Coronavirus - There Is Light In The Darkness

The last two weeks have been filled with good news regarding the fight against coronavirus. The LA Times reported that during the 7-day period from 2/26-2/19/21, 2000 new coronavirus cases were running at 2,000 a day vs early January when they were at 15,000 a day. Considering all the talk about variants - South African, UK, even Californian, it appears the vaccinations and herd immunity are overpowering the potential negative consequences.

And regarding the vaccinations, according to the CDC, 66.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US and 20.6 million people have received both doses. That is a lot people. It is so many in fact that according to ourworldindata.com, we now rank at # 4 in the world in terms of total doses per hundred people after Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. Trust me, I was very surprised too after all the negative news we are hearing about supply shortages.

Finally, it appears that the FDA'S approval of Johnson and Johnson's 1-shot coronavirus vaccine is imminent. Not only will this add more vaccine supply to the world's epic fight, but needing only one shot will greatly improve the simplicity of giving the shot and getting people fully vaccinated more quickly.

All this is good news, especially for international travelers. I had mentioned months ago my "fear" that countries my start insisting on vaccine passports before allowing people to travel into their countries. One passport for people who are vaccinated, one for people who are not. Last week, the UK officially advocated to the G8 that vaccine passports should be a thing. Perhaps they want to pressure anti-vaxers into vaccinating.

Which leads me to, yes there are still issues with people protesting the virus, others refusing to take it, a few cases of sabotaging supplies, and an overall shortage of supplies, but the fight is going in the right direction. I am looking forward to putting the virus era behind us.

Take care and be safe.

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Coronavirus - Testing In The Rear?

I thought the story was a joke, but if it is in The Washington Post, it must be true:

"China rolls out anal swab coronavirus tests…"

You have got to be kidding, right? I can’t imagine showing up on set, going behind a curtain and having a nurse say drop your pants and bend over. I am not sure who would have it worse, the nurse or the patient. Could you imagine the nightmares the poor nurses must have every night? I think many actors would find a new profession until they were vaccinated.

So why would China subject their medical professionals and patients to this treatment? According to the second half of the article's title, "…it's more accurate than throat method." Two patients who had tested negative with a throat swab, tested positive with an anal swab test. I would hope that there was more data than just two people with contradictory results to instill this practice.

The process is controversial in China and is currently only being used on a sample of group of unlucky coronavirus patients before being discharged from hospitals and some people in quarantine. China is still determining whether or not they will roll out the process across the country.

Hopefully, the experiment ends before it really gets started, otherwise there will be a whole new meaning to the pharse, "Coronavirus Testing In The Rear.".

Take care and be safe.

Posts Weekly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/anal-swab-china-coronavirus/2021/01/27/cc284f56-6054-11eb-a177-7765f29a9524_story.html