WHERE TO GO TO SEE WHALE SHARKS

                           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

Mar     2        1989      9490        1726       110      194

April   6          906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

June   1         287    10637         2346      3205       95

 July   7          251      8440        1595        817       411

Aug    4          656    10120        1118         532      423 

Sept   1        1480    10470          703        505      235

          8        1700      9836          250        339     253

        14        1934      9001          709        281      300

        22       2228      9326          839        279      124

        29        2190      8859         643        309     108

Oct    5        1811       7495          686        285     103

          6        2102       8255         543        315       59

        12        1819        7544          201        249       37 

        19        2005      7528         401        160        80 

        26        1451       7535         409        584       53

        27        1594       8671         433        734        62 

Nov   3        1436       7830        186        458        23

        10        1493      8366         264        362        48 

        16        1282      7548          140         301        15

        17        1416       8440         374         470        11

Summary:

• I should skip including this table on Wednesdays for Tuesday's summary is always too low, compared to both new cases and new deaths for Wednesday, shown on Thursday, today.
• Even though more and more are being vaccinated, including now those 5-11 years old, the new deaths/day figure has remained constant for almost a month.
• The USA easily is #1 with 104,702 new cases yesterday.  Germany was #2 with 60,753.  No question that Europe is the epicenter of the pandemic today, for Germany with a population of around 84 million, had new cases/million leading the U.S.: 723 to 313.  The Netherlands shows a new cases/million at 1221, but Austria is at 1602.  Several other European countries are into four digits, with the former Soviet nations doing poorly.
• In the Orient, Singapore shows a figure of 589, but Taiwan is at 0.2 and China 0.02.
• Japan, which really clamped down after the Summer Olympics, showed a new cases/million figure of 1.23.
• What about U.S. states?
• Michigan  865
• Maine  778
• New Hampshire  761
• Wisconsin  715
• Utah  665
• Arizona  480
• Pennsylvania  470
• California  146
• Hawaii  100  (at last check the University of Hawaii football game still will come with these restrictions:  only the vaccinated, only water can be served, must wear a mask throughout the game.)

This pandemic is just not going away anytime soon.  Colder weather and the continued resistance of the unvaccinated are the primary causes.  Can't find any new data, but in May of this year, 99.2% of all COVID-19 deaths were to UNVACCINATED PEOPLE.  This was reported a month ago for the U.S.:

• Unvaccinated deaths peaked in August at 13230/million
• Vaccinated:
• Johnson&Johnson  3140/million
• Pfizer  1423/million
• Moderna  730/million

Regarding cases:

• Unvaccinated cases peaked in August at 736,000/million.
• Vaccinated cases
• Johnson&Johnson  172,000
• Pfizer  135,000
• Moderna  86,000

The data from August 29-September 4, 2021 showed that LESS than one vaccinated person per 100,000 had died the previous week, compared to more than nine unvaccinated people per 100,000.  For August, unvaccinated people were 6.1 times more likely than fully vaccinated people to test positive for COVID-19, and 11.3 times more likely to die from it.

I got my Moderna booster on Tuesday, and when I went golfing yesterday, felt dizzy on the golf course, so stopped playing.  Sitting next to me was someone who got boosted a week before me and showed the same symptom, and also quit.

My global cruise beginning in January was cancelled by the company.  Thinking about taking a cruise soon?  From the CDC:

• A total of 1,359 confirmed COVID-19 cases on cruises from U.S. ports.
• Frightening?  Not really, for there were 600,000 passengers, and only 0.2% were so unlucky.
• Interestingly enough, if you divide the 788,527 COVID-19 cases in the U.S., and divide by our population of 333 million, you get 0.24%, or a higher number than shown by those cruises.
• No ship reported an outbreak that overwhelmed their medical center capability.
• Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Frank Del Rio called the number of cases being discovered on his company's ships "inconsequential and well below what we all saw in the general population during this time."

Not only are there protocols about being vaccinated before boarding, mask wearing is a must almost everywhere, and the buffets are now served by the staff.  Norwegian will initiate 7-day Hawaii sailings on January 22.  I can see the cruise port in Honolulu from where I am sitting creating this posting, so we'll check around January 19 to see if prices drop to a ridiculously low level.  Currently, with free beverages, wifi, specialty dining and excursions, the balcony rates are around $4000/person.  We'll get interested at $2,000.

I've long been fascinated with whale sharks.  True, they should be left alone and not be tanked in an aquarium.  The ones I've seen have been in Osaka and Okinawa.  Other aquaria include two in China (the one in Yantai has sparked huge concern because it has 5 in a smallish tank), one in Taiwan, another in Kagoshima and the one in Georgia.

The best places you can see whale sharks in the open ocean are:

• Mexico in the coastal region around the Yucatan (June to September) and Baja (winter and early spring) Peninsulas.

• 
  Belize from March to June.
• The Philippines from December to May.
• Donsol Bay.
• Tan-Awan.
• Tanzania between October and March off the island of Mafia.

• 
  Australia, Ningaloo Reef along the west coast from March to June.
• The Maldives from early May until late September.
• Mozambique off Tofo Beach between June and January.

• 
  The Galapagos Islands between June and December,
• Thailand off Koh Tao during months of March, April, September and October.
• Indonesia in Cenderwasih Bay from August to October.

• 
  Honduras off the coast of Isla de Utila from March to April.
• The Seychelles in the Indian Ocean off Mahe Island from August to November.
• Djibouti, where younger whale sharks live from November through February.

Here is a 50-minute video on whale sharks.

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