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COVID-19 DEATH RATES: Some Surprising Comparisons

About the Omicron variant, it is becoming crystal clear that no one is safe until everyone is safe.  The whole world needs to attain herd immunity to diminish this virus to flu status.  While Omicron could mean that those vaccinated could be infected (and we really don't know if this is true at this early stage), the consensus sense is that vaccinations will prevent a serious illness and death.  So get vaccinated.  Looks like my trip to Dubai for the World Expo in March is now in serious jeopardy.

About Dubai, Lindsay Lohan, who now lives there, announced her engagement to Bader Shammas, a financier in the country.  In the post she called her betrothed:  My love. My  life. My family. My future.  She is co-starring in a Netflix holiday rom-com as a spoiled hotel heiress with amnesia opposite Glee star Chord Overstreet.

On the college football sports front, Oklahoma's Coach Lincoln Riley is moving to the USC.  Almost shockingly, Notre Dame's Brian Kelly is going to LSU.  One good reason why LSU won the national championship a couple of years ago was the defensive coaching of David Aranda, who moved to Baylor as head coach.  The team this year is 10-2 and playing 11-1 Oklahoma State for the Big 12 championship this Saturday.  Oklahoma State last week beat Oklahoma.  Aranda once coached at the University of Hawaii and was considered to be weirdly super-competent.

Remember Sweden's first female prime minister who last week resigned after only holding that role for a few hours?  Well, Magdalena Andersson became prime minister again when the Swedish Parliament yesterday appointed her anyway.  How much longer? Who knows, but her Social Democrats hold only 100 seats in the 349-member Parliament.

Sweden is that Scandinavian country choosing not to lock down, a policy that led to a lot more deaths (per 1 million inhabitants) compared to their neighbors:

  • Sweden  1484
  • Denmark  495
  • Norway  192
  • Finland  240
  • Iceland  102
  • World  670
  • USA  2401
    • New York 2983
    • Florida  2865
    • Arizona  3054
    • New Jersey  3192
    • Louisiana 3182
    • Mississippi  3449
    • Hawaii  719
    • Vermont  657
    • Veterans Affairs  43,600
    • Navajo Nation  39,225
    • Federal Prisons  4827
    • U.S. Military  1458
  • India  335
  • Germany 1208
  • Russia  1876
  • Boznia/Herzegovina  3861
  • Peru  5983
  • Japan  146
  • Australia  77
  • New Zealand  9
  • South Korea  70
  • Israel  879
  • Morocco  394
  • Botswana  1000
  • South Africa 1488
  • China  3
  • Taiwan  36
  • Diamond Princess  3772

A few interesting comparisons:

  • Sweden and the U.S. Military have similar death rates.
  • The Diamond Princess had a death rate similar to many former Soviet countries.
  • About the U.S., where some states would rank in the world top ten for death rate:
    • Veterans Affairs and Navajo Nation had ten times the death rate of the worst countries.
    • Our Federal Prison would rank #2 to Peru for having the highest death rate.
    • That Veterans Affairs rate is so because they are older, but mostly because this rate is based on those veterans in VA hospitals, numbering 384,958.  There are 19 million total veterans, so if you divide by this number, the death rate for veterans would be 812.  But then, you need to add veteran deaths outside of VA hospitals, so this becomes complicated.
    • Throughout the world, Indigenous peoples suffer from higher death rates.
  • Countries of the Orient and Oceania did something right.
    • Certainly quick government reaction and masks made a difference.
    • Also, their previous experience with SARS and MERS epidemics helped.
    • However, are there other factors such as weather, culture, genetics, different immune system, obesity, etc.
    • It's possible that some strain of a coronavirus previously swept through the region to increase immunity.  Could have been a cold virus.
    • Japan practices good hygiene, has long worn masks (because of air pollution from China and their culture about wearing one to prevent passing on colds, etc.) and bowing instead of shaking hands.
    • Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo, a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist, said people with Asian and European ancestry have enormous differences in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotype, genes that control the immune system’s response to a virus.
    • Obesity?
Well, enough of that.  I'm ending with something cute:
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Here it is almost December and ocean storm Nyatoh has formed east of the Philippines and is expected to attain Category 3 status.  However, all signs point to this typhoon going north then west to avoid major landfall.
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