A WEEKEND OF FIERCE COMPETITION

From Worldometer (new deaths yesterday):

DAY USA WORLD Brazil India South Africa

June 9 1093 4732 1185 246 82

July 22 1205 7128 1293 1120 572

Aug 12 1504 6556 1242 835 130

Sept 9 1208 6222 1136 1168 82

Oct 21 1225 6849 571 703 85

Nov 11 1479 10178 564 550 60

25 2304 12025 620 518 118

Dec 1 2611 11891 697 500 109

29 3398 13791 1075 285 497

30 3880 14748 1224 299 465

Jan 5 3499 13106 1186 265 513

6 4100 14581 1266 221 392

7 4207 14812 1455 234 441

8 3914 14792 1044 229 616

Summary:

The USA had an all-time worst 301,655 new cases yesterday.
The scary development is Africa. South Africa got 21, 980 new cases, Morocco, Tunisia, Nigeria, and Zambia all are now into quadruple digits...and you know that continent is not exactly reliable in reportage, so it could be worse.

As I this morning sat down to generate this posting, it became obvious to me that this weekend was filled with a variety of competitions from the monumental to relatively trivial. At the top, course, is Humanity's battle with this novel coronavirus. We were leveled, but vaccines have been developed, and after this next week of probable increasing cases and deaths, I think the peak will then be reached so that a decline will become obvious by the time of Joe Biden's inauguration.

The one person in the world most responsible for those deaths in the USA is President Donald Trump. How else can you explain that with 4.3% of the World population, we have 20% of all COVID-19 deaths? But for a totally different reason, there is this weekend an effort in the U.S. House to impeach Trump for a second time. If the Senate next week again rescues him by merely doing nothing, the new Senate from January 21 could well convict him after he leaves office. So this appropriate Trump slam.

If you're a sports fan, this weekend is heaven for TV-watching. Fierce competition, of course, but I'll start with the University of Hawaii's basketball team. They ventured into the global hotspot of the pandemic, Los Angeles, and eked out a victory over the University of California at Riverside, who had already beaten the University Washington and were 7-point favorites. Alas, they play again today and I can't predict a second victory for Hawaii.

The PGA has returned, and beautiful Kapalua on Maui will be the star today and tomorrow, for last year's tour winners are there showing why they won. I think something like 21 players are within 4 strokes of the top. There are two holes towards the end that, if the wind is blowing, should result in drives that might approach 500 yards, for when I last played there a couple of decades ago, I got a 300-yard drive because they both are downhill and with the wind. The official PGA longest drive is 515 yards. #18 is particularly spectacular at 663 yards. You almost surely will see Humpback Whales.

There are also six NFL playoff games, three on Saturday and three on Sunday. 14 of 32 teams have survived so far. Wow, just saw Jason Myers of Seattle kick a 61-yard field goal. And, by the way, my five ESPN NFL teams all did poorly this year. Nevertheless, I purchased two CDM playoff teams for $150, making these upcoming games more meaningful. If Kansas City and Green Bay, the two bye teams this weekend, make it to Super Bowl LV in Tampa on February 7, I should do well. I can brag that my three ESPN (meaning I play for free) NBA teams are all in first place into the third week.

Alabama is an 8-point favorite over Ohio State in the NCAA football championship game, set for Miami at 8PM on Monday. The under/over line is the highest ever at 75. Why it's so close is a mystery to me, as Ohio State has 20 players on the "might not play" list. It appears that their quarterback, Justin Fields, has broken ribs, and a bunch of others have the potential to be held back by COVID-19 protocol. Three of the top five players in the nation wore an Alabama uniform, and wide receiver Devonta Smith won the Heisman.

Thank you to all those creative people out there spending so much time to synthesize these mixes, but you just got to see this I'M SO EXCITED dancing melange. One of the best remains "Old Movie Stars Dancing to Uptown Funk." I'll end with a simple Astaire-Powell tap dancing sequence of Begin the Beguine from Broadway Melody of 1940.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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