The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 341 (841)

I'm writing later than usual today since this afternoon was my annual well-adult maintenance check. I have a checklist of things to do and to work on, and will get to doing and working on them. I am definitely a work in progress.

Covid case rates are getting even more tentative. Many state and local governments are closing testing sites. Some states are no longer reporting daily data; at least one state is only posting updated case numbers once every two weeks. The number of lab-based PCR tests done in July will be roughly half of those conducted in March. Some scientists say that the current wave is the second largest of the pandemic so far. The New York Times database reports an average of 113,000 new cases daily. At the same time, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security says that his "back of the envelope" estimate is about one million new cases daily. Hospitalizations remain low but have increased a bit throughout June. Deaths remain well below the daily death toll peak of the pandemic. 

Plug for covid boosters: During the spring, people over age 50 who'd had one booster were dying from covid four times the rate of those who'd had two boosters.

As Shanghai reopens, Anhui Province in eastern China has an outbreak. There were over 200 cases Monday; there have been over 1,000 cases since June 26. The Communist Party secretary said that transmission outside quarantine centers would be eliminated and told local government officials there could be no covid-related deaths or cases among medical workers. Oh, snap! I would not want to be one of those officials. Also in China, Xi'an, population 13 million, is shutting down for one week. Eighteen cases have been found since Saturday.

Here's a great headline: "Fear of public shaming keeps masks on, and infections low, in Japan." Japan has the lowest death rate among the world's wealthiest nations, roughly one twelfth of the US rate. Japan, the world's largest economy and the 11th largest population, tops world rankings in vaccination and has one of the world's lowest infection rates. "Face pants" is a buzzword used in Japan that implies dropping one's mask is like taking off one's underwear in public. 

Continuing on the world beat, New Zealand is on the brink of another wave. Average cases are up, immunity is down, and new variants may arrive along with winter. The government has been criticized for not giving covid enough attention. One microbiologist says that not acting is based on wishful thinking. If the current 12 to 14 daily deaths continue, there would be 5,000 deaths in the coming year. That's 15 times the auto accident total and 10 times the mortality from influenza. He says that each repeated infection is a new roll of the dice for long covid, organ damage, mental health, neurological effects, and serious illness.