Desperation

News blues

Nations turning to D.C. lobbyists to get the tools they need to fight the pandemic? Global health officials say that’s all that’s wrong with the fight against Covid.
Asia Russell, executive director of the international advocacy group Health Global Access Project said, “Lobbyists are being used to help desperate countries get a better place in line for life saving commodities that never should have been rationed in the first place.” Read more >> 

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The first country to really get hit by omicron is South Africa.
Before the new variant took off last month, coronavirus cases there were low – only several hundred per day in mid November.
But by early December, the tally of daily infections had shot up to more than 4,500 — and genomic sequencing shows that omicron is to blame.
What's more, the variant quickly swept through all regions of South Africa – and has now shown up in about 60 additional countries.
Omicron hasn't yet triggered a global wave, but many scientists who are tracking its rapid spread believe it's only a matter of time.
The reason for their concern? >> 

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Epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm correctly predicted the Delta surge and Covid-19 death totals. Here he discusses the Omicron variant and what he thinks is next for the US in the pandemic >> 

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Barring a miracle, by tomorrow the US will have reached more than 800,000 dead to coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Best advice? Get your first, second or third (“booster”) shot ASAP.  

(Eight more days before I’m eligible for my after-6-month booster.)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Twenty collections of twenty (sobering) photos of the week since July 2021 >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Rain in the SF Bay area! Forecast to rain off and on for the next five days. Yay We need it!
Alas, rain accompanied by temperatures into the low 40s and upper 30s. That’s cold for us Bay Area residents. But to borrow a phrase from the Rolling Stones, "You can’t always get what you want" >>  (7:35 mins)