A coronavirus outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December 2019. We were on the Diamond Princess in the Orient that month. Came back to Hawaii. - However this same ship on 20January2020 boarded an 80-year old passenger from Hong Kong with a respiratory ailment, and started the international spread.
The Diamond Princess on 3February2020 returned to Yokohama, but had to anchor at sea, for a strange new disease seemed to be spreading.- Unknowingly, we flew from Honolulu to Bangkok, Thailand on 11February2020.
That day the World Health Organization announced the official name for this virus would be COVID-19, CO for corona, VI for virus, D for diseases and 19, the year (2019) it was first discovered.- Ultimately, with 2,666 passengers and a crew of 1,045, 712 became infected, with 14 deaths. Interestingly enough, 20% of the people on the ship were infected, and of those, 2% died. So far, in the world, there have been 704,753,890 cases and 7,010,681 deaths, a mortality rate of 1%.
- Passengers testing negative were allowed to leave the ship on 19February2020.
- WHO on 20February2020 indicated that of all the number of this new virus cases in the world outside of China, half of them were on the Diamond Princess.
- On 20February2020 we flew from Phuket to Chiang Mai. Click on that for you'll find interest in this flight:
- Already, most of the passengers were wearing masks...except me.
- A person sitting between us had a mask on, but was coughing.
- We tried not to face him, but nevertheless found out that he was visiting from China.
- So I asked how did he get into Thailand. He said that he flew out of a small airport in China to Phuket, and there were no restrictions. Only international airports then checked.
- But heck, I had a Chang beer and some macadamia nuts.
- I was somewhat worried about contracting this new disease, but nothing happened. Whew!
- We returned home on 17February2020 with posting titled, I'M HOME AND FEELING FINE.
- The COVID-19 timeline:
Next, some Trump history on how he handled the COVID-19 Pandemic:
- To quote CNN: The Point on 21September2020 (just before the presidential election):
Donald Trump gives himself an ‘A+’ for his handling of the coronavirus. Uh, what?
- Above was the title of the article.
- At this point, the nation was nearing 200,000 covid deaths.
- Going back to mid-March 2019 as the virus was beginning to spread, Trump rated himself a 10 out of 10.
Then in July of 2019, when asked by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward what grade he would give himself, Trumps said an A.- How, you might ask yourself, could this President give himself top marks in handling the pandemic when he had admitted to downplaying the threat it posed to the public, driven skepticism about mask-wearing, pushed unproven (and even dangerous) remedies to deal with the virus and repeatedly underestimated the death toll?
- Simple! Trump lives in a fantasy world of his own creation. He always has. In that world, he is the smartest, the savviest, the coolest, the best-looking and the winningest person in the world. Objective facts fall by the wayside in that world. And Trump has always – whether in the business world or the political one – surrounded himself with people who affirm that his world is the real one and the actual real one is some sort of conspiracy narrative driven by his “elite” enemies in the Democratic Party and the media.
- Keep in mind that this article quote below was published just about four years ago when Joe Biden was running against then-President Trump:
An NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released Sunday showed former Vice President Joe Bidenwith a massive 51% to 29% edge over Trump when it comes to who is more trusted to effectively deal with the coronavirus.
- Put plainly: There is simply no evidence the country is “rounding the corner” on the virus as Trump suggested Monday. And while Trump is free to give himself whatever grade he wants in how he has dealt with the virus, his constituents disagree. Profoundly.
Mother Jones a year later had a headline:
NOVEMBER 17, 2021
New Revelations Emerge on How Donald Trump Killed 400,000 (or More) Americans
Remember, a pandemic was announced in March of 2020. Between March 9 and May 29 of last year, the CDC held no press briefings.- Why? Kate Galatas, CDC communications official, said the White House thwarted the agency's attempt to schedule such briefings, especially the one in April that would have emphasized the need to wear masks.
The CDC was worried about asymptomatic people spreading the disease, but Trump's covid task force coordinator Dr. Scott Atlas (who was not an infectious disease specialist) wanted testing only of those with symptoms to reduce the numbers.
As researchers from UCLA noted in March 2021, the United States could have avoided 400,000 COVID deaths if the Trump administration had implemented a more effective health strategy that included mask mandates, social distancing, and robust testing guidelines.- We’ve long known that Trump did the opposite of what public health experts advised. More concerned with his own standing in the polls than with the health and safety of the citizenry, Trump dismissed or minimized the threat and sent a mixed message on masks, social distancing, and testing.
- Moreover, it’s dumbfounding that killing 400,000 through ineptitude is not a disqualification for political leadership. Trump remains the GOP’s 2024 frontrunner, and party leaders continue to genuflect before him.
- Remember, this article was published almost three years ago.
Not that President Joe Biden's administration is perfect. A couple of days ago, a mostly neutral Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (chief supporter of Trump), said that this administration pressured Facebook to censor some COVID-19 content during the pandemic. First, why send the letter to Jordan (was it requested by Jordan?), second, what exactly was censored, and third, how many citizens were thereby killed?
The Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines can cause myocarditis, but do not appear to cause infertility, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) or heart attack, according to a new National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report examining whether COVID-19 vaccines can cause certain harms.
- Not significant, but mostly affects young men.
- So a study at the University of Versailles of people ages 12 to 49 showed that those with vaccine-related myocarditis were HALF as likely to be readmitted to the hospital for heart-related events compared to those with normal myocarditis.
- In any case, the risk associated with getting myocarditis--inflammation of the heart muscle, often triggered by the immune system in response to an infection--is LOWER than the risk that can come from getting COVID.
- The findings indicate that the risk of myocarditis linked to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines is very, very low.
In other words, you should go ahead and get the covid update vaccination which is now available, and will be covered by your medical plan. The latest news:
- The new shot targets a SARS-CoV-2 strain called KP.2.
- Recommended for everyone 12 and older, plus there is FDA emergency authorization for infants up to the age of 11.
- Novavax has an updated vaccine targeting the JN.1 virus, which has not yet been approved.
- At one time JN.1 was the dominant strain, but more recently in August, KP.2 has been the most prevalent.
- Note that these new COVID shots are called UPDATED, not Booster. Why? boosters are additional doses of a previous formula.
Keep in mind the following.
- 913,000 Americans were hospitalized from COVID in 2023, and more than 75,500 died.
- Most of them had not received the booster shots.
Why you should be vaccinated, now!!! The article was published more than three years ago, and even more so applies today!!!
- The older you are, the more are your chances of being hospitalized and worse, especially if you have any compromising medical ailment.
- This updated vaccine will protect you from getting infected, but if so unlucky, will minimize hospitalization and death.
- But whoops, strain KP.3.11 just overtook KP.2 as the dominant strain.
- However, these strains are related, so the update should still be very effective.
- For example, last year, the booster targeted the XBB.1.5 strain, but JN.1 became dominant. There is a wide genetic distance between the two. Yet, the vaccine largely worked. KP.3 is next to KP.2 in genetic commonality, which is good.
- You can take this KP.2 updated vaccination even if you never before received any previous ones.
- At 15 Craigside, a pharmaceutical company is coming here on September 11 to do the inoculation.
- They pre-register you for insurance, watch over you for a while to insure you don't get an unexpected reaction, and they check your vitals for two days to ascertain that all went well.
- You can't imagine how convenient this is compared to yourself trying to find a place to do it.
Shanshan is now a tropical storm, but is moving more slowly, with an eye to move north tomorrow, thus avoiding Osaka and Kyoto. Considerable rain and flooding, messing up with all forms of transport near the track.
I'll close with a Major League Baseball first. Shohei Ohtani's dog, Decoy, became the first to walk the ball to the plate to start a game, and with a perfect strike to Ohtani. Watch this video. I should add that Shohei was the first batter up for the Dodgers, and hit a home run. He now has 42 home runs and 42 steals, and could well reach 50/50, to become the first to do that. Then, next year, he will add pitching to his repertoire. He is not doing that this year because of an operation. He is already considered to be the best baseball player ever, and why not the best athlete ever.
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