57 thoughts on “Pandemic Surging”

  1. ’til it’s over

     

    as the lyrics go: We don’t call the shots here We don’t make the rules We take what we get, get what we can And it’s learning the hard way…

  3. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/564470-florida-reports-highest-daily-covid-19-cases-since-january
    and this
    https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-19-florida-accounts-nearly-quarter-of-all-new-cases-2021-7

    Florida is reporting its most coronavirus cases since January, with the state accounting for nearly a quarter of all positive tests in the US reported on Wednesday.

    Nationally, more than 55,000 people on Wednesday were confirmed to have COVID-19. More than 12,600 of those cases were in Florida, or 22.9% of the national tally, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past seven days, an average of 8,911 people a day have tested positive in the state, or just over 22% of all cases identified in the US.

  4. remember that old tourist ad & motto?  

    “florida, the rules are different here” still applies evidently

  6. I think that Marlette could focus that cartoon on DeSantis by changing it to “Governor DeSantis Welcomes You to Florida Where It’s Not the HEAT, It’s the STUPIDITY.”

  7. @Ellen Barkin

    Eric Clapton is an asshole

    Quote Tweet

    Eric Clapton refuses to play venues that require proof of vaccination https://

  9. If only folks had taken this seriously 18 months ago. If only folks would’ve worn masks when it was necessary to go out, but most have stayed home. If only people would’ve gotten vaccinated as soon as it became available. If only, folks. If only. If.

    Ah, but here we are. How will history, if there’s anyone around, remember Americans during this pandemic?

    Meanwhile, our governor has told Texans we don’t need masks nor a vaccine passport. Go where you will, unencumbered by common sense or common decency toward your fellow humans. Greg has more important things in his plate.

    Gov. Greg Abbott promised “transparency and accountability” for border wall donations. But donors don’t have to use real names.

    “Despite promises from Abbott that transparency in the crowdfunding process for the border wall would be paramount, donor information released to The Texas Tribune for the first week of collections was bereft of any way to verify the identities of the majority of the donors. “

  10. Of interest to me is the locals are probably around forty percent mask wearing when out and about, including shopping at the local grocery.  This is in a very deep area of Virginia where SFB-Bobblehead signs are still all over the place. More than a handful of the denizens are awaiting the August coming of the former guy. 

  13. “How will history, if there’s anyone around, remember Americans during this pandemic?”

    BiD, just about the same as they remembered what americans did in the 1918 pandemic 

    See the source image

     

    this was written this past october, 10/7/2020 to be exact

    How did the 1918 Flu Pandemic End? Lessons for COVID-19 | Time

    That pandemic was the deadliest in the 20th century; it infected about 500 million people and killed at least 50 million, including 675,000 in the United States. And, while scientific knowledge of viruses and vaccine development has advanced significantly since then, the uncertainty felt around the world today would have been familiar a century ago.
    Even after that virus died out, it would be years before scientists better understood what happened, and some mystery still remains. Here’s what we do know: in order for a pandemic to end, the disease in question has to reach a point at which it is unable to successfully find enough hosts to catch it and then spread it.
    In the case of the 1918 pandemic, the world at first believed that the spread had been stopped by the spring of 1919, but it spiked again in early 1920…..
    […]
    The end of the 1918 pandemic wasn’t, however, just the result of so many people catching it that immunity became widespread. Social distancingwas also key. Public health advice on curbing the spread of the virus was eerily similar to that of today: citizens were encouraged to stay healthy through campaigns promoting mask-wearing, frequent hand-washing, quarantining and isolating of patients, and the closure of schools, public spaces and non-essential businesses—all steps designed to cut off routes for the virus’ spread.
    In fact, a study that Markel and Navarro co-authored, published in the Journal of the American Medical Associationin 2007, found that U.S. cities that implemented more than one of these aforementioned control measures earlier and kept them in place longer had better, less deadly outcomes than cities that implemented fewer of these control measures and did not do so until later.
    [continues]

     

    in other words we did NOT learn a thing and are well on our way to exceed the number of deaths in that other pandemic.  as the old song goes “when will they ever learn….”

  15. …and in other news,  The natural gas boom in WV ain’t what it was thought to be.  From the Charleston Gazette-Mail:

    Appalachia’s natural gas boom turned out to be an economic bust that local and state officials can rebound from if they embrace the rising clean energy economy.

    That’s the bottom line of two bottom-line-focused reports released Tuesday by nonprofit think tank Ohio River Valley Institute making an economic case for transitioning away from fossil fuels, especially natural gas development that has failed to convert production into prosperity.

    “We know that the Appalachian natural gas boom hasn’t just failed to deliver growth and jobs and prosperity so far. We now know that it’s structurally incapable of doing so,” Ohio River Valley Institute senior researcher Sean O’Leary contended during a webinar on the reports Tuesday. “[That] means that a lot of economic development strategies in the region need to be rethought.”
     
    [Continues]

    And although I can’t find an article on it, I heard a news blurb on local TV that an injunction was issued in a federal case in WV challenging the state’s transgender athletic participation ban for transgender girls competing on girls’ teams. The case involves an 11 year old transgender girl who was prevented from trying out for the cross country team at Bridgeport High School, evil cross-town rival of East Bumfuck High.  It’s a little unclear, but I think the suit was against the school rather than the state, and I don’t have time to dig for it today.
     
    And I won’t even attempt to defend Clapton’s assholiness.  It’s in full display, and I agree with Bink, Sturg and Ellen Barkin on this one.

  16. Sturg, As a fellow refugee from AL, you probably understand how incredibly rare it is for someone like Kay Ivey (who has proven time and time again that she is an idiot) to speak something akin to the truth.  Good on her for a change.
     
    Now, off to court.  Catch you on the flip flop.

  17. BB, 40%? That has to be 10 times the level of mask wearing here. And in our little state 2/3 of the state is not fully vaccinated. 

  21. Eric Clapton…  so many people trade an addiction for drugs and alcohol for an addiction to Jesus.  It’s in their born personalities.  So isn’t being an asshole.
     
    Rick and I are leaving shortly for a weekend getaway up north.  Yes… we are taking our masks…

  22. 🎼 Layla, you got me hooked up to machines
     
    Layla, now I’m beggin’ for vaccines
     
    Layla, darlin’ won’t you please update my will 🎶 

  23. 🎼 I’ve been waiting so long
     
    *crunchy guitar*

    to be done with Covid
     
    *crunchy guitar*

    but now Clapton’s saying something very dumb
     
    *cue solo* 🎶

  25. 🎼 I don’t care if you ever come home
    I don’t care if you just 
    keep on-a-chokin’ away on Covid-19
    ’cuz I trust fox news more than I do vaccines 🎶 
     
    🎼 I got a problem, can you relate?
    I got a rock-God calling science “fake”… 🎶 

  26. am also NOT a fan either of clapton, but I cut him a little (very little, maybe miniscule) slack – he did have a really bad experience with the AstraZeneca shots he took. 

    rolling stone reported above vid in may: Eric Clapton detailed his quote-“disastrous” health experience after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine and blamed quote-“the propaganda” for overstating the safety of the vaccine in a letter the guitarist shared with an architect/anti-lockdown activist.

  28. the hill:

    Psaki was asked about comments from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey(R), who earlier Friday said , “It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down” as her state ranks last in terms of vaccination rate.
    “I don’t think our role is to place blame, but what we can do is provide accurate information to people who are not yet vaccinated about the risks they are incurring not only on themselves, but also the people around them,” Psaki said.
    […]
    “I will say, we understand her frustration, and we understand the frustration of leaders out there and public voices who are trying to say the right thing, advocate for the efficacy of the [vaccine], save people in their communities,” Psaki said.
    […]
    Ivey, asked in Birmingham what more could be done to encourage residents to get the shot, appeared exasperated.
    “Almost 100 percent of the new hospitalizations are with unvaccinated folks. And the deaths are certainly occurring with the unvaccinated folks,” she told reporters. “These folks are choosing a horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted pain.”

  29. Pogo.    Gov Kay Ivey?   She’s like a dead ringer for several of my aunts.  I mean I could HEAR my old aunties. I bet she makes one hell of a peach cobbler.

  30. Just to put things in perspective.  It’s hard on the friends and relatives of course, but Corona-19 has only killed 3 million people  globally.  That’s barely a drop in the bucket of humanity that will go on its merry way eating, drinking, pooping, and making more people while destroying the Amazon, Great barrier reefs, and thousands of species swimming in the much much warmer waters.

     

  31. I don’t know, maybe it’s just fun to rag on Clapton……that vaccine thing is just totally stupid, though.  Like major bonehead.


  32. In what world is this ok? Men really are this crude and on camera.

  34. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/23/austin-stage4-covid-19-masks/

    “Austin, Travis County urge everyone to wear masks and for unvaccinated residents to stay home as COVID-19 cases surge.”

    “The city can’t enforce the restrictions, however, because Gov. Greg Abbott banned all local pandemic-related mandates in May.”

    https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/22/texas-coronavirus-vaccinations/

    “Gov. Greg Abbott isn’t going to impose a mask mandate, he told KPRC-TV in Houston on Tuesday night.”

    “The medical component, as we all know, is that one of the things that dramatically reduces, if not eliminates, the possibility of getting COVID or even getting the delta variant of COVID is getting a vaccine,” Abbott said.“

    That last bit of word salad was intentional, IMO, because Greg is afraid to say GO GET VACCINATED.

    https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/07/21/despite-rise-in-covid-19-cases-gov-greg-abbott-says-he-will-not-impose-another-mask-mandate-in-texas/

    “It would be inappropriate to require people who already have immunity to wear a mask,” Abbott said.

    And, here comes the side of word salad, again:

    “But also, what we know is, everyone watching the show and in the state of Texas know exactly what the standards are and if they want to adopt them in order to help protect themselves.”

    Greg is afraid to say WE KNOW MASKS WORK, SO WEAR ONE, VACCINATED OR NOT.

  35. From the “We’ve Never Seen This Before” file –
    Forced to reckon with a worsening drought, California’s water regulators are preparing to forbid thousands of farmers from tapping into the state’s major rivers and streams.
    It’s an extraordinary step — and one that regulators didn’t take during the last drought, which was considered one of the worst on record.
    The State Water Resources Control Board on Friday released an “emergency curtailment” order that would cut thousands off from rivers and streams in the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds. The five-person board still has to vote on the order Aug. 3, and it would take effect about two weeks later.
     
     
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/water-and-drought/article252986953.html
     

     

  36. This is interesting –
     
    Transportation Tie-Ups Are Causing Headaches For The Export Business
     

    HORSLEY: Right now, though, the economics are stacked against that. Because of soaring demand in this country, cargo ships can charge more than seven times as much to bring a container from Asia to the U.S. as they can make on the return trip. As a result, it’s often more lucrative for shipping companies to raise empty containers back to Asia for a quick refill rather than wait around for those containers to go all the way to North Dakota and back by truck and train.

     
    https://www.npr.org/2021/07/23/1019610918/transportation-tie-ups-are-causing-headaches-for-the-export-business
     

  37.  
    Secretary Haaland, Colorado’s epic drought highlights the need to end fossil fuel extraction
     
    On her first day in Colorado, Haaland spoke powerfully about the worsening drought conditions ravaging Colorado and the West.
     

    Drought doesn’t just impact one community,” she said. “It affects all of us, from farmers and ranchers to city dwellers and Indian tribes. We all have a role to use water wisely and manage our resources with every community in mind.”
    Without a doubt, water is the lifeblood of the North Fork Valley, where I live. The North Fork, on Colorado’s Western Slope, is home to the state’s largest concentration of organic farms. Our produce, wines and cheeses fill dinner plates and glasses in homes and restaurants across the West. But erratic frosts, prolonged droughts and extreme weather are making that harder to do.
    This year some farmers have already run out of water and drinking water concerns are mounting.
    No water, no food. No water, no wildlife. No water, no life.

    https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/564622-secretary-haaland-colorados-epic-drought-highlights-the-need-to

     

     

  38. The Hill published most of her speech ,  go read the whole text , they are about to stop leasing federal land for fossil fuel  extraction.  Boy, do I like this woman.  
     
     
     

    ” This organic agricultural mecca, which employs thousands of people, from Western Slope growers to Front Range farm-to-table restaurants, needs to be protected and supported. The North Fork is becoming a model for how to go from boom-and-bust fossil-fuel towns to clean, renewable, stable economies. We even thrived through COVID-19 as people sought out clean air and water, healthy food and outdoor recreation.”

  40. In other fossil fueled disaster news =
    The west coast of India  was hit by the monsoon  a half a meter of rain fell in 24 hrs. 
    The “Subway Flood” in China , 2 feet over 3 days, but some stations  reported 9 inches in one hour. 
    One cannot see another one standing in from of them in these conditions.

  41. BRUSH, Colo. – An “uncontrolled coal fire” at a storage facility at the Pawnee Power Plant in Brush has prompted the evacuation of all non-essential personnel from the Pawnee Station Friday afternoon.
    The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office said the power plant is going through shut down procedures. The power generated at the station does not power the immediate area, they said in a news release. There is no immediate risk to the public.

     
    https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/uncontrolled-coal-fire-at-the-pawnee-power-plant-in-brush-prompts-evacuation-of-personnel

  43. One other  thing about Jeff Bozous  –
    Yes his rocket  looks like a hydrogen powered sex toy.  But so do submarines. 
    It’s all physics , water and air are both fluids, and that shape moves through them with the least  drag. 
    All of this was found in Nature  long before  we designed these things. 
    Moby Dick had a round head. 

  44. As Coastal Flooding Worsens, Some Cities Are Retreating From The Water
    When the tide gets exceptionally high in Charleston, South Carolina, coastal streets start to run with seawater. Some yards become ponds, and residents pull on rain boots.
    The city also gets a lot of rain. After homes in one low-lying neighborhood flooded three times in four years, the city offered to buy out 32 flood-prone town homes and turn the land back into open space that can be used for managing future floodwater. It’s a strategy coastal cities from Virginia toCalifornia are contemplating more often as tidal flooding increases with sea level rise.
    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/coastal-flooding-worsens-some-cities-retreating-from-water
     
     
     
     

     

  46. An American wild land fighter  makes $15 bucks an hour.  There are 20,000 on the fire line tonight ,  God save them from our folly. 
    They can now make that at Taco Bell. 
    The “growth balloon”  has popped. 

  47. Food service  –
    My Mom woke me up one Saturday morning and told me to find a job . 
    I came back with one that paid 65 cents an hour. 
    Frying chicken. 
    Bad move  , I saw my first stripper , and gained a way to buy beer. 

    And at 65 cents , beer was the only thing I could afford.

  50. Our entire food model  is under attack. 

    From soybeans to fast food labor.

    The entire system is under attack.

    And this stuff is not going away .

    The virus trigger it.

    Our well ordered world from the 90’s is broken , and very badly.

  51. https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/22/us/california-water-thieves-drought/index.html

    “As an extreme drought grips California, making water increasingly scarce, thieves are making off with billions of gallons of the precious resource, tapping into fire hydrants, rivers, and even small family homes and farms.“

    If you thought not having toilet paper was a problem, wait until you have no water. Produce is about to get scarce. There will be no grain for livestock, a practice that contributes to climate change.

    An unintended consequence of legalizing pot.

    “…bandits make off with stolen water, often to cultivate the growth of illegal marijuana crops.“

    Our “food model” helped fuel th climate crisis.

    The Water Footprint of Food

    There’s a good info graphic in the link re: the amount of water to produce food.

    “Blue Water Footprint: The amount of surface water and groundwater required (evaporated or used directly) to produce an item. For food, this refers mainly to crop irrigation.
    Green Water Footprint: The amount of rainwater required (evaporated or used directly) to make an item. For food, this refers to dry farming where crops receive only rainwater.
    Grey Water Footprint: The amount of fresh water required to dilute pollutants and make water pure enough to meet EPA water quality standards. For food, the water would have become polluted from agricultural runoff or leaching from the soil.”

  52. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/07/23/texas-legislature-ut-big-12-sec/

    “A group of Texas lawmakers filed legislation Friday that would prohibit Texas public colleges and universities from switching their affiliations with collegiate athletic conferences without approval from the Legislature.“

    Fiddling about while Rome is engulfed in the flames of covid.
    Yes, this is what Texas Republicans are focused on during a surge in the pandemic. College football.

    “The move is largely symbolic as the legislative session has been ground to a halt by the quorum-busting Democrats who fled Texas 11 days ago.“

  55. Well, there is better pay to be had.  Working with the public is difficult, even in good times. Folks are upset about low inventory, slow shipping times, wearing masks on planes. If humans have learned anything from the last year and half, it wasn’t patience. (I haven’t eaten at a restaurant since Valentine’s Day of 2020. I backed out of last week’s lunch.)

  56. This what  we saw in 1347 .
    The serfs died , and there was no one left to plow the fields.
    That changed the world.  
     
    Same  effect today. , everything is up for change. 
    The old world is being swept away. 

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