CHERRY BLOSSOMS ARE COMING

Yesterday I focused on Ukraine President Zelensky. I have used this spelling, but two years ago ago, when he first attained that position, several other versions were mentioned: Zelenskyi, Zelenskiy and Zelenskyy. Well, more and more I now see Zelenskyy, and that could be because this appears to be the "official" spelling. And who knew how to pronounce his name? Note that Kiev also switched to Kyiv only more recently, and now I know how to pronounce it.

Note yesterday I also pointed out how China was allowing Hong Kong to embarrass itself by being so free. From the New York Times:

Another big reason for this uptick is government mistrust. Nearly 40% of Hong Kong's population is not vaccinated. More than half those over 70 are not. This is the group that is dying. Further, those who got inoculated received Sinovac, made in China, which is not as effective.

What happened above jolted the national leadership, for it locked down Shenzhen (12.5 million) and the entire Jilin Province (24 million). Two days ago China had just under 2000 new cases, with slightly less than 1500 yesterday. Those are only at a rate of 1.4 new cases/million population and 1.0 new cases/million. Hong Kong? Yesterday, 3540 new cases/million, and two days ago, 4237 new cases/million. Recapping yesterday, in new cases/million:

USA 52
South Korea 6038
Finland 4794
New Zealand 3115
Germany 1213
Hong Kong 3540
China 1

Part of China's super caution is that, while the Omicron variant is so contagious, the BA.2 subvariant is even more so. They have a vulnerable populace. Note that countries like South Korea, New Zealand and Finland all well fought off the earlier COVID-19 strains. But Omicron made a difference. The reason why Europe is facing this new wave is because of this latest Stealth Omicron.

Should the U.S. also begin to take serious shutdown steps?

The latest analysis shows that 12% of cases last week in the country was BA.2.
However, our wastewaters showed the fraction is now up to 33%, and this is an early indicator of the current reality.
Of those unvaccinated, almost half have already contracted Omicron. This leaves the other half in danger. Plus, anyone fully vaccinated and boosted also is scarily vulnerable.
On the plus side, this Stealth Subvariant is not as lethal, and further, if you have been boosted, the odds are very, very high that you will only show minimal symptoms.
Good reason for those unvaccinated, especially elders, to get vaccinated and boosted as soon as possible.
About locking down the country like a significant part of China? Nah.

As this map shows, Japan will just begin the Sakura season in a few days:

But can you visit Japan today? Nope, only business travelers and students can enter with the proper documents. There is a 3-day quarantine, except for certain countries like the USA, where COVID-19 is controlled. What are the odds for the country opening up for tourists?

March 5%
April 35%
May 60%
July 85%

Of course, why go to Japan when you can enjoy the Sakura where you live. Washington, DC has similar dates with Tokyo, and the expectation is high this year that the peak of the 2022 season will fall between March 22-25. That graphic to the right is from WUSA in DC:

There are 3700 cherry trees.
Original planted in 1912.
36 million visitors come to the National Mall.

The average peak over time is actually on April 4th, with the earliest on March 15 in 1990 and latest April 19 in 1958. If you can't make it this year to the Nation's Capital, there is a BloomCam.

Actually, you can see cherry trees all over the USA, even in Hawaii. Macon, Georgia calls itself the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World. They have over 300,000 Yoshino trees.

Of course, you already know that these blossoms are not limited to the U.S. and Japan. The flowering in South Korea might be even more fabulous, and there is a list that picks the top cities:

Tokyo
DC
Paris
Kyoto
Amsterdam
New York City
Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia
Dublin
Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts
Portland, Oregon

I think I've been to all of them, although maybe not Martha's Vineyard. And not to leave out the Southern Hemisphere, cherry blossoms bloom from late September to early October in New South Wales, Australia.

And in July, go to Brazil. Here is the Botanical Garden of Curitiba.

Not as impressive, but after nurturing my plumeria plant for almost four years, I got my very first bloom, with two other clusters close behind.

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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