eVille Times

Aug 17, 2021

COVID-19 Update

I'll try to get back to my usual stellar presentation, but first I have to get a handle on what the fuck is going on with the reporting. It all seems pretty FUBAR right now.

"Having broken bones and bullets in me for a week now -

it's a little frustrating"

WaPo:

Man shot 6 times waits more than a week for surgery after hospital is overwhelmed by covid

Joel Valdez isn’t in the hospital for covid-19, but he’s feeling its effect.

For 10 days, Valdez has been in a hospital bed at Ben Taub Hospital in Houston awaiting surgery after he was shot six times outside a grocery store as an unlucky bystander to a domestic dispute.

“Having broken bones and bullets in me for over a week now, it’s a little frustrating,” Valdez told KRIV over the weekend.

He tallied his injuries, which include a neck wound and three gunshot wounds to a left shoulder that’s in need of surgery: “Everybody is really surprised I’m still in this bed a week later.”

Valdez confirmed Monday afternoon he was still awaiting surgery when contacted by The Washington Post, but declined to be interviewed on the record.

At Ben Taub Hospital where Valdez is awaiting surgery, the intensive care unit was at 103 percent capacity as of Monday morning, with 33 percent of those cases related to covid-19, a spokesperson for Harris Health System told The Post. Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital, the other public hospital in the Harris Health System, remains similarly stretched at 94 percent ICU capacity, with 54 percent of those cases covid-related.

- more -

One thing that should be addressed when we get to the other side of this pandemic mess is to look at the philosophy of trying to shoehorn American healthcare into a standard Harvard Business School operations model.

Pre-Pandemic, hospitals were running an average daily census of close to 85% capacity.

With just-in-time supply chains and as-needed staffing, it works OK for the most part (even though it treats the nurses like so many sweat shop kids, but that's something I can bitch about some other time). The point is that emergencies are planned for and gamed out, and the hospitals have contingencies in place for mass casualty events and other situations that require big scale-ups - they have reciprocal arrangements with other hospitals in order to meet what has always been a localized or, at worst, regional kind of problem - but when everybody everywhere has the same problem, the thing starts to break down.

We may be able to rationalize it away by thinking we're not likely to see another pandemic anytime soon, but let's not be silly - the shit that's coming our way because of Climate Change and the ever-present threats of armed conflict - both foreign, and homegrown insurrections right here in USAmerica Inc - we'd best be figuring some shit out.

Aug 16, 2021

Today's Tweet

This fake GOP outrage is pathetic. They don't care about Americans, so they sure as hell don't care about anyone in Afghanistan.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 16, 2021

What's On The Menu Today?

Let's do a quick rundown on all the shit the Republicans will have to bitch about (while doing nothing) any day now, shall we?

Soon-to-be hurricane Fred is set to beat up on Florida
Tropical storm Grace will be fucking up Haiti in the wake of two earthquakes which have killed 1,300 that they know of so far.
PG&E may cut power to thousands to prevent new blazes as Dixie Fire spreads
The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States.
Gigantic wildfires are burning across Siberia on a record scale that is larger than all the fires raging this summer around the world combined.

COVID-19 Update

38 States and 66 countries posted no numbers for yesterday, so we have no fucking idea where we stand right now here in USAmerica, Inc - or the world for that matter.

I'll switch up a little as of today, and start using the 7-day rolling averages, and skip the percent increase.

World

New Cases: 621,871
New Deaths: 9,464

USA

New Cases: 110,812
New Deaths: 514

USA Vaccination Scorecard

Total Vaccinations: 198.1 million (59.7%)
Fully Vaccinated: 168.4 million (50.7%)

And "the news" about the pandemic has been reduced to updates on human interest stories, and the unbelievably stoopid fight over vaccinations and masks.

WaPo:

The pandemic is showing us which friendships are worth keeping

Before the pandemic, Sherilyn Carlton’s family was so accustomed to her friends popping by the house that her youngest child used to ask: “Mommy, who’s coming over today?”

So Carlton, a 47-year-old corporate coach in Battle Ground, Wash., is the kind of person you might expect to have a tough time with social distancing. In the Before Times, Carlton would flit from a run with a friend to lunch or coffee with another pal; ferry her kids to and from basketball practice; and in the evening might host a writing group at her home.

In some ways, keeping a tighter circle during the pandemic has been difficult, she admits. But she went into the lockdown in March feeling socially hung over — and overall her quieter life has felt restorative. “I detoxed from all the social connecting I was doing,” Carlton said recently. “I’ve gotten to crave that time to myself, and I’m so much more aware of when I need it.”

Beyond her immediate family, Carlton sees two friends regularly — for outdoor exercise and coffee dates — and for the most part, that’s enough. “There’s a group of families that used to get together regularly. … I miss that,” she says. “But not much else.”

Carlton feels blessed to have an abundance of friends. Now that life has started to speed up again, she wants to continue focusing mostly on her besties rather than stretching to see everyone in her circle. Her pod just might outlive the pandemic.

Carlton is not the only one finding solace in a pared-down social life. Just as working from home has revealed that commuting to an office five days a week isn’t necessary for every worker, some who once tried to maintain dozens of friendships are realizing they’re more fulfilled while keeping up with just their nearest and dearest. After over a year of living through an extended state of emergency, it’s clear who’s in your ride-or-die crew, who you can call if you need a walk, a talk or some help. For many, those inner circles are tighter than ever.

- more -

And then:

‘I feel defeated’: Mask and vaccine mandates cause new divides as officials try to head off virus surge

Cities and counties say protections are necessary as coronavirus cases explode again

At hospitals, mandatory deadlines for staffers to get coronavirus shots are arriving. At big corporations such as United Airlines and Google, workers are being told to roll up their sleeves. Even unions that once balked at vaccine mandates are signaling support.

And it’s not just shots: In dozens of cities and counties, indoor mask mandates are back, with city leaders and public health officials arguing the requirements are necessary to save lives and preserve the economic recovery. In some corners of the nation, the government mandates extend to vaccination.

“This is to protect kids [and] protect those who can’t get vaccinated,” San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed said Thursday as she announced the city would require a variety of businesses to demand proof of vaccination — a move that came 10 days after reinstating an indoor mask mandate. “To make sure that I never have to get up in front of you and say, ‘I’m sorry, I know we just reopened and now the city is closed again because we are seeing too many people die.’”

The summer of 2021 is a season of mandates, with rules requiring masks and vaccines reemerging as the pandemic’s latest cultural and political flash point. In many parts of the country — including states hit hardest by a resurgence of the virus — the mandates are pitting blue cities against red governors, sparking protests and placing new burdens on already harried workers.

- more -

Today's Pix

click a pic

Aug 15, 2021

Today's Reddit

Sure - try this at home.

Afghanistan

We keep forgetting that we can't kill our way out of our problems. And unfortunately, it seems we can't remember "No more Vietnams" either
There are US troopers fighting in Afghanistan who weren't even born when this SNAFU started
You're not going to beat a homegrown opponent who's willing to use bear skins and stone knives fighting against the most amazing military the world has ever known

It's going to get a lot worse for the Afghan people, and I'm sick about this whole fuckin' mess.

There's no reason for anyone to be surprised at how quickly and easily the Taliban were able to sweep up once the withdrawal of NATO forces was nearing completion.