China Wave

Posted on by Thor

China’s Zero COVID policy has crumbled after protests in the streets over what the American media called a draconian policy. The same people who considered the zero COVID policy as heavy handed are now gleefully pointing out that millions will become infected once that policy was reversed. China is going to far as to insist that people go to work even if they know they are infected.

I for one was happy to see China trying to do something about the pandemic. However Omicron is so infectious that a zero COVID policy was impossible to enforce. Up until the Zero COVID policy reversal, China saw few infections since the initial outbreak in Wuhan. The Chinese New Year was a massively effective way that the virus spread in the first weeks of the pandemic. Chinese workers would travel far to be with family for the new year celebrations.The same mass exodus is about to happen now that the virus is spreading rapidly in the vaccinated and population. The Chinese New Year celebrations are on January 22, 2022, it will be a super spreader event.

Spiraling infections in China have led to shortages of cold medicine, long lines at fever clinics, and at-capacity emergency rooms turning away patients. China has stopped genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.The danger is a new variant of the virus developing.

America has decided that it needs to insist that any person flying from China must test negative for COVID. Italy has also decided to test all passengers coming in from China. On a recent flight into Italy half of the passengers tested positive for COVID-19. The virus does not respect borders or walls. Had flight been stopped in the first week of the pandemic then the virus might have been contained, but that opportunity has long passed. Around 9,000 people in China are probably dying each day from COVID-19, UK-based health data firm Airfinity said on December 29, 2022.

If there is a new variant coming in from China it will have free reign to spread in America in a few weeks. No border wall will stop it.

COVID Abducts Santa

Posted on by Thor

Hospitals are on high alert after the Christmas anticipating a surge of COVID infections associated with holiday gatherings. Flu cases seem to have peaked in the United States, but COVID cases are on the rise. The Omicron variant is still responsible for the new surge in cases.

The advise given is that everyone should test for COVID prior to any gatherings. The White House has warned that the pandemic is far from over, and people should take precautions. The White house response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha stressed that the stakes are even higher since we now face a trio of threats, COVID, Flu and RSV.   Americans however prefer politics over personal protection or caring about others.

A new study had found that children are the primary spreaders of the virus. While children were being protected at home skeptics claimed that children could not get COVID and they were too small to spread the disease. SO children were sent back to cramped classrooms to infect one another and then their parents. Both asymptomatic and symptomatic children carry high levels of the virus and they can spread it. Children are infectious and no one is trying to protect them. These same children are then taken to sit in a strangers lap, namely Santa so that he might breath in their face and they in his.

Children act as reservoirs for the virus and new variants. The viral load in children is the same as the viral load in adults. There is no difference. Exactly how many children are being infected is unknown since wide spread testing has been dismantled. Masking is effective for children and adults in stopping the spread of the virus.

COVID 19 related pediatric emergency room visits have risen every year of the pandemic. One fifth of all pediatric deaths occurred during the Omicon surge of the virus.

“It’s no longer fair even to insinuate that Covid doesn’t affect children, that Covid deaths are only in unhealthy children or kids with risk factors. That’s just not true, by the data.” said Jason Kane, a pediatrician and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Chicago Comer children’s hospital. Allowing your children to become infected is not the way to protect them from this deadly virus.

 

 

Maskless

Posted on by Thor

During the pandemic, I hold most of my Crealde Urban Sketching classes outdoors. These sketches were done on the back patio of the studio. I would always demonstrate how to work fast, so these sketches were done in 5 minutes each. I demonstrate how to use every tool in the toolbox, including quick watercolor washes, to block in a sketch. To this day I am always mask when I teach students.

Students on the other hand have a choice at this stage of the pandemic, and many choose to go maskless when outdoors. I miss the masked days. It is impossible to draw a nose too large when you sketch a mask instead. It makes drawing faces so much easier. I however tend not to approach a student unless they mask up while I offer advice. So far this approach has worked since to the best of my knowledge I have not been infected.

I continue to sacrifice holiday gatherings and social events,which used to be what I sketched every day prior to the pandemic. I remain in a holding pattern, waiting to see what this year’s winter surge will look like. On the other hand, after 3 years of the pandemic it is becoming tiring to document the everyday horrors and ineptitude of the public response to this ongoing health crisis. As the proverbial artist canary in the coal mine I realize that people are happy to ignore the virus even though it continues to kill over 300 people a day.

Corpses Carry COVID

Posted on by Thor

Since the beginning of the pandemic, people have suspected that corpses carry COVID. Now there is a study that verifies this. A corps is infectious up to 17 days after death according to a study published in the International Journal of Legal Medicine. The study shows that a corpse can carry a significant amount of the virus. They found that dead hamsters can transmit the virus to cage mates.

Researchers found that six of the 11 corpses they tested had high amounts of virus in their noses and lungs after they died. Researchers found the most virus in the lungs, as opposed to the upper respiratory tract, and said gases that build up after death can be released through any orifice, including the mouth, and may carry disease.

Embalming can help prevent transmission, as will the Japanese practice of “angel care,” which is plugging the mouth, nose, ears, and anus with cotton pads.

Those who are most at risk are morticians and health care workers. If you are at a funeral, you should be cautious around your loved one’s remains. Of course you are much more likely to become infected from friends and relatives at a funeral rather than a corpse. You should take the usual precautions at a funeral, wear a quality and well fitted kn95 or n95 mask indoors. If there is poor ventilation indoors then step outside for air. Social distance, and wash your hands often.

New Year 2023

Posted on by Thor

Complacency settled in by the end of 2022 as people yearned for some semblance of pre pandemic normalcy. The Unites States dropped all forms of control measures. Masks were stripped off and people gathered in large groups once more. The virus is now free to board any plane and spread around the world.

The virus began in China and now it is ripping though that country once again. Research models are predicting on million deaths in China over the course of the new year. China is not a highly vaccinated country, so the population has no immunity to fight infection.

Like the waves crashing against the shore the COVID waves have continued ceaselessly over the past three years. Rather than diminishing in side they remain large and overwhelming to the world population. Over 400 people continue to die every day in America from COVID with the average rising %15 from last week. That is like 4 plane crashes every day will everyone on board dying.

In 2023 new variants of the virus will continue to emerge. Many countries around the worlds only have 25% of their population vaccinated. That is not enough to stop the continued spread. What happens in China will happen another nations in the following weeks.

Just as most of the population have surrendered to the virus and are ignorantly wishing it away. The health care professionals are abandoning hope and getting out of the profession. So what lies ahead in 2023? More of the same I am afraid, until people and governments get their heads out of the sand and promote simple health guidelines. Improve indoor air filtration, mask indoors, social distance and wash hands. It is all so simple yet politics got in the way of people caring about one another.

Hazmat Santa

Posted on by Thor

Try and spread holiday cheer and not COVID this season. Santa is an elder and thus more susceptible to severe complications from an infection. Don’t sent Santa to the ICU. Wash your hands, social distance, and wear a quality n95 mask when indoors. Consider thinking about someone other than yourself this holiday season. By protecting other you are protecting holiday traditions.

The media has been talking of the tripledemic hitting this winter. Flu hit earlier than usual this holiday season and RSV has been sending plenty of children to hospitals instead of Santa’s lap. Then on top of it all the COVID pandemic is not over. I know many people have chosen to ignore the fact that over 400 people are still dying every day so that they can back to “life as normal.” Pandemic fatigue is real. Many cope by burying their heads in the sand or snow.

People are getting infected multiple times and the misguided hope was that they would build immunity. However each new infection gets worse. It turns out COVID destroys T Cells needed for immunity. People are suddenly more susceptible to flu and RSV infections that put them in the hospital. COVID is more like aids than a common cold. Convincing people that getting infected is the best way to battle the virus was stupid and criminal.

If you caught the  original strain of COVID you might infect 2 other people. With Alpha you might infect 3 other people. With Delta you might infect 5 other people. With Omicron you might infect 9 other people. Some claim that with BA.5, the variant circulating right now, you could infect 18 other people. That would make COVID more contagious than the measles. Rather than settling into a predictable endemic pattern, the virus is becoming insanely more infectious. 601 Americans died of COVID on December 22, 2022. 2,852 Americans died from COVID in the past 7 days.

The steps to protect yourself and your family are simple, wash hands, get vaccinated, wear a mask and be thinking about ventilation. Have everyone in your  family test for COVID if you plan to get together. Think for yourself and avoid infecting others.

Crealde Classroom Pandemic Sketch

Posted on by Thor

In my Crealde Urban Sketching course we tend to take one class to sketch fellow students as they work. I do quick 5 minute sketches to demonstrate how to position a figure on the page.  This particular sketch seems to be a sketch on top pf a sketch. I forget what I was demonstrating with the rough grid pattern. I was probably stressing how to avoid lining everything up on a grid and avoid horizontal and vertical lines.

Most classes are outside exploring the campus with our sketchbooks. I do this because it keeps my students safer during the pandemic. I was advised to offer an advanced urban sketching course but not enough students signed up so it was scrapped. No artist thinks of themselves as intermediate or advanced. Heck every one on my sketches is a series of mistakes.

The next series of Crealde Urban Sketching classes is starting up January 20, 2022. We meet on Sundays from 9:30am to 12:30pm.

Animal Reservoirs

Posted on by admin

Some have theorized that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was circulating widely in populations of mice before it found its way back into human hosts. That would explain why the variant was so completely different that the previous variants of COVID. It came out of left field, unrelated to strains of the virus that had been mutating in the human population.

Humans as a rule tend to think of themselves as the center of the universe. They are however only a fraction of the life on the planet. Scientists have known for a long time that animals can catch COVID-19. However research has been scant as to exactly which animals have contracted the virus and more importantly how often animals have passed the virus back to humans.

Undoubtedly people have passed the virus to their pets as they become infected multiple times. COVID may have infected over 500 other mammal species. Humans have become complacent about the virus spreading from human to human so of course there is little concern about the virus spreading among animals. The only problem is that the virus tends to mutate differently in other mammals. COVID is not a human virus it is a virus that attacks many species. Mutants of the virus could become more transmissible but no one knows it that has happened.

17 million mink were murdered in Finland in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. China began killing pet store hamsters in another effort stop the spread. It is fascinating how murder is often considered the best solution to a public health issue. Animals who get the virus are often asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. That is another reason people seem blissfully ignorant of this issue.

White tailed deer in America have been rather susceptible to the scourge of the virus. Since hunters wander the woods to kill the deer they might be the ones spreading the disease to the deer population. Researchers test some of the deer killed and an amazing number are infected. Of 481 deer tested, 30% were infected. Another surprise is the the variants found are different that those circulating among humans. One bit of advice to hunters is that they should not eat the brains of their kill.

Sars Ani-Vis has built a site that shows the animal species that are becoming infected and where they are found. The deer population in America has the largest number of documented cases followed by dogs and cats. The numbers however are very small compared to the millions of humans that have died from COVID-19. Not many researchers are following this lead. There is probably not much money in knowing animals are getting infected.

COVID Bauble

Posted on by Thor

A bauble is a small, showy trinket or decoration. COVID is so tiny it can not be seen and therefor it is easy to ignore until someone in your family dies. China which had a zero COVID policy has decided to follow the lead of the United States and ignore that the virus ever existed. The reason the China zero COVID policy could not work was because countries like the United States let the virus rip through the country with little to no mitigation. America has had over 1.1 million deaths from COVID. Omicron was supposed to be milder, but with so many more people infected, more people died during the Omicron surge than any other surge.

Now China is facing the possibility of millions of deaths. The government did a complete 180. A week ago they spoke of the virus an an enemy that had to be defeated at any cost. Now they are encouraging citizens to go to work even if they are infected. The official death count from the Chinese government was 5 on Tuesday December 20, 2022. China now only counts those who die from respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia as an official COVID death. The actual count is of course much higher.

Crematoriums in cities across China are straining to deal with an influx of bodies amid a widening COVID-19 outbreak, as authorities scramble to install hospital beds and build fever-screening clinics.

In the capital, Beijing, security guards were seen patrolling the entrance of a designated COVID-19 crematorium, where more than a dozen vehicles were waiting to enter.

Crealde Pandemic Study

Posted on by Thor

With my Crealde Urban sketching class, we focus in one class on sketching fellow students. I only give 5 minutes for these studies.Much of the class is on getting something on the page other than just the figure. I used the classroom tables as a way to frame the composition. I always stress to use foreground elements to point into the picture.