OMICRON

I usually don't show this table on Saturdays, but the U.S. number was so low on Friday that I just had to follow-up today:

                              From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

2020

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

2021

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    6        2102       8255         543        315       59

Nov   3        1436       7830        186        458        23

        10        1493      8366         264        362        48

        17        1416       8440         374        470         11

        24        1594      8270         176        396        22

        25         306      7154          281        488       114

        26          337      6863        303        465        12

Summary:

• Well, two days in a row of such low new deaths for the USA.  Maybe something good is happening.  I don't know what is happening.
• We had 37,686 new cases yesterday, #3 in the world next to Germany with 72,159 and the UK with 50,091.  Europe (including Russia and Turkey) had 9 countries with at least 20,000 new cases.
• A surprise is South Africa with only 12 new deaths.

South Africa did have 2,828 new cases yesterday, showing that deaths will return to more than 100 soon.  But what is the deep concern about Omicron in South Africa?

First, Omicron is the 15th letter in the Greek alphabet, the newest COVID-19 variant, which was first detected in South Africa.  Citing World Bank Data:

• 
  South Africa had 26,485 new cases on 2July2021 when the 7-day average was 18,921.
• Then the 7-day average dipped to 277 new cases on November 18.
• Suddenly, 18,586 new cases on November 23, 1,275 on November 24, 2465 on November 25 and 2828 on November 26, with a current 7-day average of 3459 new cases.

In the most populous province in South Africa, Gauteng, something new sparked this jumped.  This variant was so obviously dangerous that the World Health Organization virtually immediately gave it a name, Omicron.  Unfortunately cases also just appeared in the UK, Belgium, Botswana, Hong Kong and Israel, meaning all over the world.  In addition to fears of higher transmission and vaccine inefficiency, a key factor is that Omicron has a high number of mutations, around 30, in the coronavirus' spike protein, which is related to how easily it can spread.

Europe, which has regained epicenter status for this pandemic, has itself taken special precautions:

As of noon Friday, travelers arriving in the U.K. from South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini and Zimbabwe will have to self-isolate for 10 days. European Union nations also moved quickly on Friday to ban air travel from southern Africa, and the U.S. also said it would ban travel from South Africa and seven other African nations by non-US citizens beginning Monday.

Germany just confirmed two Omicron cases in travelers from Cape Town, and the U.S. will bar entry to most travelers from eight southern African countries starting Monday.  Both Delta and United, which fly to South Africa, experienced an 8% drop in their stock value yesterday.  That after we on November 8 lifted travel curbs on 33 countries, including South Africa.  Further, President Joe Biden is taking the heat for not moving quicker to get vaccines to African countries.  As of this writing, no Omicron cases in the U.S.

In any case, much of this concern could be an overreaction.  It will take weeks to sort out the data.  The Beta variant initially caused a stir, but nothing happened.  Then came Delta, and it today accounts for more than 99% of the cases.  As I keep saying, this pandemic just won't go away.

I'll end with something off the wall.  So called Baddest Man on the Planet Mike Tyson owns over 1000 pigeons.  His first fight was when an older boy violently killed one of his pigeons.  Now his monthly maintenance on their maintenance could get as high as $400,000 per month.  He is said to have spent $2 million for his birds.  He once had a pet tiger weighing in at 550 pounds, which he slept with, and kept for 16 years.  Had to get rid of her when she bit off a neighbor's arm.  He now has a dog, Mars, who is his sparring mate.

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