Texas Governor Abbot Tests Positive

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On August 17, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbot who has been fighting mask mandates in his state tested positive for COVID-19. Abbot was vaccinated for the virus and he is asymptomatic. The day before he tested positive he was a t a large mask less fundraiser event where he could spread the virus to anyone in the room. I would wonder how many people in the room were unvaccinated and therefor could have a much worse outcome if they were infected by the governor. In particular I have to wonder how the young woman is doing who leaned in close to the Governor to have her photo taken with him on a video.

The Governor is getting Regeneron‘s monoclonal antibody treatment. The first lady, Cecilia Abbott, tested negative. The COVID-19 pandemic is ripping through Texas again, with daily new cases and hospitalizations reaching levels not seen since the last wave in January. Julián Castro, the former presidential candidate, U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, tweeted, “Governor Abbott has put his own Republican primary politics before the public health since day one,” He followed with, “I hope he recovers quickly. I also hope he will act more responsibly on behalf of Texas children and families.”

Four days after the positive test, Abbot tested negative for COVID-19. The governor credited his vaccination for keeping his infection “brief and mild” and encouraged others to consider getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

 

Unvaccinated

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Dr. Fauci said, that with 90 million Americans still not vaccinated, and even the vaccinated passing the virus to others, an alarming fact has arisen: You could unwittingly pass the COVID Delta variant on to an unvaccinated kid. Because more and more of them are getting sick.

The fact is however that many Americans could not give a damn about anyone but themselves. The days of personal sacrifice for the greater good of the country are long gone. All that remains seems to be a bullying mob mentality. Alexander the Great said, “Upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all.”

The nightmare of the former presidents mishandling of the pandemic did not end when he was voted out of office. Others hoping to fill his shoes follow his lead by listening to rumors instead of science based fact. America has developed a Neo Fascist Death Cult. Governors in Texas and Florida are literally blocking basic safety measures. Their anti mask mandate stances sicken school children in the name of parental freedom. People are willingly choosing to die and then begging for the vaccine when it is too late. Vaccines are free and readily available to all who want them.

The threat of home grown domestic terrorism continues to grow. The failure of the January 6 insurrection and the realization that the former president will not be reinstated as president is causing confusion and anger among the Q Anon fueled insane. The one thing they can do is to refuse to get vaccinated to assert their power and sense of freedom.

A new poll from the Economist and YouGov shows that some 30 percent of Republicans actually believe that the government put microchips inside the coronavirus vaccines to presumably track and otherwise control the American people.

Due to the Delta variant, the U.S. is now averaging 100,000 new COVID-19 infections a day, returning to a milestone last seen during the winter surge. The Delta wave may the the worst so far.

As the situation grows more dire, conservatives continue to sow disinformation along with mockery and distrust of proven methods of combating the disease, from masks to vaccines to social distancing. It is easy to see the results as their states become cesspools of disease and death. The world is in a free fall. Protect yourselves, this is far from over.

Vaccine Inequality

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How many people in the world could be vaccinated? Enough vaccine doses have been purchased to cover more than 80% of the adult population of the world, high-income countries own enough doses to vaccinate more than twice their populations while low and middle income countries can only cover one-third of their population.

In the United States about half of the country has not been vaccinated. Vaccines are free and readily available but they are being turned down by skeptics and anti-vaxers.

A month ago, a joint statement by the CDC and FDA had said that fully vaccinated Americans did not need a booster dose. Vaccine efficacy against symptomatic infections wanes over time, but the protection they offer against hospitalizations continues to remain high.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden announced that a third booster dose of the vaccine will be available to people 8 months after their last dose. That means I will be eligible for a third dose this coming December 2021.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that third doses of the vaccines should not be administered. The WHO called on countries with high vaccination rates to donate surplus vaccines to poorer countries rather than administering third doses. The reasoning is that the pandemic will not end until the entire world is vaccinated. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO) had called a moratorium on booster doses at least till the end of September 2021. “We’re planning to hand out extra life jackets to people who already have life jackets, while we’re leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket,” WHO’s emergency director Mike Ryan told reporters on Aug. 18, 2021. A COVID infection anywhere is a COVID infection everywhere.

Slaughter House

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Florida is the epicenter of the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. School boards in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Hillsborough counties voted on August 18, 2021 to join Broward and Alachua in requiring students to wear facial coverings unless they get a doctor’s note. Orange County still allows an easy parental opt-out, but essentially four of Florida’s five largest districts are now defying Governor Ron DeathSantis’ ban on strict mask mandates.

The state board on August 17, 2021 voted to “investigate” the actions of Alachua and Broward school officials. The board could pursue financial and other penalties against school officials who require face mask mandates to keep children safe, even floating the idea of removing them from office.

Children under the age of 12 who can not yet get vaccinated are quite good at transmitting the virus. The highly contagious delta variant makes it absolutely necessary to wear masks indoors and avoid large group gatherings, so if unprotected students sit for hours in classrooms every day, it could rapidly spread infection in the community at large.

On August 18, 2021, President Joe Biden said his administration is prepared to take possible legal action against governors who try to prevent local school officials from imposing universal mask mandates, throwing yet another wrench into Governir Ron DeathSantis’ plans to sanction Florida school districts that require students to wear masks. “We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” Biden said at the news conference. “If a governor wants to cut the pay of a hard-working education leader who requires masks in the classroom, the money from the American Rescue Plan can be used to pay that person’s salary,” Biden said. “One hundred percent.”

“Some politicians are trying to turn public safety measures — that is, children wearing masks in school — into political disputes for their own political gain,” Biden said. “Some are even trying to take power away from local educators. They’re setting a dangerous tone.”

 

Someone Died In My Bed!

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Roughly 1800 kids were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the US last week, a 500% increase in the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations for children since early July, according to data from the CDC. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said “If your child needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have COVID and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one.” He said “Your child will wait for another child to die before getting one.”

Emerging data from a large study in Canada suggest that children who test positive for COVID-19 during the Delta wave may be more than twice as likely to be hospitalized as they were when previous versions of the virus were dominating transmission. The new data support what many pediatric infectious disease experts say they’ve been seeing—younger kids with more serious symptoms.

Children under 12 still have no access to a vaccine, so they are facing increased exposure to a germ that’s become more dangerous with little protection, especially in schools where masks as a faint suggestion rather than a much needed mandate. Florida Children’s Hospitals are overwhelmed. Florida education officials who are trying to protect the children with mask mandates are having their jobs threatened by Florida Governor Ron DeathSantis. Florida’s Orange County Public Schools said it would require students to wear masks, except pupils whose parents opt them out with a signed note. Employees, visitors, volunteers and parents also will be required to wear masks, the district said. The CDC recommends that everyone – students, teachers, staff and visitors – wear masks in schools.

8,400 Tampa Florida area students and faculty are in quarantine after being exposed to the virus after just one week of school. An emergency school board meeting will be held the evening of August 18, 2021 to discuss the spread of the virus and take up the issue of mandatory mask wearing in schools. If approved, that could put the school district directly at odds with DeathSantis. Schools in Atlanta, Georgia reported over 4,000 COVID cases in just two weeks. Ten districts in that metro area have already suspended in-person learning.

Over 50 children are being hospitalized with COVID every single day in Florida. The state now leads the U.S. in new COVID-19 infections and has the highest rate of hospitalizations among children in the nation.

Infectious Children

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A study has found that younger children are more likely to spread COVID-19 in a family setting compared with older children. Specifically, children 3 or younger were more likely to spread the virus to household members compared with those aged 14 to 17.

The study, published in JAMA, analyzed public health data from Ontario, Canada, to identify COVID clusters in which a child was the primary case within households.

Earlier in the pandemic, some scientists suggested the risk of transmission declined with younger children. But this assumption was likely skewed by the fact that lockdowns and social distancing meant young children had very few social encounters.

The study involved 6,280 households with COVID-19 index patients 17 years and younger from Jun 1 to Dec 31, 2020, prior to the emergence of the Delta Variant, so more research is needed to understand transmission risk in the context of the variant. The study also took place prior to vaccines being available, meaning all household members were unvaccinated.

Babies and toddlers are probably more likely to spread disease to parents and caregivers because they are cared for directly, in close contact. “The 0-to-3-year-old child is held differently, is cuddled,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The risk of death and severe illness is still much lower in younger children compared with older children and adults. The best line of defense against further spread of the virus is for the parents of the child to both be vaccinated.

This study reinforces the importance of existing mitigation strategies at childcare facilities and schools, including distancing, good ventilation, frequent cleaning and masking whenever possible. t also reinforces the importance of all eligible people over 12, especially those around young children, getting vaccinated.

Anti-Vaccine Archbishop

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Former Saint Louis, Missouri Archbishop Raymond L. Burke was a vaccine skeptic. He was placed on a ventilator days after being diagnosed with COVID-19. A message from his team asked that supporters “pray the Rosary for him.” He tested positive on August 11, 2021.

Whether Burke has been vaccinated is unknown, but he spoke out against vaccine mandates at the May 2020 Rome Life Forum, saying “vaccination itself cannot be imposed, in a totalitarian manner, on citizens.” He’s also quoted theories that the vaccine contains “microchips” used to control citizens. In the same address, he reportedly argued that the church had not insisted enough on continuing in-person services during the coronavirus pandemic.

He said that the virus is being used by certain forces to bring about a “Great Reset” in which they will bring about a “new normal” through imposition of complete control over people through manipulation and fear. Burke called for prayer and penance to combat the Great Reset.

He also added, “It must be clear that it is never morally justified to develop a vaccine through the use of the cell lines of aborted fetuses.” COVID-19 vaccines do not contain any aborted fetal cells. However, Pfizer and Moderna did perform confirmation tests (to ensure the vaccines work) using fetal cell lines. Fetal cell lines are not the same as fetal tissue. Fetal cell lines are cells that re grown in a laboratory. They descend from cells taken from elective abortions in the 1970s and 1980s. Current fetal cell lines are thousands of generations removed from the original fetal tissue. They do not contain any tissue from a fetus.

For those curious about the visual reference in my painting, the sword is a reference to the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket. Thomas was a long time friend of King Henry II who appointed Thomas as the Archbishop. Thomas then turned on the king when ecclesiastical interests ran contrary to royal interests. Henry II grew so exasperated by Thomas Becket that one day, in public, he asked of no one in particular, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” The question was meant to be rhetorical, but four of his knights took the question literally. They traveled to Canterbury and they murdered Thomas Becket in the cathedral, on December 29, 1170.

Duck Tape Fixes Anything

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Today, August 15, 2021 the risk assessment map of the United States turned completely blood red. I haven’t seen that since January 10, 2021. We are clearly now in the worst of the Delta Wave.

Through the worst of the pandemic airlines continue to fly passengers all across the country and around the world where they can spared the virus. Only California, Kansas and Hawaii have some restrictions. Most airlines require all passengers over the age of two to wear a face mask.

One in five flight attendants report having witnessed physical incidents involving passengers this year, sometimes violent, often over face mask rules.

One entitled, apparently drunk prick groped several female flight attendants. He then was seen on video throwing punches at a third attendant while cursing at the op of his lungs. That attendant had to duck tape the passenger to his seat. The prick kept screaming that his parents were worth over 2 million dollars and everyone would be sorry. Finally the attendant had to duck tape the passengers mouth closed although the tape did not hold.

Finally duck tape has been used in the fight against COVID-19. There have been over 3,700 incidents of unruly passengers.  Much of the contentious violence is caused by the the last president who made wearing masks a political issue. Conservatives feel that not wearing a mask makes them patriotic rather that proving they are a selfish asshole. Disputes over masks account for over 75% of unruly passenger complaints. Personally I would feel better knowing every flight attendant had a roll of duck tape and zip ties hanging from their belt on every flight. Rather than demonstrating how to use a seat belt they could demonstrate how to restrain with the tape.

27 Test Positive on Carnival Cruise Ship

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The Carnival Vista departed from Galveston, Texas headed to Belize. 26 crew members and one passenger tested positive for COVID-19.

All 27 were vaccinated, had mild or no symptoms, and were in isolation, according a statement from the Belize Tourism Board. The tourism board said 99.98% of the ship’s crew was vaccinated, as well as 96.5% of its passengers. So who were the 3.5 passengers who were not vaccinated?

Carnival announced last week that there were positive cases on board, but the cruise line did not not give specific numbers. Cruise ships are often settings for disease outbreaks because of their closed environment and close contact between travelers from many countries, according to the CDC.

At the beginning of the pandemic the Diamond Princess was quarantined off Japan. Of the 3711 people onboard, around 700 were eventually infected with the virus (567 out of 2,666 passengers and 145 out of 1,045 crew) and 9 people, all of them passengers, died. Quarantine on a cruise ship is dangerous, because the cruise ship does not use HEPA filters which can effectively screen 99 percent of the particles. Airborne transmission likely accounted for over 50% of disease transmission on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which includes inhalation of aerosols during close contact as well as longer range. The CDC issued an advisory to avoid traveling on Cruise ships. The cruising industry came to a screeching halt in mid March of 2020.

The CDC’s no-sail order to expired on October 31, 2020. Cruise lines, including Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Carnival began November 2020 by announcing they would cancel North American sailings through December 31, 2020. With the advent of the vaccines, there was hope that 2021 would see the return of care free cruising. No one was prepared for the Delta variant. The cruising industry has to choose between passenger safety or profit and of course profit always wins.

You Chose This

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Disney said on August 2, 2021 that its parks, experiences and products division returned to profitability for the first time since the pandemic began.

The highly contagious Delta variant has caused a resurgence in the COVID-19 virus in recent weeks, particularly in Central Florida where Disney World is located. On July 28, 2021, Orange County mayor Jerry Demings proclaimed a sate of emergency.

Disney World  eased restrictions in April 2021, which led to a boost in attendance. While guest capacity hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, it improved as mask mandates were loosened during the quarter.

Disney World plans to continue to re-open and increase capacity despite the threat of the Delta variant. Large convention groups are canceling, however people still flock to the parks.

The company reintroduced mask requirements for all indoor spaces, including attractions and merchandise locations, and on all forms of Disney transportation. Guests can still remain mask-free in outdoor areas, or, if indoors, while actively eating or drinking at a restaurant or other designated dining locations. Social distancing markers have not being returned and fireworks displays continue which attract dense crowds.

Revenue at Disney’s parks, experiences and products segment jumped 307.6% to $4.3 billion, up from $1.06 billion during the same period last year. The great thing for the company is that if guests contract the virus in their theme park, the symptoms do not show for 14 days which means the guest likely brought the virus home to share with friends and family. The Delta variant however has a shorter incubation period, 3 to 4 days, instead of 5 to 6 days and it has higher viral loads. Meaning that people are more infections faster and can spread the virus among other guests at the parks. It is impossible to prove the virus was picked up in the park. It just as well could have been contracted on a plane or restaurant. Deniability equals profitability.

Disney’s Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek said, “In terms of the Delta variant, we see strong demand for our parks continuing.“ Disney World will be celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, so it is importent to the company to keep increasing the capacity in the park. Should some guests die that is a small price to pay for growing profits.