Squirrely

News blues

Another week, another variant. This one, Omicron, seems to carry higher Covid reinfection risk. Scientists warn of higher rate of repeat infections but say vaccines appear to protect against serious illness.

With the World Health Organization warning that the Omicron variant of the coronavirus poses a "very high" global risk  - it appears to spread more easily and might resist vaccines and immunity in people who were infected with previous strains – the variant arrives in the US. New York and Hawaii are the latest to announce infections, and officials in both states said there is evidence of “community spread.” Cases have also been detected in California, Minnesota, Colorado, New York, and Hawaii. The Minnesota patient recently attended a New York City convention that drew thousands of people. 

Read more >> 
Meanwhile,

…Omicron’s effect on the course of the pandemic will be determined by three factors: its transmissibility; the degree to which it evades our existing immune defenses; and its virulence, or the severity of the disease that it causes. If Omicron turns out to jump between hosts with ease, blow past our neutralizing antibodies, and cause unusually dangerous complications, we’ll all be in deep trouble. But it could also turn out to do a lot of other things, with more subtle implications. If Omicron ends up being super contagious, for example, but mild in its symptoms, that might even be a good thing.
At this point, living with the coronavirus for years to come is all but inevitable. In many countries that have had vaccines in hand for the better part of a year, inoculation rates still aren’t close to 100 percent. Even if every human on Earth gained a degree of immunity from vaccination or infection, the virus could retreat into its many animal hosts, only to reenter the human population in a slightly different form. “There’s no reasonable person, I think, in public health now who thinks that eradication or elimination or having zero COVID is a realistic goal,” says Tara Kirk Sell, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

Read “Omicron’s Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios” >> 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of: Billions of tiny plastic pellets – “nurdles,” a colloquial term for “pre-production plastic pellets” – a toxic waste that floats in the ocean, cause as much damage as oil spills. Nurdles, however, are still not classified as hazardous 

…the spillage of 87 containers full of lentil-sized plastic pellets - - nurdles – in May 2021, have been washing up in their billions along hundreds of miles of the Sri Lanka’s coastline, and are expected to make landfall across Indian Ocean coastlines from Indonesia and Malaysia to Somalia. In some places they are up to 2 metres deep. They have been found in the bodies of dead dolphins and the mouths of fish. About 1,680 tonnes of nurdles were released into the ocean. It is the largest plastic spill in history, according to the UN report.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

With the Biden administration's new, stricter Covid-19 testing requirements for all travelers taking effect this coming Monday, my return to South Africa in December looks less and less likely. Moreover, while I am a US citizen and could – legally and medically – return, at least in theory, reality suggests flights may not be available. I simply cannot afford to be locked down in South Africa or locked out from the US, for months again.
This means many more photos of amazing critters as I visit the beach near my California home. Not a bad scenario. A look at today’s denizens welcomes great egrets - Ardea alba. Adult great egrets range in size from 37 to 41 inches in length and have a wingspan of 51 inches. Moreover, the elegance!

 

All photos (c) S. Galleymore

Ground squirrels – never before mentioned here in a post - are ubiquitous along the beach and on the lawns. Members of the squirrel family of rodents - Sciuridae – they burrow into the ground rather than nest trees. Western gray squirrels – tree critters - live in the park's oak, cedar, and sycamore trees, too. Indeed, many visit my patio to plant nuts, seeds, and acorns in pots. 

Viva creatures of the air and the earth!

Déjà déjà vu

As Omicron variant takes hold around the world, infections rise precipitously in countries with early warnings (note SA numbers, below).
Worldwide (Map) 
December 2, 2021 – 263,714,700 confirmed infections; 5,228,300 deaths
November 25, 2021 – 259,820,000 confirmed infections; 5,180,150 deaths
Total vaccine doses administered to date: 8,065,253,309
US (Map) 

December 2, 2021 – 48,696,400 confirmed infections; 782,120 deaths
November 25, 2021 –48,107,120 confirmed infections; 775,630 deaths
SA (Coronavirus portal) 
December 2, 2021 – 2,976,615 confirmed infections; 89,871 deaths
November 25, 2021 – 2,950,035 confirmed infections; 89,660 deaths
New cases in 28 days: 53,878

News blues

SA: new Covid cases double in 24 hours  and facts and figures....
US: President Biden addresses Americans on Omicron (14:44 mins) Summarize: get your shot if you haven’t yet or get your booster if you have….
First case of Omicron in US found in San Francisco >> 
Germany: as infection rates increase, Germany second on highest cases list, right behind the US with 1,314,558 cases in 28 days; 6,014,334 infections and 102,257 deaths. “Acting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholzspoke with state leaders and agreed on new measures to curb a dramatic spike in coronavirus cases.”  The result? “Germany to impose lockdown on unvaccinated: Merkel says unvaccinated to be excluded from non-essential shops and venues, jabs could be mandatory from February.” 
UK: while the UK has suffered with Covid overall, numbers of new infections rise. UK Covid restrictions change >> 

Overall? Don’t panic. Practice safety protocols – vaccination, masks, social distance, wash hands – stay in touch with friends and family, and keep abreast of the latest news. WHO states, “It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. 
One reason for optimism on Omicron variant: our immune systems are not blank slates. People with some immune protections may avoid the worst of what Covid infections can do to immunologically naïve people.

The emergence of a new Covid-19 variant with a startlingly large constellation of mutations has countries around the world sounding alarms. While the concerns are understandable, experts in immunology say people need to remember a critical fact: Two years and 8 billion vaccine doses into the pandemic, many immune systems are no longer blank slates when it comes to SARS-CoV-2.
“Dealing with naïve [never vaccinated] people is never the same as if you have some memory. It’s never like [being back at] square one,” Ali Ellebedy, according to associate professor of pathology and immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “The virus is going to not find it as easy compared to the situation in January 2020 or December 2019. It’s just completely different now.”
Read more >> 

Where did Omicron come from?

…some scientists have an alternative theory for where the latest variant of concern, Omicron, may have acquired the unusual mutations that stud its spike protein.
They speculate the virus could have evolved in another animal species.
The theory goes that some type of animal, potentially rodents, was infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus sometime in mid-2020. In this new species, the virus evolved, accumulating roughly 50 mutations on the spike protein before spilling back over into people.
Kristian Andersen, an immunologist at the Scripps Research Institute, is among those who has been raising the idea that Omicron may have emerged from a reverse zoonotic event.
Read more >> 

***

The Lincoln Project Last week in the Republican Party  (1:45 mins)

Healthy planet, anyone?

Time for a dash  of good news:

The Farne Islands are home to one of England’s largest grey seal colonies and have the longest history of seal pup counting. This week National Trust rangers – helped for the first time by thermal imagery technology – were completing a crucial count, which did not take place last year because of the pandemic.
In 1956 there were 751 pups counted. In 2019 there were 2,823. This year, the expectation is that there will be many more, making it a record year for grey seals on the islands.
“It is looking that way,” said Bevan, a senior lecturer at Newcastle University. “Some of the outer island groups look incredibly dense.”
Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Pelicans doing well in my neck of the beach…

All photos (c) S. Galleymore

Bees knees

News blues

South Africa’s President Ramaphosa updates the nation on Covid’s Omicron variant. To summarize, for now we stay at Lockdown Level 1, continue to socially distance and mask, we stay with curfew from midnight to 4am, and, most importantly, we step up for vaccinations. (30:25 mins)

The three most important things that can be done now are to be vaccinated, to be vaccinated, and to be vaccinated, especially if you're older than 50, have a comorbidity or have a compromised immune system.

What we know so far:

The first South African Omicron infections were found in Gauteng [Johannesburg is the most populated city in that province].
South Africa’s national laboratory informed the World Health Organization on 24 November that it had identified the new variant.
Symptoms of the variant have been mild, but experts warn there is not enough information yet to say exactly how Omicron compares with other variants.
Omicron appears to be more transmissible than other variants.

***

The Lincoln Project runs into more resistance 
The Project responds, lays out their Roadmap (0:30 mins), and invites you to “get in the fight” 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Earlier posts express my admiration and fascination with bees. Indeed, bees are the bees’ knees.
Meet two bee brokers who agree that one never stops learning about bees and that bees are “just incredible” 
Admiration presents all the more reason to understand the perils facing our planet’s bees through exposure to insecticides.
As for honey, look carefully at just what might be in that cheap jar of honey. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

The glorious crisp, clear fall weather continues in the San Francisco Bay Area. No rain predicted for the near future. Hmmm, ominous. Indeed, last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom

…declared a drought emergency for the entire state of California, as conservation efforts continue to fall far short of state targets. He authorized California’s water regulators to ban wasteful water use, such as spraying down public sidewalks, and directed his Office of Emergency Services to fund drinking water as needed. But he stopped short of issuing any statewide conservation mandates.
“As the western U.S. faces a potential third year of drought, it’s critical that Californians across the state redouble our efforts to save water in every way possible,” 

The apparent good news? Waterfowl and shore birds appear to enjoy what they have: good weather, tidal ebbs and flows that provide abundant pickings along the shores, the ponds, and the lawns. On the other hand, who knows what goes on in the minds of our avian friends? What might they know that We the People are blissfully unaware of and they keep us simply continuing to do what we do? If what we do adversely affects the birds and the bees… well, as too many of us believe, “man has dominion over animals.”
Therein lies the rub.
Just sayin’

“Work together”

Gary McCoy | Copyright 2021 Cagle Cartoons

News blues

These days in the US, it is risky to declare that “I APPRECIATE and RESPECT science and scientists.” Sharing that declaration is revolutionary. Join the revolution: listen to and take to hear the words of South Africa’s Dr Salim Abdool Karim: “We must work together"  (9:43 mins).
Dr. Karim is correct. But how to break through the mountains of prejudices burdening We the People?
Listen, too, to US’s Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, share the latest scientific information on Omicron (if impatient, skip to around minute 5:25 of this video clip (8:26 mins).
Advice: Don’t panic but be realistic about Omicron. Get the jabs, mask up, socially distance, go back to pandemic cautions of 2020. And urge your Congress person to ensure fresh vaccine is shared with Africa and Africans.

Healthy planet, anyone?

What, if any, links exist between Covid-19 and higher levels of pollution?

Scientists …looked for correlations between the disease and higher levels of pollution [and] found significant connections, but some worried that the available data, which averages groups of people, may hide other factors that were the true reason for the link.
So a new study this week  represents a major step forward. First, it used extensive individual data on almost 10,000 people in Catalonia and, second, it ran blood tests for coronavirus antibodies in about half of them. The testing is especially important as it identified people who had been infected but without symptoms. This group may have been missed in earlier studies.
The findings of this strongest study to date were striking: people exposed to moderately above-average levels of small particle pollution in the two years before the pandemic were 51% more likely to suffer severe Covid-19, meaning they were hospitalised. For those breathing higher levels of nitrogen dioxide, mostly produced by diesel vehicles, the increased risk was 26%.
This may well be because the dirty air had already damaged people’s immune systems or increased the level of heart and lung disease known to be a risk factor for severe Covid-19. Scientists can’t prove a causal link because, again, you can’t do harmful experiments on people.
Thanks to the blood tests, the researchers were able to show that air pollution did not significantly raise the chance of just being infected by coronavirus. It is likely that other factors such as social contacts, mask wearing and amount of travel are more important.
Read more >> 

***

(c) Oceana 

Our oceans make up more than 70% of our planet, and we have basically trashed them. The world dumps a jaw-dropping 17.6 billion pounds (8 billion kilograms) of new plastic into the oceans each year. Question: is cleaning up the oceans’ plastic an indisputably good idea…or is it more effective to stop making plastic? 

Read more >> 

Good news:

The number of monarch butterflies migrating to California
this winter after years of historic lows.
Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The annual winter monarch butterfly migration, steeply declining in recent years, appears to be making a comeback. Biologists are encouraged and confused by the trend. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

I continue to watch the news on Omicron and its effect on international travel. My intuition to wait before purchasing tickets was on the mark.
Last year, my agency and airline of choice – FlyUS and British Air – refused to refund the flights they cancelled due to Covid. Yes, I had travel insurance. Go figure. After a year of giving me the run around, they refused to refund me with a curt note. Live and learn: I’ll not fly using FlyUS or British Air again. I suggest you avoid them, too.
However, both airlines with whom I considered purchasing tickets this year are cancelling their flights to and from SA.
Giving thanks that I delayed purchasing tickets.

Watching and worrying about friends and family in SA (and US!)   

Black Friday?

News blues

Omicron. It’s got a name. Until today, the new Covid “variant of concern” was B.1.1.529. Now reborn as Omicron 

"Based on the evidence presented indicative of a detrimental change in COVID-19 epidemiology, the TAG-VE has advised WHO that this variant should be designated as a VOC, and the WHO has designated B.1.1.529 as a VOC, named Omicron," the statement said.
The variant was first discovered by South African health authorities and has sparked a forceful reaction across the world with a number of countries banning travelers from several southern African countries.

Watch: “’Real alarm’ around the world” as Omicron spreads  (10:29 mins)
Watch: Omicron “500 times more infections than Delta variant”  (13:59 mins)
Is it not time for a concerted, worldwide effort to vaccinate people everywhere? Despite anti-vaxers’ mindset, the vast majority of people around the world want vaccinations but have little access to vaccines. If Americans have enough vaccine to offer 3 doses to anyone who seeks jabs, we must expand effective distribution.

***

The Lincoln Project: Last Week in the Republican Party  (1:44 mins)
Cringe-worthy: Trump junior trumpets Trump senior – and both Trumps appear to think it’s really cool 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Not much going on back at this ranch. I’m in limbo, stuck between worlds – CA and SA – due to timing of Covid booster (I’m due December 20 and, no, cannot get it even one day earlier) and, now, Omicron (assuming I can find a flight there, I cannot afford another round of Lockdown in SA and/or quarantine on either continent).

Thanks!

Worldwide (Map)
November 25, 2021 – 259,820,000 confirmed infections; 5,180,150 deaths
November 4, 2021 – 248,312,000 confirmed infections; 5,026,000 deaths
November 25, 2019 - 0 confirmed infections; 0 confirmed deaths
Worldwide vaccinations: 7,522,787,000

US (Map) November 25, 2021 –48,107,120 confirmed infections; 775,630 deaths
November 4, 2021 – 46,261,150 confirmed infections; 750,580 deaths
November 25, 2019 - 0 confirmed infections; 0 confirmed deaths

SA (Coronavirus portal)
November 25, 2021 – 2,950,035 confirmed infections; 89,660 deaths
November 4, 2021 – 2,922,800 confirmed infections; 89,220 deaths
November 25, 2019 - 0 confirmed infections; 0 confirmed deaths

New York, US
The Tough Guy balloon is displayed on Sixth Avenue during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
Photo: Jeenah Moon/AP
More Thanksgiving Day photos >> 

News blues

Irony of ironies: While too many Americans continue to refuse vaccinations – due to vaccine infringing on their “freedoms” – Africans struggle to access vaccinations.

John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said recently, “What we are seeing now is a lot more vaccines coming in and the uptake is challenged because of the logistics and delivery... It’s not necessarily about hesitancy, it’s about moving vaccines from the airport to the arms (of people), it’s about logistics.”
Africa is far from reaching the African Union’s aim of fully vaccinating 70% of people by the end of 2022. Only 6.6% of Africa’s population of 1.2 billion is fully vaccinated, as countries struggle with the logistics of accelerating vaccine roll-outs. Read more >> 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Since it is Thanksgiving in the US, let’s give thanks for our wonderful world. I took these pix in my backyard – a marine preserve and park on San Francisco Bay. 

Below: I’ve planned for years to photograph this “slice of watermelon” that graces a local estuary and lagoon. Yesterday I finally did it.

Further confusion?

News blues

With tens of millions of Americans continuing to refuse to get vaccinated, do the new pills actually give Biden one more tool in blunting the impact of the coronavirus? Hmmm. Read more >> 
Given the last two years’ enormous confusion surrounding all things pandemic, I wonder: Will these pills deliver more rounds of “Confusion R Us”?
In other words, do these antiviral pills, in fact, replace vaccines?
No.
“The new antiviral pills are not good alternatives for coronavirus vaccines and do not replace the current Covid-19 vaccines. Rather, these new medicines …are actually developed to help infected individuals to recover from the deadly virus… people can't use them to enhance their immunity.” 

Healthy planet, anyone?

Energy. We need it. But how do we create and recreate energy and efficiently dump fossil fuels and the fossilized political economy that supports it?
Energy is the issue of the current moment. (That is, other than, y’know, a raging pandemic, corruption, politics, corrupt politics and politicians, immigration and refuge, climate refugees… indeed, the list goes on and on…)
South Africa presents a nutshell example of global energy difficulties.
Eighty-seven percent of SA’s electrical energy derives from coal. Since 2014, Eskom, the national energy provider, has struggled to deliver electricity. Eskom uses the term Eskom, “load shedding” to describe this struggle that turns electricity off – no power at all - for hours at a time many days per week, any time of year. Eskom defines load shedding as “a measure of last resort to prevent the collapse of the power system country-wide. When power is insufficient, Eskom can thus either increase supply or reduce demand to bring the system back into balance.” (A far simpler and more accurate definition: “we turn off your electricity even as we raise your rates – and, other than complain as you sit in the dark, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
SA, however, has pledged to reduce its overall carbon dioxide emissions between now and 2030 as part of global efforts to tackle climate change. The country faces enormous obstacles in doing so >> 
At the same time, South Africa has plans to build new coal-fired power stations during the climate crisis. This is being challenged in court for breaching the rights of current and future generations. 
South Africa and renewables: South Africa’s renewable plan…

... picked 25 wind- and solar-power projects to be built by private developers, part of a plan to reduce the nation’s reliance on coal for electricity and end rolling blackouts that are curbing economic growth.
The bidders will add 2,583 megawatts of capacity to the grid using clean-energy technologies….The projects total about 50 billion rand ($3.3 billion) of investment and will create 13,900 job opportunities >> 
More on SA’s renewables: “The real deal with renewable energy in South Africa — unpacking the suite of options and inherent problems – acknowledge and unacknowledged >> 
South Africa uses nuke energy, too, with Koeberg, its nuclear power station, installed capacity of 1,940MW, generating around 5% of South Africa's electricity. Koeberg, built in 1984, is Africa’s only nuke power plant.

Recent comments from Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer about what is going on at Koeberg nuclear power station were refreshingly frank, and for that, he is to be commended. Whether anyone living near the plant — and that includes everyone in Cape Town and surrounds — will be able to sleep after fully digesting what he had to say is another matter.
Speaking to the press about Eskom’s status as we head into the summer months, Oberholzer said he was “extremely concerned” about the two trips to the unit one reactor at Koeberg (on 30 August and 24 October). He added that he was “horrified” at the number of staff who had left Koeberg in recent times, “taking away with them years of experience”. Some had resigned despite having no other job offers. Rumours abound that there have been as many as 200 resignations from Koeberg recently. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Gearing up for Thanksgiving.

The two national Thanksgiving turkeys are seen in the Rose Garden of the White House before a pardon ceremony in Washington on Nov. 19, 2021.
Photo: Susan Walsh/AP

Peanut Butter and Jelly won't be at the Thanksgiving table this year.

This season’s two national turkeys, Peanut Butter and Jelly, received a presidential pardon.
"With the power vested in me, I pardon you," President Biden said to Peanut Butter at a White House ceremony Friday.
After he spared Peanut Butter from becoming dinner, Biden encouraged the turkey to share his thoughts: "Go ahead, say something."
"Gobble, gobble," Peanut Butter replied.