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       411 Aug 

This Monday finds the world without any major war, natural disaster or particularly newsworthy item, except maybe Omicron, the latest COVID-19 virus of concern: It is the 13th variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Thus we should be up to the 13th Greek letter to name this strain. But the World Health Organization skipped #13 Nu and #14 Xi...why? Nu sounds like new, which could confuse people, they say.  But it is new, so why not? Xi sounds like Xi Jinping, and the UN is afraid of the Chinese president.   Or maybe it was to not stigmatize a region. If you're wondering why you never read or heard about Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu, they were definitely variants, but never reached the level of concern.  Actually, though, Lambda  (Peru ) and Mu ( Columbia ) remain variants of interest. Best as I can tell, you can pronounce OMICRON any way you want.  However, if you had to pick one, say  oh-MY-cron : Oh-muh-cron. “The correct pronunciation is “oh-my-cron”, with the e

Variations in cells result in evolution.  For humans,   gene mutations can cause cancer , but might also have beneficial long-term implications.  COVID-19 has been particularly nasty because of mutations, which are called variants. A relatively new term, R-naught, or RO, is more and more being mentioned.  The information below was sent to me with no reference.  It looks generally accurate, but I found a second source,  VOX , which provides some additional details: In short, RO is the number of additional cases caused by an individual so infected.  The original COVID-19 virus had an R0 of 2 or 3, so the 2.7 indicated below is just more specific. VOX indicates that the Delta variant has an RO of 4, but the below quote says 5.7. Measles has an RO of 12. Will future mutations make COVID-19 even worse?  The answer:  no one knows. R naught: the Delta Virus has an R naught of 5.7 versus 2.7 for the original. R naught of other infectious diseases - · 1918 Influenza Pandemic that killed 50 mill

I'll get to China later, but will start with COVID-19 variants.  The key question is, do the various vaccines work to control them?    Not sure about the others, but, according to the CDC , all the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. provide sufficient protection.  The caveat is that a few might get sick, but should survive. Here are some of the more concerning ones: B.1.1.7   United Kingdom     50% increased transmission B.1.351  South Africa            50% increased transmission B.1.427  California                20% increased transmissibility P.1          Brazil/Japan      P.2          Brazil B.1.617  India (there are four separate variants) There are more, and growing.  However, WHO has decided to better recognize them by using names based on the Greek alphabet .  The first four are variants of concern, while the other six are variants of interest. Alpha     B.1.1.1.7     UK Beta       B.1.351      South Africa Gamma  P.1             Brazil Delta      B.1.617.2    India Eps

If you don't have much time today, you can skip all the data presented at the front, and go to the end of the posting just before the portion about purple colored ocean storms .  Those bits of information presented there will immediately improve your day. This past Thursday I posted on: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT COVID-19 VACCINES However, Ray Kamada sent me the very latest.   In particular, the AGAINST SEVERE DISEASE column is worthy of note. Efficacy by country where trials were conducted - VACCINE DOSES OVERALL AGAINST SEVERE DISEASE U.S. U.K. S. AFRICA L. AMERICA Moderna 2 94.1% 100% 95% - - - Pfizer/BioNTech 2 95% 90% 95% - - - AstraZeneca 2 62% ? - 60% - 64.2% AstraZeneca (½ + full dose) 2 90% ? - 90% - - J&J 1 66% 100% 72% - 57% 66% Novavax 2 - 100% - 89.3% 49.4% - Other Info VACCINE MODERNA PFIZER/BIONTECH ASTRAZENECA J&J NOVAVAX Type mRNA mRNA DNA/ Adenovirus DNA/ Adenovirus Protein Dose 2 2 2 1 2 Days between doses 28 21 28 - 21 Storage Temperature -20 o C