Dear Reader:

Worldometer (August 2): over 18 million cases and getting close to 700 thousand deaths worldwide. Getting close to 5 million cases and (closer to) 160 thousand deaths are in the U.S., more than 58 thousand cases and over a thousand deaths reported yesterday.

Yesterday (Aug 1), over 9.6 thousand new cases and 179 new deaths were reported in Florida; almost 7.4 thousand new cases and 137 new deaths were reported in California, and over 6.7 thousand new cases and 268 new deaths were reported in Texas.

* New York State, the previous epicenter of the pandemic in the US and in the world, reported 643 new cases and 11 new deaths yesterday, its daily new cases and daily new deaths graphs flattened (but.. what goes down, can go up).

In Brazil, more than 42.5 thousand new cases and 1,048 new deaths were reported yesterday; more than 54.8 thousand new cases and 852 new deaths were reported in India.

* Italy, the previous world epicenter of the pandemic reported 295 new cases and 5 new deaths yesterday, its daily new cases and daily new deaths graphs flattened (but.. what goes down, can go up).

Australia reported 377 new cases (721 new cases on July 30 was the record high) and 4 new deaths (13 new deaths on July 30 was the record high).

msn. com/ en-us/ news/ world/ Australia’s second biggest city has implemented a curfew and banned people from going more than 3 miles of their home after a spike in coronavirus infections (August 2):

“Melbourne, Australia’s second biggest city, has gone into stage- four lockdown after reporting a new spike of coronavirus infections. The new lockdown restrictions include an overnight curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. and banning residents from travelling more than 3 miles (5km) from their home. The curfew and new lockdown measures will remain in place until at least September 13… Under the new restrictions, Melbourne residents will only be allowed to go shopping for essentials and exercise within 3 miles of their home. Exercise outside the home will be restricted to once a day, for one hour at a time… all restaurants,  bars, shops, and gyms in Victoria will have to close again starting Thursday.”

My comment: New York State reported 643 new cases and 11 new deaths yesterday; Australia reported 377 new cases and 4 new deaths yesterday (721 new cases and 13 new deaths on July 30), and yet New York State’s graphs of new cases and deaths are flattened for a long while and it appears, looking at these graphs,  that NY is doing well.

On the other hand, looking at Australia’s new cases and new deaths graphs, both having peaked July 30, it looks like Australia, in comparison to NY is doing badly.  But if you look at the numbers, Australia, at its pandemic record high July 30, had only 78 more cases than NY had yesterday.

It is a matter of relativity: relative to California, Florida, Texas and other states, New York State is doing very well. Looking at NY from  an Australian perspective, New York is doing badly and requires the regional shut down that was just decided upon in part of Australia. But currently, in NY, there are no curfews, no stay at home orders.

Local governments within the U.S and federal governments, U.S. and others around the world respond very differently to the same numbers of cases and deaths, much of the difference has  to do with politics, which brings me to the next item-

msn. com/ en-us/ news/ politics/ wrong Trump slams Fauci over testimony on Covid-19 surge (Aug 1):

“President Donald Trump publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci on Saturday, forcefully rejecting the nation’s top infectious disease expert’s testimony on why the U.S. has experienced a renewed surge in coronavirus cases. ‘Wrong!’ Trump wrote in a retweet of a video where Fauci explained to a House subcommittee that the U.S. has seen more cases than European countries because it  only shut down a fraction of its economy amid the pandemic. ‘We have more cases because we have tested far more than any other country.. If we tested less, there would be less cases.’ the president added.. Trump repeatedly claimed that the U.S. has a higher amount of cases because it tests more than any country, contradicting officials in his own administration and confounding public health experts… The president has previously retweeted posts calling for Fauci’s firing, and allies of Trump, including top trade adviser Peter Navarro, have publicly attacked him in a smear campaign”.

My comment: Fauci graduated first in his class as a Doctor of Medicine in 1966. In 2003, the following was stated about his work from 1983-2002 in the Institute of Scientific Information: “Fauci was the 13th most-cited scientists among the 2.5 million authors in all disciplines throughout the world who published articles in scientific journals.”. He received 20 awards and honors from 1979 to 2018,  Honorary Doctor of Science, National Medal of Science, and others.

Trump is arguing science with Fauci. Trump is a man of very low intelligence and education- he can hardly spell, hardly reads, often can’t speak clearly. It wouldn’t be so bad if a man with his limitations would ask for/ allow help from people who are intelligent and educated.

But Trump is on the extreme end of the humility continuum:  he is very arrogant and a bully. So, he attacks scientists and Fauci, a scientist of decades long success and excellent reputation. He repeats the same nonsensical claim: that the U.S. has more cases of infections than other countries because it tests more. True, the U.S. is a big country and the U.S. had conducted more Covid-19 tests than any other country. But the U.S. also has more Covid-19 deaths than any other country: getting close to 160,000 deaths. Trump, in his very limited scientific understanding, is stuck on the number of cases detected, ignoring the fact that a higher number of cases means a higher number of deaths (and health complications in those who recover).

In summary: the U.S. is run by an unintelligent, uneducated, arrogant, dishonest bully who argues against and attacks a very intelligent, educated, humble, honest nice man, Fauci.

anita