COVID-19: Operation Warp Speed

From Worldometer, I have adjusted this table to show how new deaths best determine the phase of COVID-19:

DAY     China   Italy   USA   Spain   Germany   S. Korea  WORLD

May   1         0    269   1897      281          113               1        5624
          2         0    474    1691     276            76               2        5215
          3         0    174    1154     164            54               0        3481
          4         0    195    1324     164          127               2        4096
          5         0    236    2350     185              ?               2        5787
          6         0    369    2528     244          282               1        6811

          7         0    274    2129     213          117               1        5589
          8         0    243    1687     229          118               0        5550
          9         0    194    1422     179            39               0        4248
        10         0    165      750     143            20               0        3510
        11         0    179    1008     123            92               0        3403
        12         0    172    1630     176            77               2        5328
        13         0    195    1772     184          123               1        5314
        14         0    262    1715     217            67               1        5317

Summary:

• A so-so day for new deaths.
• Brazil is surging in new cases, but still half that of the USA (13,761 to 27,246).  Expect total deaths to soon approach those hard-hit European countries.
• South America in general is showing signs of increasing cases, but Africa thus far has largely been able to escape any serious inroads.
• Korea was once a serious hot spot, but now is #43 in total deaths.
• Thailand, which was #2 to China when I was there in February, is #68 in total cases

Hey, it's Friday with a weekend to come...even for people in quarantine.  Time for some good news.

President Trump surrounded by his entourage, announced in the Rose Garden this morning Operation Warp Speed to accelerate the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, to be led by Moncef Slaoui of GlaxoSmithKline and General Gustave Perna.  Trump anticipates delivery by the end of the year, whatever that means.

Nothing wrong with romanticizing reality for a "Manhattan" type national effort, but "warp speed" is a science fiction phrase for faster-than-light travel, which is, of course, impossible.  But let us not call Trump's latest proposition ridiculous, for the worst it can do is to shorten the period for availability, even if it turns out to be a year or more from now.

I grieve, though, on why he didn't do this in February or March, and, in the process toss in personal protection equipment, tests and tracing?  But at least he finally did something right.

Last month, one of my posts recommended that this National/World effort be called the New Apollo Project.  Nothing to do with space, but evocative of an incredible accomplishment, beginning with landing on the moon, leading to bankrupting the Soviet Union, thus ending the Cold War.  Also, too, Apollo just happens to be the Greek God for Healing.

Some other good news:

• From the New York Times:
• The U.S. is on track to produce more electricity this year from renewable power than from coal for the first time on record, a trend that could have profound implications for climate change.

• Here are 70 positive news stories from Elle.

• ABC news posted a list of Good News.
• It's appearing more and more likely that those who contracted COVID-19 will have robust immunity.

• Watch the Denver Zoo's baby rhino.
• Good News show from John Krasinski and Steve Carell.
• President Donald Trump keeps repeating how we have overcome and leads the world in testing, and the economy is recovering and will boom soon after he gets re-elected.  Oh, this is fake good news?  Not sure if this (to the right) has been doctored, but something sent to me.

• I typed-in, "good news about Donald Trump and COVID-19", which led me to The Atlantic reporting on what would happen if both Trump and Pence got incapacitated with COVID-19.  I went a step further a month ago with A Fitting Bachi, noting that the next in line to lead the country would be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

• Let me balance the above with two examples of bad news. 
•   Forbes just reported that the only 5-minute rapid test, by Abbott Laboratories, can be inaccurate.  Now the FDA is concerned, for this system missed a third of the infections caught by Cepheid's test, which is not as rapid, but takes only 30 minutes for a result.  Cepheid's test costs $3 to manufacture.  They sell it from $5 to $20, depending on circumstances.  Watch how it's made and processed.

• There will be considerable hype about Operation Warp Speed over the next few months leading to November 3, but the odds are that a vaccine for COVID-19 to test the masses will not be available until next year, and maybe never.

I'm now into 1983, back to the University of Hawaii with no real job.  I'm being paid and have an office, but don't need to teach, have no research projects and can essentially do whatever I want.  This gave me an opportunity to help form the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research.  Unfortunately, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, had a mastectomy and underwent a series of chemotherapy treatments with an experimental drug.  The good news is that she recovered and for the rest of her life never caught a cold or flu.

The Top 100 Songs of 1983, in 17 minutes.  This was 37 years ago, but I don't recall half of those songs, even though I probably well remember just about all the songs of the '50's.  But maybe that was a particularly immemorable year.  I dare you to click on that link and recognize three songs from the first half of that list.

1983 saw:

• The beginning of the internet.
• The final episode of M*A*S*H, with a U.S. TV audience of 125 million.  However, the Super Bowl says that should have been 106 million, placing it #10.  Otherwise the top 30 are all Super Bowls, with #1 being in 2015 with 114,442,000.

• Invention of the 3D printer.  Yes, that was 37 years ago.
• Michael Jackson performs Billie Jean and introduces the moonwalk on the 25th anniversary of Motown.  Go ahead, click on it, it's Friday.
• Target expands from Minnesota to California.
• First scientific identification of HIV/AIDS.

• Global cooling was still more prominent than warming, with Vostock Station, Antarctica reaching an all-time low of -128.6 F.  It's still the lowest recorded as of today.

• KAL 007, which did violate USSR airspace, was shot down by a Soviet fighter, killing all 269 on board, including a U.S. congressman.
• Global Positioning System made available for civilian use.

• Humanity was saved from a nuclear war on a guess by Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov that an alarm of a missile attack by the U.S. was an equipment malfunction.  In the U.S., TV and radio stations announced this urgent crisis, similar to what happened to Hawaii two years ago.  My first reaction to this emergency alert, which woke me up (we have an emergency warning system at 15 Craigside...which is very, very loud) that morning, was instant fear,  leading to thankfulness for having a great life, which quickly became almost nonchalance that this must be some kind of mistake, which it was.  It takes a missile 12 minutes or so to get from North Korea to Hawaii, and this state of emergency lasted for 38 minutes.

• I was in Perth, Australia for a solar energy conference when Australia II won the America's Cup.  The home port of this racing  yacht was Perth, so even I joined in on the celebration.
• First Hooters opened in Florida.  Hawaii's just closed.
• AT&T was founded.  What?  I thought it was around since the days of Alexander Graham Bell.
• The U.S. won our first war in a long time by invading Grenada.

• President Ronald Reagan became the first U.S. President to address Japan's National Diet.  He also worked out an agreement with Prime Minister Yasu Nakasone to form the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research in Hawaii.

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