% deaths in the last week ordered by how hard they hit their state For the week ending Sunday, March 7, 2021 DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. Virginia 9,596 112 1,044 12.2 –14.5% Georgia 17,906 169 611 5.8 +10.9% Texas 45,527 157 1,496 5.2 –8.5% Delaware 1,473 151 51 5.2 –7.3% California 54,225 137 2,010 5.1 –30.1% Arizona 16,328 224 348 4.8 –26.7% Alabama 10,148 207 219 4.5 –35.0% South Carolina 8,754 170 224 4.4 +8.7% New Mexico 3,808 182 92 4.4 +0% Massachusetts 16,417 238 299 4.3 +2.4% Mississippi 6,808 229 127 4.3 –0.8% Kentucky 4,819 108 182 4.1 –4.2% Florida 32,266 150 860 4.0 –11.5% Missouri 8,471 138 243 4.0 +6.1% New York State 48,051 247 716 3.7 –10.5% Rhode Island 2,541 240 39 3.7 –69.0% New Jersey 23,574 265 322 3.6 –18.3% Louisiana 9,748 210 140 3.0 –1.4% North Carolina 11,502 110 290 2.8 +1.4% Iowa 5,558 176 87 2.8 –35.6% Oklahoma 4,534 115 106 2.7 –57.1% Pennsylvania 24,394 191 338 2.6 –18.8% Nevada 5,037 164 80 2.6 –5.9% Kansas 4,812 165 77 2.6 –36.4% Arkansas 5,319 176 76 2.5 –166.7% Indiana 12,737 189 164 2.4 –18.4% Connecticut 7,704 216 82 2.3 –17.2% Illinois 23,014 182 279 2.2 +3.7% Montana 1,381 129 24 2.2 +60.0% Oregon 2,296 54 88 2.1 +66.0% Alaska 305 42 15 2.1 +1400.0% Tennessee 11,547 169 136 2.0 –51.1% Wyoming 682 118 11 1.9 +22.2% Ohio 17,502 150 205 1.8 –57.4% Washington, D.C. 1,030 146 13 1.8 –40.9% Wisconsin 7,106 122 92 1.6 –35.7% Nebraska 2,113 109 31 1.6 –11.4% Michigan 16,658 167 150 1.5 –9.6% Maryland 7,955 132 86 1.4 –44.2% West Virginia 2,325 130 25 1.4 –35.9% South Dakota 1,900 215 12 1.4 –52.0% Utah 1,976 62 41 1.3 –50.6% Minnesota 6,550 116 67 1.2 +31.4% Washington 5,041 66 85 1.1 –36.6% Idaho 1,879 105 19 1.1 –44.1% New Hampshire 1,184 87 14 1.0 –12.5% Puerto Rico 2,062 65 26 0.8 –54.4% Colorado 5,989 104 38 0.7 –35.6% Vermont 208 33 4 0.6 –42.9% North Dakota 1,449 190 4 0.5 –42.9% Hawaii 445 31 6 0.4 –33.3% Maine 706 53 3 0.2 –93.3% I'm not going to repeat the chart to show the order of the 14 states that showed a positive instead of a negative change. In each case, the change was a minimal number of cases: fifteen or less, usually. That's tragedy, not catastrophe. number of people in hospitals (short version: it went down everywhere but Michigan and Wyoming, and stayed even in Wyoming) For the week ending Sunday, March 7, 2021 CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED State Avg. this week Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 43,675 13 –15.7% Texas 5,248 18 –19.1% New York State 5,136 26 –9.4% California 4,901 12 –23.9% Florida 3,512 16 –11.2% Georgia 2,195 21 –14.2% New Jersey 1,877 21 –5.8% Pennsylvania 1,621 13 –14.4% Virginia 1,269 15 –14.5% North Carolina 1,261 12 –15.5% Illinois 1,214 10 –14.8% Arizona 1,093 15 –22.4% Ohio 1,009 9 –20.8% Missouri 1,008 16 –15.4% Michigan 873 9 +5.1% Maryland 859 14 –8.6% Tennessee 837 12 –12.7% Massachusetts 732 11 –12.3% Indiana 714 11 –10.3% South Carolina 683 13 –25.6% Kentucky 640 14 –22.8% Louisiana 573 12 –15.7% Alabama 562 12 –22.8% Mississippi 442 15 –16.8% Connecticut 433 12 –12.3% Washington 424 6 –5.6% Nevada 420 14 –21.0% Oklahoma 420 11 –26.8% Arkansas 386 13 –25.6% Colorado 368 6 –12.1% Wisconsin 267 5 –20.7% Utah 240 8 –6.9% Minnesota 233 4 –11.8% Kansas 206 7 –11.6% West Virginia 200 11 –26.6% Iowa 181 6 –13.0% New Mexico 180 9 –23.8% Washington, D.C. 165 23 –14.5% Puerto Rico 152 5 –22.7% Rhode Island 148 14 –14.1% Nebraska 147 8 –9.4% Oregon 138 3 –20.4% Idaho 136 8 –4.0% Delaware 130 13 –21.8% New Hampshire 87 6 –12.8% South Dakota 84 10 –10.9% Montana 69 7 –11.5% Maine 69 5 –14.7% Alaska 29 4 –32.3% Hawaii 28 2 –20.0% Vermont 25 4 –14.9% Wyoming 23 4 +0% North Dakota 22 3 –17.5%

Per the Business Insider, the tests are still showing available vaccines, this one focusing on Moderna, are significantly less effective against the South African variant. Details here: https://www.businessinsider.com/south-africa-variant-vaccines-pfizer-moderna-covid-vaccine-study-mutation-2021-3 Only 21 countries are at the peak of their infection cycle. These include Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, Ivory Coast, Botswana, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Finland, Hungary, and Mongolia. I'll get to the charts later today.

If you are next of kin, get at least ten hard copies of the certified death certificate every time you get one. This will save you untold hassle.

The trek is over 1100 miles through Mexico alone, meaning well over two weeks of walking for a healthy person. In a recent testing binge for a caravan, less than I think thirty out of over 2000 or 3000 were found to test positive for Covid. Remember hearing how "the cowards never started, and the weak died on the way?" Well, the sick don't get far.

In October, one of my two companies "upgraded," and it hasn't worked properly since. Except that it has occasionally worked beautifully for an hour or two, or up to a day at a time. Nearly four weeks ago, they said they would send a new SIM card. They took their sweet time (and needed much prodding) but finally sent it. After several ignored emails regarding the fact it didn't work, I asked for the address of their legal department. Then they said they had neglected to activate it yet. This morning, it started working. We'll see how long it keeps working.

He's opening the state, dropping the mask rules, and announcing that the Covid rates are fixing to explode because of federal immigration policies--when Mexico has never had anywhere near the infection rate Texas has.

Nationwide, about 15% of the population has had a first dose of the vaccine, which is apparently the important dose. Alaska, the Dakotas, New Mexico, and Connecticut have all all dosed at least 20% of the population Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, Utah, Georgia, and Puerto Rico have dosed less than 14%. The February good news re dropping cases appears to have ended, but the number of people in hospitals is still going down in most states: For the week ending Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 CURRENTLY HOSPITALIZED State Avg. this week Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 51,838 16 –15.2% Alaska 43 6 +22.2% South Dakota 94 11 +2.3% Washington, D.C. 192 27 –5.1% Rhode Island 172 16 –5.9% Michigan 831 8 –5.9% Maine 81 6 –6.3% Missouri 1,191 19 –7.5% Colorado 418 7 –7.8% Mississippi 531 18 –8.0% Tennessee 959 14 –9.5% Nebraska 162 8 –10.1% New York State 5,670 29 –10.1% Florida 3,955 18 –10.2% Delaware 167 17 –10.6% West Virginia 272 15 –10.7% Idaho 142 8 –10.7% Kentucky 829 19 –11.0% Maryland 941 16 –11.1% Puerto Rico 197 6 –11.1% Minnesota 264 5 –11.4% Utah 258 8 –11.7% New Jersey 1,993 22 –12.4% Wisconsin 337 6 –12.5% Pennsylvania 1,895 15 –12.6% Iowa 208 7 –12.9% Oregon 173 4 –13.0% Connecticut 494 14 –13.2% Illinois 1,425 11 –13.3% Virginia 1,484 17 –14.4% Montana 78 7 –14.5% Hawaii 35 3 –14.6% New Mexico 236 11 –14.9% Texas 6,488 22 –15.0% Georgia 2,557 24 –15.1% Ohio 1,274 11 –16.1% New Hampshire 99 7 –16.1% Washington 449 6 –16.3% Arkansas 519 17 –16.6% Louisiana 679 15 –17.2% Indiana 796 12 –17.4% North Carolina 1,493 14 –18.9% Massachusetts 835 12 –18.9% Kansas 233 8 –19.6% South Carolina 918 18 –19.8% Oklahoma 574 15 –20.1% Vermont 30 5 –23.5% California 6,440 16 –23.6% Arizona 1,409 19 –23.7% Nevada 531 17 –24.3% Alabama 727 15 –26.6% Wyoming 23 4 –31.6% North Dakota 27 4 –31.8% Regardless of the good news re hospitals, the number of people dying has gone up in nineteen states: For the week ending Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 DEATHS TO DATE ONE-WEEK TOTAL State Total deaths Per 100K New deaths Per 100K 1-wk chg. United States 513,721 155 14,387 4.3 +5.5% Maine 703 52 45 3.3 +400.0% Virginia 8,552 100 1,221 14.3 +282.8% Oregon 2,208 52 53 1.3 +194.4% Hawaii 439 31 9 0.6 +125.0% Texas 44,031 152 1,635 5.6 +81.3% Oklahoma 4,428 112 247 6.2 +57.3% Idaho 1,860 104 34 1.9 +47.8% Rhode Island 2,502 236 126 11.9 +46.5% Utah 1,935 60 83 2.6 +43.1% Mississippi 6,681 225 128 4.3 +40.7% Tennessee 11,411 167 278 4.1 +39.0% Washington, D.C. 1,017 144 22 3.1 +37.5% Iowa 5,471 173 135 4.3 +35.0% South Dakota 1,888 213 25 2.8 +31.6% California 52,215 132 2,874 7.3 +23.7% Kentucky 4,637 104 190 4.3 +15.2% Wisconsin 7,014 121 143 2.5 +13.5% Ohio 17,297 148 481 4.1 +2.3% Indiana 12,573 187 201 3.0 +1.0% North Dakota 1,445 190 7 0.9 +0% Montana 1,357 127 15 1.4 +0% New Jersey 23,252 262 394 4.4 –2.5% New Mexico 3,716 177 92 4.4 –3.2% Alabama 9,929 203 337 6.9 –3.7% Maryland 7,869 130 154 2.5 –4.3% Puerto Rico 2,036 64 57 1.8 –5.0% Washington 4,956 65 134 1.8 –8.8% Minnesota 6,483 115 51 0.9 –8.9% Arizona 15,980 220 475 6.5 –9.9% Vermont 204 33 7 1.1 –12.5% New York State 47,335 243 800 4.1 –12.9% Colorado 5,951 103 59 1.0 –13.2% Massachusetts 16,118 234 292 4.2 –14.6% Florida 31,406 146 972 4.5 –16.1% Pennsylvania 24,056 188 416 3.2 –17.5% Missouri 8,228 134 229 3.7 –18.2% Louisiana 9,608 207 142 3.1 –18.4% Illinois 22,735 179 269 2.1 –22.0% Nebraska 2,082 108 35 1.8 –22.2% West Virginia 2,300 128 39 2.2 –23.5% New Hampshire 1,170 86 16 1.2 –23.8% Michigan 16,508 165 166 1.7 –25.6% Connecticut 7,622 214 99 2.8 –30.3% North Carolina 11,212 107 286 2.7 –34.3% Delaware 1,422 146 55 5.6 –34.5% South Carolina 8,530 166 206 4.0 –36.8% Georgia 17,295 163 551 5.2 –36.9% Wyoming 671 116 9 1.6 –40.0% Nevada 4,957 161 85 2.8 –47.9% Kansas 4,735 163 121 4.2 –51.6% Alaska 290 40 1 0.1 –88.9% Arkansas 5,243 174 -114 0.0 –223.9% What we are seeing, I think, is the predicted peak of cases in January, falling off sharply through the first three weeks of February, with the peak of hospitalizations following (and falling) a week or two behind that, and hopefully the peak of deaths following a week or two later--meaning now. 400% on 45 means 30 some new cases--that's not huge in the big picture. Texas and Virginia are in trouble, especially if the count goes up like that again on the first Sunday in March, but this is really good news for 48 states and I am reasonably confident the good news will continue for the next week. Then something will swing, but that's then.

They are good in sorbets and really good on fish. They are good as the lemon juice in tabbouli. They make the best marmalade, next to kumquats, since the pith isn't so bitter as most citrus. The peels are great, minced or crushed, in cookies. Cut one in half and use it to scrub at a stubborn stain on a toilet bowl someone has let get ugly.