weeks 40 and 41

I see I'm due for a covid post.

I only have one window open to an NPR article dated December 18 titled “Newly Released COVID-19 Data Show Most U.S. Cities Are 'Sustained Hotspots'” which includes a map that is almost entirely red. This quote says it all...”The data show how seriously the pandemic is affecting each state and local area, Panchadsaram says, and the upshot "is that it's all really bad."” 

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What else is there to say? Hospitals are still overwhelmed, our healthcare workers are seriously exhausted and demoralized because too many stupid and/or selfish Americans just won't follow the simplest guidelines of mask wearing in public and not gathering in groups until it's under control. Saw one tweet today from a nurse that a husband and wife had both died that day after hosting a Thanksgiving gathering for 20 people. As bad as it's been since Thanksgiving, now we have the Christmas surge to look forward to.

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The US is continuing to rack up another million confirmed infections every 4 or 5 days, thousands are dying every day even with a national death rate, as of December 27, of something like 1.7% (at its highest in mid-May 2020 it was 6.2%), info via this site. Texas death rate as of December 26^th was 1.79% while my county was 2.96%. Yay us.

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The only good news is that there are now two vaccines out there, Pfizer's and Moderna's, and our healthcare workers are getting vaccinated and of course all those Republican naysayer congressmen who have continuously downplayed the virus and refused to wear masks and held and attended super spreader events are now jumping the line to get vaccinated. But even that good news is diluted by Trump sitting on millions of doses with no plan in place to get them distributed.

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A news item from CNN dated December 28 related that this month more than 63,000 Americans have died from the virus, the most of any month since the pandemic started meaning more than 1 in 1,000 people have now died from the virus and the rate is accelerating and some hospitals are now or are looking at rationing ICU beds in the near future.

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I had a surprise email today. I figured it would be early to late spring before I would be able to get vaccinated but I have been informed that as an established patient of the Hermann Memorial system and being over 65 I am eligible to get the vaccine now and it provided a link to make an appointment. I looked at it earlier today and at that time, mid January was open for an appointment. I didn't follow through then. I'm kind of freaked out, I figured I'd have a couple of months to see how people were faring who got vaccinated. I'm being silly I know and I will sign up for it.

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Current US statistics via Worldometer as of today 12/28/20, 21:29 GMT: cases – 19,701,832; deaths – 342,347. Texas is still #2 for infections and #2 for deaths.

weeks 38 and 39

A few days after my last covid post we surpassed the record set April 15^th for the most covid deaths in one day and have had over 2,000 deaths a day since and the last week saw over 3,000 deaths in one day, a million new cases in 5 days. Everyday we lose more than on 9/11 or Pearl Harbor. We've lost more Americans to covid than in all of WWII, one hospital converted part of their parking garage into a covid ward, and still people out there refuse to take it seriously.

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To say that our hospitals are overwhelmed and our health care workers are exhausted has got to be the understatement of all time.

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I have so many windows open on my browser so I'll start oldest to most recent...

Pfizer's mRNA vaccine is 95% effective. This Guardian article is dated November 18^th so I might have included it already but it has a chart of the most promising vaccine candidates.

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This one from NPR is dated November 30 reports that Moderna's mRNA vaccine is 94% effective and in one study 100%. Both Moderna and Pfizer have applied for emergency authorization to the FDA. 

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Also dated November 30, CBS reports that the US had more covid cases in November than most countries had all year. 

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NPR reported on December 1^st that a federal advisory committee to the CDC has decided that front line health care workers and nursing home residents be the first to get a vaccine. 

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Another NPR article dated December 1 reports that a new government study had determined that the coronavirus was in the US weeks earlier than thought and before the cases in China were publicly identified. I believe my sister had it last December, caught on the plane to visit our brother and a neighbor is certain her son had it in November (I think she said November but certainly before any of us knew about it) of last year. 

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An article from AARP dated December 2 discusses the possible side effects of the vaccine...fatigue, muscle aches, joint pain, headache, injection site pain but that they are temporary and self-resolve. 

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Another article from AARP reports on a study from Denmark on blood type susceptibility to the virus with type O having fewer cases than type A. 

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Friday December 4^th the CDC released this chart of per capita deaths per state.

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The news from December 8 on is mainly more infections, more dead people, more overwhelmed hospitals and health care workers, and still no response from Trump's administration. The FDA gave emergency clearance to Pfizer's vaccine Friday the 11^th which is slated to begin being available tomorrow, Monday the 14 though only for health care workers and those in nursing homes but I have no doubt politicians and the very wealthy will also be first in line.

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Trump had an opportunity to purchase another 100 million doses in addition to the ones he already had a contract for before it was ready and he passed on the opportunity. Now that it has been found safe and effective the US will have to wait til late spring or early summer before more doses of the vaccine will be available for purchase by the US.

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December 11 the CDC predicts we could see over 450,000 deaths by February.

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And then basically virus news dropped out of sight with the ridiculous lawsuit petition by Texas for the Supreme Court to declare the elections in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia null and void and to appoint Trump the winner and all the republicans and Trump who signed amicus briefs in support, the complete dismissal by the SC of said petition, the Trump meltdown, and the march riot by the Proud Boys in DC on Saturday committed violent assault on passersby and counter-protesters and 4 stabbings and destruction of private property tearing down Black Lives Matter signs. And where were the police? Was there tear gas, rubber bullets, cops in riot gear bashing people on the head? Why no, of course not, as the police are all for their terrorism.

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One final note before the bi-weekly count of cases and deaths...I'm getting tested later today. I think I'm fine but I found out last Friday evening I was possibly exposed twice at SHARE. Two of the volunteers who were there on Thursday the 3^rd have tested positive. We think one that came in that day was infectious, and while she is usually only there for about 2 hours she was in close contact, even though everyone was wearing masks, with the second volunteer that tested positive a few days later and that woman is in a motorized wheelchair and has other health issues. Not good. While I am in the same building, I was in the back and not around either of the volunteers that tested positive though I'm sure I passed by them a time or two. I'm less concerned about that day, since enough time has passed for me to be feeling ill if I was infected, than I am about last Thursday. The two volunteers didn't come in but the husband of the one we suspect was infectious did come in and was there the previous Thursday, and he works in the back food area though not my food area and, while again we were all wearing masks, I did come within 6' of him several times. So, I'm still feeling fine but the test is free so why not. I don't want to go in next Thursday if I'm asymptomatic but infectious. I don't worry about the virus building up in the building as it's only open one day a week for four hours though individual volunteers will come in on other days to catch up on paperwork and return phone messages.

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Current US statistics as of today 12/13/20, 18:28 GMT: cases – 16,597,438; deaths – 305,460 (that's right, the US has exceeded 300,000 dead). California jumped ahead in cases but Texas is still #2 for infections at 1,478,827 and #2 spot for total number of deaths at 24,514.

week 36 and week 37

Because the Trump administration has abandoned any attempt to get the virus under control we are poised to repeat the wave of last spring. Wednesday November 25^th saw 2,300 deaths almost reaching the record set on April 15 of 2,752 deaths, 4 million infections in November alone with over a million in just the last week, hospitals are at or near capacity, our health care workers are exhausted and dying themselves with no one to replace them, one in 1,000 have died in N. Dakota governed by a republican, people are still refusing to believe they have covid until they are in the ICU and sometimes not even then (we can thank Trump and the republicans for that), and while our health care workers have learned how to better treat patients over the last 7 months reducing the death rate the sheer volume of infections happening now and overwhelming our hospitals means not only are the number of deaths but the death rate is climbing as well. Back during the spring surge, infections were localized in certain states and parts of the country so that hospitals could import health care workers from other states and cities to help but that is no longer true as the virus has now infiltrated every part of the country.

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And because so many people refused to take the advice of staying home for the Thanksgiving holiday, spurred on by certain republican lawmakers like our senator Ted Cruz who sneered and scoffed at the whole idea, the next two weeks are likely to see another surge in infections that our already overwhelmed system will have to absorb. Or not. In some places people are already being sent home to die freeing up beds for those that can be saved.

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ProPublica reports that the rapid result test is less accurate than the government will admit since it was promoted as a way to get people back to work and businesses back open but the fact is that it gives false positive and false negative readings. 

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It's not all bad news. Moderna's vaccine is testing out as over 95% effective and another vaccine candidate from the UK is on the horizon. However it's important to understand what they mean by 'effective'. Moderna's and Pfizer's vaccines do not give complete or sterilizing immunity from infection meaning that getting the vaccine will not prevent you from becoming infected. What they do do is protect against the virus' serious consequences. It is possible that the vaccine does in some cases provide immunity from getting infected as upwards of almost half of those infected are asymptomatic but the trials were not testing for that. 

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Because Trump is still a vindictive asshole, last Sunday, the head of the White House's Operation Warp Speed admitted that he had been instructed to not share any information with Biden's transition team though that has been remedied since last Monday Emily Murphy who had been refusing to sign off on the transition finally allowed it to formally begin. 

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Another article from the NY Times reports New York is closing schools again, the CDC has deleted previous school opening recommendations, the FDA gave an emergency authorization for an at home rapid result test for the virus but needs a prescription and will cost about $50, and other general information. 

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The NY Times reports on a study, not yet peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal, that found that blood samples from recovered patients suggest a long lasting immune response. 

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CNN reports that mask mandates do slow the spread of the virus according to new research by the CDC. The masks not only protect others as previously reported but also protect the wearer by reducing the amount of viral material inhaled. 

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NPR reports that over one million children have been infected with the virus. That's one out of eleven confirmed cases. 

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NPR reports that Dr. Fauci warns of a surge on top of a surge after millions of people traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday against the advice of health care professionals as 91,500 people were hospitalized last Saturday. 

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And of course republicans took New York's ban on large gatherings at church services to the Supreme Court and of course the new Supreme Court blocked restrictions for religious services ruling that it violated the 1^st Amendment's protection of free exercise of religion with Gorsuch wrongly equating opening places of worship with opening 'liquor stores and bike shops' (no one spends an hour or two with a crowd singing and reciting in liquor stores or bike shops) when in fact the ban had nothing to do with religious freedom and everything to do with large gatherings in an attempt to control the spread of the virus since it's a ban against all large gatherings not just worship services.

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For data geeks, here's the Covid Tracking Project. 

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Current US statistics as of today 11/29/20, 23:34 GMT: cases – 13,742,807; deaths – 273,049. Texas is still claiming the #1 spot for total number of cases at 1,251,532 and the #2 spot for total number of deaths at 21,968.

Thanksgiving in the year of the virus

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Despite the current situation, we do all have plenty to be thankful for. Number 1 on my list is Trump did not get re-elected.

We didn't do Thanksgiving at my house growing up. My mother said she wasn't doing all that food if she just had to do it again a month later for Christmas. The irony is that I don't ever remember her cooking our Christmas dinner, the maid did and another couple (who had their dinner on Christmas Day) came and served it and cleaned up afterwards, though she must have early on I suppose, and then when I was 12 my parents bought a lot in Sea Isle on Galveston's west end and built a beach house and forever after Thanksgiving weekend was spent there along with every other weekend and summers until I grew up and left home. After I married and the kids were young we would go to Marc's mother's house for a very laid back casual Thanksgiving except for the times we hosted it all formal like (had to use all that china and silver sometime) and even later as we all got older it became a smaller more casual affair at our house or later still when Sarah and her family were living next door, at her house or both houses. After our son got married the first time he abandoned us for his in-laws big gathering, the only time he got to see some of them whom he liked. We even joined them one year. Later still our son and his new real wife hosted Thanksgiving their first year of marriage, their one and only time to do that. After we bought the country house we would have it mostly out here. Since 2014 when we sold our city property and Sarah and her family moved into a bigger house she has been hosting it in the city. Until this year. Sarah and Mike moved out here on their land last January into a small manufactured home and so Thanksgiving was once again going to be moved to our house and then the virus hit.

Because Zoom Thanksgiving is better than ICU Christmas, the plan was that we would each still do our part of the cooking and share but eat at our respective homes. The grandgirls were coming in from three different cities (the grandboy going to Arkansas with his girlfriend) and even though they are all very careful, not going out and wearing masks when they do, we opted to follow the advice of the health care professionals. It's just one year after all out of many and considering the sacrifices and rationing our parents' and grandparents' generation endured during WWII to ensure that the war effort had all they needed, it seems a small effort to skip the big family gathering in order to insure that we are all here next year.

That was the plan. And then Sarah texted on Tuesday that one of her asymptomatic co-workers tested positive. The co-worker's father was planning to come in so she and her brother went and got tested just in case and, surprise!, she tested positive. My daughter got tested Wednesday morning but won't have the results for 2 – 4 days. Two of the grandgirls have opted to stay home, last minute ideas were tossed around but ultimately we decided not to do the massive amount of cooking and just skip that whole thing. Well, not skip the whole thing, Sarah got a turkey breast and is fixing small amounts of the traditional meal for her and Mike and Autumn. Marc and I are blowing it off altogether. We will have a meal, just the two of us, it just won't be turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, etc. but there will be dessert, that is if I get in the kitchen and make it.

We have no idea how long her co-worker was at work shedding virus. There's only 9 of them, all feeling well, all wearing masks at work, disinfecting surfaces every day, the building has an excellent ventilation system because of all the machines. Sarah has been going to yoga with us and a week ago last Wednesday was the last time she was in close quarters in the car with Pam and I, no masks. Both Pam and I feel fine and surely a week is long enough for us to feel ill if Sarah was shedding virus then and exposed us. Regardless, I cautioned all the neighbors I encountered when I walked the dog yesterday to stay far back while we chatted. Sarah feels confident her test will come back negative but even so the family decided to act as if she is positive. If her test does come back positive, then I'll get tested but like her, I don't think I've been infected. So for now it's just a wait and see.

From Thanksgivings past...

2018

2013

2016

2014

2017

2017

(Don't know what the fuck is up with blogger but it would not accept the first two years in my chosen font no matter how many times I tried to fix it.)

week 34 and week 35

 The NYT reports that a study by the CDC found that symptomatic pregnant women were more likely to develop complications and die from covid than non pregnant women.

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Whole genome sequencing of SARS-COV-2 in the Netherlands on mink farms has revealed virus transmission from humans to minks and back to humans. 

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New research shows that 20% of those that recover from the coronavirus develop some form of mental illness...a psychiatric disorder, dementia, anxiety or insomnia...within two weeks to three months of testing positive. 

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Pfizer announced Nov. 9^th that its vaccine in its latest trial looked to be 90% effective but there is still a lot they don't know like how long the immunity lasts, if it's as effective on older people as younger, if it will be effective if/when the virus mutates. Trials continue but once approved by the FDA it will still be April next year before it would be available to the general public. Trump, of course, took credit for the rapid development claiming it was part of his Operation Warp Speed vaccine development. Pfizer immediately denied Trump's claim. They do have a $1.95 Billion deal but it's an advance purchase agreement and Pfizer won't get paid until they deliver a vaccine. Pfizer took no money from Trump's administration to develop the vaccine. 

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The virus is expanding exponentially since the election and the US has seen new infections over 100,000 a day, each day higher than the day before (181,000 on Friday the 13^th), soon to break over 200,000 a day at this trajectory, deaths have also been over a thousand every day since the election with an increase over the day before. Hospitals are nearing capacity with some cities like El Paso TX completely overwhelmed with a 20+% positivity rate. Trump's response? Nada, zero, zilch, not even lip service while Republicans in the White House and some state legislatures try to hide their infections purposely exposing Democrats across the aisle. On the other hand, President-elect Biden has put together an excellent pandemic team full of scientists and doctors and is developing a national response but we will have to wait til he's sworn in before they can get to work.

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The CDC now says that masks not only protect others, but protect the wearers as well. Can I get a big DUH!

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From Heather Cox Richardson's newsletter for today...”He (Trump) has not gone to a coronavirus task force meeting in at least five months, rarely reads the daily reports on the virus, and is no longer briefed about the crisis by doctors. He has apparently decided simply to let the conflagration burn. At the same time, he is refusing to let his staffers talk to incoming Biden staff about the pandemic.” 

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Texas and California each have over 1 million total infections.

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General wisdom gathered from doctors and nurses who tweet...some deniers who think covid is a hoax but sick with it enough to be in the hospital scream at them that it's just the flu and why are they dressed like that all the way up to when they are intubated; our health care professionals are exhausted; the virus is transmitted more by the aerosols in your exhale than the big droplets and the small ones don't fall to the ground but disperse into the air where they accumulate and 6' apart in an enclosed space will not protect an unmasked you; their pleas for help from the federal government fall on deaf ears; stay home because you won't like the ICU if they have any beds and if you think wearing a mask makes it hard to breathe you really won't like intubation; they don't want you to clap or honk in appreciation at some appointed hour, they want you to wear a mask and stay away from crowded places.

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Covid is rampant. Stay home, wear a mask when you do go out, keep your distance, do not attend group functions, limit your time in enclosed buildings, wash your hands, and seriously, tell your kids not to travel home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and if you do gather make it small and short. Visit via FaceTime or Zoom. One infected person went to a wedding in Maine with 55 attendees which resulted in 177 new infections and 7 deaths. None of the people who died attended the wedding. There is light at the end of the tunnel but we still have to get there.

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Current US statistics as of today 11/15/20, 16:35 GMT: cases – 11,237,159; deaths – 251,287.

it's fall, no, really, it's fall

It's nearly mid-November but you wouldn't know it by the temperature. I finally had to revert back to shorts yesterday. And I'm back to having to water nearly every day. Nevertheless, leaves are steadily raining down from the pecans, the tallows, and the ginkgoes and both backyards are nearly covered.

what passes for fall color around here

The orange cosmos and the confederate rose are still putting on displays, the sulfurs are still passing through but they are shy and won't let me take their picture. A monarch was a little more accommodating but the picture is out of focus. The firespike is blooming and the bromeliads are putting out their fall flower spikes.

I've been over at the shop taking more pictures for the Square shopping site and then spent the afternoon over there hanging some of the work that's been wrapped up in boxes. If no one's going to to buy it and no open house this year (besides the online Heights Artisan Market) I might as well enjoy looking at it myself.

I do keep some pieces for my personal collection but not these. They will all still be available for sale. Now, I've done everything there is to do over there beside actual work so tomorrow the plan is to spend a couple of hours over there starting on new work after I get back from the dermatologist appointment that I made 2 1/2 months ago, the soonest I could get in. It's in the morning when I would normally be at SHARE but it's a food delivery day so they won't really need me.

And it looks like I'll be taking over the yoga class because Abby's husband is infected and she's in quarantine along with their kids. I still think the indoor/outdoor venue is safe enough and our attendance usually runs between 6 to 12 and we are all well spread out so I'm searching the internet for vinyasas (a series of asanas [poses] where one flows into another) just for something different. 

This isn't the only close to home hit though. Rocky and family were all exposed last Saturday via a girlfriend of one of the sons. They're all getting tested but it may be too soon as it would take a few days to show up if they were infected.

Stay safe out there people. Covid is burgeoning and Trump, well, all he cares about is playing golf and raiding the national treasury. Do what Dr. Fauci says...wear a mask, avoid large gatherings especially inside, social distance, and wash your hands. A vaccine won't be readily available til April at the earliest.

week 32 and week 33

In one bit of good news the chance of dying from covid has dropped from 25.6% to 7.6%. Better understanding of the disease, better standard care, and mask wearing which reduces the amount of virus that initially infects a patient have all contributed to the decline.

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According to the CDC, nearly 300,000 more Americans have died this year than in a typical year. The official coronavirus death toll is around 224,000 so it's likely covid deaths are being undercounted. 

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Well, yay Texas! Like they say, everything's bigger in Texas. A week ago the Worldometer reported Texas having the most confirmed cases of any state in the country at 896,241. Today we are still #1 with 960,579 confirmed cases.

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This past week the US has recorded its worst week ever in coronavirus cases as covid surges in at least a third of the states. October 23 and 24 reported the highest and second highest cases a day breaking the record set last July with nearly 100,000 on last Friday alone and hospitals are beginning to get strained again.

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Trump is going around telling people at his rallies, falsely, that he has conquered the virus. I guess he means 'he' as in his administration's response. He even repeated his accusation at his rally in Michigan that doctors are exaggerating the threat because they get paid more if a death is listed as covid. And he's lying about a vaccine being available 'momentarily' (sort of like his health care plan that will be published in two weeks that never comes) when it is, in fact, months away. One of his big mouth sycophants (I forget which one) is going on the air telling people that no one dies of covid anymore which is another big lie. While the death rate has declined, it's still over 7% and even when you recover many people are developing continuing health problems.

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The Independent reports that as many nurses caring for covid patients have died of covid as died during WWI.

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A study from Stanford estimates that Trump rallies caused 30,000 new infections and upwards of 700 deaths. Doesn't seem like a very astute campaign strategy.

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Scientists knew early on that the virus enters the intestinal system and shows up in sewage. People start shedding the virus pretty quickly after the initial infection and before symptoms show up so paying attention to the viral content in sewage is a good way to predict where the next outbreak is going to occur. Fortunately, the virus breaks down pretty quickly in poop so it's not an infectious threat. You can read more here. 

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A while back, Trump moved the collecting of data on the virus from the CDC to the HHS. Now NPR reports that the government department is indeed holding back data, as we feared they would, from the agencies that need it to be able to make sure hospitals and medical centers have what they need to treat people. 

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The Independent writes that the Trump administration is funneling millions of dollars to small unheard of companies connected to big republican donors and former senators in a series of contracts  like Plasma Technologies LLC that operates out of the founder's luxury condo despite concerns over their proposals by government scientists. “Others include a $21 million study of the heartburn drug Pepcid as a COVID therapy, and more than a half-billion dollars to ApiJect Systems America, a startup with an unapproved medicine injection technology and no factory to manufacture the devices. In addition, a government whistleblower claimed that a $1.6 billion vaccine contract to Novavax Inc. was made over objections of scientific staff.” 

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Last Saturday, White House pandemic advisor radiologist Scott Atlas, who reads x-rays and does not see patients or have an epidemiology background or any experience whatsoever in pandemics, gave an interview to Russian state media on the White House grounds telling lies and trashing public health experts

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Current US statistics as of today 11/1/20, 23:48 GMT: cases – 9,472,858; deaths – 236,469.

weeks 30 and 31, campaign BS, yardwork, and a leaky sink

 

The sky this morning looking east.

I should be writing my covid post. I have 5 windows open in my browser and other things have come across my scrolling but there's no real different news so here's an abbreviated version. Dr. Fauci warns that deaths could rise to 400,000 and that he will get a vaccine as soon as the FDA clears one but that a vaccine won't start making a difference until late summer next year at the earliest, the White House was blocking stricter guidelines from the FDA for when a vaccine can be released but the FDA stood firm and says no vaccine until all protocols are met, the CDC drafted a sweeping order last month requiring all personnel and passengers on all public and commercial transportation...buses, trains, planes, subways as well as all airports, stations, and depots...with the support of HHS Secretary Azar and the head of the White House coronavirus task force VP Mike Pence would not even discuss it even though most employees and passengers are in favor of it, the CDC finally agreed that yes covid is airborne transmitted, a new study concluded that most hospitalized patients with covid suffer from neurological symptoms, we still have the most cases and deaths per capita, everyone is getting weary and in danger of being foolish but Dr. Fauci says do not despair, the White House is controlling when Dr. Fauci can speak to the media, we're having a third wave and more people are being infected and more people are dying while Rudy Giuliani is out there claiming no one dies from the virus anymore, the living are hanging on by their fingernails because this administration is over it and Mitch McConnell says we can't afford another stimulus package, we still need to carry on with the new reality, current US statistics as of today 10/19/20, 17:24 GMT: cases – 8,397,993; deaths – 224,884.

Trump is over it, if he survived you will too (of course you won't get the level of care he got but never mind that), going for herd immunity except he doesn't understand what that means. It means that enough people are vaccinated so that the virus's effect on the population is minimal, not that enough people get it and the weak ones die until it has minimal effect on the population. I suppose they both eventually get to the same result but in the latter it's achieved by killing off a significant proportion of the population.

Trump is so far down in the polls that his entire campaign is centered around smearing Biden and his son and anyone else who speaks out against him with ridiculous made up slanders that smack of desperation. His latest charge against Biden is that, if elected, Biden will listen to scientists!!! I didn't realize that was a bad thing.

Friday was chilly and wet. 56˚ when I looked, real feel 46˚. Not my favorite. I had to go to the grocery store as it turns out the grocery list was incomplete when I went earlier in the week but that's about all I did. Saturday though was warm and mostly overcast even a little drizzly off and on but it was perfect for weeding so that's what I did and got the end of one of the long flower beds weeded working under the stalks of the tall cosmos. And I mean tall. They're easily 8' tall if they stand straight up but they don't. They fall over so I had to get a stake and tie some of them up first. 

The love-in-a-mist is already sprouting, some anyway and way early. I had to do a fire ant remedial first. The little bastards want to occupy the edges of my flower beds. Sunday more of the same, got the nut grass out of another flower bed and planted two crinum lily bulbs that have been in a pot for several years. I have no idea what color they are, they were in a box of mixed unlabeled bulbs someone brought to a garden club meeting free for the taking, but they finally got big enough in the pot that I think they might bloom next year so in the ground they went.

Also Saturday Rocky finished getting the sink in the studio room hooked up and all seemed well when he turned on the water but this morning there was a lot of water on the concrete floor so there's a leak somewhere. I've just been over there and two of the connections under the sink before going into the wall are wet and the connection from the water line to the faucet is also wet. We went with the hose that was already attached to the faucet and just attached that to the water pipe but apparently that was a bad decision on our part and I think that's where most of the water on the floor came from. I've got the water to the shop turned off and the lines drained waiting for Rocky to come by this afternoon.

One last thing, my night blooming cereus is trying to give me one more chance as it has put out one last bud.

week 28 and week 29

 
Since I've been avoiding the news and social media for the most part I have damn little to report.

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We now know that the nomination party for Trump's Supreme Court pick was the genesis of this wave of infections throughout Trump's inner circle and if it was just them I'd say they deserve it but the staffers and Secret Service who have also been infected, don't. Hope Hicks was just the first to test positive and - surprise! - Trump lied about when he knew he was positive. He knew for sure on Thursday before he went to that fundraiser and he probably suspected on Wednesday and may even have been feeling the first symptoms on Tuesday which is why he arrived late for the debate and avoided taking a test.

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More fallout from that party...Chris Christie, Sen. Ron Johnson, Trump's personal assistant Nicolas Luna, and now press secretary Kayleigh McEnany have tested positive.

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So Trump was moved to Walter Reed against his wishes because it would make him look weak but the doctors insisted but he made them wait til after the stock market closed on Friday. The doctors there at Walter Reed are pumping him full of everything they can think of, experimental therapies and steroids, and you know it has to be affecting his mental capacity because that's what that stuff does but because he is loathe to give up power to Pence who he despises and also because he does not want to appear weak (like those loser and sucker dead and wounded military personnel), he is ordering his doctors and the White House staff to lie about how ill he really is and is setting up fake photo ops to show he is doing great and working, if signing a blank piece of paper can be called working, and forcing Secret Service agents to sit with him in the bullet proof hermetically sealed car so he can be driven around the block to wave at those pathetic losers doing vigil outside the hospital. So now the agents in the car and maybe even the photographer from the photo ops will have to quarantine for 14 days. And maybe even get sick all because Trump doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself.

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I have only two other items I've bookmarked for this bi-monthly report because for one thing I'm really weary of the whole thing and unless things get really bad as winter moves in this may be my last dedicated post and also because other news items have blown covid related news out of the water, just not seeing much come across my various news feeds.

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The NYT reports that the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly claims an experimental drug lowers levels of the virus and prevents hospitalization. The drug is a monoclonal antibody manufactured from an antibody from a recovered patient and is still undergoing trials and has not yet been vetted by independent scientists and the success of the drug is still anecdotal. Scientists hope that this treatment will be very successful but the monoclonal antibodies are difficult and expensive to manufacture. Of course Trump is getting treated with this experimental drug as well as the standard treatment (anti-viral) remdesivir and (steroid) dexamethasone, the guy who is responsible for the spread of the virus in this country and who has constantly criticized and undermined the health professional protocols to the tune of 210,000 deaths and counting here while everyone else suffers and dies. 

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The Hill reports that the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency conducted a survey of 965 recovered covid-19 patients and found that more than 90% had lingering side effects from the virus, the most common of which was fatigue followed by difficulty in concentrating. During the congressional hearing last week, Dr. Fauci also warned of lingering effects weeks and even months after recovery including inflammation of the heart.

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And that's all I've got other than that it is still out there flaring up here and there with associated responses...opening/closing schools, opening/closing bars and restaurants, people still working from home, Americans still out of work and falling on hard times because the Senate won't take up the relief bills passed in the house, etc. I suppose if I dug around I could come up with more but as I mentioned before, today I'm weary of the whole thing.

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Current US statistics as of today 10/5/20, 20:37 GMT: cases – 7,668,358; deaths – 214,889. My state, (red, so fuck you Trump) Texas, is, still today, #2 after California for the total number of coronavirus cases then Florida, then New York so of the top 4 states with the most infections, two are blue states for a total of 1,273,194 and two are red states for a total of 1,412,553. Let me repeat that, of the top four states, the red states have the most infections. So fuck you Trump and your lying bullshit about how if we didn't count the blue states we'd have so few cases, almost none.

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My (red) county has now jumped up to 1,386 cases and 53 deaths (only 3 more deaths in the last two weeks).

what's been going around, came around

 
Well, the big news is that Hope Hicks tested negative last Wednesday morning, got on a plane with Trump and his closest peeps and developed symptoms during the day and a second test came back positive. Trump knew this and went to a fundraiser in NJ on Thursday anyway, and people have commented that he didn't look well at the event, and Thursday night he and Melania tested positive. Word is those big dollar donors (tickets for the event were up to $250,000) are freaking out that Trump knowingly exposed them. I wonder if they'll still support him with cash.

Apparently the event at the Rose Garden to announce Trump's Supreme Court pick, is the genesis of all these infections as a number of people who attended are also infected...RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, Kellyanne Conway, Senator Thom Tillis, Senator Mike Lee, the president of Notre Dame John Jenkins and at least three journalists. Friday night Trump's campaign manager Bill Stephien announced he too was infected.

Now we have learned that eleven staffers at the Cleveland debate are also infected and who knows how many of the Secret Service. And of course Trump's whole family refused to wear masks at that joke of a debate Tuesday even when asked pointedly to do so and in fact purposely arrived late so that they would not have time to be tested as was required (and to which they agreed), letting them in on the 'honor' system (and if that isn't the biggest joke since when have any of them acted with honor about anything) assuming that if they were infected or been exposed that they would say so while Trump, who very possibly already knew he was infected, yelled and spewed spit and molecules at Biden, frustrated because he couldn't get closer. It would not surprise me in the least to learn that he was trying to infect Biden. What a bunch of arrogant pricks. And now, we're supposed to show compassion for Trump getting sick.

So supposedly Trump and Melania are undergoing quarantine and there is so much speculation about whether or not Trump really has it since everything out of his White House is a lie and that perhaps it's a ploy to get out of the next debates but it also means no more rallies in the interim so that's probably not the case though I have read that his rallies this time around are not as well attended and do not have the energy and spark they did in 2016. Also he was scheduled to do two rallies in Michigan this past week but the state is undergoing a surge and at least one of them was canceled beforehand.

The other speculation has been that they are lying about Trump being infected centering on the idea that it's a trick so that Trump can emerge from covid having no symptoms and healthy therefore underscoring his position that the virus is nothing to be concerned about. Another opinion tweeted was that because there is no real news coming out of the White House about Trump's infection is that he's sicker than they want people to know. However, Friday evening the doctors at the White House decided to transfer Trump to Walter Reed Hospital 'out of an abundance of caution' and it's been reported that they have given him an experimental cocktail that hasn't finished going through trials and the success of which is only anecdotal. But the fact is that Trump and his minions are liars and there is no way of knowing what the truth really is.

We do know this though, Trump's White House has not been forthcoming with information. The Biden campaign and I assume the Bidens learned of Hope Hicks' (who attended the debate) infection on the news the next morning and the White House didn't bother to alert Nancy Pelosi of Trump's imminent transfer to Walter Reed. As third in line for succession if something happened to Trump and Pence, you'd think that she would be informed.

The Bidens and Kamala and her husband and Nancy have all tested negative for which we can be grateful and I hope they continue to test negative but quite frankly, I am not sorry Trump and Melania and the rest of Trump's supporters have contracted covid. Everyone of them refused to believe and follow the advice of the medical professionals, spreading misinformation, refusing to wear masks and social distance and Trump is responsible for the deaths of 210,000 Americans. I do feel sorry for the White House staffers who have been exposed by Trump's order 'preference' of no masks in the White House.

Biden, of course, has taken the high road, has only wished Trump and Melania well and a speedy recovery and has pulled all his negative ads against Trump. Of course he did, because that's who Joe is. But Trump's campaign has not reciprocated and in fact are spreading more lies about Biden's response to the news because, well, that's who Trump is.

week 26 and week 27

 

Well, the big news is, of course, Bob Woodward's book and revelation that Trump knew in January how bad, how devastating, the virus is and would be and PURPOSELY chose to downplay it, ignore it, lie about it over and over, refusing to marshal the country to fight it because he didn't want to create a panic (and he was perfectly content for blue states to suffer). Of course, he has had no problem creating panics over immigration or muslims or our cities allowing people to exercise their 1^st amendment rights protesting police brutality and instigating violence against fellow Americans. The truth of the matter is he didn't want to create a panic in the stock market because he thinks that is crucial for his re-election.

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Astra-Zeneca temporarily halted the global trials for their vaccine after a volunteer suffered some illness while they tried to determine if it was a side effect of the vaccine. I believe I read later that they have reinstated the trial. 

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HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo, has been interfering with the CDC's virus reports demanding to see the reports before they were made public and demanding they be watered down so as not to undermine Trump's 'optimistic' messages (lies) about the virus even wanting to go so far as to retroactively change already published reports and holding back other reports. As if that's not enough, he berated CDC scientists and accused them of creating 'hit job' reports to undermine Trump for political reasons. 

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The CDC on Friday reversed their testing guidance issued in August, no doubt because of pressure from Trump who wants less testing and therefore a lower case count, that people without symptoms did not need to get tested. The new guidance recommends that anyone with no symptoms but who have been in contact with an infected person should get tested. 

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And today, the CDC retracted guidance it had published also on Friday concerning how the virus spreads through the air after the WHO questioned the statement. The CDC says it is updating it's recommendation regarding airborne transmission and that a draft version had been published in error. 

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Schools that have been opening in-person classes are experiencing increased infections among children and teachers.

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The motorcycle rally in Sturgis SD in August is responsible for over 260,000 new cases of covid-19 but that didn't stop 125,000 bikers from convening in Missouri for another rally this past weekend.

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Anti-maskers continue to barge their way into stores that require masks just so they can make a scene and harangue customers and employees alike.

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A perfectly healthy 21 year old male suffered a heart attack. When he was tested for the virus in the hospital it came back positive.

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Europe is experiencing a rise in infections.

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Current US statistics as of today 9/21/20, 21:50 GMT: cases – 7,035,917; deaths – 204,386. My state, (red, so fuck you Trump) Texas, is, still today, #2 after California for the total number of coronavirus cases then Florida, then New York so of the top 4 states with the most infections, two are blue states for a total of 1,273,194 and two are red states for a total of 1,412,553. Let me repeat that, of the top four states, the red states have the most infections. So, once again, fuck you Trump and your lying bullshit about how if we didn't count the blue states we'd have so few cases, almost none.

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My (red) county has now jumped up to 1,340 cases and 50 deaths.