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WHO SUFFERED MORE COVID DEATHS? THE USA OR CHINA?

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   22      2228      9326          839       279     124
Oct      6       2102      8255          543       315       59
Nov    3        1436      7830         186        458       23
Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28
2022
Jan     7        2025      6729         148         285     140
Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175
Mar     2        1778     7756          335         173       28 
Apr     1          439      4056         290          52       12
May    5          225      2404         151            ?        64
June    2         216      1413         130           10        31
July    6          316      1627         335           35       12 
Aug    4          311       2138         258          70         ?
Sep    1           272       1732         174            ?         ?
Oct     6          281       1305         119            9         ?
Nov    3          167         980           16            ?         ?
        25            88         985           71             3        ?  
Dec    3          149       1029         131            3         ?
          8          194       1320         104             6       86
        15           147       1295         124             4         ?
        22          289       1637         165             9         ? 
        28          296       1768         337            2         ?
2023
Jan    4          346       1534         207             ?         ?
         5           220       1611          183             ?         ? 
       12            270       1470         128             ?         ?
       19            225       1775         480             ?         ?
        26           351       1361           92             1         7
Feb    1           221       1261         126              ?         ?
          8          329        999          50             2         ?
        15           211         999         132             1         ?
        22           177       1016         312              1         ? 
Mar   1            119         618           81              1         ? 
          8            116        605          34             0         0
         15           136        564             ?             5         ?
         23           137        386             ?             ?         ? 
         30            81         414             ?             ?         ? 
Apr     5          121         371              ?             ?         ? 
         12            56         484             ?            19        ?
         19            79          617           58           38        ?

Summary:
  • First, I've compressed the above table by eliminating certain months, while retaining trends.
  • Just when you thought this pandemic was coming to a reasonable low, a slight uptick.
  • New deaths yesterday #1 was France with 140, #2 Germany 129 and #2 USA 79.
  • New cases yesterday #1 was S. Korea with 15,173, #2 Japan 11,589 and #3 France 10,616, with USA #6 6,821
  • Thus a mortality rate that day:
    • World  0.8%
    • USA  1.1%
    • France  1.3%
    • Germany  4.5% ??
    • S. Korea  0.07%
    • Japan  0.17%
    • Why so low in the Orient?  Perhaps they have a way of accounting for positive tests taken at home.
  • Weekly trends.
    • Total deaths for the past week (7 days)
      • #1  Germany  618
      • #2  USA  568
      • #3  Brazil  404
    • Total cases for the past week (mortality rate for this week).
      • #1  USA  82,293 (0.7%)
      • #2  S. Korea  73,229 (0.04%)
      • #3  Russia  56,439 (0.5%)
      • #4  Japan  55,439 (0.2%)
      • #13 Germany 11,177 (5.1%)
      • Two questions.  
        • Why is Germany's mortality rate so high?  Why is S. Korea's so low?  
        • Germany's  rate is 128 times higher than S. Korea. 
        •  I looked into this matter and I couldn't find an explanation about Germany. 
        •  I think S. Korea's mortality rate is low because the vaccination rate is high...approaching 100%.
        • The mortality rate of the seasonal flu is around 0.05%, and S. Korea's mortality rate for Covid last week was lower, at 0.04%.
So how is China doing?  Worldometer doesn't seem to be getting much from them.  According to the World Health Organization:
  • Total confirmed cases to April 19:  99,240,488 (the others are up to April 21)
    • USA  106,511,738
    • India  44,845,401
    • France  39,922,842
  • Total deaths:
    • China  120,912
    • USA  1,158,684
    • Brazil  701,232
    • India  531,190
    • Worldometer reports China deaths at 5,272.
    • In a February 24 article from The Atlantic.
      • The actual covid deaths in China ranged from 1 million to 1.5 million.
      • China had most of these deaths when the government opened up the country this past December.  This when's the total fatalities in two months about equaled that of the USA in three years.
      • By any reckoning, a terrible tragedy unfolded in China in recent weeks. That we’re left guessing about its scale is important as well. If the Chinese leadership can hide a million dead, what else can it conceal from the world? 
      • Concealing inconvenient truths is an industrial enterprise for the Communist Party. The Tiananmen massacre of 1989, common knowledge to much of the world, has been scrubbed from the domestic record. More recently, the Chinese government has worked to hide its mass detentions and torture of China’s minority Uyghur community in the Xinjiang region.
      •  Way back in January it was reported by Western media that about 80% of the entire Chinese population were infected by covid.
        • This would mean that with a population of 1.4 billion, 1.1 billion were infected, although the article says 1.2 billion.
        • In any case, using my calculations, if the mortality rate was 0.1% (Japan's is close to 0.17% and S. Korea 0.07%), as many of them were vaccinated, the rate in China could have been 0.1%.
        • Then, the number of deaths could have been 1.12 million, in the range provided by The Atlantic.
        • Remember, though, that the latest current mortality rate of the USA is 1.1%, which is 10 times higher than China's.
        • It makes a lot more sense that the USA, with slightly less than 25% the population of China, would then have about equal covid deaths.  Vaccinations do minimize deaths, so as China infected their population only a few months ago, this estimation suggested above sounds reasonable.
        • Thus, to answer those questions posed above, for now, maybe USA and China deaths from COVID-19 were similar.
Biggest recent Covid news, especially for old people, like me, is that the FDA approved a second dose of the updated Pfizer/Moderna boosters for those 65 and older.  They also recommended using the bivalent formula in all Covid vaccines moving forward.  No more multi-dose series shots anymore.  This is important because those WHO HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED YET would only need to get a single dose.  Also, amazing that only 17% of the total U.S. population actually took the first booster.  On this cruise ship we're on, it is just about required to have had 5 covid vaccination shots.  I'm beginning to lose count, but this next new latest booster will be my sixth vaccination shot.

Interesting that positive cases are no longer from the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants, for which this latest booster was made.  Worked so well, they are no longer with us.  Now, 78% of all new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. are caused by another subvariant, XBB.1.5.  So why isn't the new booster targeted against this virus?  Apparently, XBB.1.5 derived from those other two, so they should work.  Still, not optimal by any means.

One more item of newsworthiness.  Senator Diane Feinstein absolutely needs to resign, now.  She is on the Judiciary Committee which approves judges.  Her absence means a deadlock on passing nominees to the full senate.  Here is the tally so far:

She has said she will not run for re-election.  She is 89 years old...the oldest member of the entire Congress.  "Only" has shingles, but this condition prevents her from going to work.  Of course, Chuck Schumer has previously said that if her problem continues, he can temporarily replace her on the Judiciary Committee. 

In any case Governor Gavin Newsom will have a tough time deciding who to nominate for a wide variety of reasons.  The four most prominent candidates are Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee and Karen Bass.  But Bass recently became Los Angeles' mayor, and other three have already announced their intention to seek that seat in 2024.  Newsom said that person will not be him, and will be a black woman.  But  choosing Lee (top left) would give her a decided advantage.  Heck, nominate himself and say he will not run for the senate.

And the cruise continues.  We were yesterday in Avatoru, Rangiroa.  I was here a long time ago when I was part owner of a pearl production company.  On 11April2023 I posted PEARLS AND RANGIROA.  You can read the details.

Lunch was fish and chips, with salad and soup, plus beer and white wine.
Departure from Avatoru.  
Had a French dinner at the Colonnade.  Started with French whitened red wines.  Escargot and foie gras, followed by New York Steak, ending with a Creme Bruleé.



Went to see The Trio before the show in the Grand Salon.
Tonight was Tomono Kawamura, a pianist from Japan, who played classical music.

Walking back to our cabin, had to take this photo of what we have named wild lady.  This is mean and uncalled-for, but she has this wild hairdo and dresses frumpily.

Walked a satisfying 5016 steps today,  A good overall day.
How can Australia have so many?  I looked at three articles indicating 5, 9, and 10 time zones.  They have portions which are 30 minutes and 15 minutes different.  Why am I so enamored of time zones?  It's been a long cruise with nothing much else to do.
We sailed from Rangiroa, will spend the day at sea, and tomorrow morning arrive in Atuona, Hiva Oa, then the next day in Taiohae.  These sites are located around the French Polynesia notation below.  Thus, last night we had to move the clock 30 minutes forward.  Thus, we are in a warped time zone half and hour ahead of Hawaii.  French Polynesia has three time zones:  if Tahiti is at 1PM, Marquesas is 1:30PM and Gambier Islands is 2PM.  To the left, something you've never seen before:  
Tropical Storm Sanvu has formed near Micronesia, but is strengthening traveling west towards Guam.  How far away is it from the Seabourn Odyssey?  Only 4500 miles away, plus the distance east we moved overnight from Rangiroa.  Honolulu is 4640 miles from Orlando, Florida.  That is now about the distance the Seabourn Odyssey is from Tropical Storm Sanvu.  Looks like we'll have good weather from this day 44 to when we arrive in Honolulu on Monday, day 53.

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