From the  New York Times  this morning: The optimism we had with the decline in September into October, with the expectation for more into the later fall and even winter, is turning into pessimism with another wave of new cases.   One specific danger is of children infecting grandparents.  The 0-4 age group is still not vaccinated, and the rate of 5-11 year olds being vaccinated is not particularly high at this time.  Evidence shows that the vaccinated youth transmit far few infections than the non-vaccinated.  How many families do the above at Thanksgiving, when eating and drinking occurs? Sure, colder weather is one reason, for the north is being hit more than the south, but there is something about this virus that is confounding the experts.   Looking ahead to Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday, the elder most definitely should get booster shots, and so should anyone eligible. Before the family gathering take a home test. Get vaccinate...

I was sent this heartwarming story of Sephardi Jews who miraculously survived the Holocaust having a son who went on to lead an effort to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.  Maybe it's a natural inclination to treat all ethnicities and worshipping beliefs equal, or ignorance, but it occurred to me that at my advanced age I knew very little about the Jewish religion.   When I grew up in Hawaii, there was the dominant Caucasian sector, and everyone else as second-class citizens.  Being Japanese, there was also the matter of where Okinawans fit into this society.  My junior-year English-Social Studies teacher Mildred Kosaki and her husband had just returned from the Mainland, and she kept emphasizing the matter of Civil Rights, but we students just had no concept of Black-White relationships.  Nor were we aware that there was another group, Jews, in this national mix. Then I went away to college, when I remember a girlfriend asking me if I knew what a Jewish girl...