Pandemic Report
The latest stats from CDC:
Here is a "new" source, Worldometer, which I stumbled across on Google. Note that the incremental columns are daily, not weekly totals. You can read more about the source here. I hadn't seen sources beyond certain states reporting cases since the emergency ended in May and CDC revamped its aggregate reporting,
Note as we've previously discussed, there continues to be a spike in hospitalizations and deaths but keep in mind this comes off a lower base. Much newer discussion is off variant omicron XBB spinoff EG.5, ‘Eris’ "The symptoms from the EG.5 variant are no different from previous variants: typical cold ailments such as sore throat, runny nose, congestion, cough and fever." "These variants don’t seem to be causing different or more severe symptoms than the viruses that came before them. It basically has some more immune escape compared to the ones that were precedents in this XBB series." "Epidemiologists think human behavior is the engine for this uptick. They point to things like record heat driving more people indoors for air conditioning, which helps the virus spread. Summer travel is sending people outside their normal social circle [not to mention back to school]."
The new monovalent [more recent variant based] boosters are now being projected for an October release after FDA/CDC signoff.
The fight against anti-vaxxer rubbish continues. I think I personally adversely tweeted a couple of times on the topics, one involving a football player waived over health issues (the troll was trying to link to vaccines taken a year earlier). A lot of crazy trends on Twitter/X, including ivermectin and trying to prosecute Fauci). I don't want to spend hours on Twitter repeating myself; I'll pick and choose my moments.
Other Notes
Bloc viewership tailed off to barely double-digits by the end of the week. We already have locked in 310 posts, a count we have achieved since 2010. I'm working on a couple of one-offs Some of these are very tedious to write because I can work in dozens of sources, but I hope to post one of them out over the weekend.
I was nervous about getting mail from the local courthouse. It turned out to be a very polite thank you for my recent juror experience.
I have to say Lifetime cable movies rend to be very distinctive. One memorable one involved a rebellious teen daughter of a man who imprisons her in a hidden basement room. It goes beyond that; in one scene he's grinding himself up against her from behind. "Dear God, no!" I didn't expect that kind of perversion--but yes.. She ends up having multiple kids from her dad. Other weird stories as well, like a mother-in-law who gets her in-law in prison so she can spend time with her grandson.
