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| © Fiore, KQED |
As the date for my planned departure comes closer, I become more anxious about Covid news. While the US trends towards lifting mask compliance due to what looks like a successful anti-Covid vaccination program, South Africa may be trending towards a third wave of infection.
News blues
[According to SA’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)] the number of new Covid-19 infections from …May 3 to 9 showed an overall 46% increase compared to the previous week, April 26 to May 2.
The Northern Cape (68%), Gauteng (63%) and Limpopo (47%) topped the list of provinces with new cases.
There has also been an increase in hospital admissions and Covid-19-related deaths increased by 18% compared to the previous week, with the Eastern Cape and Western Cape (both 21%), Gauteng (20%) and KwaZulu-Natal (19%) accounting for 81% of all reported fatalities.
At a provincial level, the NICD said Free State was now experiencing a third wave.
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape are showing sustained increases.
Northern Cape never met the technical criterion for exiting the second wave and has experienced a significant resurgence in recent weeks. https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-05-14-sa-not-in-third-wave-yet-says-nicd--but-here-are-provinces-at-risk/
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| Confirmed Cases: 1 602 031 Confirmed Deaths: 54 968 Confirmed Recoveries: 1 519 734 Vaccines Administered: 430 730 Updated 10:00, 13 May 2021 |
Tracking Covid-19:
- Tracking Covid-19 vaccinations worldwide
- South African experts to follow for up-to-date and accurate Covid information…
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… health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said the Free State had now technically crossed the line and entered a third wave of coronavirus infections. The number of new daily cases has been slowly increasing over the last few weeks. He also confirmed that the B.1.617.2 variant first found in India, had now arrived in South Africa, along with a variant first found in the UK (so far most scientists have said they believe the B.1.617 variant poses no greater risk to our population than other variants, and that the current vaccines work against this variant).Read “Covid-19 vaccination roll-out: South Africa’s greatest political event of 2021” >>
While Mkhize stressed it is still possible to avoid a third wave of the disease, it does appear the risk of a new wave of infections has increased.
In the meantime, the Sisonke study, which is due to deliver half a million shots-in-arms, still has almost 100-thousand injections to go, aiming to complete that goal by Monday.
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I regularly receive information about and invitations for vaccinations from the State of California where Gov. Gavin Newsom said the outdoor mask mandate will be lifted June 15 if cases and hospitalizations continue to drop and some guidelines will remain for indoor locations….“… we will be updating our mask guidelines ... outdoor masking ... if we reach that threshold where we hope to be," the governor said. "For indoor activities we will still likely have some mask guidelines and mandates. But we hope sooner than later that those will be lifted as well."I’m in the process of making a vaccination appointment and, if all goes according to plan, I’ll get “the jab” the day after I arrive. (Who knows, perhaps I can shop for groceries myself – instead of my friend using my list and shop for me.)
Excerpts from emails urging me to get the jab:
Appointments for a first dose of Pfizer are available through Sutter Health at the Alameda County Fairgrounds Drive-Through Point of Dispensing (POD) site on May 15th, 2021.
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These appointments are for 1st doses of Pfizer or Moderna
Walk-ups are not accepted – you must book an appointment
… Important information for your appointment:Oh boy! After 1.5 years in South Africa, I appreciate planning…
This is a Drive-Through Vaccination Clinic only so please plan accordingly If you are under the age of 18:
- Your parent or legal guardian will need to consent on your behalf.
- If you receive an appointment, your parent or legal guardian will also need to be present with you on site in order for you to receive a vaccination.
- You need to bring the following to your COVID-19 vaccination appointment:
- Photo Identification (ID). Your photo ID does not have to be government issued.
- Appointment Confirmation. If you have an appointment, print the confirmation or provide it on your phone.
- Mask. Please remember to wear a mask and practice social distancing.
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The Lincoln Project: Civility (0:40 mins) MeidasTouch: The Rules of the Demagogue (1:46 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Close to one year ago, my mother’s longtime live-in domestic worker’s adult son, drunk, threaten to kill me, rape me, shoot me, “f**k me in the a**. (Disconcerting from someone who’d spent 5 years in prison for rape.) This, because I’d dared tell the jobless, drunk, 40-year-old that he could no longer sponge off my mother nor live on her property.The saga of the drunk son and his belligerent-towards-me-domestic-worker mother continued for weeks. (Backstory )
I was granted a restraining order and he has not been near my mother’s property since.
After my mother moved to the Care Center, the longtime, live-in domestic worker was retrenched (retired/laid off). Xhosa, she returned to the Transkei, the land of her birth. Her drunk son elected to stay in the area and live off money she sent. Rumor tells he regularly made a drunken nuisance of himself in the local township of Mpophomeni, that residents urged his mother to get him out of town before he was attacked, or worse.
As of Monday this week, he has “disappeared” with speculation running from “someone” driving him far from town and dumping him … “someone” attacking him and he lies, unidentified, in local hospital (“police are asking people for his ID book”) … or “someone” killing him and his body hasn’t turned up – yet (or is that why police seek his ID book?).
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Now that it appears I may enjoy spring in my houseboat on the Sacramento Delta, my imagination is flourishing. Plans include having the pontoons inspected for wear, then revamping the houseboat to squeeze our more living space and greater comfort. First, though, I’ll have to convince the many spiders who take up residence in the marina to abandon the webs they’re spun on my boat. Fish generally enjoy my spring cleaning and hover at the water’s surface to eat slow spiders. I’ll also enjoy the sight of cliff swallows arriving from their migration from Chile. And check on the two cliff swallows that return to a well-made cup-shaped mud nest built above the pontoons under my boat. I look forward to seeing them again.***
Two more weeks of tracking winter days here….Feb 26: sunrise 5:47am; sunset 6:33pm.
March 2: sunrise 5:50am; sunset 6:29pm.
March 16: sunrise 5:59am; sunset 6:13pm.
March 29: sunrise 6:07am; sunset 5:58pm.
April 1: sunrise 6:09am; sunset 5:54pm.
April 15: sunrise 6:18am; sunset 5:39pm.
April 25: sunrise 6:23am; sunset 5:30pm.
May 1: sunrise 6:27am; sunset 5:24pm.
May 13: sunrise 6:35am; sunset 5:15pm.
May 15: sunrise 6:36am; sunset 5:14pm.
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