January 20, 2023 – 668,465,287 confirmed infections; 6,736,686 deaths
January 20, 2022 – 317,486,000 confirmed infections; 5,516,000 deaths
January 21, 2021 – 96,830,000 confirmed infections; 2,074,000 deaths
US (Map)
January 20, 2023 – 101,964,661confirmed infections; 1,103,724 deaths
January 20, 2022 – 338,550,400 confirmed infections; 5,568,100 deaths
January 21, 2021 – 24,450,000 confirmed infections: 406,100 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
January 20, 2023 - 4,053,527 confirmed infections; 102,568 deaths
January 20, 2022 – 3,564,600 confirmed infections; 93,571 deaths
January 21, 2021 – 1,370,000 confirmed infections; 38,900 deaths
Post from:
January 20, 2022 - “Plus ça change”
January 21, 2021 – “The vulgarian has left the building”
Decision (1:20 mins)
Post from:
January 20, 2022 - “Plus ça change”
January 21, 2021 – “The vulgarian has left the building”
News blues…
COVID is never going away. But the pandemic will inevitably end at some point. Right?Read “COVID keeps surging, but life is returning to normal everywhere you look. When will the pandemic really be over?”
For many, it already has, with masks, social distancing, and frequent handwashing relegated to a traumatic past they’re unwilling to revisit.
[Recently] the Biden administration extended the U.S. public health emergency for another 90 days, though U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials recently warned states that the emergency status may soon come to an end. World Health Organization officials, too, continue to express optimism that the global health emergency may draw to a close this year. A committee meeting on the matter is set for Jan. 27.
Are we—or are we not—still in a pandemic, three years in?
***
The Lincoln Project:Decision (1:20 mins)
Healthy planet, anyone?
Look on the bright side: We the People face unprecedented weather …and this ground squirrel is doing its best to warn us to, "for god's sake, do something about climate change"…***
The United States endured 18 separate disasters in 2022 whose damages exceeded $1 billion, with the total coming to $165 billion, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).Read more >>
… Extreme weather events, fueled by human-caused climate change, are occurring at a higher frequency with an increased cost — in dollars and lives.
"Climate change is creating more and more intense, extreme events that cause significant damage and often sets off cascading hazards like intense drought, followed by devastating wildfires, followed by dangerous flooding and mudslides," said Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA's administrator, citing the flooding and landslides currently happening in California.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
As it did yesterday morning, a large, shiny golden orb appeared in the eastern section of the sky this morning. I assume it will disappear, as it did yesterday, in the western section of the sky at the end of day. I’ve not seen this golden orb for weeks. It is very welcome.***
Reading the tealeaves, Meso Mary is in for a rough ride. Her latest PET scan shows “hypermetabolic” activity “under the diaphragm”. Translated: the cancer has spread outside the thoracic cavity (her lung pleura) and into her “belly.” Moreover, it has entered the lymph system.This is scary stuff.
As Mary – and I – absorb this news, we’re also preparing for the next phase of her treatment: immunotherapy.
Immunotherapy has successfully treated mesothelioma in some patients – at least for a period of time. Mesothelioma, however, is not curable. It goes underground for a period then flares up again. Immunotherapy can create longer periods between resurgence of the disease. That’s not to be sneezed at.
The downside of immunotherapy? The immune system can ‘over-react’ and ‘attack’ organs it assumes are ill or inflamed … leading to damaged liver, or kidneys, or adrenals, or heart, or ….
Alas.
Neither Mary nor I will, as we’d planned, travel to South Africa at the end of this month. Indeed, given the treatment’s expected course, we’ll not travel there until at least August.
Sunrise: 7:29am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Sun... welcome, sun!
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:18am
Sunset: 7:01pm
Immunotherapy has successfully treated mesothelioma in some patients – at least for a period of time. Mesothelioma, however, is not curable. It goes underground for a period then flares up again. Immunotherapy can create longer periods between resurgence of the disease. That’s not to be sneezed at.
The downside of immunotherapy? The immune system can ‘over-react’ and ‘attack’ organs it assumes are ill or inflamed … leading to damaged liver, or kidneys, or adrenals, or heart, or ….
Alas.
Neither Mary nor I will, as we’d planned, travel to South Africa at the end of this month. Indeed, given the treatment’s expected course, we’ll not travel there until at least August.
***
SF Bay Area: Sunrise: 7:29am
Sunset: 5:10pm
Sun... welcome, sun!
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:18am
Sunset: 7:01pm
