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  • August 5, 2020 at 2:49 pm #363932
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (August 5): Over 18.8 million cases and over 708 thousand deaths worldwide. Getting very close to 5 million cases and over 161 thousand deaths in the US, more than 54.5 thousand new cases and 1,362 new deaths in the US reported yesterday. Yesterday, Aug 4, fewer cases were reported in Florida and California than recently, 245 new deaths were  reported in Florida, 205 new deaths in Texas, and a California pandemic record high of 197 new deaths were reported in CA. In New York, 10 new deaths were reported in New York.

    In Brazil, more than 56 new cases and 1,394 new deaths were recorded yesterday (increases of both number since the last few days); more than 51 thousand new cases and 849 new deaths in India.

    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. 12 new deaths in Italy yesterday.

    msn. com/ en-us/ health/ medical/ companies race to develop covid-19 monoclonal antibody treatment (Aug 5): “As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, the makers of the flu vaccine are planning to ship a record 200 million doses to the U.S.to prevent Americans from getting slammed by the flu next season”.

    msn. com/ en-us. com/ money/  markets/ Scotland locks down oil hub deaths top 700,000 virus update (Aug 5): “Transfusions of blood rich with antibodies from recovered Covid-19 patients to those currently hospitalized with the virus reduced their mortality rate by about 50%, the Wall Street Journal reported.. The data, based on an analysis of about 3,000 patients, was submitted t the U.S. Food and Drug Administration… Texas Positivity Rare climbed for a third straight day, reaching 13.88%, the highest since July 22, according to state health department data. The figure was still down from the July 16 peak of 17.43%”.

    anita

    August 6, 2020 at 11:36 am #363994
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (August 6): over 19 million cases and over 712 thousand deaths worldwide. Almost 5 million cases and getting close to 162 thousand deaths in the U.S.; more than 55 thousand new cases and 1,311 new deaths in the U.S. reported yesterday. 225 new deaths were reported in Florida, 220 new deaths in Texas and 169 new deaths in California reported regarding yesterday, Aug 5, and a lesser number of new cases in FL and CA than  recently, but still high in TX. In New York: 10 new deaths yesterday, same number as the day before yesterday.

    The new deaths reported for yesterday, Aug 5, is as follows in descending order (I am listing only the 4 and 3 digit numbers): 1,322  in Brazil, 1,311 in the U.S., 919 in India, 857 in Mexico,  414 in South Africa,  221 in Peru, 185 in Iran,  and 139  in Russia.

    The U.S. administered more tests than any other country (more than 62.5 thousand tests), but when you look at the number of tests per million people, that is, the percentage of the population that was tested, these are some of the numbers in descending order:  Luxemburg, a small European country of just over 620 thousand people, more than 995 thousand tests per million population were reportedly done: 99.5% of the population was tested. Bahrain, a small country in the Persian Gulf with a 1.6 million population:50.8% of the population was tested. Iceland, a small country of under 350 thousands: 43.8% of the population was tested. Denmark: 28.5% of the population tested. The UK: 25.7% of the population tested. The U.S.: 18.8 of the population was tested. India: 0.16% of the population was tested.

    Looking at the reported number of deaths during the pandemic so far, most deaths have been in the U.S., over 160 thousands. Looking at the number of deaths per million people, this is a list of the countries with the highest deaths per million population in descending order: Belgium- 850 (that is, 0.00085% of the population died of the disease). UK- 683,  Peru- 613, Spain- 610, Italy- 582, Sweden- 571, Chile- 517, USA- 489, France- 464, Brazil- 459, Mexico- 385, Netherland- 359, Panama- 359,  Ireland- 357, Ecuador- 331.

    Los Angeles Times, Southeast L.A. already faced many ills. Now it’s the epicenter of coronavirus (Aug 6): “infections skyrocketing in its mostly working-class Latino communities. The sharp increase since the economy reopened around Memorial Day (May 25) shows the virus is spreading rapidly through factories, stores and other workplaces and into communities with higher rates of poverty, more crowding and many essential workers who make the economy tick… The region reported more than 27,000 new cases over the last two months, the most in the county. The area now accounts for 19% of new infections, although it comprises just 12% of the countywide population, the Times analysis shows.

    “The southeast region, with 1.2 million people.. is home to many low-wage, front-line workers, and residents there are more likely to live in overcrowded, multigenerational households- key risk factors in accelerating spread of the virus, according to experts. In contrast, the more affluent and majority-white Westside-.. recorded about 3,000  new cases and showed a  much slower increase, the Times analysis found.

    “Stay-at-home orders and other aggressive measures imposed early in the pandemic had a ‘huge blind spot,’ Hayes-Bautista said. They overlooked those who kept working as meat processors, delivery drivers, grocery clerks, construction workers and other essential jobs- work often performed without N95 masks, or other protections- and enabled white-collar workers to shelter at home…

    “‘I think all the attention has been on people hanging out in bars and restaurants,’ said Manuel Pastor, a professor of sociology at USC. ‘But someone is working the back rooms in those places as well as continuing to go to construction sites, ride public transit, and head home to overcrowded household.'”.. Across the county, areas with the highest poverty rates are experiencing infection rates that are nearly five times higher than areas with the lowest poverty figures. That gap has widened in recent weeks as wealthier areas have seen much slower growth in case numbers.”

    CNN, The world may never eradicate coronavirus, but it can get it under control, Fauci says (Aug 6): “Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that the ‘highly transmissible’ virus isn’t likely to be eradicated from the planet. The conclusion drawn by the nation’s leading infectious disease expert contrasts with that of President Trump, who on Wednesday said the virus will ‘go away’.

    “Fauci said he US can get on top of the virus with a good vaccine and prudent safety measures- like masks, hands washing and social distancing. ‘We may need to go through a season of it and then the next season, if we have a vaccine, it won’t be a pandemic, it won’t be immobilizing the world, it won’t be destroying the economy.’ he said…

    “Case numbers are being driven up by people who are not taking the virus seriously, Fauci told CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta. ‘The good news about Covid-19 is that about 40% of the population has no symptoms.. The bad news, for messaging, is that 40% of the population get no symptoms.’ That makes it difficult to present a clear and consistent message about the dangers of the virus…

    “Since the beginning of June, the case rate for people in the age group of 30 to 49 nearly tripled and the case rate for people between the ages of 18 to 29 nearly quadrupled, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said. ‘This is also the age group that is most likely to be attending the large parties that we keep seeing,’ said Dr. Ferrer…

    “Early in the outbreak, health experts believed severe infections and spread were less likely among children. But more recent data shows that while children are far less likely to die from Covid-19 than adults, they can still pass the disease on to others. As schools have begun to resume classes on campus, students and teachers have tested positive or were sent into quarantine from the virus. But keeping students home could lead to millions of parents being forced to quit their jobs, according to economists from Goldman Sachs.”

    A few of my comments: a more visibly alarming virus, such as Ebola that causes visible external bleeding and kills on average 50% of the people it infects,  motivates people to do whatever it takes to avoid it, but the damage that SARS-Cov-2, the  virus behind Covid-19, causes is way less visible, and the beginning symptoms are similar to the very familiar and not so alarming flu symptom, so we are less alarmed. And the mortality rate is so low, compared to Ebola that .. again, we are way less alarmed, especially younger people, and those with no pre-existing conditions.

    And this is what makes SARS-Cov-2 more dangerous than Ebola- many people are way less scared of this virus than of Ebola, and so the spread continues and the death toll rises, with no end in sight-

    – no end unless and until people socially distance, wear masks; until leaders who are in denial stop fueling the denial of millions, and start implementing measures that need to be implemented, until effective vaccines are manufactured and become available to millions of people.

    anita

     

    August 7, 2020 at 12:40 pm #364087
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (August 7): still over 19 million cases and over 718 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 5 million cases and over 163 thousand deaths in the U.S. More than 58 thousand new cases yesterday (Aug 6) in the US, an increase from the day before, and 1,203 new deaths yesterday, a decrease of 116 from yesterday. Yesterday, there was an increase of almost 3 thousand new cases in California and an increase of more than 2 thousand new cases in Florida than the day before. There was a decrease of almost 2 thousand new cases in Texas than the day before. There’ve been 20 fewer deaths in California,  105  fewer new deaths in Florida, and 16 more new deaths in Texas than the day before.

    Yesterday, there were 789 new cases (an increase of 101 from the day before) and 6 new deaths (a decrease of 4 from the day before) in New York.

    New deaths reported for yesterday in descending order, listing only the 4 and 3 digit numbers): 1,226 in Brazil, 1,203 in the U.S., 899 in India, 829 in Mexico, 306 in South Africa, 196 in Peru, 174 in Iran, 116 in Russia (same order as listed for the day before yesterday, in my post of Aug 6).

    CNN: What you need to know about coronavirus on Friday, August 7: “More than 19 million people around the world have new been infected with the coronavirus, and 715,024 have died. The number of new daily cases has topped 200,000- a level not seen before July- for 23 days in a row… In India, the number of infections surpassed 2 million today. The speed at which the virus has spread around the country of 1.3 billion people is stunning. India reported its first case on January 30. It took almost six months to reach 1 million cases, then only three more weeks to add another million.

    “Meanwhile, there are now 1 million reported cases in Africa- more than half of them in South Africa- although the World Health Organization said the actual number of infections in the region might be much higher than because testing remains a challenge. And Brazil, the world’s second worst-hit country, is fast approaching 3 million cases and 100,000 deaths.

    “But it is the United States that is seeing the highest numbers of infections and deaths. More than 4.8 million Americans have been infected- approximately one in 75- and more than 160,000 have died… The numbers could get much worse. Several US states are seeing an increase in the percentage of tests coming back positive, and Dr. Anthony Fauci said this was a predictor of trouble ahead. ‘It’s a clear indication that you are getting an uptick in cases, as we’ve seen in the southern states, leads to surges, and then you get hospitalizations and then you get deaths,’ Fauci told CNN yesterday.

    “The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now projecting more than 181,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States by August 29. That means the CDC expects almost 1,000 Americans to die on average every day in the next three weeks… Looking further ahead, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine foresees nearly 300,000 US deaths by December 1. It doesn’t have to be that way. The institute said 70,000 lives can be saved between now and December, if only more people started wearing masks. ‘Starting today, if 95% of the people in the US were to wear masks when leaving their homes, that total number would decrease to 228,271 deaths, a drop of 49%, said IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray.

    ABC News, Us Covid-19 death toll rises for 5th straight week (Aug 8): Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is urging the public to ‘not abandon’ public health measures ‘in anticipation of a vaccine’. ‘When you’re talking about public health measures, there are many, many things that we can do,’ Fauci said at a briefing Thursday hosted by the Alliance of Public Health. ‘But you can distill them down to five or six that everyone should be doing: masks, physical distancing, avoiding crowds, outdoor better than indoor, washing your hands with soap and water or with alcohol-based sanitizer.’

    “Fauci said we could see different scenarios as we get into flu season this fall.. he hopes to see more people getting the flu shot this year. Approximately 170 million people did last year..

    “France on Wednesday reported its highest single-day rise in coronavirus infections in more than two months amid concerns about a resurgence in Europe… the country recorded 1,695 new cases in 24 hours, the largest increase since May 30, when 1,828 ne2w cases were identified in a 24-hour reporting period… A tally kept by Johns Hopkins University shows South Africa with the fifth-highest number of diagnosed Covid-19 cases in the world..

    “Since the start of the pandemic, a total  of 85 children under the age of 2 had tested positive for the virus in Nueces County (Texas, USA) by mid-July. Now, that number is ‘close to 167’, according to Annette Rodriguez, health director..  Nationwide, the number of Covid-19 cases among people under the age of 18 from March 1 to Aug. 3 were 40% Hispanic, 34% white and 19% Black. The ethnicity breakdown of those patients who died from the disease is 38% Hispanic, 34% Black and 25% white, according to the memo.

    CNN, India coronavirus: More than 2 million cases confirmed (Aug 7): “After initially appearing to have curbed the spread of the virus, India, the world’s second most populous nation, has struggled to cope with the fast-expanding outbreak. Across the country, critically ill virus patients have been turned away from public and private hospitals for lack of beds, staff and equipment… Compared with other countries, India’s mortality rate remains low. According to JHU data, India has around three deaths per 100,000, compared with almost 67 deaths per 100,000 in the United Kingdom, which has the highest mortality rate of the top 20 most affected countries.”

    Wikipedia, Operation Warp Speed: “a public-private partnership, initiated by the federal government of the United States, to facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.. It was introduced by the Trump administration in early April 2020. Operation Warp Speed will promote mass production of multiple vaccines based on preliminary evidence.. The plan anticipates that some of these vaccines will not prove safe or effective, making the program more costly than typical vaccine development, but potentially leading to the availability of a viable vaccine several months earlier than typical timelines. Congress has allocated nearly $10 billion for Operation Warp Speed”.

    ABC News: Experts, scientists confident in vaccine process, despite criticism of ‘Warp Speed’ (Aug 7): “Scientists who are working on the various coronavirus vaccine candidates agreed, noting that the rapid pace of the development is the result of a financial investment, rather than a scientific shortcut. Developing a new vaccine is expensive. Traditionally, cost-conscious pharmaceutical companies move slowly, starting with a product in a so-called ‘Phase 1’ of testing and ensuring it works before moving on to larger (and more expensive) Phase 2 and 3 trials. Now, all those steps are happening simultaneously- at great financial cost but not in a way that sacrifices the scientific integrity of the process…

    “Meanwhile, companies are scaling up manufacturing before it’s clear if the vaccines work- many with the financial backing of Operation Warp Speed. ‘The leading companies are starting to mass-produce vaccines now, even before there’s any evidence of success,’ said Barouch. ‘If the vaccine fail, they will take millions of doses and discard them.. That has never been done to the best of my knowledge in pharmaceutical history.’

    Meanwhile, companies are scaling up manufacturing before it’s clear if the vaccines work — many with the financial backing of Operation Warp Speed…

    “Pau Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center.. said he’s concerned the Trump administration could apply pressure to approve a vaccine that Operation Warp Speed has supported because millions of doses already exist, even if data is still preliminary.. ‘What could happen is that the vaccine is far less effective than you think it is, in which case you’ve shaken what is a fragile vaccine confidence in this country’.. Twenty-seven percent of American adults said they wouldn’t get vaccinated against COvid-19 if a vaccine is approved, according to a ABC News/Washington Post Poll conducted in May. Half of those people said they don’t trust vaccines in general.”

    anita

    August 9, 2020 at 11:49 am #364240
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (August 9): getting close to 20 million cases and over 731 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 5 million cases and over 165 thousand deaths are in the U.S.; over 54 new cases and 976 new deaths reported yesterday, fewer new cases and fewer new deaths Aug 8 than in Aug 7.

    CNN: Americans are moving around too much and taking coronavirus with them, experts say (Aug 8): “When case numbers start to come down, people tend to interact more, and more movement predicts how the virus will spread… health experts have predicted the national death toll will get worse through the year, and many have called for a stronger national leadership against the virus. In a list ranking countries’ response to the pandemic assessed by Foreign Policy Magazine, the United States ranks near the bottom… we’re almost back to pre-Covid levels of mobility, so we’re just not being as cautious as other people are in other countries.. Precautions can bring and keep the numbers down while the nation waits on a vaccine, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams said in a news briefing Friday. All it takes is what he calls his ‘Three W’s.’ ‘Number one, wash your  hands. Number two, watch your distance… number three, wear a mask,’ Adams said.

    “IHME’s model (IHME stands for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent  global health research center at the University of Washington, located in Seattle) projects more than 295,000 deaths in the US by December 1, it also shows that consistent mask wearing could save more than 66,000 lives…

    “Currently, only symptomatic people are frequently tested, meaning 40% to 50% of all spreaders, those who don’t show symptoms, aren’t being tested and told they may be contagious.. You have to know that as soon as possible, and then limit transmission.. That’s the whole ball game.’ But even testing primarily symptomatic people been impacted by backlog, many states report…

    “A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention supports the early belief that most coronavirus cases in children appear to be either asymptomatic or mild. But, the report said, when children are hospitalized, they need the intensive care unit as often as adults do… One rare but serious complication children can develop from a coronavirus infection is known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, and at least 570 cases have been reported, the CDC said.”

    Wikipedia, Immune system:(I am paraphrasing & simplifying): the immune system is a defense system against disease, it detects a pathogens (anything that causes disease, infectious agents, mostly viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, parasitic worms), and defends the body against the pathogens.

    In humans, as in other animals, there are two major parts to the immune system: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system.

    The innate immune system protects the body from pathogens quickly, is not specific to the type of pathogen, and it provides short term protection, protecting the body from the current infection, but not from future infections. It consists of anatomical barriers, the biggest one is the skin, protecting us from invading pathogens, liquids such as tears that wash off pathogens from our eyes,  acid that kills pathogens in our stomachs, and mucus that removes pathogens from our respiratory tract. The innate immune system also consists of many types of cells that fight infection, including white blood cells that eliminate pathogens, and cytokines that cause inflammation; inflammation is a way to fight infection by pathogens.

    The adaptive immune system aka acquired immune system takes time to protect the body from pathogens, it is highly specific to the type of pathogen, and it can provide long-lasting protection, protecting the body not only from the current infection, but from future infections by the same pathogen. Examples: someone who recovers from measles is protected against measles for their lifetime.

    My comment: the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children is an over-activation of the innate immune system as a result of infection by Covid-19. It is an immediate, non-specific response to the virus.

    CBS News: 97,000 kids test positive for Covid-19 in two weeks, reports says (Aug 9): “Nearly 100,000 children tested positive for the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics finds… Out of almost 5 million reported Covid-19 cases in the U.S., CBS News’ Michael George reports that the group found that more than 338,000 were children… More than 25 children died of the coronavirus in July alone.”

    To be continued.

    anita

    August 10, 2020 at 12:37 pm #364339
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear reader:

    Worldometer (August 10): Over 20 millions cases and over 736 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 5 million cases and getting close to 166 thousand deaths in the U.S., almost 48 thousand new cases and 534 new deaths yesterday, Aug 9 (significantly fewer deaths in the U.S., and in each one of the three states at the epicenter of the recent wave: California, Florida and Texas).

    Over 3 million cases and over 101 thousand deaths in Brazil, significantly fewer new cases and new deaths yesterday than in each day from Aug 4-Aug 8.

    Close to 2.3 million cases and over 45 thousand deaths in India, number of new cases and new deaths yesterday are still on the rise.

    Best Life, Dr. Fauci says this is how the U.S. can avoid a ‘catastrophe’ this fall(Aug 10): “While mask-wearing, social distancing, and stay-at-home orders have helped other countries stem their coronavirus epidemics, the U.S. has seen record-breaking numbers of new Covid cases since the pandemic began- and rising death tolls, as well. In fact, people in the U.S. are dying of the coronavirus at a rate of over 17 times faster than people in Canada and Europe…

    “on Aug 7, Fauci said that if people can begin to view the public health principles as a step toward reopening the country, rather than as a means of control or a step backward, Covid-19 numbers could be in a much more manageable place in the next few months… Fauci noted that if people follow recommended public heath measures, ‘we could go into the fall and the winter looking good.. we do not have to completely lock down if we do things right… I believe we can open up the economy, get the employment back.. if we do it prudently, carefully, and the way the guidelines say’.. like staying home and wearing masks, seriously, or the numbers will continue to rise.

    “‘It never turns around spontaneously unless you do something different than you’re doing,’ he explained.”

    Wikipedia, Adaptive Immune System, paraphrased with quotes): the adaptive immune system, also referred as the acquired immune system, is part of the immune system that is made of specialized cells and processes that eliminate pathogens by preventing their growth. Acquired immunity creates an immunological memory that leads to these specialized cells being produced in future infections. The specialized cells are specifically made to target specific pathogens (unlike the innate immune systems where cells attack a variety of pathogens, not having been designed to attack a specific pathogen).

    “Unlike the innate immune system, the acquired immune system is highly specific to a particular pathogen. Acquired immunity can also provide long-lasting protection”, sometimes providing a lifetime protection (measles), and at other times less than a lifetime protection (chickenpox). Sometimes the specialized cells designed to attack specific pathogens, attack the human cells as well and asthma and allergies result.

    The cells that carry out the acquired immune response are white blood cells known as lymphocytes. Two types of lymphocytes are B  cells and T  cells. B cells secret antibodies that travel through the bloodstream and bind to the pathogen, inactivating the pathogens, so that they are unable to bind and infect the human host cells.

    More, later.

    anita

     

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by .
    August 13, 2020 at 2:12 pm #364716
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (august 13): Almost 21 million cases and over 750 thousand deaths worldwide. Almost 5.4 million cases and almost 170 thousand deaths in the U.S., over 54 thousand new cases and 1,386 new deaths yesterday.

    This is the breakdown of new deaths in 25 of the 50 U.S. states yesterday (Aug 12) in descending order:  225 in Texas,   212 in Florida,  160 in California, 148 in Arizona, 105 in Georgia,  63 in North Carolina, 48 in Louisiana, 46 in South Carolina,  45 in Mississippi, 35 in Alabama, 28 in Ohio, 18 in Tennessee,  17  in New York, 17 in Indiana, 15  in Illinois, 13 in Iowa,13 in Oklahoma,  11 in New Jersey, 8 in Virginia, 8in Maryland, 7 in Michigan, 5 in Washington, 5 in Wisconsin, 4 in Hawaii, 0 in Vermont and Wyoming.

    On the same day, Aug 12, Zero new deaths were recorded in China, Spain, Sweden, 6 in Belgium, 7 in Japan, 8 in Germany, 10 in Italy, 15 in Canada, 17 in France, 20  in the UK, and 21 in Australia.

    Politico, Trump turns toward a third season of coronavirus (Aug 13): “As the crippling crisis turns toward a third season, an alternate reality is taking shape inside the White House even in the face of spiking case counts, long lags in test processing and a Covid-19 death toll that regularly tops 1,000 Americans a day…

    “One former senior administration official said the White House is attempting to convey the perception of control.. A key goal is to demonstrate they’re once again on top  of Americans’ No. 1 concern, after first pushing states to reopen before they met the government’s own benchmarks and then downplaying the worsening spread of the virus for months.. The White House’s own rosy portrait of its response and the president’s upbeat projections- such as his repeated insistence that the virus will ‘go away’- contrasts with the continued high caseloads in states such as Texas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and Maryland…

    “Trump is heading into fall and winter months that could prove even more perilous for the  nation, with the spread of Covid-19 coinciding with the flu season- a dangerous combination public health officials have long been dreading. ‘The fall could be incredibly gruesome,’ said Yale School of Medicine epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves, adding that the Trump administration largely squandered the summer months, leaving the nation no better protected than it was in June.”

    anita

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by .
    August 14, 2020 at 1:14 pm #364771
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (august14): More than 21 million cases and 760 thousands deaths worldwide. Over 5.4 million cases (over a quarter of the world’s cases) and almost 171 thousand deaths (over a quarter of the world’s deaths) are in the U.S. Over 55 thousand new cases and 1,284 new deaths in the U.S., yesterday, Aug 13.

    This is the breakdown of new deaths in 25 of the U.S, states deaths yesterday, Aug 13, in descending order: 274 in Texas, 186 in California, 147 in Florida, 82 in Georgia, 66 in North Carolina, 42 in South Carolina, 41 in Louisiana, 36 in Arizona, 27 in Pennsylvania,  24 in Illinois, 24 in Tennessee, 24 in Ohio, 22 in Mississippi, 21 in Massachusetts, 16 in Michigan, 13 in New York, 12 in Washington, 11 in Virginia, 8 in Alabama, 5 in New Jersey, 2 in Hawaii, 1 in Wyoming, 0 in Vermont, Wyoming and Alaska.

    On the same day, Aug 13, these are the new deaths reported in the following countries in descending order: 1,301 new deaths in Brazil, 1,006 in India, 737 in Mexico, 308 in Columbia, 277 in Peru, 260 in South Africa, 174 In Iran, 124 in Russia, 94 in Chile, 34 in Saudi Arabia, 26 in Spain, 18  in the UK, 17 in France, 15 in Belgium, 9 in Canada, 9 in Australia, 6 in Italy, 6 in Portugal, 5 in Germany, 5 in Greece, 4 in the Netherland, 4 in Japan, 2 in Hong Kong, 1 in Austria, 1 in Norway, and zero new deaths in China, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Denmark, and Finland.

    The Washington Post, As he attacks mail-in votes, Trump and the first lady requested absentee ballots in Florida (Friday, Aug 14): “On Thursday, President Trump repeated his attacks against mail balloting, saying it would lead to ‘the greatest rigged election in history’ and ‘the greatest fraud ever perpetrated.’ At the same time, his own absentee ballot to vote in Florida primary election on Tuesday was en route..”-

    – my comment: if you are wondering what does the President’s interest in the US elections have to do with the pandemic, the answer is: nothing at all: the President of the United States is concerned with winning- winning another 4 years as President because he is into Power and Winning. He has no concern for the pandemic other than how it affects his prospects of his very personal, self centered, very extremely selfish winning.

    anita

     

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by .
    August 15, 2020 at 2:48 pm #364875
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 15): More than 21.5 million cases and more than 766 thousand deaths worldwide. More than 5.5 million cases,and more than 172 thousand deaths in the U.S. 60,600 new cases and 1,120 new deaths yesterday, Aug 14, in the U.S. More than 49 thousand new cases and 1,007 new deaths in Brazil, yesterday. More than 65 thousand new cases and 990 new deaths in India, yesterday.

    Close to 3 thousand new cases in France, a third day of over 2 thousand new cases per day. 1,440 new cases in the UK, yesterday.

    AP: Thousand of Britons return from France to avoid quarantine (Aug 15): “Thousands of British tourists beat a hasty retreat from France, packing out planes, trains and ferries to return to the U.K. by the early hours of Saturday morning to avoid a mandatory 14-day quarantine at home. .. The exodus was prompted late Thursday when the British government took France off a list of nations exempt from traveler quarantine requirements because of a sharp rise in new coronavirus infections there… Some air fares were selling for significantly inflated prices compared to normal rates. British Airways was selling tickets of a flight from Paris to London on Friday night costing 452 pounds ($590). The same journey on Saturday could be made for just 66 pounds. Ferry companies put on extra services but they sold out fast too.

    “Peter Norris, who managed to get on one of the last flights Friday out on Nice, in the south of France, said it would have been ‘incredibly inconvenient’ for him to face another two-week period cooped up at home. ‘It’s not like during lockdown, where you can go for a run, got to the shops, come back’, he said. ‘None of that, we have to stay in for two weeks.’..As well as complicating the return home for the hundreds of thousands of British tourists in France, the U.K. move has the potential to upend the plans of those planning trips in the days ahead.”

    Best Life: The CDC just made a major reveal with this new Covid Guidelines (Aug 15): “The updated guidance on quarantine protocols released at the beginning of August states: ‘People who have tested positive for Covid-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to three months as long as they do not develop symptoms again,’ implying some level of immunity during that period of time as a result of antibodies. And according to The New York Times, this is the first time the agency has officially acknowledged Covid-19 immunity could last for at least three months… A study published in Nature Medicine in June found that, in many people, antibodies from Covid-19 infection start to decline after two or three months, which supports the CDC’s most recent claim.”

    anita

    August 15, 2020 at 5:10 pm #364878
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    CNN, Do  some people have protection against the coronavirus? (Aug 3): “We know some of the big factors that put people at higher risk of having a severe, even fatal, course of the disease: being over 60, being overweight or obese, having one or more chronic diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney or lung disease, and cancer.. But might the opposite also be true: could certain people actually have some type of protection?..

    “A large percentage of the population appears to have immune cells that are able to recognize part of the SARS-COv-2 virus, and that may possibly be giving them a head start in fighting off an infection. In other words, some people may have some unknown degree of protection. ‘What we found is that people that had never been exposed to SARS-Cov-2.. about half of the people had some T-cell reactivity,’ co-author of the paper Alessandro Sette from the Center for Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research at La Jolla Institute for Immunology, told CNN…

    “here’s a little crash course in immunology. The human immune system, which is tasked with keeping you healthy in the face of bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitical and other invaders, has two main components: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. The innate immune system is the very first line of defense. Parts of it include physical barriers like your skin and mucosal membranes, which physically stop invaders from getting it. It also includes certain cells, proteins and chemicals that do things like create inflammation and destroy invading cells.

    “Where the innate immune system is immediate and nonspecific (it tries to stop anything from entering the body), the adaptive immune system is targeted against a specific and previously recognized invader. This takes a bit longer to kick into gear. The adaptive immune system includes a type of white blood cell, called a B cell, which patrols the body looking for bad guys. B cells each  have a unique antibody that sits on its surface and can bind to a unique antigen (the technical name for the foreign invader) and stop it from entering a host cell. When it finds and binds to a bad guy, the B cell gets activated: it copies itself and churns out antibodies, eventually creating a mega-army of neutralizers for that particular invader.

    “That’s where antibodies created by the immune systems of people who’ve had Covid-19 come from. Unfortunately, a few recent studies have found that antibodies to this particular coronavirus can fade away pretty quickly especially in people who have had mild cases of Covid-19. This has worried many researchers:because the antibody response appears to fade quickly, the scientific community is not sure how long a person who has been infected with the virus will stay protected from new infection… ‘This is also worrisome since we are relying on vaccines to trigger an antibody response to help protect us, and we want a protection to last a long time.

    “Fortunately, antibodies aren’t the only weapon our adaptive immune system uses to stave off an infection. Enter the T cell. T cells, which come in three varieties, are created by the body after an infection to help with future infections from the same invader. One of those T cells helps the body remember that invader in case it comes knocking again, another hunts down and destroys infected host cells and a third helps out in other ways.

    “It’s T cells like those, which reacted to the SARS-COv-2 virus, that Sette and his co-author Shane Crotty discovered- quite by accident- in the blood of people collected several years before this pandemic began… people who have never seen this virus have some T-cell reactivity against the virus.. That has been now confirmed in different continents, different labs, with different techniques.. They speculate that this T cell recognition of parts of the SARS-Cov-2 virus may come in part from past exposure to one of the four known circulating coronaviruses that cause the common cold in millions of people every year. ‘The assumption is that’s actually coming from common cold coronaviruses that people have seen before.’ said Crotty…

    “‘We don’t know if (the T cells) are helpful or not, but we think it’s reasonable to speculate that they may be helpful. It’s not that we think they would completely  protect against any infection at all, but if you already have some cells around, they can fight the virus faster and so it’s plausible that instead of ending up in the ICU, you don’t. And instead of ending up in the hospital, you just end up with a bad cold.’..

    “‘Because these coronaviruses are all related, given that every year we run into one of them, it’s not surprising that we have T cells that are reactive with them..’ .. ‘One of the things we know about this disease is that what kills you is an over exuberant immune system, in the lungs.. So, when you say, ‘They have T-cell reactivity,’ well that could help in some people, it could hurt in others…

    “Casadevall speculates that some of the asymptomatic people may be able to rapidly clear the virus thanks to this T-cell reactivity. ‘At the same time, some of the very sick people have that immunological history that instead of helping them, makes the immune system throw everything at it, and the net result is that you get this over-exuberant response,’ he said, referring to the cytokine storm that some of the sickest of the sic with Covid-19 experience.

    “Sette and Crotty .. say the overreaction of the innate immune system, not overreacting T cells, appears to set off the cytokine storm. ‘The data are still somewhat preliminary, but I think it’s in that direction. Certainly, we have not seen an immune response related to T cells in overdrive in the very severe cases.’ said Sette.

    “So, assuming that a large portion of the population has some kind of T-cell reactivity to the SARS-Cov-2, what does that mean for vaccine efforts? There are several implications… it opens the door to a different type of vaccine, similar to the ones that are being used against certain cancers, like melanoma.

    “What we know is that most vaccines that have been generated thus far have been based on generating antibodies. Now, antibodies should theoretically be able to prevent any cells from becoming infected- if you have enough antibodies around and any virus coming in, before it gets a chance to infect a cell, can be theoretically neutralized by the right kind of antibody,’ explained Walker, who is the founding director of the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard. ‘On the other hand, if some viruses sneak through and infect a cell; then the body is dependent upon T cells to eliminate the virus,’ he said. And therein lies the opportunity for us to rethink what we’re doing in terms of vaccination- because those T cells, at least theoretically, could be highly potent and could attenuate the disease. In other words, they wouldn’t protect against infection, but they might make infections so asymptomatic that you would not notice it yourself and, in fact, you would never have enough virus in your body to transmit it to somebody else. That’s the hypothesis.’..

    “Furthermore, Sette said.. ‘It is conceivable that if you have 10 people that have reactivity and 10 people that don’t have the pre-existing reactivity and you vaccinate them with a SARS-Cov-2 vaccine, the ones that have the pre-existing immunity will respond faster or better to a vaccine… So, we have been suggesting to anybody that is running vaccine trials to also measure T-cell response,’ said Sette.

    “There are also implications for when we might achieve ‘herd immunity’- meaning that enough of the population is immune to SARS-Cov-2, thanks either to infection or vaccination, and the virus can no longer be easily transmitted… if some degree of pre-existing immunity against SARS-Cov-2 exists in the general population, this could also influence epidemiological modelling…

    “‘The biggest problem is that everybody wants a simple answer,’ said John Hopkins’ Casadevall. ‘What nobody wants to hear is that it’s unpredictable, because many variables play together in ways that you can’t put together: your history, your nutrition, how you got infected, how much (virus) you got- even the time of the day you got infected. And all these variables combine in ways that are unpredictable.”

    anita

    August 19, 2020 at 1:28 pm #365157
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 19): More than 22.4 million cases and more than 787 thousand Covid-19 deaths worldwide. More than 5.6 million and more than 175 thousand deaths in the U.S. Almost 44 thousand new cases and 1,358 deaths yesterday in the U.S.

    More than 3.4 million cases and 110,171 deaths in Brazil. More than 48 thousand new cases and 1,365 new deaths yesterday in Brazil.

    More than 2.8 million cases and 53,994 deaths in India. More than 65 thousand new cases and 1,089 new deaths yesterday in India.

    I posted about the following article yesterday, and that post is awaiting moderation. (I am okay if it doesn’t get reposted).

    New York Times: What if herd immunity is closer than scientists thought? (Aug 17)- the way I understand it and elaborate on it:  eventually the coronavirus will not find enough vulnerable people to infect and it will fade out as an epidemic/ pandemic (the Ro, the Reproduction Number, will lessen significantly), and as I see it, we will end up with a situation where Covid-19 will be another  respiratory disease added to respiratory diseases that predated Covid-19 (most common are the the common cold and the flu).

    The situation where there are not enough vulnerable individuals to keep the virus so infectious as to cause an epidemic is called “herd immunity”-=a certain percentage of a population either has been sick and produced antibodies against the virus (natural immunity), or they are vaccinated and therefore possess antibodies against the virus (artificial immunity).

    Scientists suggested that 70% of the population needs to be immune in one of the two ways above, others say 50%, some say even less, so to achieve herd immunity.

    But it is not that, for example, 70% or 50% of all the people of Bombay, or all of the people in New York City need to be immune so to reach herd immunity (the situation where the virus is no longer very infectious/ an epidemic). In Bombay 51-58% of the population in the city’s poorest neighborhoods have been sick with Covid-19 and had developed antibodies for the virus. On the other hand, 11-17% of the people elsewhere in the city were sick and developed antibodies. Different percentages of immune people make herd immunity in the different neighborhoods.

    Another example: 68% of the people who visited a clinic in the Corona-neighborhood in Queens had antibodies for the virus, but only 13% of the people visiting the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn had antibodies for the virus.

    The neighborhoods where people are closer to each other, where they are more socially active (multiple people living together in an apartment, people taking mass transportation, people getting together in bars or places of worship, etc.), the poorer their health (obesity, suffering from diabetes and other pre-existing conditions), and the lesser the sanitation and hygiene practices– the higher the percentage of people who need to be immune  needed so to achieve herd immunity.

    When vaccines become available, it doesn’t make sense to uniformly vaccinate everyone. Governments should identify and immunize people according to neighborhoods: first vaccinate where the virus is most infectious (poorer neighborhoods), and then vaccinate people were the infection is lower (wealthier areas). This will benefit everyone, including the wealthier because people travel and so does the virus.

    Problem is that the Covid-19 antibodies seem to last about 3 months, and so will the vaccine, so people may need to get vaccinated 4 times a year, I am guessing. Another problem is according to a recent poll in the U.S., a lot of people (more so,  the lesser educated and Republicans) say that they will not get vaccinated once a vaccine is available, or that they are not sure if they will.

    anita

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by .
    August 26, 2020 at 2:22 pm #365627
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 26): Over 24 million cases and 827 thousand deaths worldwide. Almost 6 million cases and more than 183 thousand deaths in the U.S A. Over 40 thousand new cases and 1,290 new deaths yesterday in the U.S.

    More than 3.6 million cases and almost 117 thousand deaths in Brazil. Almost 47 thousand new cases and 1,215 new deaths yesterday, in Brazil.

    Over 3.3 million cases and over 60.6 thousand deaths in India. More than 66 thousand new cases and 1,066 new deaths yesterday in India.

    USA Today: Scientists worry FDA could be pressured to approve Covid vaccine before it is fully tested (Aug 26): “Sunday, President Donald Trump announced the FDA had issued an Emergency Use Authorization for blood plasma. The president, the health and Human Services Secretary and the head of the FDA all  said the treatment reduced deaths in Covid-19 patients by 35%. It did not, and scientists immediately questioned FDA’s claims about the data.

    “‘You saw FDA be bullied by the president of the United States into approving something that they didn’t want to approve earlier..,’ said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Cent4er at Children’s hospital in Philadelphia… The Infectious Disease Society of America was concerned enough that it published a statement saying while there were ‘some positive signals’ that the plasma helped, it shouldn’t be authorized for wider use before randomized, controlled studies are done…

    “The overstatement, and the fact that the FDA would  approve emergency use of a Covid-19 treatment based on flawed analysis of a therapy that was already available, worries scientists and researchers focused on vaccines. They’re concerned the FDA might cave to pressure from the White House to issue an Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, for a coronavirus vaccine in order to boos the president’s chances of re-election.

    “Trump has said he expects a vaccine ‘very soon.’ He has floated the possibility that a supposed ‘deep state’ conspiracy at the FDA might delay it until after the Nov. 3 presidential election.”

    NBC News: CDC reverse Covid-19 guidelines says testing may not be needed after exposure (Aug 25 or 26): “The Center for Disease Control and Prevention quietly tweaked its guidance on Covid-19 testing Monday, making a change that could result in fewer people getting tested and hinder contact tracing efforts. The guidance now states that healthy people who have been exposed to Covid-19 ‘do not necessarily need a test,’ as long as they don’t have symptoms. That’s a reversal from previous advice that clearly recommended testing for all close contacts of infected individuals, regardless of whether they had symptoms… President Donald Trump has been outspoken about his belief that the United States has the most Covid-19 cases in the world because of the number of tests it carries out.

    “But ‘testing, even for asymptomatic people, is critical to keeping the community transmission low since we know that presymptomatic transmission drives much of the spread of SARS-Cov-2,’ Rasmussen said, referring to the virus that cause Covid-19.”

    CNN: US coronavirus covid-19, child cases have increased by 21 since early August new data shows (Aug 25 or 26): “More than 70,000 new Covid-19 cases in children have been reported across the US since early August, new data shows. Child cases increased by 21% between August 6 and August 20… More than 440,000 children have been infected in the US since the start of the pandemic, the report said. Despite the climbing numbers, severe illness in children from the virus is rare… Of those hospitalized with the virus, about one in three children is admitted to intensive care- the same as adults… while the risk for Covid-19 related complications seems to be lower, there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to children and the virus- including how big their role is in transmitting it.”

    anita

     

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 3 months ago by .
    August 27, 2020 at 2:03 pm #365708
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 27): More than 6 million cases and more than 184 thousand deaths in the U.S.; More than 44.6 thousand new cases and 1,289 new deaths yesterday, Aug 26.

    Washington Post: We ran the CDC. No president ever politicized its science the way Trump has (July 14): “As America begins the formidable task of getting our kids back to school and all of us back to work safely amid a pandemic that is only getting worse, public health experts face two opponents: covid-19, but also political leaders and others attempting to undermine the Center for Disease Control and Prevention… It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release..

    “The CDC is home to thousands of experts who for decades have fought deadly pathogens such as HIV, Zika and Ebola. Despite the inevitable challenges of evolving science and the public’s expectation of certainty, these are the people best positioned to help our country emerge from this crisis as safely as possible. Unfortunately, their sound science is being challenged with partisan potshots, sowing confusion and mistrust at a time when the American people need leadership, expertise and clarity… This is unconscionable and dangerous.”

    CNBC: Former CDC director says US coronavirus response mixes politics with science in very dangerous way (July 22);

    “Over the course of the nation’s response to the pandemic, however, there’s been conflicting advice from the health community and politicians, such as the decision to mandate face coverings when in public to help curb the spread of Covid-19.. Trump, who resisted wearing a mask for months..”

    New York Times, The CDC’s new Covid-19 testing guidelines could make the pandemic worse (Aug 27):

    “Prior to this week, the CDC recommended that anyone who had been in close contact with an infected person should get tested, regardless of whether they showed symptoms or not. Now, the government agency says only folks displaying symptoms should seek a coronavirus test… many argue that this new recommendation could falsely decrease the number of reported cases in the United States. The fewer people that get tested, the fewer cases the public will know about..

    “Scientists say people with potential Covid-19 exposure should be tested more, not less. Unsurprisingly, experts across the country are already speaking out objecting the more relaxed new guidelines. Major organizations like the American Medical Association and Infectious Disease Society of America put out official statements against the change yesterday.

    “‘Testing asymptomatic individuals who have been exposed to a person with Covid-19 remains a critical evidence- based strategy for containing the pandemic and reducing transmission’.. But, the more testing done, the more cases we will discover, a statement President Donald Trump has made several times. He has publicly stated that he’d like to slow down cases t keep case counts low. When questioned further if his statements were a joke back in June, he told CBS.. ‘I don’t kid.’ Additionally, a CDC official told CNN that the new guidelines came from ‘the top down… The idea that we should be testing people less and not more.. seems to be in line with Trump’s claim that he asked his people to slow down testing”.

    Politico: Trump officials pressured CDC to change virus testing guidelines (Aug 27): “Top Trump administration officials involved with the White House coronavirus task force ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Protection to stop promoting coronavirus testing for most people who have been exposed to the virus but aren’t showing symptoms”.

    Quotes from Trump about testing, June and onward:

    – “So the media likes to say we have the most cases, but we do, by far, the most testing. If we did very little testing, we wouldn’t have the most cases. So in a way, by doing all of this testing, we make ourselves look bad”, “they would say we have more (cases) than China. I don’t think so… by doing all of the testing.. we’re going to have more cases because we do more testing. Otherwise, you don’t knw if you have a case”.

    – “Don’t forget, we have more cases than anyone in the world, but why? Because we do more testing. When you test, you have a case. When you test, you find something is wrong with people. If we didn’t do any testing, we would have very few cases”.

    – “You know, testing is a double-edge sword. We’ve tested now 25 million people. It’s probably 20 million people more than anybody else.. When you’re testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases, so I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’”

    anita

     

     

    August 30, 2020 at 11:41 am #365843
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 30): Over 25 million cases and almost 850 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 6 million cases and almost 187 thousand deaths in the U.S.

    Yesterday (Aug 29), the following numbers are the numbers of new deaths were reported in the following countries:  954 new U.S., 944 in India,  904 in Brazil, 552 in Mexico, 238 in South Africa, 17  in Australia, 12 in the UK, 9  in Italy (the day before yesterday), 5  in Canada, 5 in South Korea, 3 in Germany, 2 in Hong Kong, 1 in Zimbabwe, 0 in China (none since April 18).

    Yahoo News, First confirmed case of Covid-19 reinfection is “not surprising”, doctors say (Aug 29): “researchers at the University of Hong Kong have confirmed the first instance of a patient being reinfected with coronavirus a second time, suggesting that immunity to the virus may be short-lived. The patient, a 33-year-old man tested positive for the virus in March and then again in August after returning to Hong Kong from a trip to Spain. But it’s not all bad news; this man’s case demonstrates that the immune response, while not able to completely ward off a second infection, may be robust enough to prevent serious illness the second time around.

    “in the family of coronaviruses, immunity is generally temporary and lifelong immunity was unlikely to be acquired through one infection alone. ‘Think about a common cold.. We know people have recovered from viruses and get them again- usually not as severe, maybe they have some protection from the previous exposure”.

    “This was true of the patient observed in the Hong Kong study. The 33-year-old had mild symptoms including a cough, fever and sore throat for several days during his first infection, but was asymptomatic the second time he contacted the virus…

    “Tis reinfection shows us that it is probably not a viable strategy,’ Kass says of herd immunity. ‘In fact, it was probably never a viable strategy, because.. there are multiple strains of the virus that can infect you, then herd immunity, natural immunity, does not really have a leg to stand on.”

    anita

     

    August 31, 2020 at 1:57 pm #365893
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Aug 31): over 25.5 cases and almost 852.5 thousand deaths worldwide. Over 6 million cases and almost 187.5 thousand deaths in the U.S.

    Yesterday (Aug 30), the following numbers were reported as new deaths in the following countries: 960 in India, 673 in Mexico, 398 in Brazil, 369 in the U.S., 300 in Columbia, 181 in Peru, 104 in Argentina, 103 in Iran, 82 in Indonesia, 68 in Russia, 63 in Chile, 47 in South Africa, 39 in Romania, 33 in  Morocco, 11 in Australia, 9 in Japan, 4 in Italy, 4 in Canada, 2 in South Korea, 2 in Hong Kong, 2 in Vietnam,  2 in Greece, 2 in Kenya, 2 in Nigeria, 1 in Germany, 1 in Poland, 1 in Jamaica, 0 in Zimbabwe, 0 in the U.K., 0 in Finland, 0 in Norway, 0 in Sweden, 0 in France, 0 in New Zealand, 0 in Taiwan, 0 in Thailand, 0 in Malaysia, and 0 in China,

    Bloomberg: India is becoming the new world’s virus epicenter (Aug 31): “India is fast becoming the world’s new virus epicenter, setting a record for the biggest single-day rise in cases as experts predict that it’ll soon pass Brazil- and ultimately the U.S.- as the worst outbreak globally… At the current trajectory, India’s outbreak will eclipse Brazil’s in about a week, and the U.S. in about two.

    “The pathogen has only just penetrated the vast rural hinterland where the bulk of its 1.3 billion population lives, after racing through its dense mega-cities… As the world’s second most-populous country, and one with a relatively poor public health system, it’s inevitable that India’s outbreak becomes the world’s biggest, said Naman Shah, an adjunct faculty member at the country’s National Institute of Epidemiology…

    “From the Philippines to Peru, the novel coronavirus poses a unique problem to poor countries: the densely packed slums where millions of their citizens live present ideal conditions for the virus to spread, while their economic precariousness means that the shutdowns necessary to contain the pathogen are intolerable.. Across the developing world, economies have been forced to open up even with the virus still running rampant, , quickly overwhelming underfunded hospitals.

    “The list of worst-affected countries globally has accordingly shirted from rich to poor as the pandemic races around the world. Where once countries like Italy, Spain and the U.K. had the biggest outbreaks and highest death tolls, now the U.S is the only advanced economy in the top ten, among other developing nations like Mexico, Peru and South Africa”.

    My notes: the reason that the U.S. has been the epicenter of the pandemic for abut 6 months, longer than previous epicenters; the reason the virus is still raging in the U.S. while it is pretty calm in every other developed country is that the president of the U.S. cares only about one thing: to be re-elected as president of the U.S. in Nov 2020. He has been campaigning to be re-elected from day one of his presidency. He has no ethical or moral values. He has no respect for the law.

    He did all he could to bring about less testing in the U.S. so that fewer cases are reported and that will make him look better and increase his chances to be re-elected. He did all he could to defund/ harm the U.S. Post Office so that votes not for him, will not be counted. He has been promoting therapeutics and vaccine development in the U.S. so to take credit for such and win re-elections.

    He cares a lot about being liked and admired, but he has no empathy for anyone, including having no empathy for his fans. He initiates and promotes hostilities within the U.S., turning people against people, for the same reason- to create more and more angry people who will vote for him.

    How he got to be president and how he got to remain president for 4 years, and maybe 4 more, if he gets re-elected (and more years,  if he manages to become the First Dictator of the U.S.) is a surprise to me. Obviously there are very significant defects and vulnerabilities in the political system and in the characters of many of the politicians who made it possible for a Trump to have this unbelievable amount of power.

    anita

     

    September 7, 2020 at 10:19 am #366308
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Reader:

    Worldometer (Sept 7): over 27 million cases and almost 900 thousand deaths worldwide. Almost 6.5 million cases and over 193 thousand deaths in the U.S. A bit over 31 thousand new cases (the lowest since June 22) and 430 new deaths were reported yesterday in the U.S.

    India, for the first time since I started this thread, is now in the second place with over 4 million cases, right after the U.S.. India reported the highest number of new cases yesterday than on any previous day, over 91 thousands and 1,008 new deaths.

    Bloomberg, India surpasses Brazil with the world’s second highest virus cases (Sept 6): “India has the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus cases, passing Brazil on  Monday, to reach more than 4.2 million confirmed infections as the epidemic surges across the South Asian nation. Now the global virus hotspot, India added the largest number of cases in a day with 90,802 recorded overnight Sunday.. More than 71,000 people have died from Covid-19, making India the third-largest by number of deaths.

    “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government initiated the world’s biggest virus lockdown in the country of 1.3 billion people in late March, but the economic and social costs forced a gradual reopening even as infections surged at a record pace. On the same day as India surpassed Brazil’s infection tally, the country’s largest metro system in the capital New Delhi began operating again, while limited religious and sporting events have been allowed to restart and bars are set to open”.

    anita

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