THE DREADED DELTA VARIANT

            From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 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    25      2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512         1151        189       712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

          25       2414    10578        1582        119      144

Mar     2        1989      9490       1726       110      194

          31       1115      12301        3950       458       58

April   6         906     11787         4211        631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

         26         607     12348         2399     3842     101

June    1         287     10637        2346      3205      95

          30        249      8505        2127        991      383

July     7          251      8440         1595        817      411

         28          483    10136          1366       641      520 

Aug     3          516    10057         1238        561      555

            4          656    10120        1118         532      423

          10          657    10078        1183         468      189 

          11          614     10352        1123         519       573

Summary:

• The fearsome statistic if you go to the site from which came the above figures, is that the USA had 144,635 new cases yesterday.  
• It was 124,000 the day before.  
• Our mortality rate has been 1.7%.  
• While I suspect that fewer will die from this Delta variant because many of the afflicted are young, even if this percentage drops to 1%, this means that in ten days or so, the new death figure for the U.S. will be around 1,446, not 614!  
• The school year has just begun, and those 4-11 year olds who cannot yet be vaccinated, and a whole lot of of 12-21 years olds who haven't yet been vaccinated, will get infected, and pass on their illness to family, friends and other unvaccinated individuals.  
• This will get worse for some time to come.
• Sure this is selfish, but my world cruise which begins in January is now in jeopardy, and I blame both the Delta variant and the unvaccinated for that.
• India was #2 in new cases with 43,641.  As you know, the Delta variant came from India.

I promised Part 2 of my UFO series today, but that will come tomorrow.  The Delta variant has blind-sided the experts and for the next few months will kill a lot more of us than was expected.  But vaccinations and herd immunity will eventually kick-in to end the pandemic.

I'll begin with an editorial indicating a frustration about the lack of uniformity in government policy, compounded by sudden adjustments that contradict other authoritative sources, leading to confusion and sub-optimal consequences.  For example, the Hawaii state governor on Tuesday changed courses, and because of this Delta variant, shifted us back towards lockdown.  But yesterday, his office said he misspoked regarding inclusion of churches, who remain exempted from following imposed guidelines, for counties are closer to these institutions, and have that power.  Well, our counties are even more wishy-washy, and they have not bothered to take universal action.  And churches are where many of these hot spots begin.

At the national level, the White House refuses to coordinate a national vaccination network.  They say that states can do that, but many fall short of being so organized, or plain avoid doing so.  Have you noticed that the standard vaccination card can easily be faked just with any home printer?  Ah, but the FBI has said you would be breaking the law if you do this, and can get 5 years of prison time.  I haven't found one incidence of anyone getting caught and sent to jail.  We are in a pandemic, the equivalent of war, and the Federal government should develop a national vaccination passport for your smartphone, with an instant check capability for entrance to indoor sporting events, restaurants, churches, etc.  But they won't.  Why?  That would be discriminatory!  Yes, but this is a pandemic.

But the irony of all this is that it doesn't matter.  Let miscreants who haven't been vaccinated into churches and cruise liners.  They will infect only themselves, for those who are vaccinated will be safe.  Well, only 95% or 80% safe, depending on which vaccine you take.  But the vaccinated who are so unlucky should not suffer much and will almost surely ultimately live.  The unvaccinated could be committing a form of suicide.

The blame can be said to be the Delta variant, by most reports being twice as contagious as the original COVID-19.  Here are two videos if you are interest in learning more about what is happening:

• Tim Brown of the East-West Center:  SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant
• Roger Seheult of UC Riverside:  Delta Variant-- Top 10 questions

I'll end with excerpts this morning from the New York Times.  You might not be able to read their articles because you do not subscribe to them.  But if you're really interested, just find another source.  Here and there I provide a special service by doing this for you:

• 
  When his $1 trillion infrastructure bill cleared the Senate with 19 Republican votes this week, President Biden achieved something the past two Democratic presidents never could: getting sizable bipartisan support for his top legislative priority. The bill now heads to the House.  Why was Biden so successful?
• The bill did not involve health care or taxes.
• Infrastructure is a bipartisan matter.
• Biden had the experience and personally interacted with Republicans to win some of them over.
• That huge $1 trillion bill was once $2 trillion.  Much of the reduction will go into that $3.5 budget bill for Democratic liberals that will pass later this month by reconciliation.
• This allowed Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) to appear to be heroes, solidifying their stay in the Senate.  Plus for Biden to insure that they vote with Democrats for that $3.5 trillion matter.
• The Republican equivalents were Rob Portman, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who gained credence as peacemakers.
• This bipartisan measure will allow Republicans running for re-election to claim victory.
• For Mitch McConnell, this reduces any pressure about a filibuster bill.
• There will be no bipartisanship for voting rights, gun control and investigation of the January 6 coup attempt.
• The House still needs to pass both the $1 trillion infrastructure and $3.5 trillion public welfare, environment and renewable energy measure.  It will be a rocky, but both should become law later this month.
• 
  Beginning with that booster shot for people with weakened immune systems, chances are that the FDA will eventually turn to the same for the elderly and others with certain health conditions.
• New York's new governor, Kathy Hochul, publicly distanced herself from Andrew Cuomo.
• 
  Jeopardy will have two hosts:  executive producer Mike Richards and actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik (remember from The Big Bang Theory?).  Richards will be the new permanent host, succeeding Alex Trebek, and Bialik will do primetime and spinoff programs.  Ken Jennings will become consulting producer.
• 
  Dolly Parton and James Patterson are writing a novel together.  Remember his The President is Missing with Bill Clinton.  Another one is soon to be released.  He has had a dozen or so co-authors.

The Dow Jones could again break its all-time record, or not.  I'll return to clean up this topic.

I walked 16 holes at the Ala Wai Golf Course yesterday.  Fabulous day, and I played as well as I have in a long time.  Why only 16 holes?  The tee off for the 9th hole is located next to the tee off for the 11th.  I wait in the shade and have an apple lunch, relax, and watch Diamond Head while my group goes on for the 9th and 10th.  Today I saw a SUNBOW:

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