BACK TO THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Yesterday I took a day off and totally ignored the COVID-19 Pandemic and Donald Trump.  Today, back to the bad old days.  But I'll at least shorten the Worldometer data list.

           DAY USA   WORLD   Brazil      India   South Africa

June      9    1093    4732        1185       246          82

July     19      412    4606          715       675          85

           22     1205    7128       1293     1120        572

Aug      1    1462     6429       1191       765        193

          10       534     4813         593     1013        198
          12     1504     6556       1242       835        130

          30       369     4182         398       960          47
Sept     3     1094     5886          830    1083        174
            6       432     4129          456    1008        110
            9     1208     6222        1136    1168          82
           13      392     3905          389    1140          20
           14      480     4374          454    1054          52
           15    1197     6001        1090    1283        142

           16    1012     6085          967    1139          64

           17      879     5568          857    1174          67

Summary:  Lingering.

Remember how Europe was in terrible shape last spring?  How they passed on COVID-19 to New York?  Well, what is being referred to as pandemic fatigue is now infecting the Continent:

France and Spain are now seeing more new cases every day than they did when the virus originally peaked in the spring. Israel on Friday entered a second nationwide lockdown, shuttering restaurants, hotels, gyms and more, amid soaring new cases and as the Jewish High Holiday season begins. While epidemiologists expected autumn to be worse, the rapid resurgence comes ahead of the official start of fall on Tuesday.

Plus:

She said several European countries are reporting spikes in cases, including France, Spain, Georgia, Montenegro and the Ukraine. She added that some states in the U.S. are also reporting worrying rises just as we approach the flu season, which could overwhelm the health system.

What is pandemic fatigue?  People just go out to have some fun.

Donald Trump, that braggadocious fool, has recently been saying that America is doing better than Europe.  Actually, he is partly right:

The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center keeps track of the COVID-19 pandemic data reported from most of the countries in the world. One common way to measure how countries are handling the coronavirus relative to one another is to compare their COVID-19 mortality rates per 100,000 people. In that respect, the U.S., at 57.97 per 100,000, is doing better than the Belgium, United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, and Italy, with rates at 86.78, 62.68, 63.34, 60.85, and 58.85 respectively. On the other hand, the COVID-19 mortality rates in Sweden, France, Canada, Germany, and South Korea currently stand at 57.33, 45.93, 24.83, 11.26, and 0.67 respectively.

Of course, by now virtually everyone should know that with 4% of the world population, we account for 24% of all the cases and 22% of the deaths.  And the whole point about my bringing up this sudden upsurge in Europe is that this is exactly what will happen to the USA in the coming months.  When schools, bars and the economy open up, plus the flu season, things could be embarrassing for Trump on November 3.  

But, you say, much of the Orient, has avoided this second wave.  One difference could be that they do wear masks.  If 95% of the populace wear a mask all the time when going out, the pandemic will end.  How well do Americans do?  I've seen 44% and around 60%, but never much more, even though 80% of the citizenry agree that masks are the best defense and 86% realize that one wears a mask because they care about the safety of others.  Part of the reason:

• 38% of Republicans believe masks do little to prevent the spread, and guess who is responsible?
• 27% for Independents.
• 19% for Democrats.  Joe Biden is making a campaign issue out of this difference.

The stunner is  that Dr. Robert Redfield has not yet denied his contention that a mask is more effective than any coming vaccine to prevent COVID-19.  This will come to a head with Trump soon, who said Redfield misunderstood the question, when asked by the Senate hearing panel.

Why Redfield makes sense is that:

• This future vaccine will most likely be from 50% to 70% effective.  
• That is optimistic.  The % effectiveness of the flu shot in the past:
• 2018-19:  29%
• 2017-18:  38%
• 2016-17:  40%
• 2015-16:  48%
• 2014-15:  19%
• Pew just released their latest poll, and found that only 51% of Americans will get vaccinated, down from 72% in May.  Why?  Primarily, there are unknowns with regard to safety.

Trump is pushing "his" vaccine, but Republicans are more reluctant that Democrats!

The New York Times today reported that less than 2 months before our presidential election, there is a worthwhile Danish series on Netflix about their election entitled Borgen.  I watched it the other night, and can highly recommend.  Rotten Tomatoes gave all three seasons 100% ratings.  Even the audience was at 99%.  Never saw anything so high before.

Sent to me are two photos of Chicago taken by John Pratt of the National Portrait Gallery.  The second is a view from the state of Indiana at sunset.

Not sure where this is from, but hope your weekend can match this serenity with a capybara:

I recall a long time ago my father returned from the San Diego Zoo and, he said, just saw the largest rat in the world.  A capybara can get up to 150 pounds.  It is from South America, herbivorous and the largest rodent.

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Ever hear of a medicane?  Nothing to with health.  Mediterranean + hurricane = MEDICANE.  Ianos is just about now making landfall over Greece at 62 MPH.  All ocean storms move east to west.  A medicane goes from west to east.

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