Starting out with somethings light today. If you've had a covid vaccination, even just one, and show your card at Krispy Kreme Donuts, they will give you a free donut. Today. Tomorrow. The day after tomorrow. In fact, they will give you one donut free each day for the rest of the year. If you're at all vaccine-hesitant, might this be all it takes to push you into the vaccine-desired camp? I think it's a great idea, and I don't really like Krispy Kreme donuts. I also don't live near or regularly drive by a Krispy Kreme outlet. I've been told that if I got a Krispy Kreme donut hot out of the oven, I would like it. I don't want to find out. Having some sweet thing I have no desire to eat is a good thing.
Coming on June 29 is Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America's Doctor, a picture book on Dr. Fauci's path to infectious disease expert. It started in his childhood with his curiosity and questioning. If my kids were still little, I'd definitely be getting this for them, not that they needed any prodding to ask questions.
Dictionary.com has updated with 450 new terms, including 23 related to dogs; 84 new definitions in existing entries; and 700 new pronunciations. Over 7,000 updates of varying type have been made, most as a result of the pandemic, race, social justice, identity and culture, and technology. Some of the new words were ones I'd never seen used: "finna" or a short form of "fixing to;" "sponcon" or a short form of "sponsored content." The first report I saw on this topic included "supposably" as one of the words. My initial thought--and that of The Professor--was that they had legitimized a mispronunciation of "supposedly," and that was just wrong. It turns out that we were just wrong. "Supposably" is a real word and has been in use since at least the 1700s. Here's the scoop:
"Supposedly" is derived from "supposed" and is used when a person has heard information about something.
"Supposably" is derived from "supposable" and is used for something "as may be assumed, imagined, or supposed."
And the 2020 Word of the Year? What else could it be? PANDEMIC.
On to that word of the year. Experts are split on whether a new covid surge is coming in the US. Spring break in Florida is especially concerning. Officers have had to fire pepper balls into crowds to try to get them to disperse. They've arrested dozens of revelers. We'll play a wait-and-see game once they return home or back to school. I must say that I have a problem with colleges and universities still having a formal spring break. The local university, and many others, is giving students five days off, spread throughout the semester. They don't want students to go somewhere, even home, and then return carrying who knows what germs. A college in California was holding a lottery with the prize of $75 a day for students who stayed on campus during spring break week.
A clinical trial in the US found the AstraZeneca vaccine to be 79 percent effective in stopping symptomatic covid and 100 percent effective at preventing serious illness. Most European countries that had suspended the use of AstraZeneca have resumed using it. There is criticism, however, that AstraZeneca has only delivered 30 percent of the 90 million doses promised for the first quarter of 2021. The United Arab Emirates is adding a third dose of AstraZeneca for people with a low immune response to the first two. I'm not sure how they decide who has a low immune response. Doing antibody testing on everyone seems a bit wasteful or cumbersome.
A European Union commissioner says that Europe could have herd immunity by July even as several countries are reimposing or strengthening restrictions amid covid surges. Given the apparent shortfall in the AstraZeneca vaccine, is thinking that over 75 percent of the population will be completely vaccinated realistic? Is 75 percent high enough to achieve herd immunity? Elsewhere, the numbers coming out of India are not good. New cases have increased for almost a week, showing the largest rise in cases since November.
The US is again being accused of hoarding vaccine after accounting for 27 percent of the world's covid vaccine production while only providing vaccine to its neighbors Mexico and Canada. The vaccine being provided is AstraZeneca, one not yet approved for emergency use in the US, meaning that providing it is not at all a hardship.
Let me know if you score a free donut, since I doubt I'll be trying for one.
1 comment:
Presumably the revellers are mainly young and fit, if those at risk are staying home or already vaccinated then it may not knock on into serious illness or death.
I suspect that the hesitant here will eventually be lured out by the prospect of foreign holidays (our weather being unreliable and generally cool and wet) rather than doughnuts. If cheap summer sun needs proof of vaccination then you have to take the jab or fake the documents.
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