December 29, 2022 - 659,290,487 confirmed infections; 6,685,590 deaths
December 30, 2021 – 284,807,650 confirmed infections; 5,425,550 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 82,656000 confirmed infections; 1,8040100 deaths
US (Map)
December 29, 2022 - 100,588,312 confirmed infections; 1,091,522 deaths
December 30, 2021 – 53,659,715 confirmed infections; 823,120 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 19,737,200 confirmed infections; 342,260 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal)
December 29, 2022 - 4,048,580 confirmed infections; 102,568 deaths
December 30, 2021 – 3,433,555 confirmed infections; 90,935 deaths
December 31, 2020 – 1,039,165 confirmed infections; 28,035 deaths
Post from:
December 30, 2021 – “Auld lang syne”
December 30, 2020 - “TGIO”
News blues…
Current US joke:Why is Covid better than Southwest airlines?
Because it’s airborne!
(This, in response to Southwest airlines cancelling thousands of flights across the US.)
“As Covid-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It. Doctors are exasperated by the persistence of false and misleading claims about the virus :
China
China’s hospitals were already overcrowded, underfunded and inadequately staffed in the best of times. But now with Covid spreading freely for the first time in China, the medical system is being pushed to its limits.
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Not a joke: “As Covid-19 Continues to Spread, So Does Misinformation About It. Doctors are exasperated by the persistence of false and misleading claims about the virus :
As Covid cases, hospitalizations and deaths rise in parts of the country, myths and misleading narratives continue to evolve and spread, exasperating overburdened doctors and evading content moderators.Read more >>
What began in 2020 as rumors that cast doubt on the existence or seriousness of Covid quickly evolved into often outlandish claims about dangerous technology lurking in masks and the supposed miracle cures from unproven drugs, like ivermectin. Last year’s vaccine rollout fueled another wave of unfounded alarm. Now, in addition to all the claims still being bandied about, there are consiracy theories about the long-term effects of the treatments, researchers say.
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Depressing Covid news: China
China’s hospitals were already overcrowded, underfunded and inadequately staffed in the best of times. But now with Covid spreading freely for the first time in China, the medical system is being pushed to its limits.
Read more >>
UK
UK hit by fifth Covid wave this year as cases shoot up by 20 per cent in a week. While Covid levels will be higher than for most of the pandemic in the next few weeks they will still be some way short of the previous record, set in July, experts predict.
Read more >>
India
Ukraine war photo essay >>
Could the COVID-19 surge in China unleash a new coronavirus mutant on the world?And…
Scientists don’t know but worry that might happen. It could be similar to omicron variants circulating there now. It could be a combination of strains. Or something entirely different, they say.
“China has a population that is very large and there’s limited immunity. And that seems to be the setting in which we may see an explosion of a new variant,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University.
The Biden administration is weighing new precautionary measures for travelers entering the U.S. from China, according to American officials, as sales of air tickets out of China soared following Beijing’s decision to reopen its borders to international travel for the first time in almost three years.Read more >>
UK
UK hit by fifth Covid wave this year as cases shoot up by 20 per cent in a week. While Covid levels will be higher than for most of the pandemic in the next few weeks they will still be some way short of the previous record, set in July, experts predict.
Read more >>
India
India has mandated a COVID-19 negative test report for travelers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand, the federal health minister said.Read more >>
Passengers from those countries would be put under quarantine if they showed symptoms of COVID-19 or tested positive, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted on Saturday, as he posted photographs of tests being conducted at the international airport in the capital, New Delhi.
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On war… and culture warUkraine war photo essay >>
Healthy planet, anyone?
Photo essay to remind us what we might lose unless we get out conservation act together. (And “we” here means ALL of us, not just a few; ALL OF US.)Read more >>
Southern hemisphere South Africa gets it monsoonal rainfall in summer (that is, now) beginning around October. This year, Kwa Zulu Natal is experiencing excessive thunderstorms, hailstorms, and rainfall. (As it did last year, alas!)
SA is 10 hours ahead of CA. Today, I awoke to a pinging cell phone. Two video clips had been sent from my late mother’s domestic worker about the SA house. The videos chilled my blood: the garden and the house’s lower flat have been completely flooded. The garden at the bottom of the property built on a slope culminates in a shallow valley with a lovely stream. This is not the first time the area has flooded but it is the first time I’ve seen it so completely flooded. Eyeballing it from rainy California I’d judge the water at least six to seven foot deep...and at least one foot deep in lower apartment.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I remain in California rather than having returned to South Africa, as planned. Here, we’ve had lots of rain, aka an “atmospheric river” and the “pineapple express”. I’m not complaining about rain. We need it here and winter is the time for rainfall in California. (Luckily, I reside near the beach on San Francisco Bay and I’ve had no trouble with flooding as have some regions of coastal California.)Southern hemisphere South Africa gets it monsoonal rainfall in summer (that is, now) beginning around October. This year, Kwa Zulu Natal is experiencing excessive thunderstorms, hailstorms, and rainfall. (As it did last year, alas!)
SA is 10 hours ahead of CA. Today, I awoke to a pinging cell phone. Two video clips had been sent from my late mother’s domestic worker about the SA house. The videos chilled my blood: the garden and the house’s lower flat have been completely flooded. The garden at the bottom of the property built on a slope culminates in a shallow valley with a lovely stream. This is not the first time the area has flooded but it is the first time I’ve seen it so completely flooded. Eyeballing it from rainy California I’d judge the water at least six to seven foot deep...and at least one foot deep in lower apartment.
Take a look:
Panic stations!
I immediately called KZN's local head of road works department who told me “It is end of the work day here and we cannot do anything until tomorrow.”
I immediately called KZN's local head of road works department who told me “It is end of the work day here and we cannot do anything until tomorrow.”
Alas, it’s not the first time I’ve worked with KZN's roads department folks. Unfortunately, they arrive with heavy equipment totally unsuited to the needs of the job. Both culverts must be cleared out, and regularly maintained so that water can can drain under the road and into a marsh area on the other side. Moreover, silt and debris must be regularly cleared from the dirt road "gutters" so that this material does not drop into the house side of the stream. It's as clear as day that this is a good solution. It is a solution that the roads work team refuses to implement in any consistent fashion.
I aslo notified the local Democratic Alliance councilor who has been terrifically helpful in the past. (The corrupt ANC has been outvoted in our district – largely due to ANC councilors’ complete lack of responsiveness.)
My past dealings with roads works department and description of ongoing drainage problems with mindblowing photos:
From 2022, “More of the same” and “Mortality rate backlog”
From 2021, “Fishy”
From 2019, “Fact or fake”
It is NOT as if this problem has not been tackled in the past. It IS as if this problem has been tackled ineptly and incompetently in the past.
Now, from 14,000 miles away, I must figure out how to get competent assistance fast and get an insurance adjuster in to evaluate the downstairs damage and to pay out so I can get the damage fixed AND get the @#$#$#$# roads department people to DO THEIR JOBS FOR WHICH I PAY EXHORBITANT PROPERTY TAX.
‘nuf said!
I aslo notified the local Democratic Alliance councilor who has been terrifically helpful in the past. (The corrupt ANC has been outvoted in our district – largely due to ANC councilors’ complete lack of responsiveness.)
My past dealings with roads works department and description of ongoing drainage problems with mindblowing photos:
From 2022, “More of the same” and “Mortality rate backlog”
From 2021, “Fishy”
From 2019, “Fact or fake”
It is NOT as if this problem has not been tackled in the past. It IS as if this problem has been tackled ineptly and incompetently in the past.
Now, from 14,000 miles away, I must figure out how to get competent assistance fast and get an insurance adjuster in to evaluate the downstairs damage and to pay out so I can get the damage fixed AND get the @#$#$#$# roads department people to DO THEIR JOBS FOR WHICH I PAY EXHORBITANT PROPERTY TAX.
‘nuf said!
… rain expected to continue through this AND next week in KZN and in California.
Groan!
***
SF Bay Area: Sunrise: 7:24am
Sunset: 4:58pm
Rain, rain, rain….
KZN, South Africa:
Sunrise: 5:01am
Sunset: 7:02pm
Rain, rain, rain….
