About the Omicron variant, it is becoming crystal clear that no one is safe until everyone is safe. The whole world needs to attain herd immunity to diminish this virus to flu status. While Omicron could mean that those vaccinated could be infected (and we really don't know if this is true at this early stage), the consensus sense is that vaccinations will prevent a serious illness and death. So get vaccinated. Looks like my trip to Dubai for the World Expo in March is now in serious jeopardy.
About Dubai, Lindsay Lohan, who now lives there, announced her engagement to Bader Shammas, a financier in the country. In the post she called her betrothed: My love. My life. My family. My future. She is co-starring in a Netflix holiday rom-com as a spoiled hotel heiress with amnesia opposite Glee star Chord Overstreet.
On the college football sports front, Oklahoma's Coach Lincoln Riley is moving to the USC. Almost shockingly, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly is going to LSU. One good reason why LSU won the national championship a couple of years ago was the defensive coaching of David Aranda, who moved to Baylor as head coach. The team this year is 10-2 and playing 11-1 Oklahoma State for the Big 12 championship this Saturday. Oklahoma State last week beat Oklahoma. Aranda once coached at the University of Hawaii and was considered to be weirdly super-competent.
Remember Sweden's first female prime minister who last week resigned after only holding that role for a few hours? Well, Magdalena Andersson became prime minister again when the Swedish Parliament yesterday appointed her anyway. How much longer? Who knows, but her Social Democrats hold only 100 seats in the 349-member Parliament.
- Sweden 1484
- Denmark 495
- Norway 192
- Finland 240
- Iceland 102
- World 670
- USA 2401
- New York 2983
- Florida 2865
- Arizona 3054
- New Jersey 3192
- Louisiana 3182
- Mississippi 3449
- Hawaii 719
- Vermont 657
- Veterans Affairs 43,600
- Navajo Nation 39,225
- Federal Prisons 4827
- U.S. Military 1458
- India 335
- Germany 1208
- Russia 1876
- Boznia/Herzegovina 3861
- Peru 5983
- Japan 146
- Australia 77
- New Zealand 9
- South Korea 70
- Israel 879
- Morocco 394
- Botswana 1000
- South Africa 1488
- China 3
- Taiwan 36
- Diamond Princess 3772
A few interesting comparisons:
- Sweden and the U.S. Military have similar death rates.
- The Diamond Princess had a death rate similar to many former Soviet countries.
- About the U.S., where some states would rank in the world top ten for death rate:
- Veterans Affairs and Navajo Nation had ten times the death rate of the worst countries.
- Our Federal Prison would rank #2 to Peru for having the highest death rate.
- That Veterans Affairs rate is so because they are older, but mostly because this rate is based on those veterans in VA hospitals, numbering 384,958. There are 19 million total veterans, so if you divide by this number, the death rate for veterans would be 812. But then, you need to add veteran deaths outside of VA hospitals, so this becomes complicated.
- Throughout the world, Indigenous peoples suffer from higher death rates.
- Countries of the Orient and Oceania did something right.
- Certainly quick government reaction and masks made a difference.
- Also, their previous experience with SARS and MERS epidemics helped.
- However, are there other factors such as weather, culture, genetics, different immune system, obesity, etc.
- It's possible that some strain of a coronavirus previously swept through the region to increase immunity. Could have been a cold virus.
- Japan practices good hygiene, has long worn masks (because of air pollution from China and their culture about wearing one to prevent passing on colds, etc.) and bowing instead of shaking hands.
- Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo, a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist, said people with Asian and European ancestry have enormous differences in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype, genes that control the immune system’s response to a virus.
- Obesity?
Well, enough of that. I'm ending with something cute:
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Here it is almost December and ocean storm Nyatoh has formed east of the Philippines and is expected to attain Category 3 status. However, all signs point to this typhoon going north then west to avoid major landfall.
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