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 ...

First some bad and good news about COVID-19.  The Omicron sub-variant B-A2 ( now known as the Stealth Omicron ) that showed signs of being  more contagious  than the Omicron variant B-A1, is indeed more infectious.  Maybe by a factor of 1.5.  But this virus is having some difficulty finding people to attack because only the unvaccinated are left...and if you haven't gotten your shots, stay away from anything that moves and get vaccinated as soon as you can.  The good news is that  one booster appears to be resistant to serious illness for a much longer period  than initially feared.  Plus, this  booster is effective against B-A2 . Well,  Russia did enter Ukraine , although it's not quite war yet because the troops only encroached into the Russian separatist region, which is pro-Putin.  Of course the U.S. and European Union condemned the move, but the worry now is what next, then what about Taiwan?   The Russia-China p...

How is the USA faring on COVID-19 compared to our European partners?  From the  New York Times  this morning: We have had more deaths because we have more people.  On a per/capita basis, the UK seems not to be faring well.  Reasons? Government policy to keep the economy going. Spotty vaccination rate and mask-wearing. Decline of vaccine effectiveness. I had this posting ready yesterday, but the news of the day got in the way.  Anyway, my Sundays are predictable.  I could have watched the World Series, PGA and an assortment of NFL games.  So I did something totally different.  Has to do with WILD THINGS. First, though, my meals this past week.  Once a month, 15 Craigside has something called Manuahi Market.  Manuahi means free, meaning that there is an assortment of snacks and stuff provided by the dining room.  Thought I'd try something different by orchestrating a dinner with their offerings using local liquor: Manapua, edamam...

From the New York Times this morning, authorities in the U.S. are considering delaying that second Moderna and Pfizer second shot so more people can be vaccinated.  While Anthony Fauci is against doing this, the UK has better controlled this infection by doing so: And remember, this is the country from which came that B.1.1.7 variant.  The two key points are that more of the population can be made partially immune after only one shot, and it is possible that a slight delay from the three-weeks to a month period to, say, three months or four, might make the vaccine even more effective than the 95% announced rate.  From the NYT: B ritain and the U.S. have now given a roughly similar number of   total shots per capita . The difference is that Britain has deliberately delayed second shots, by up to 12 weeks. The results are   impressive . Further, the FDA and CDC called for a pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because 6 out of 6.8 million experienced extre...