Progress?

News blues…

Dr Fauci on virus variants, including South Africa’s variant (7:03 mins)
… and a comment on conspiracy theories and theorists  (4:03 mins)

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How accurate are official Covid death tolls? Of concern in South Africa: “not all hospitals and provinces provide the same level of accuracy, the data cannot be verified.”

The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) publishes the number of excess deaths in 2020 and 2021 regularly, but many people try to explain it away by saying it is due to the lockdown, and not unreported Covid-19 cases.
Analysis of excess death figures in South Africa indicates that far more people were infected and died from Covid-19 than the official figures suggest. Covid-19 mortality to the week of 17 January 2021 is most probably in the range of 111,227 to 133,128, rather than the reported 34,828, three to four times more than the official data.
Based on these revised Covid-19 mortality figures, Professor. Alex van den Heever, chair of social security systems administration and management studies at the Wits School of Governance, estimates that the true level of Covid-19 infections may range from around 6 to 9 million, which is significantly higher than the reported 1.3 million.
…
Two basic theories are used to explain the deviation:

• that the deaths could be directly due to SARS-COV-2 infections and the resulting disease, Covid-19 or
• that they are collateral deaths that could be indirectly linked to Covid-19, due to reduced health service access caused by lockdowns and delayed treatment, because people are scared of infection or they are told by hospitals to stay away to make space for Covid-19 patients.

Read >> “6 to 9 million is the ‘true level’ of SA Covid-19 infections – expert” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Back in December, Apple Inc. faced lawsuits of about $217 million in several European countries seeking over misleading claims about the battery life of older iPhones, particularly the iPhone 6 series.

The lawsuits mirror U.S. cases over claims that the company misled consumers about iPhone battery power and software updates that slowed the performance of the devices. The Cupertino, Calif., company last month agreed to pay $113 million to settle a case with multiple U.S. regulators. Meanwhile, customers are seeking approval from a U.S. court for a class-action settlement that could be worth as much as $500 million. 

Generally not someone who endorses lawsuits as a means of redress, I am heartily on board with this one. (Not that it helps me in any practical sense.)
I’m now having to charge my iPhone 6 SE every hour or two. Along with all the other burdens – very ill mother, dealing with realtors to sell her property and her household goods (including a mountain of elderly tools and an elderly vehicle) a gardener with Covid and an overgrown garden amid a hot and wet summer, moving my own property to a new home, etc., - not trusting my communication device to communicate is one burden too many.
Buying a new iPhone lite – “the cheaper" $300-or-so version in the US – costs about R12,000 here – that’s more than $800! Yes, I could turn to an Android phone – I have access to an Android right now – but I use the iPhone to communicate easily with friends and family in the US who prefer iPhone features over Android (FaceTime, etc.). Little did I realize, when I purchased my (recycled) iPhone 6 SE several years ago, that I “bought into” Apple and iPhone. True, I should have realized realized the choice was a rerun of the PC/Apple choice of the 1980s. I bought into MSDOS and I’m still a user of PC over Apple.
I’m of the old school: someone who believes – contrary to current reality – that devices and other items “should” be interchangeable and last longer than one season of use. 

Grrrr to out-of-control consumer culture (aka, littering culture)….

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My mother was slightly better during yesterday’s visit. She looked through both eyes, tracked what I way saying and responded with nods or shakes of her head, and fidgeted in her Laziboy to denote discomfort with her position. She’s too weak to move herself into a more comfortable position and I’m not strong enough to effectively move her. But I took it as a good sign that she seeks more physical comfort. Two staff members assisted in moving her. Progress?