December 22, 2022 – 655,145,823 confirmed infections; 6,671,946 deaths
December 22, 2021 – 277,088,800 confirmed infections; 5,376,100 deaths
December 24, 2020 – 78,674,530 confirmed infections; 1,730,000 deaths
US (Map)
December 22, 2022 – 100,183,071 confirmed infections; 1,089,327deaths
December 22, 2021 – 51,537,000 confirmed infections; 812,100 deaths
December 24, 2020 – 18,455,660 confirmed infections; 326,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 22, 2022 – 4,046,986 confirmed infections; 102,568 deaths
December 22, 2021 – 3,353,110 confirmed infections; 90,587 deaths
December 24, 2020 – 974,260 confirmed infections; 25,660 deaths
Post from:
December 24, 2021 – “Pesky numbers"
December 24, 2020 – “Holiday madness"
News blues…
Covid levels surge in San Francisco Bay Area wastewater. Is the next surge here?What are the symptoms of an infection with BQ.1 and BQ.1.1?
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Cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics on Tuesday as authorities reported five more deaths and international concern grew about Beijing's surprise decision to let the virus run free.Read “China races to bolster health system as COVID surge sparks global concern” >>
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A raging epidemic in China could be bad news for controlling the virus in the U.S., he and other experts said, because travelers will arrive sick and the chances of mutation increase anytime a virus infects a lot of people.Read “COVID-19 is about to explode in China. What that could mean for the United States?”
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On war… and culture warUkraine President Zelensky arrives at the White House where he participates in a press conference with President Biden then addresses US Congress.
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The Lincoln Project:We are united (Zelensky in US Congress) (2:00 mins)
Two meetings, a world of difference for democracy (0:45 mins)
Uh oh, Donald (0:44 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - December 20, 2022 (2:15 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - December 18, 2022 (2:57 mins)
Uh oh, Donald (0:44 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - December 20, 2022 (2:15 mins)
Last week in the Republican Party - December 18, 2022 (2:57 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Way back in 1976, I visited the Dead Sea and floated in the ultra salty water. There was not much there then, few tourist amenities and fewer tourists. Today, the Dead Sea is dying. Beautiful, ominous photos show the impact as its water level drops and big sinkholes swallow whole tracts of land around it.Learn why this disaster is unfolding at the Middle East's iconic salt lake >>
A discussion with the oncologist confirmed our fears: either the chemo had failed to flush what nodules remained after surgery or scar tissue in the lung affected/hid what was apparent. Of particular concern was a vascular bundle associated with lymph nodes behind the sternum. The oncologist had already contacted the surgeon and discussed the possibility of further surgical intervention in that area. His response? Too sensitive an area with too many blood vessels – also the reason he’d not addressed the area during initial surgery. And I suspect, the reason why he’d re-staged Mary’s diagnosis from Stage 2 to Stage 3 A.
What to do?
Inconclusive.
Next step?
Learn more with another PET scan.
That’s scheduled for Jan 4, 2023.
How to medically address the situation if, indeed, the chemo was insufficient to dissuade further growth?
Immunotherapy is an option.
Groan.
India banned asbestos mining in 1993, when the government stopped reissuing licenses, but it imports more of the toxic mineral than any other country. In 2021, India accounted for 44% of global imports, a 29% increase over 2020. Russia and Brazil are its key sources.
In India, “there’s almost no home or car that isn’t being built with asbestos as an ingredient…”
The good news? While it will be cold, even colder next month, we’re on the upswing. Spring is in the cards!
Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 4:54pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:56am
Sunset: 6:59pm
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
As mentioned in the previous post, Mary and I had read the results of her recent scan but could not accurately decipher results. That is, the results we deciphered described several “areas of concern” – potentially active nodules. How could that be?A discussion with the oncologist confirmed our fears: either the chemo had failed to flush what nodules remained after surgery or scar tissue in the lung affected/hid what was apparent. Of particular concern was a vascular bundle associated with lymph nodes behind the sternum. The oncologist had already contacted the surgeon and discussed the possibility of further surgical intervention in that area. His response? Too sensitive an area with too many blood vessels – also the reason he’d not addressed the area during initial surgery. And I suspect, the reason why he’d re-staged Mary’s diagnosis from Stage 2 to Stage 3 A.
What to do?
Inconclusive.
Next step?
Learn more with another PET scan.
That’s scheduled for Jan 4, 2023.
How to medically address the situation if, indeed, the chemo was insufficient to dissuade further growth?
Immunotherapy is an option.
Groan.
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Given Meso Mary’s toxic contamination and my concern, these days I am hyperalert to all things asbestos and mesothelioma related. Here’s a view of the future, for India and Indians. India banned asbestos mining in 1993, when the government stopped reissuing licenses, but it imports more of the toxic mineral than any other country. In 2021, India accounted for 44% of global imports, a 29% increase over 2020. Russia and Brazil are its key sources.
In India, “there’s almost no home or car that isn’t being built with asbestos as an ingredient…”
“The government is basically saying that Indian asbestos is poisonous, but Brazilian or Russian asbestos is not,” says Gopal Krishna, an occupational health researcher and founder of the Ban Asbestos Network of India. “It makes no sense.” India’s unmatched scale of exposure to asbestos means that in the coming decades more than 6 million people could have an asbestos-related disease, including more than 600,000 cancer cases, according to research published by Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). “It’s a ticking timebomb,” says Abhijeet Vasant Jadhav, lead author of the research. Asbestos is used in everything from cement to brake parts, says Krishna. “There’s almost no home or car in India that isn’t being built with asbestos as an ingredient. We are all exposed to it.”Read “'We are all exposed to it’: the human face of India’s asbestos timebomb. Experts say country’s vulnerability to asbestos-related diseases is putting the health of millions of people at risk” >>
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Winter solstice and the US is cold!. The Bay Area is not as cold as many, most, areas across the US but it is still cold.The good news? While it will be cold, even colder next month, we’re on the upswing. Spring is in the cards!
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SF Bay Area: Sunrise: 7:21am
Sunset: 4:54pm
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 4:56am
Sunset: 6:59pm
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