News blues
What happens when a health-care system crumbles?At first, there’s just a lot of waiting. Emergency rooms get so full that “you’ll wait hours and hours, and you may not be able to get surgery when you need it.”Read more >>
When patients are seen, they might not get the tests they need, because technicians or necessary chemicals are in short supply. Then delay becomes absence. The little acts of compassion that make hospital stays tolerable disappear. Next go the acts of necessity that make stays survivable. Nurses might be so swamped that they can’t check whether a patient has their pain medications or if a ventilator is working correctly. People who would’ve been fine will get sicker. Eventually, people who would have lived will die. This is not conjecture; it is happening now, across the United States.
This article is specific to the US where medical care is very expensive, not easily dispensed, and geared towards generating and supporting high medical insurance premiums. The medical system in South Africa – with a quasi-infrastructure overall and shaky medical care in general - serves the vast majority without medical insurance.
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Notes from the Covid front lines:
…health care workers are not superhuman or robots, and are subject to human feelings and emotions just like everyone else. Never before have I endured such resentment and cynicism at unvaccinated patients and their reckless, selfish choices. Choices that enable this pandemic to propagate and destroy lives and families. Thus, it is only natural that throughout the country we are seeing widespread staffing shortages across all health care disciplines.Read “I'm An ICU Doctor in Rural Ohio. This Is the Horror I Face Every Day Due To COVID-19.” >>
On the same topic:
An incoming tide of patients is slowly drowning UMass Memorial Medical Center, and the US military's National Guard is working to plug the gaps. In wave after daily wave, the emergency crews pull up to the ambulance bay, dropping off patients for which there is no room.
An incoming tide of patients is slowly drowning UMass Memorial Medical Center, and the US military's National Guard is working to plug the gaps. In wave after daily wave, the emergency crews pull up to the ambulance bay, dropping off patients for which there is no room.
And,
Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.Read “Omicron Boom Spurs Breakdown of Vital Services Nationwide. Disruptions are evident in everything from health care to public transit to air travel.” >>
The current explosion of omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services — the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic. “This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,” said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE. “And the unfortunate reality is, there’s no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers — globally — up.”
First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up.
And, confused by the CDC’s new isolation guidelines? You’re not the only one. America’s COVID Rules Are a Dumpster Fire >>
Our own Trevor Noah and the Daily Show comment on, Ted Cruz: The Booger on the Lip of Democracy (0:45 mins)
Who knew?
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The South African government has decided to take a more pragmatic approach while keeping an eye on severe COVID and whether or not health systems are imminently under threat. This reflects acceptance that governments will increasingly be looking for ways to live with the virus cognisant of the detrimental indirect effects that restrictions have been having on the economy, livelihoods and other aspects of society. This is particularly pertinent in resource constrained countries such as South Africa.Read more >>
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The Lincoln Project: Seb/Ted (0:37 mins) Our own Trevor Noah and the Daily Show comment on, Ted Cruz: The Booger on the Lip of Democracy (0:45 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Actually, I knew. It’s tough not to know when, each day in the office, one makes a cup of coffee with a high-end Keurig delivering coffee with a one-time-use plastic pod, along with two or three one-time-use plastic crème pods, a one-time use sugar packet and, if one doesn’t bring along a reusable ceramic mug, a one-time-use polystyrene cup.
I also knew our office was one of dozens of similar offices on one floor – and millions across America - with Keurig coffee makers. Worry spurred these photos I took to record my ritual cup of joe.
Now, huge surprise! NOT!
Now, huge surprise! NOT!
The millions of machines that require single-use plastic coffee pods are not, after all, great for the environment, not even close. Finally, Keurig is roasted and, one hopes, toasted (as in burned, not celebrated).
Howick Falls reaching flow capacity. (Previous post with photos.)
The Competition Bureau, a regulator in Canada tasked with snuffing out deceptive business practices, said Keurig Canada will pay a $3 million penalty for not being transparent about the recyclability of its products. The bureau said that it and the company had voluntarily reached a settlement to pay the penalty plus give an $800,000 donation to an environmental charity and cover $85,000 in Competition Bureau expenses….Read more >>
Keurig was investigated for claiming customers could recycle its pods by removing the aluminum foil lid and dumping out the coffee grounds. The bureau found the instructions to be insufficient for the pods to be widely accepted into recycling programs and noted that Quebec and British Columbia were the only provinces recycling K-Cups.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Midmar Dam is a huge man-made water reservoir serving Kwa Zulu Natal.
With all the rain falling in KZN – and predicted to continue – in the area, Midmar Dam, too, is beginning to overflow . (At about minute 1:50 of this clip, Howick Falls. - 2:27 mins)
And a clip of streets flooding in the province’s legislative capital >>
And a clip of streets flooding in the province’s legislative capital >>
Previous posts describe my attempts to address the largely blocked stream that flows through the bottom of my mom’s property. It overflows with too much rain and floods the garden, then water rises toward the house. One of the two culverts designed to drain water under a service road is totally blocked. The other culvert drains at less than 20 percent capacity. I’ve attempted to engage the local municipal department responsible for such maintenance. I describe their response at my temerity to request service as uninterested, inconclusive, in a word, incompetent. A shrug as equipment is driven away.
Property taxes up the wazoo; Thanks very much for continuing to pay. Alas, service unavailable. (One supervisor told me workers cannot complete the work because “too many snakes.” I advised I’d taken a close look at the blockage and, in 2 years, never seen a single snake. Another shrug before entering her car and driving away - never to return.)
With the amount of water falling and flowing in the area, I’m both worried about the property.
I’m also worried about traveling to SA and, after 30 to 36 hours of traveling, finding the area too flooded to allow safe transit to the house.
Africa. Continent of surprises.
Air New Zealand doesn’t service South Africa from the US.
Etihad Airways – UAE – in second place.
Qatar Airways came in third, with Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal achieving fourth and fifth place respectively.
Australian carrier Qantas is missing from the top five despite holding the title of world's safest airline from 2014 to 2017, as well as 2019 to 2021 (no clear winner could be found in 2018). Australia's flag carrier takes seventh place this time due to a "slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age” after a Qantas Boeing traveling from the Australian city of Perth to Adelaide in Western Australia was diverted due to a fuel imbalance, in an occurrence classified as a "serious incident."
Of these carriers, only Qatar serves the US. This means up to a 24 hour layover in Doha. Am I up for it?
Enquiring minds wanna know….
Bay Area, California:
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:08pm
The good news? Sunset happening one to two minutes later each day. Weather, still cold although sunny for part of the day.
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:09am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining …with more rain predicted for the next 10 days. The vulgar South Africanism that describes my consternation, oh, gats!
Property taxes up the wazoo; Thanks very much for continuing to pay. Alas, service unavailable. (One supervisor told me workers cannot complete the work because “too many snakes.” I advised I’d taken a close look at the blockage and, in 2 years, never seen a single snake. Another shrug before entering her car and driving away - never to return.)
With the amount of water falling and flowing in the area, I’m both worried about the property.
I’m also worried about traveling to SA and, after 30 to 36 hours of traveling, finding the area too flooded to allow safe transit to the house.
Africa. Continent of surprises.
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The latest news on international travel: airline for New Zealand was awarded first place "due to its excellent incident record, number of cockpit innovations, pilot training and very low fleet age." "Air New Zealand is a leader in this field with comprehensive retraining." Air New Zealand doesn’t service South Africa from the US.
Etihad Airways – UAE – in second place.
Qatar Airways came in third, with Singapore Airlines and TAP Portugal achieving fourth and fifth place respectively.
Australian carrier Qantas is missing from the top five despite holding the title of world's safest airline from 2014 to 2017, as well as 2019 to 2021 (no clear winner could be found in 2018). Australia's flag carrier takes seventh place this time due to a "slight increase in incidents coupled with the fleet age” after a Qantas Boeing traveling from the Australian city of Perth to Adelaide in Western Australia was diverted due to a fuel imbalance, in an occurrence classified as a "serious incident."
Of these carriers, only Qatar serves the US. This means up to a 24 hour layover in Doha. Am I up for it?
Enquiring minds wanna know….
Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 5:08pm
The good news? Sunset happening one to two minutes later each day. Weather, still cold although sunny for part of the day.
Howick, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:09am
Sunset: 7:03pm
Still raining …with more rain predicted for the next 10 days. The vulgar South Africanism that describes my consternation, oh, gats!
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