Omicron surges in U.S. While So. Africa Passes Peak

 

So. Africa was the first to discover the Omicron variant, then it rapidly traversed the world. It was first found in this country in California, in Dec. of 2021, and from there has spread across the nation. We are luckier (over Delta) with this new mutation which has milder effects. But it spreads like wildfire, with a new U.S. daily record set recently of over 580,000 cases in one day with at least 551,000 Omicron. At the end of Dec. 2021, there were 79,161 U.S. hospitalizations, 17,282 in ICU.

Compared to Delta peaking last July/August, with 7,000 hospitalizations then, and patients aged 50 and older who died or were admitted to intensive care “ it generally trended upward in the Delta period," according to the New York Times. Deseret News reports, "The death rate dropped from 29.1% with delta to 2.7% with omicron." I'm perfectly willing to go with the good news, but do you wonder after Delta's ugly impact, is there something we still don't know about Omicron?

Fareed Abdullah of the South African Medical Research Council told the New York Times...

“The speed with which the Omicron-driven fourth wave rose, peaked and then declined has been staggering. Peak in four weeks and precipitous decline in another two. This Omicron wave is over in the city of Tshwane. It was a flash flood more than a wave."

President Biden on the Omicron Variant: Vaccination and Boosters Offer High Level of Protection...

 

Even Abdullah doesn't sound completely sure about the So. African stats, and the virus' "precipitous" decline does sound unreasonable to me, a layperson. But it happened and the studying will go on just like it has since the 1918 flu pandemic, which has produced a vaccine that protects us today. So far the experts still insist a peak to Omicron will occur by January 15, of this year, but Dr. Fauci and other well-known virologists are telling us to continue to maintain Covid protocols.

It has been suggested that statistical data during the holidays could be distorted due to reduced testing so the next two weeks will be crucial in determining the immediate future of the coronavirus. Especially Omicron. Which means there is hope just over the horizon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022

 

Call me naive, but I'm hoping and wishing for a 2022 that will surpass all other new years in history for understanding, concilliation and respect between the people in the United States, and the world. You've all heard my dooms day posts, and most have their purpose. But after over two years of a pandemic that almost shut down the world plus political chaos in the American government that has no precedent in history, liberty and democracy need a break.

Democrats and Republicans want different things, and both sides have done their share to literally beat the other side up. The time has come for both the left and the right to step into the center of the ring, shake hands, and come out swinging for their cause. However, the swings do not have to include the weapons and armor used in the past several years. If those who run this country cannot find middle ground, then the politicians have failed with voters responsible in the end.

POLITICAL FRAGMENTATION: Here's What It's all about

 

The United States is already suffering the attempted destruction of our democracy by the Republicans, and now we learn it is already in pieces and needs to be reassembled. Richard Pildes, of the New York Times calls it Political Fragmentation...

"the dispersion of political power into so many different hands and centers of power that it becomes difficult for democratic governments to function effectively."

That is certainly a switch from the autocratic style of government we were experiencing under Donald Trump, but is it something that can be fixed in this country? Or, does it need to be fixed? Pildes says Joe Biden has identified the "challenge" a “battle between the utility of democracies in the 21st century and autocracies.” But at the same time with Democrats controlling Congress and the White House, Biden couldn't pass the Build Back Better Bill.

The author believes this sets up authoritarianism because the public thinks this

form of governing can bypass all the political furor. This is, in itself, enlightening with the realization that this kind of attitude could, in part, account for the support for the Republican Party. in spite of its discord the likes of Donald Trump, and congressional lunatics like Marjorie Taylor Greene. There's more from the Times...

"The struggle of the Biden administration to deliver on its policy agenda offers a good example of the political fragmentation of politics taking place throughout Western democracies. It takes different forms in the multiparty systems of Europe and the two-party system of the United States."

The question is, just how long will the U.S. have a two-party system, or have any party system at all? We are dangerously close to losing our democracy, and it is the Republican Party we can thank for its demise. Now, what does the American public plan to do?

I urge uou to read Richard Pildes' article in the NYT.

EMERGENCY! U.S. Animal Shelters Need Your Help NOW!

 

In the Phoenix area, where I live, animal shelters are loaded following financial hardships stemming from the pandemic, according to the Arizona Humane Society. There are also the cases where Christmas presents didn't work out and are returned. To begin with, giving animals as gifts is not a good idea since they are looking for a forever home and most people aren't qualified to judge their recipient. Stick to the typical holiday fare and let the professionals place the pets. 

Here's the scenario, from Kelsey Dickerson, spokesperson for the Arizona Humane Society...

Dickerson said shelters have reported negative room numbers every morning for the past weeks and have had to find ways to accommodate the increasing number of injured and abused pets that come in every day.

"In the summer months, the Arizona Humane Society especially is used to the overcapacity that we're seeing," she said. "But this is something we've had to get really creative with the fall and winter months because it is usually not as huge of a problem."

This is a problem that exists throughout the U.S., one that will only worsen as the

Covid-19 pandemic continues. The first thing to go, unfortunately, is the animal when times get tough. A quick trip to the shelter and that ends the dilemma. I have a post I publish regularly about thoughtless people who say to themselves, it's just an animal. Well, it isn't. A pet is a sensitive being that has feelings and expresses love for its owner. It should be treated like one of the family. Yes, just like your kids.

Dickerson says, "People are losing their homes, they're losing their jobs, they are having medical emergencies pop up," and most recently evictions. There are currently 85 million pet owning households in the U.S. according to the American Pet Products Association's National Pet Owners 2019-2020 Survey. There is no way of knowing how many of those households would take in an extra pet, but if only a portion kicked in the 6.3 million annual shelter intake could be reduced significantly

Here's the shelters' appeal..."We just need help in every possible way," according to the folks at the Arizona Humane Society. This plea no doubt applies to most every animal shelter across the U.S. PLEASE help the animals this holiday.

READ MORE...

Would You Leave Your Child on the Side of the Road Like This Dog?

Abolish Puppy Mills NOW!!!

Animals to Humans: All we want is to live

UPDATE...The Agony of Misinformation...Anti-Vaxxers Continue to Spread Propaganda as Scientists Labor,

 

UPDATE: CNN Medical Analyst...

“I’d say that he’s [Sen. Ron Johnson] so misguided that it makes me wonder whether this is all just an act. And if it is an act, what does that say about what he thinks his constituents want to hear?”

“And if this is not an act, then he is just the most ignorant man in the United States Senate. And that says a lot.”

The noxious Republican Senator from Wisconsin is still at it with a new hit for the Covid stage. Ron Johnson says if you gargle with mouthwash every morning, you're safe from the coronavirus. Johnson is a long-term spreader of coronavirus misinformation...

"YouTube this year suspended his account for violating the company’s medical misinformation policies. He has also expressed skepticism about the efficacy of coronavirus vaccine mandates and doses, which have undergone vigorous health testing."

While this wingnut spouted his crap, other anti-vaxxers challenged the credibility of the newly announced Omicron variant back in November of 2021, first noticed in the U.K. They questioned the virus' validity by releasing a bogus schedule of new variant disclosure dates exclaiming the whole pandemic was orchestrated...

"Other false claims about the new variant have leaped across the Internet in the two weeks since it was first identified. One post in a group with more than a million members on the Telegram messaging app claimed the vaccines had caused the omicron variant, according to First Draft, a nonprofit that investigates misinformation. Another conspiracy theory posits that the variant is being pushed by governments and pharmaceutical companies to undermine ivermectin, an anti-parasite drug that vaccine skeptics have said treats covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. (There is no scientific evidence supporting that claim.)

A Kaiser Family Foundation Study says most parents still are skeptical of the

vaccine for their children with one in ten saying. "they will "definitely not" vaccinate their children against Covid-19. This, no doubt accounts for the surge in children's cases across the U.S. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reports 226,000 child COVID-19 cases from Sep 9 to 16. They represent 25.7% of weekly reported cases.

Here's more from the KFF study...

"Vaccine uptake has slowed among adolescents ages 12 to 17 in recent months. Only about half of parents say that their child in this age group has received at least one dose of vaccine, a share that has changed little since the fall, KFF found.

"And among parents of younger children ages 5 to 11, about 29% say that their child has already been vaccinated or will be "right away." But another third of parents of children in this age group say that they want to "wait and see" before vaccinating their child against Covid-19."

Finally, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr... how could he have gone so wrong? Along with other politicians and celebrities, this medical lowlife is the worst. Not even going to get into his father, who must be throwing up in his grave. Here's an example of what this moron spews, in this case a far right conference, branded as standing for “health and freedom,” at a Southern California church...

“It is criminal medical malpractice to give a child one of these vaccines,” Kennedy contended, according to a video of the event, one of his many assertions that ignored or went against legal, scientific and public health consensus.

More...

Then, Kennedy hawked his book. If just 300 attendees preordered it on Amazon that night, he told the crowd, it would land on the bestseller list and they could “stick it to Amazon and Jeff Bezos.”

READ MORE... 

The Agony of Stupidity...39 Million Unvaccinated Idiots on the Street Worse Than 390 million Guns

Misinformation was Conceived and Launched by Republicans

Anti-Vaxxers a Steel-Trap of Misinformation

The Agony of Stupidity..."Misinformation is Literally Killing People" says Utah GOP Gov.

Utah's head of state, Spencer Cox. is a Republican and a Mormon, who has served his time in the missionary trenches of his church. His inauguration, a year ago, just days before the Jan. 6, U.S. Capitol insurrection, was the beginning of a year of massive misinformation on Covid-19, involving mask and vaccine protocols. The results, distrust between Democrats-Republicans as bad as Israelis and Palestinians. But something else was going on that day unnoticed by most...

"It was a Sunday night. A small crowd that included Cox and his wife sat silently in the pews of the St. George Tabernacle. The governor’s voice and the voice of a former federal judge sounded from the speakers, which broadcast a prerecorded conversation between the two men.

"Former federal Judge Thomas Griffith made a chilling assertion: the U.S. Constitution is in grave danger amid the U.S.’s polarized political environment.

“The Constitution is built for vigorous disagreement,” he said. “But it cannot withstand contempt. ... And that’s the problem that has seeped into our system right now. The contempt.”

The key here is judge Griffith's statement, "The Constitution is built for 

vigorous disagreement. But it cannot withstand contempt." Here are two definitions of the word, contempt, from Thesaurus.com...

• the feeling with which a person regards anything considered mean, vile, or worthless; disdain; scorn.
• the state of being despised; dishonor; disgrace.

So, in Griffith's view, that's the way the insurrectionist mob felt about American Democracy on that fateful day, bordering on treason at a time when the United States is as fragile as it has been since, perhaps, the Revolution. Taking this another step, this riot group represents the heart of the Republican Party with the ex-president, Donald Trump, orchestrating the whole affair. After January 6, the GOP can no longer deny its leadership in the destruction of U.S. democracy.

And here's the shocker in my opening statement...

Griffith pointed to surveys that have shown “Republicans and Democrats think so ill of each other that they don’t trust each other at all, and the level of distrust is at the same level that Israelis have for Palestinians.”

“The Constitution won’t survive with this level of contempt,” he said. “It has to be addressed and has to be rooted out.”

 I guess the next move is, where will the Gaza Strip be drawn, and how long will it take the GOP to start launching rockets?

The Agony of Stupidity...39 Million Unvaccinated Idiots on the Street Worse Than 390 million Guns

 

There are almost 400 million guns on the streets of America which are responsible for over 40,000 gun violence deaths each year and increasing every year. But that can't even compare with the over 800 thousand deaths annually from Covid-19, now spreading more quickly with the Omicron variant. It isn't known for sure how many of these deaths are caused by anti-vaxxer misinformation, but considering the amount of this propaganda out there on social media, it is probably high. 

And now Republican lawmakers are pitying these freaks by passing legislation that prevents the health care industry to do its job. Protect the American public from coronavirus. Here is a headline from the Washington Post that should infuriate anyone who believes in science over the disinformation being disseminated: "Anger over mask mandates, other covid rules, spurs states to curb power of public health officials," Can you believe it...curbing the power of truth over death?

WaPo uses an illustration from Columbus, Ohio, and one of its suburbs, where a mixture of mask requirements exist...

"Under a new law in Ohio — one of at least 19 states this year that have restricted state or local authorities from safeguarding public health amid the coronavirus pandemic — Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola can no longer intervene. The county health department was stripped of its power to compel people to wear masks even as the omicron variant fuels a fifth coronavirus surge in the United States."

In effect, this law tells Franklin County’s health commissioner Joe Mazzola that he cannot save lives. This is unconscionable, but a regular move by Republicans across the country. The great GOP killing machine in motion. And here's another headline from the New York Times: "Another Christmas of Death and Distress in America’s I.C.U.s." Healthcare workers are putting their lives on the line this holiday season, while at the same time these imbecilic anti-vaxxers spread more propaganda.

How Republicans protect anti-vaxxers...

Here's an example of what's going on from Ronda Stevenson, intensive care unit nurse at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis for the past seven years...

"Instead of taking holiday vacations this weekend, workers at strained hospitals across the nation are working 16-hour shifts. Some have been on the job every day for weeks. Festive meals have been replaced with protein bars and sports drinks."

It's frightening, since Ohio is only an example of what is going on all around the country with over sixteen states adopting similar laws, and more on the books for 2022. Here is the tragedy of the situation by Amy Goldstein of the WP...

"These laws — the work of Republican legislators — inhibit health officers’ ability to require masks, promote vaccinations or take other steps, such as closing or limiting the number of patrons in restaurants, bars and other indoor public settings. Often, the measures shift those decisions from health experts to elected officials at a time when such coronavirus-fighting strategies have become politically radioactive."

The piece's author makes it clear that the GOP is responsible for what is going on

with this blog's assumption their goal is to kill off the U.S. population. The Times reports vaccinations have hit a "plateau" with the Omicron variant in full swing during the holidays...

"Around 20 percent of children 5 to 11 years old have gotten a dose of vaccine. And only around one in three fully vaccinated Americans has gotten a booster."

And finally, Sarah Bahr and Mike Baker of the New York Times wrap up the status of the current situation...

"Nearly two years into a pandemic that shows no sign of abating, doctors, nurses and other frontline workers have already faced the emotional toll of mass death in their hospitals. They have endured the frustration of pleading with the public to take precautions only to watch outbreaks unfold as people ignored the call for help. They have suffered the moral distress of not being able to give patients the ideal level of care." 

The question is, what will 2022 bring? With 53,121,847 cases and 837,804 deaths already in the U.S., we can only hope it gets better. We also should ask the question, did the anti-vaxxing community completely ignore science courses in high school?