ERIS: Covid Strain EG.5

From Worldometer, total world covid cases and deaths.  Nine waves?  Or ten?

Three countries continue to dominate new covid cases/week, with South Korea still #1, by far:

                                  This past week   Previous week

• World                     300,529              490,578
• #1  South Korea     216,046              359,479
• #2  USA                   56,391                85,783
• #3  Brazil                   9,713                10,741
• Of course, many countries don't do any reporting anymore.

During the past week, South Korea had 72% of all covid cases, USA 19% and Brazil 3%, or these countries had 94% of all the world cases.  South Korea had 4211 new cases/million people, USA 168  and Brazil 45.

The grand summary regarding percentage of citizens who were infected with covid, and mortality rate in the right column, which is deaths divided by total cases.

• S. Korea   66%   0.11%
• Australia  45%   0.19%
• Italy         43%   0.74%
• Taiwan     43%   0.19%
• USA         32%    1.08%
• Japan        27%   0.22%
• Brazil       18%    1.87%
• China???
• Earlier this year, CNN reported that the 80% of people in China had been infected with covid.
• Worldometer has this figure at 0.03%, which clearly wrong.

The USA, Italy and Brazil suffered from a lot of deaths before vaccinations reduced the mortality rate.  Here is today the mortality rate:

• USA         0.23%
• Italy          0.77%
• Brazil       0.88%

Mortality rate now of those countries becoming infected after being vaccinated.

• S. Korea  0.04%
• Australia 0.41%
• Taiwan and Japan don't report anymore.
• Note that the mortality rate of the seasonal flu is also 0.04%, what is today the mortality rate of covid in South Korea.
• Why Australia now has a higher mortality rate today is not explained.

Otherwise:

• Covid strain EG.5, or Eris, is now the leading variant in the world.
• Descended from XBB.1.5, which was the #1 virus for a while.
• EG.5 is the dominant virus in the U.S., but only at 17.3%.
• Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax are preparing their Fall vaccination to target the XBB variant (of which Eris is one), and they all descended from Omicron.  Should be available by the end of September.

About the Lahaina Apocalypse:

• Deaths up to 111, with 38% of disaster zone checked by 40 cadaver dogs.
• 1000 people remain missing or unaccounted for on Maui.
• The Lahaina fire is now 89% contained, having burned 2170 acres and destroying more than 2000 structures.

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  And by the way, there is another fire on Maui at Kula on the slopes of Haleakala, which is 80% contained, and has destroyed 500 structures and charred nearly 700 acres.  No deaths.

Like Kodi Lee in 2019, Putri Ariani, she from Indonesia, who is also blind, could well win America's Got Talent this year.  Simon Cowell gave her a Golden Buzzer.  Her dream is to get a scholarship to Julliard, and her Ministry of Education has offered to finance her wish if she gets accepted.

Also impressive was 11-year old Eduardo Antonio Trevino.

England will play Spain on Sunday at 6AM EDT (midnight Hawaii) for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.  This is the first time either country has made the finals.

There are three ocean storms in the general vicinity of Hawaii.  Tropical Storm Gregg is moving along a track far enough south that there will be no problem.  Once Hurricane Fernando (up to 130 MPH) will weaken and bring rain to Maui on Monday or so.  However, Hurricane Hilary is now up to 110 MPH and will strike Baha, California this weekend, with the track projected to be a tropical storm over Los Angeles on Monday.

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