Delights

Numbers this week compared to numbers last week (Thursday, June 10):
Worldwide (Map) 
June 17, 2021 – 1.77,120,700 confirmed infections; 3,835,000 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 174,500,000 confirmed infections; 3,759,200 deaths

US (Map) 
June 17, 2021 – 33,500,000 confirmed infections; 600,700 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 33,415,000 confirmed infections; 598,400 deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal) 
June 17, 2021 – 1.774,500 confirmed infections; 58,225 deaths
June 10, 2021 – 1,713,000 confirmed infections; 57,320 deaths
South Africa’s Covid-19 infections jumped by 13,246 on Wednesday, the highest daily total in five months, its government said.

Countries of Covid Concern – 2021
India: Update according to WHO >> 
June 17, 129,700,350 confirmed infections; 382,000 deaths
June 11: 29,183,000 confirmed infections; 356,000 deaths
Brazil:
June 17, 628,600 confirmed infections; 493,700 deaths
June 11, 2021: 17,123,000 confirmed infections; 480,000 deaths
Brazil has had 95,367 new cases of coronavirus reported in the past 24 hours and 2,997 deaths, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
According to Reuters, the South American country has now registered 17,628,588 cases since the pandemic began while the official death toll has risen to 493,693.

Post from one pandemic year ago: “He Speaks!” 

News blues

California lifts most COVID-19 restrictions 

“California has turned the page. Let us all celebrate this remarkable milestone,” an exuberant and mask-less Governor Newsom declared from an outdoor stage at Universal Studios Hollywood, where he hosted a game show-style selection of 10 residents to receive $1.5 million apiece, just for getting vaccinated. “Today is a day to reconnect with strangers, loved ones, family members. Give people hugs.”

Hmmm, I guess I didn’t win anything “just for getting vaccinated.” (I go for my second dose of Pfizer on Sunday June 20.)

***

Covid-19 cases have fallen far below the winter peak, but in the US the Delta variant has roughly doubled every two weeks 

The Delta variant is spreading at an uncertain time in the US. Covid-19 cases have fallen far below the winter peak, from an average of more than 250,000 new diagnoses a day in January to about 14,000 a day in June. Fewer cases have coincided with fewer hospitalizations and deaths.
This has led state after state to lift all social distancing guidelines, including in California, which gave the green light to large indoor gatherings such as sporting events. Now, social distancing and mask requirements are largely operating on the honor system.
But, even as pandemic guidelines recede, Delta has roughly doubled every two weeks in the US, a pattern once followed by Alpha, the variant first discovered in the UK, which eventually came to represent the vast majority of new US infections. The Delta variant has also delayed the UK’s planned reopening.

***

The Lincoln Project: How Trump gets back to the White House  (1:02 mins)
Doonesbury at 50! An interview with the cartoonist 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Roughly 50 million people across the Western U.S. are under some form of heat-related alert from the National Weather Service, which predicted record-setting heat this week just about everywhere west of the Rocky Mountains. 

Scientists who study drought and climate change say that people living in the American West can expect to see more of the same [sorts of heat waves] in the coming years.
“Heat waves are getting worse in the West because the soil is so dry” from the region's megadrought, said Park Williams, a climate and fire scientist who has calculated that soil in the western half of the nation is the driest it has been since 1895. “We could have two, three, four, five of these heat waves before the end of the summer.” 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

After 1.5 years of pandemic in South Africa, I’ve been in California for 19 days, most of which have been under quarantine and “isolated” on my houseboat in the Delta. I do not own a television. I have not owned a TV for 2 decades although Donald Trump’s run for president, shocking victory, and disastrous incumbency in the White House turned me into a TV news junkie. Back then, I could hardly wait to plop on a sofa and catch up with The Trumpster.
Pandemic in South Africa coupled with the lack of TV coverage of US news meant I watched news clips on YouTube. Fast forward to this heatwave and sheltering with air con and a large TV in a friend’s apartment. Since I’ve been here – two days – I’ve returned to his sofa to catch up on early evening TV new. Main takeaway: why on earth do Americans put up with so many commercials? Groups of commercials – 5 or 6, many advertising big pharma - run every 10 minutes or so. Cable news is about 40 percent commercials. Un-f**ing-believable. Nevertheless, it is good to watch the news again.

***

Until my 2020 departure for South Africa, I regularly accompanied my friend for a late afternoon walk in his neighborhood. Yesterday, despite the late afternoon swelter, we walked the usual route. Changes since I’d been gone: a new library under construction, taller trees spreading, oak saplings planted, the stream already dry, my fav fig tree not producing figs this year, tasty small plums from my fav wild plum tree already harvested.
I miss walking. The drawback to living on a houseboat in the Delta? No safe areas to walk. While the heatwave rages and I’m hunkered down with air con by day, I’ll do what I did this morning: arise and walk the neighborhood in the early morning – cool, delightful – and late afternoon – warm, delightful….