Robo Servers

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Some Orlando restaurants who are desperate for workers have offered $400 signing bonuses. There are plenty of people who need the work but are not willing to enter a workspace full of mask less open mouth chewers in the age of COVID-19.

Robot Servers are being employed by some restaurants to maintain social distancing and stand out from their competitors. A Chinese restaurant uses robot greeters and servers that chat with guests, take orders and run food from the kitchen.

U & Me Revolving Hot Pot in Orlando, Florida down by Disney opened in May 2020. The restaurant employs a conveyor belt and autonomous robots to assist in serving diners. A “pilot” robot helps guide customers to their assigned table where a conveyor belt allows individually plated dishes, each in a protective cover, to roll past the table. Some items are delivered to the table via a multi-shelved delivery robot. The robots at U & Me are from Shanghai-based Kennon Robotics.

In the UK, a restaurant called Robotazia features up cycled robots made from vacuum cleaners, cement mixers and other detritus in a sci-fi themed space. Also up and running is a fleet of grocery delivery robots. The 100 lb autonomous self-driving robots can carry deliveries within a four mile range at a “pedestrian speed.” Available in the UK for several years now, are rolling out across the US as well, in Virginia, DC, California and Arizona.

Little Shop of Vaccines

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Covid-19 cases are surging around the world, fueled by highly contagious variants of the coronavirus that continue to spread quickly. Covid-19 deaths have surpassed 3 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

India on April 18, 2021 reported 261,500 new cases of Covid-19, the fourth consecutive day of more than 200,000 infections and the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. They also reported 1,501 new deaths, the highest in almost 10 months.

In Florida COVID-19 cases have  surged since spring break and deaths from new variants are rising. As of April 15, 2021, there were 5,177 cases that involved variants of concern in the state — six times higher than what was there in mid-March, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Sentinel obtained the figures through a lawsuit it filed against the Florida Department of Health.

Cases across the United States continue to climb despite the epic vaccine roll out by the new administration. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month that hospitals are seeing more younger un-vaccinated adults  are being admitted with Covid-19 as more contagious variants spread. In Michigan, where Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are rapidly increasing, case rates are at an all-time high for those age 19 and younger, according to state data published April 6, 2021.

States have begun to lift health safety measures to quickly allowing the virus to spread. Controlling the spread of the virus is as simple as following health measures like mask wearing, social distancing and hand washing. However politicians insist on making these safety measures a political flashpoint, claiming they are an infringement on civil liberties. Experts spanning law, public health and privacy policy say it’s a false choice.

 

Breakthrough Cases

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The CDC has reported 5800 breakthrough cases of COVID-19 out of the nearly 77 million people who have been fully vaccinated. 65 percent of the cases were in women, and just over 40 percent were in people ages 60 and up. About 29% of those experiencing breakthrough infections experienced no symptoms, however, seven percent of people were hospitalized, and 74 people died.

It is unclear why asymptomatic individuals were tested for Covid-19 after being fully vaccinated. It could be that some employers, such as health care systems, require regular testing.

People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they receive their second dose of a two-dose vaccine, such as the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. (Use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is currently paused in the U.S. as federal health officials investigate cases of rare blood clots linked to the shots.) In clinical trials, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines were found to be around 95 percent effective against Covid-19, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was 72 percent effective against moderate-to-severe illness in its U.S. trial.

“I would encourage people to continue, once they’re vaccinated, to use all the prevention measures that we’ve been talking about when they’re outside their home, including masking and distancing and whatnot. And all of that should be active in the workplace,” the CDC’s director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, said during a briefing for the press on April 12, 2021. These breakthrough cases are another reason that people should continue to wear masks, social distance and wash hands since research is not yet in on weather they could pass the disease on to others.

Vaccination remains critical to ending the pandemic. “It does not reduce the risk to nil, but it does reduce the risk to something that we can handle.”

India Became the Second Worse COVID Outbreak

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On April 14, 2021 India had over 200,000 new cases of COVID-19. After the USA, India has become the country with the world’s second-highest coronavirus infections, overtaking Brazil, as doctors report shortage of hospital beds and ventilators.

Despite this outbreak, authorities have allowed the Hindu religious cerebration of Kumbh Mela to proceed, drawing over 600,000 mostly mask less people to gather on the shore of the Ganges river. Prime Minister Narendra Modi clearly wants to secure the Hindu vote despite the health risk of allowing such a superspreader event to proceed.

The Haridwar district reported over 2,000 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since April 10, 2021. Twnety of those were seers or religious leaders. The head of the Maha Nirvani Akhara, Swami Kapil Dev, who had come to attend Kumbh Mela  died from COVID-19 on April 13, 2021.

A majority of the people who bathed in the Ganges  were seen openly violating COVID norms like wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing. The festival is 12 days long, going through April 30, 2021. This allows plenty of time for it to become a super spreading event of epic proportions.

A senior health official told the Times of India, “Leave aside testing, the seers are not even ready to wear masks, some of us pleaded with folded hands, but they didn’t listen.” Hindu devotees  believe that Maa (Mother) will save them from the pandemic.

Various states in India have reported vaccine shortages, with vaccination centers in Maharashtra and Odisha reportedly shut for lack of doses. The Prime Minister Modi has asked the governors of Indian states to promote unproven therapies and ‘treatments’ offered by alternative medicine systems like Ayurveda “The Science of Life.” and homeopathy. The Indian Medical Association characterizes the practice of modern medicine by Ayurvedic practitioners as quackery. Homeotherapy claims that disease is caused by miasms or, “bad air”.

As COVID-19 rips through India, the Uttarakhand government did not just fail to take action limiting numbers at the Hindu festival—it actively encouraged people to come and told them not to worry about Covid-19 restrictions. On March 20, 2021 , Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said, “I invite all devotees across the world to come to Haridwar and take a holy dip in the Ganga during Mahakumbh. Nobody will be stopped in the name of Covid-19 as we are sure the faith in God will overcome the fear of the virus.” A minister aid, “This is not negligence. It’s a serious criminal act.”

1,038 people died from COVID-19 in India on April 14, 2021.

Johnson & Johnson Blood Clots

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended there be a “pause” for the Johnson & Johnson  vaccine after 6 women developed rare brain blood clots after getting the vaccine. One woman died.

The CDC‘s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will convene April 14, 2021 for an emergency session, with a vote scheduled on “updated recommendations for use” before the group adjourns at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden‘s chief medical adviser, told CBS Evening News, that it appeared that the adverse effect occurred within six to 13 days, and “so if you’ve had it a month or two ago, I think you really don’t need to worry about anything.” He went on to emphasis that the chance of these adverse side effects is “less than 1 in a million,” but he said to be alert to the symptoms such as severe headache, some difficulty in movement — such as in a neurological type of a situation — or some chest discomfort and difficulty breathing.

The cases the FDA and CDC are investigating occurred involved a blood clot called cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, which was seen alongside low levels of blood platelets, according to their statement. All of the six women were between the ages of 18 and 48. “Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given,” they said.

The agencies said the “adverse events” seem to be extremely rare, but that the pause is important so that health care providers can be made aware of the reactions and properly recognize and manage the cases, given the unique treatment required. It has not yet been determined if the vaccine was the direct cause of the blood clotting cases. The AstraZeneca vaccine, used in Europe and not yet available in the USA has also been linked to cases of blood clots. Both the AstraZeneca and the Johnson & Johnson vaccines use an inactivated form of a common cold virus, called an adenovirus, to teach the immune system to recognize the spike protein found of the surface of the coronavirus. Experts believe it’s possible that on rare occasions, the adenovirus itself could lead to clotting, due to a reaction involving platelets.

Regardless this will become a rallying point for any anti vaxers.

Crealde Zoomscapes

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My Sunday morning Crealde School of Art Urban Sketching Class begins again on April 11, 2021.As of April 1, 2021 I will have had my second COVID-19 vaccine shot, so I will be more at ease. I will still follow all safety protocols like wearing a mask, maintaining my distance and washing my hands and wiping surfaces down religiously.

This sketch is from the class to demonstrate using thumbnail drawings to move an audience through a space. All classes have been held outdoors unless the weather keeps us inside. The primary point of the class is to get the students used to carrying a sketchbook everywhere they go and to fill it with simple daily direct observations.

I tend to seek out gatherings of people to include in my sketches and that has been put on hold for well over a year now. As the state opens to a new normal I am slowly venturing out with my sketchbook. In a week I will be sketching the Shakes performance of A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream at the Lake Eola Bandshell. When I first moved to Orlando I remember seeing a Shakespeare production at the bandshell. I am thankful that the Shakes if finding a way to keep theater alive through the pandemic.

The spring Crealde Urban Sketching Class was canceled since there was not enough interest among artists in sketching the world as it exists during the pandemic.

The Florida Pit

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You Tube had to remove a video posted by Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis that had misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis. The video was a recording was of a March 18, 2021 roundtable discussion on public health featuring a panel of physicians who appeared to be hand-picked because their views aligned with DeSantis’ handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Among them was Dr. Scott Atlas, a radiologist with no experience as an epidemiologist or public health expert, who was a pandemic adviser to former President Donald Trump. He had to resign from the administration. His tenure had been mired in controversy.

Also on the panel were Dr. Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, Dr. Sunetra Gupta of Oxford University and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, of Stanford Medical School — all of whom have been critical of lockdowns and certain other measures amid the pandemic. It should noted that during the rise of the Nazi party in Germany, doctors and nurses were happy to murder patients for the fatherland.

DeSantis asked panelists whether children needed to wear face masks in school. They contradicted the findings of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). YouTube pointed to those comments as example of content that violated its standards about “COVID-19 medical misinformation.” (CDC) recommends that children ages 2 and older wear a mask when in public and when around people they don’t live with.

Florida leads the country in the number of COVID variants. Florida has double the number of variants as the number two state Michigan. The state’s openness and tourism could be contributing factors on top of the Governor’s arrogant stupidity. A report this week from the National Institutes of Health called the B.1.1.7 variant “considerably more contagious than the original virus” and said “emerging evidence indicates that infection with this B.1.1.7 variant also comes with an increased risk of severe illness and death.” Florida also has the P.1 variant first detected in Brazil and the B.1.351 variant initially identified in South Africa. Research has now shown that the South African variant can infect people who have had the Pfizer vaccine.

People continue to arrive in Central Florida’s theme parks and other statewide tourist destinations from all over the country, which means that if the variant emerges elsewhere, they are more likely to bring it into the state. Also if people become infected while letting their guard down in Florida they can then bring the virus back to their home state. Orange County Florida, health officials provide twice-per-week updates on the county’s number of variant cases, which continues to grow. On April 1, 2021 the health officials reported 105 variant cases, up from 80 cases in the county on March 29, 2021. Cases are rising in younger adults. It should be noted that variants are very under reported.

Thanks to the Governor, Florida remains the nations top breading ground for the spread of the virus and its variants. A total of 2,118,713 Florida residents have tested positive for the virus since the pandemic began. On April 9, 2021, 6,906 new COVID-19 cases were reported with 50 deaths. As of April 10, 2021 there have been 34,676 deaths in the state related to the virus.

 

2021 A COVID Odyssey

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A virus anywhere in the world is a virus everywhere in the world. Wealthy nations of the world are hoarding vaccines. This has been referred to as Vaccine Nationalism or Vaccine Apartheid.

Astra Zeneca/Oxford, Pfeizer/BionTech, and Moderna said that together they will produce 5.3 billion doses of vaccine in 2021. That is enough for 3 billion people, over 1/3 of the global population.

The majority of those doses have already been set aside.  The European Union, America, Canada, Japan, and England have already pre-ordered half those doses. Canada had 9 doses for every one of its residents and the US has ordered just over 7 doses per person. These countries only account for 13% of the global population. For poorer countries there will not be much to go around. Most people in poor countries will have to wait until 2023.

There are dangers to Vaccine Nationalism. Granted rich countries will have the first access, and will begin to recover from the pandemic and economically, but the poor countries will have to wait. The virus does not respect boarders. No wall will keep it out. Counties believing they are safe while the virus rages in poor countries are very foolish. It does not work. Global economies are based on open commerce and travel. COVID-19 loves to travel. Every plane flight can ignite an outbreak anywhere in the world.

Drug patents will result in hundreds of thousands of deaths for poorer nations. South Africa and India hoped to have patents suspended for the duration of the pandemic so cheap generic vaccines could be mass manufactured for poorer countries. The motion was overruled by wealthy nations. Multinational drug companies are very effective at lobbying governments. Patents bring huge profits to the drug companies and allow then to control the prices. However these companies received billions of dollars in public funds for research and development. Profit, or death in poorer nations? The answer is easy for the richer countries. The South African variant of the virus is infecting people who have had the Pfeizer vaccine. The virus is mutating and spreading from poor countries and America is the perfect petri dish.

President Joe Biden said, “We’re going to start off and ensure Americans are taken care of first, but we’re then going to try to help the rest of the world.” He said it was clear that the pandemic would not be over until it was ended everywhere. “We’re not going to be ultimately safe, until the world is safe,” he said.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

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This is the first live theater I have documented in more than a year in my sketchbook. When I first moved to Orlando over 20 years ago, I went to a performance by the Shakes at the Lake Eola Bandshell. Because the the pandemic they have returned to bring live theater to the bandshell.

Across thee street a bar was blasting it music since it was Friday night but thankfully when the show began they turned the music down.

The crowd around the box office was a bit unnerving, but then I was shown that there were markers on the pavement to allow 6 feet of distance while waiting in line. Every other row of the seating was blocked off with yellow ribbons and seating blocks were separated by ribbons as well to maintaining social distancing.

A woman with purple hair had a band aid on her shoulder indicating she had just gotten her vaccine shot. Several other woman wore flower garlands in their hair and bright spring dresses. There was hope in the air. I was exited to finally experience live theater again.

William Shakespeare‘s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is well suited for an outdoor performance. The columns on stage opened up to showcase forest greenery illumined by strings of lights. Unrequited love was turned on it’s head with love potions which resulted in one woman falling in love with an ass. By ass, I don’t mean a Florida Man, but a donkey. The central moon remained illuminated throughout and the forest was at times mysterious and at others joyous thanks to the lighting design. I had considered a tablet to capture the lighting but decided screen glow might be a distraction. I needn’t have worried since there was no one nearby.

Overall it was a fun evening with laughter and caricatured socially distanced acting. When characters were meant to hug, they did it from at least six feet apart. Actors always wore their masks except when they were on stage and they all were tested for COVID-19 three times a week. In return the audience wore masks as well. I admired how well the Shakes promoted social distancing. It was an absolute joy to be in an audience again. The evening signified that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel.

In NYC pop up performances have started outdoors as well. In NYC, The Shakespeare in the Park Stage will feature a free production of Merry Wives, which will run for 8-weeks, starting on July 5, 2021. Adapted from The Merry Wives of Windsor. Tickets for Broadway shows are available for performances in the fall.

These arts revivals will help pull people together, connect people to themselves, and to each other. With vaccines in arms, the arts are also helping the community heal. I felt my lines and washes were documenting a monumental return to a new normal. This too shall pass.

One Third Develop Neurological Disorders

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In an Oxford University study of more than 230,000 mostly American patients, one in three COVID-19 survivors were diagnosed with a brain or psychiatric disorder within six months.

Researchers who conducted the analysis said it was not clear how the virus was linked to psychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, but that these were the most common diagnoses among the 14 disorders they looked at.

The study published in Lancet Psychiatry Journal, found that anxiety, at 17%, and mood disorders, at 14%, were the most common, disorders, and did not appear to be related to how mild or severe the patient’s COVID-19 infection had been.

Among those who had been admitted to intensive care with severe COVID-19 however, 7% had a stroke within six months, and almost 2% were diagnosed with dementia. And while the neurological effects are more severe in hospitalized patients, they are still common in those who were only treated in an outpatient setting, the researchers note. “This is a very important paper. It confirms beyond any reasonable doubt that COVID-19 affects both brain and mind in equal measure,” said Simon Wessely, chair of psychiatry at King’s College London.