South Africa, which first showed signs of the Omicron variant in November, has already declined 80% from their December 17 peak.  Next to get hit, the UK, peaked on January 5, and has dropped 42% since then.  Areas of the USA are also reaching their peak and declining. Mind you, much of the world is suffering, including the USA, averaging 800,000 cases per day over the past week, three times the level of a  year ago.  However, those stricken with the Omicron variant do not get as sick even if unvaccinated, while those who had a booster, hardly get ill at all.  Perhaps mild cold symptoms.  Yet, because Omicron is said to be from 3 to 5 times more contagious, our hospitals just recorded a record high of 156,000 hospitalizations.  Interestingly enough, in Miami, half of the city's hospitalizations are people who were admitted for something else, and then tested positive. I f you want to come to Hawaii  and avoid quarantine, you will need to show...

I'm a bit confused about the spotty  hospital COVID-19 crises hitting various sites in the USA .  The South African Omicron variant wave seems to be rapidly declining, where those infected seemed not to be so sick, so  hospitals were not challenged .  Best as I can tell, it is more the combination of staffing and supply shortages, plus the sudden onslaught of new cases because Omicron is so contagious. The latest Omicron outbreaks are coming during the winter and holiday periods in the U.S., so the perfect storm of less distancing, fewer masks when in family/friends groups, ability of this Omicron virus strain to quickly attack those who are not fully vaccinated/boosted, and even more so to those unvaccinated, plus the unlucky few who are supposed to be protected, seems to be exacerbating this new peak.  It is summertime in  South Africa , so they were "lucky" to have faced this variant at this time. One bit of good news for the elderly is that in Denmark t...

I normally don't show this table on Saturdays, but had to today because that drop in new deaths for the United States for Thursday (shown yesterday) was clearly wrong.                                             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    ...

Worldometer indicates that the U.S. has 334 million people, and there have been 50,801,455 cases of COVID-19, or 1 in 6.6 people.  However, the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  estimate that 1 in 3 people in this country has been infected.  How can two sources be so different?  Not only is this difference unexplained, but the CDC said that they estimate the actual number of cases is three times the official count.  If you divide 3 into 6.6, this number is 2.2 times, not 3, so now I'm doubly confused, as you too should be.  It gets worse, showing that you sometimes need to be careful about some news reports. Further said in this CNN article, New Jersey and Alabama tie for the most deaths/100,000 people with 332.  The lowest two states are Vermont with 69 deaths/100,000 and Hawaii with 75.  No other state is lower than 100. Well, actually,  this CNN article is wrong again , by a factor of 100.  If I do the appropriate math...

I won't repeat the  Worldometer  data for yesterday, but you should know that, while the new deaths in the U.S. dropped from 1658 to 1264, the new case figure slightly rose from 131K to 133K.  The scary jumps are the Omicro variant-induced new cases in South Africa:   Tuesday  4300 Wednesday  8600 Thursday  11,500  The latest news about COVID-19, although there won't be anything conclusive about the Omicron variant for several weeks: Having had previously contracted this ailment won't necessarily protect you much from the Omicron variant.  Hawaii's only case was to someone who previously had contracted COVID-19 who did not travel, meaning that this variant has already been established here. While vaccines appear to still be working, the efficiency has almost surely dropped. If you are younger than fifty, the odds are very, very low that you will die if you get infected. The unvaccinated and those over 65 will be significantly aided by Pa...