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“This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said at a Covid-19 briefing July 16, 2021. More than 97% of people getting hospitalized with Covid-19 now are unvaccinated, Walensky said.

And 99.5% of deaths are among the unvaccinated, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said July 18, 2021. The U.S. is now averaging about 26,000 new cases per day — up 70% from the previous week, Walensky said. Hospitalizations are up 36%, and deaths are up 26%, to an average of 211 per day.
Vaccinations have virtually stalled in the United States. Thought there is plenty of vaccines available, medical misinformation has convinced about half the country to avoid the jabs.  “We’re not just battling the virus,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We’re also battling the trolls and conspiracy theorists that push misinformation and undermine the outbreak response.” Misinformation is the pandemic within the pandemic that is convincing people that death is preferable to trusting science.
This is, what experts anticipated in low-vaccination parts of the world. In the U.S, however, unlike much of the rest of the world, vaccines are free and readily available. All of these cases and deaths are preventable.

Olympic Winner: COVID-19

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A flight of the Czech Olympic team is being investigated as a possible cause of a COVID-19 cluster leading up to the Olympics. Two of the Czech athletes had to withdraw from the games. An unvaccinated doctor might have contributed to the spread. The “doctor” claiming that gargling mouthwash can prevent the spread of COVID-19. He is misinformed. Five members of the Czeck delegation were infected and 42 people were on the flight.

Cities typically spend $50 million to $100 million in fees for consultants, event organizers, and travel related to hosting duties. Tax payers of course foot some of the bill. With that much money invested how could Tokyo not hold the games? The investment is more important that public safety.

People in Japan are increasingly mad at their government for the decision to go ahead with the games. 87% of Japanese who were polled are worried that the Games are going to proceed. Only 20% of the population has been vaccinated. Cases are rising in Tokyo. The country has been closed to overseas travels for over a year.

In an attempt to keep the games safe, athletes are being tested every day. There will be no crowds and no parties. The opening ceremonies will have 950 people including dignitaries and VIPs in a 68,000-seat stadium. Tokyo COVID cases are rising to over 2000 cases a day fast approaching the levels seen in January of 2021. Tokyo is reporting new COVID-19 cases at levels not seen since January, when Japan was enduring a record spike in coronavirus infections. In less than two weeks, Tokyo will face a critical situation with the number of infections far exceeding that of the third wave.

The first U.S. athlete expected to compete in the Tokyo Summer Olympics, beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb, has tested positive for COVID-19 while in Japan. Let the games begin. The only winner will be COVID-19.

Democrat Tourist Superspreaders

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Fifty Texas state representatives abandoned the state to avoid voting on a piece of legislation that would restrict voting rights. Photos appeared online of the democrats in a bus and airplane with no masks or social distancing, despite the spread of the highly infections Delta variant.

This became a super spreader event after six of these fully vaccinated Democrats tested positive for COVID-19 once they arrived in Washington DC. Two Washington staffers associated with the group also tested positive for COVID-19. Texas Governor Abbott said he will arrest these representatives once they get back into the state.

Vice President Kamala Harris met with members of the delegation a few days before the positive cases were announced, but her office said that she is fully vaccinated and didn’t have close enough contact with the legislators to require going into isolation. It is unlikely that the legislators will be permitted to meet with President Joe Biden. A fully vaccinated senior spokesperson in the Speaker’s Press Office tested positive for COVID after contact with members of the Texas state legislature last week. The press secretary had no contact with Pelosi since much of her staff was working remotely the day the Texas Democrats visited.  A vaccinated White House staffer tested positive for the virus after interacting with the Pelosi aide, according to a White House official. The infected person has not been in close contact with Biden.

Breakthrough cases like these are usually mild and can show no symptoms. State Representative Donna Howard confirmed Tuesday that she tested positive for COVID-19. She said in a statement that she is fully vaccinated and “basically asymptomatic,” but that she is isolating to limit the spread of the virus. Unvaccinated individuals however can face hospitalization and death.

Kobe in a Pandemic

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Pam wanted to treat her niece to a trip to Kobe Restaurant. Her niece had never had Hibachi.We had a reservation for 8PM and arrived a few minutes late. The inner layer to my 3 layer mask had disappeared and we had to rig up one of those blue hospital masks as the inner layer that I would use.

When we arrived that place was packed to capacity. We all had our masks on s we walked through the restaurant following another family of four. Only the dad wore a mask in that family. Very few people wore masks although the entire restaurant staff wore masks. Plexiglass dividers were set up between families. Of course an airborne virus can make its way around plexiglass, but at least there was 6 feet of distance between families.

I scanned the crowded room looking for anyone coughing or sneezing. Air would be sucked up into an overhead vent above each table so perhaps we were not swapping air with others. I had to wonder what happened to the air once it was sucked up and what air was them pumped back into the space. Suddenly I am always thinking like a ventilation engineer. This was my first time experiencing hibachi. Any time I stopped eating my mask went back up. I actually found myself trying to breath  very shallow as well.

The chef cooks the food at a large grill in the center of the table. He juggled some eggs with his spatulas and quickly made some fried rice and noodles. I had ordered some shrimp and scallops and those were the last things cooked since they are quickly flash cooked in a huge plume of fire. I used the time he cooked to try and sketch as quickly as he prepared the food. The mountain of food on the plate was more than any human could consume in one sitting. I ate the seafood and barely touched the rice and noodles. The left overs should last for several more days. The food was delicious but it was exhausting being on high alert the entire time we were there.

The Delta variant accounts for over 60% of the COVID-19 cases in the country and in Florida, the Delta variant accounts for 13.4 percent of new COVID cases, according to the CDC. Less than half of Florida residents have been fully vaccinated, so I have to wonder how many of the people pressed into that restaurant had gotten the jab. Medical expert are warning about how the Delta  variant is now infecting the young. Children below age 12, are not yet eligible for vaccination in the united States making them vulnerable to infection. At least 335 children, ages 17 and younger, have died from Covid-19, according to the latest data from the CDC. Increasing cases among children, including severe ones, are expected as the Delta variant spreads.

Florida’s numbers doubled since July 10, 2021. Florida’s numbers are also twice the case numbers of California an Texas which have higher populations. Central Florida also saw a dramatic increase in cases over the last week. The numbers are triple what was reported three weeks ago. Delta is far more transmissible that previous variants of COVID-19 allowing it to infect crowds quickly.

Over 60 Infected at the Olympics So Far

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Over 60 people working at the Olympics in Japan have tested positive for COVID Since July 1, 2021. Athletes or others who may have arrived early for training camp but are not yet under the “jurisdiction” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are not included in the count, an official told the Associated Press.

Table Tennis player Ryu Seung-min of South Korea was the first IOC member to test positive. Two South African soccer players who were the first athletes inside the Olympic Village also tested positive.

Team South Africa confirmed the coach of its rugby sevens team also tested positive at a pre-Olympics training camp in the southern Japanese city of Kagoshima. He is in isolation there and will miss the entire rugby competition, the team said. The British Olympic Association said six athletes and two staff in the track and field squad are isolating at the team’s pre-Olympic base in Yokohama after being deemed close contacts of a person who tested positive following their flight to Japan. U.S. tennis player Coco Gauff didn’t travel to Japan after testing positive for the coronavirus.

The planned arrival of over 11,000 people is stoking fear that the Games will be a major superspreader event. Tokyo reported 1,008 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the 29th straight day that cases were higher than seven days previously. It was also the fifth straight day with more than 1,000 cases. The Olympics will open under a state of emergency in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures.

COVID K9

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Bristol County in Massachusetts is the first County in the United States to have COVID-19 sniffing K9 dogs. The dogs can sniff out the disease in a similar way the dogs detect drugs or weapons. The K9s began their new job starting July 15, 2021.

Bristol Count Sheriff  Thomas Hodgson said “Bristol County and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have come so far since the pandemic started last year,” Hodgson said. “Today, festivals are happening, restaurants are full and concert venues are packed. We’ve made so much progress, and our new COVID-19 detection program is one way the people of Bristol County can stay ahead of the curve.”

The detection program was developed by Florida International University’s (FIU) International Forensic Research Institute. “This is all science,” Bristol County Capt. Paul Douglas. “This program was developed by professors, doctors and scientists at FIU, and we couldn’t be more proud or excited to execute it here in Bristol County.”

Douglas is paired with Huntah, a 9-month-old female black lab, while Officer Theodore Santos will work with Duke, a 9-month-old male golden lab and retriever mix. The dogs were born two weeks apart with the same father and different mothers.

The dogs are available for use at schools, town buildings, non-profits, nursing homes, Councils on Aging, public safety facilities, and medical facilities in Bristol County. COVID detecting dogs were first employed at an airport in Helsinki, Finland. I am glad to see the United States starting to catch  up with Europe in employing dogs to sniff out the disease. At the University of Helsinki, researchers found that dogs can identify a Covid-19 case days before a person begins showing symptoms. They even believe dogs are more accurate that available COVID test kits, and the results are instant.

Delta Wave

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The Delta variant wave has begun in America. While many governors are opening their states fully, the Delta Variant is causing a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country.

President Joe Biden encouraged Americans to get out for the 4th of July as his vaccination plan to have 70% of Americans fully vaccinated fell short of his goal. The CDC shows that 48.2% of the American population is fully vaccinated. The vaccine initiative has ground to a halt as Americans cling to medical misinformation and partisan politics over their health needs.

July 4th weekend events were most certainly super spreader events. Cases usually rise two weeks after a super spreader and cases are on a steep incline doubling in the last two weeks. The unvaccinated account for 99% of fatalities.

“We’re losing time here. The delta variant is spreading, people are dying, we can’t actually just wait for things to get more rational,” Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health told CNN July 14, 2021.

Elsewhere, Indonesia set another daily case record of 54,517 and has overtaken India as the Asian epicenter of the pandemic, CNN reported. At least 991 fatalities were recorded in the nation of about 170 million people on July 14. 2021 to push the total to 69,210. In China, local governments are moving aggressively to push residents to get vaccinated and some are planning to bar them from accessing public venues if they refuse, The Wall Street Journal reported.

England is experiencing a huge spike in cases because so many people fled India where the Delta variant first ignited. England plans to fully open on July 19, 2021 while cases soar towards 100000 a day.The government in England seems to be pushing for a herd immunity strategy by just letting everyone get infected.

A cluster of COVID cases at a hotel hosting Olympic athletes is raising concerns coming just over a week before the opening ceremony, Reuters reported. Adding to the gloom, Tokyo has just recorded its highest number of new COVID cases in six months.

 

COVID 911

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Orlando officials confirmed July 13, 2021 that 16 employees at a 911 Communication Center had tested positive for COVID-19. 15 of those employees were unvaccinated. All of the employees are self-isolating and six other employees are in quarantine, due to possible exposure and possible symptoms.

The Orlando Sentinel reported, that, in all, 22 employees are out, with two hospitalized.

The Communication Center took the following measures as a result of the outbreak:

  • Staff are required to wear a face mask at all times unless at their desk.
  • Temperature checks are made upon entry.
  • A cleaning crew cleans twice a day at the facility, especially high-touched surface areas.
  • An Aeroclave unit, which is a machine equipped to disinfect and decontaminate spaces and surfaces, is utilized weekly to further sanitize commonly shared areas.
  • Hand sanitizer stations are deployed throughout the building.
  • Any vendors or visitors are not able to go inside the facility at this time.

At a Commissioner’s meeting, a director bragged that there were no cases of COVID-19 among his departments. However when each department gave a report they contradicted him, reporting may cases of COVID-19. He stood corrected. It would seem Orange County  Government isn’t aware or chooses to ignore the infections in their own ranks. On July 12, 2021 Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings recommended that all residents, vaccinated and unvaccinated, wear face masks indoors as the county reports a nearly 8 percent 14-day rolling positivity rate. Ironically most of the people at the Commissioner’s meeting on July 14, 2021 were mask less. Commissioner’s were separated by plexiglass barriers but plexiglass does not stop an airborne virus.

The highly contagious Delta variant continues to spread among unvaccinated people. 100% of new cases and deaths on July 11, 2021 were unvaccinated people. Get the shot people.

Two Americas

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Dr. Fauci said on an interview with Don Lemon of CNN, “When you have such a low level of vaccination superimposed upon a variant that has a high degree of efficiency of spread, what you are going to see among undervaccinated regions — be they states, cities or counties — you are going to see these individual types of blips. It’s almost like it’s going to be two Americas. You’re going to have areas where the vaccine rate is high, where more than 70% of the population has received at least one dose. When you compare that with areas where you may have 35% of the people vaccinated, you clearly have a high risk of seeing these spikes in those selected areas. The thing that’s so frustrating about this, Don, is that this is entirely avoidable, entirely preventable. If you are vaccinated, you diminish dramatically your risk of getting infected, and even more dramatically your risk of getting seriously ill. If you are not vaccinated, you are at considerable risk.”

In Florida Cruise ships have started sailing and unvaccinated guests are being allowed to board. Vaccinated guests, identified with special wristbands, get full run of the ship, while those unprotected from the virus won’t even be able to walk into the bar, casino, or spa. Since June there have already been cases of guests testing positive for COVID-19 while at sea. Two unvaccinated teenagers who tested positive and had to be flown back to the states from the Bahamas and  two asymptomatic guests testing positive on a ship from St. Maarten. Two vaccinated guests and one unvaccinated crew member on an Alaska cruise tested positive for COVID-19 as well.

The CDC recommends at least 95% of passengers and crew be vaccinated. However Florida’s governor Ron DeatSantis filed a lawsuit insisting that unvaccinated people must be allowed to sail. Norwegan Cruise Line is suing the state of Florida because of this ban on vaccine passports. The unvaccinated want total freedom and the vaccinated resent having to wear masks because unvaccinated lower class are on board. The only way to keep both sides happy is to insist that only vaccinated guests can go on the ships. Quite honestly anyone who wants to sail on a cruise death trap during a pandemic is insane. It turns out there are plenty of insane Americans.

After Pulse: Roberta Blick

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Roberta Blick moved to Orlando in 1986. She became a member at Windermere Union Church teaching oil painting. Nancy Rosado another member of the church came in on Sunday morning, to enlist volunteers to help first responders at Pulse. Roberta wanted to participate. She said, “What can I do?” Her son heard her and he said, “Do what you  do best mom, and make a quilt.”

So she sat down in her hospice chair, and she watched the TV seeing all those beautiful people from Pulse. Their gorgeous eyes looked at her. It broke her heart. She had to do something with all those wonderful people. She got to know them. She gathered pictures of each of the 49 young people and she transferred the photos onto plain white cotton. She began making the quilt out of her white squares of fabric.

When she got all the squares finished she had to lay them all out on the floor of her sewing room. She called some people from church and they helped her make a nice big square out of it. It became a big quilt with all 49 pictures on it. She worked on it all week and that next Sunday she brought it to church. Nancy Rosado was there and she sat down next to her. Nancy took the quilt to share with others. Nancy got so many amazing people to sign it. The first names o the quilt were fellow church members.

It pleased Roberta so much that something we were doing helped others. Nancy said that some of the people who came into her office didn’t even have a picture of their child. That must be such an awful feeling to not have a picture of the child they love so much. Anyone who is a mother would know that. Her first thought was to create something that would have a beautiful picture. Friends from church wrote the name of each one of the children, and the names went above their picture.

The quilt traveled everywhere.  Nancy would sit down beside Roberta to tell her who had signed the quilt. She said President Obama had signed it. He had put a special thanks to Roberta because he heard she was an old woman. That meant so much. The only thing that hurts is that she did not think to start doing it earlier of the Sandy Hook babies and others who died needlessly. Think of the impact walking into a room an having all those beautiful eyes looking back at you. Think of the impact for all of those mothers and fathers. Think of all the beautiful people who have been killed. Look what they have done.

At a one year remembrance exhibit the the Orange County Regional History Center, 453 family members of victims saw Roberta’s quilt in one and a half hours. Thousands of photos must have been taken of that quilt on exhibit. Roberta Blick died December 20, 2017 from cancer.