In May of 2021:  The CDC said fully vaccinated individuals can, in most cases,   drop protective face wear   and no longer need to stay six feet apart. Unvaccinated people still need to follow stricter guidelines, as they remain at risk . Then a few months ago,  mask mandates began returning .  The new subvariants seemed to infect those who already had suffered from this virus, or even if you were vaccinated, so the vulnerable, like 80-year old Joe Biden, were advised to wear masks. There are those who don't fear much getting respiratory infections, and there are those who do.  The latter wear a face mask just about anywhere.  The former, just the opposite.   As of September of this year , only 12% of Americans said they wore a mask outside their home always or most of the time over the past seven days.  That's down from 27% in January of this year and 60% in January 2022. So this posting is for those who don't know whether to wear a mask or not.   It is clear to most of us

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

When the  Diamond Princess  captured the attention of the world in February of 2020 with a floating epidemic of a new virus, later called COVID-19, the cruise industry almost went bankrupt.  3711 on board, 712 infected and 14 deaths.   19% were infected, and the mortality rate was 2%. The  current world condition  is that 7.7% have been infected, with a mortality rate of 1%.  Of course, there are so many asymptomatic cases that the 7.7% could well be as high as 15% or more.  Everyone on the Diamond Princess was tested, so the 19% infection rate was probably accurate. Following that incident, into March of 2020, the Grand Princess and Ruby Princess also were hit with outbreaks, resulting in a total of 1564 cases and 21 deaths.   For a one year period from March 15, 2020 to March 15 2021 3519 passengers and crew got infected and 73 died. In 2020 and 2021 cruise lines lost a collective  $63 billion . Passengers and crew are still getting infected in 2022, but only a very deaths are occurr

                From  Worldometer  (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):     DAY     USA    WORLD      Brazil      India      South Africa 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 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