Aaagh. My computer crashed just as I was about to send out today’s diary entry, and the Microsoft Expression Web software I use does not auto-back up my work. Of course, Murphy’s Law dictates the inevitability that it was hours since I’d last remembered to manually backup.
No, I’m not redoing everything. It is a Sunday – and Easter Sunday at that. I’ll quickly hit the highlights, though.
After worrying about the steadily growing numbers of new cases in the US, the last few days have all shown drops.
Not only are numbers down for the US as a whole, but Texas continues to confound conventional wisdom with its plunging numbers, even after an almost total relaxation on mask wearing and social distancing.
Ostensibly, any reduction in daily new case numbers is very good, of course, but there is a slight concern in my mind that we’re simply seeing more public health authorities closed for the Easter weekend and not reporting new cases.
Part of the reason for thinking this is noting the last time numbers were as low as they are today was a brief drop over the Labor Day weekend last early September.
Meanwhile, the CDC continues to refine its understanding and guidance as to what are safe practices for vaccinated people. In good news, this last week they said it is now acceptable for vaccinated people to skip testing prior to travel and won’t need to be quarantined upon arrival.
Let’s hope the UK does the same, as that is one of the three key elements of making it appropriate to travel there once more.
This article comments on another state that seems to be winning its battle against Covid – California.
But their headline phrase “as cases plunge” seems to be more historic than present – the last few weeks have seen a much flatter line on the chart and the last week or so even hints at a mild return to increasing rates once more.
Like many states, California is trying to be “clever” in terms of what can open, and how much. That’s to be admired, but the net result seems to be, like so often is the case, confusion and inconsistency.
Current Numbers
A few changes this week, with UT and IA swapping places yet again in the US case rates. Estonia is now in the minor country list, and Jordan in the major country list.
The UK dropped a place in the case rate list, and had an astonishingly low death rate for the previous week, and might drop a place in that table during the week ahead, too.
US Best and Worst States
| Rank | Cases/Million | Deaths/Million | ||
| A week ago | Now | A week ago | Now | |
| 1 Best | HI (20,770) | HI (21,284) | HI (326) | HI (330) |
| 2 | VT | VT | VT | VT |
| 3 | ME | ME | AK | AK |
| 4 | OR | OR | ME (548) | ME (554) |
| 5 | WA (47,796) | WA (48,682) | OR (563) | OR (567) |
| 47 | IA (119,781) | UT (120,819) | MS (2,352) | MS (2,371) |
| 48 | UT (119,952) | IA (121,028) | RI (2,462) | RI (2,483) |
| 49 | RI | RI | MA (2,483) | MA (2,507) |
| 50 | SD | SD | NY (2,587) | NY (2,617) |
| 51 Worst | ND (134,612) | ND (135,997) | NJ (2,746) | NJ (2,774) |
Top Case Rates Minor Countries (cases per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Andorra (153,188) | Andorra (158,107) |
| 2 | Montenegro (143,416) | Montenegro (147,294) |
| 3 | San Marino (136,093) | San Marino (140,503) |
| 4 | Gibraltar (126,855) | Gibraltar (126,919) |
| 5 | Slovenia | Slovenia |
| 6 | Luxembourg | Luxembourg |
| 7 | Israel | Israel |
| 8 | Aruba | Aruba |
| 9 | Bahrain | Bahrain |
| 10 | Panama (81,068) | Estonia (82,428) |
Top Case Rates Major Countries (cases per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Czech Republic (141,281) | Czech Republic (144,712) |
| 2 | USA (93,167) | USA (94,505) |
| 3 | Portugal (80,632) | Portugal (80,925) |
| 4 | Sweden | Sweden |
| 5 | Belgium | Belgium |
| 6 | Netherlands | Netherlands (75,867) |
| 7 | Spain (69,806) | France (73,757) |
| 8 | France (65,525) | Spain (70,581) |
| 9 | UK (63,581) | Poland (64,486) |
| 10 | Poland (59,525) | UK (63,962) |
| 11 | Brazil (58,662) | Jordan (61,568) |
| 12 | Italy (58,481) | Brazil (60,761) |
Top Death Rate Major Countries (deaths per million)
| Rank | One Week Ago | Today |
| 1 | Czech Republic (2,423) | Czech Republic (2,513) |
| 2 | Belgium (1,967) | Belgium (1,989) |
| 3 | UK (1,858) | UK (1,861) |
| 4 | Italy (1,787) | Italy (1,838) |
| 5 | USA (1,692) | USA (1,711) |
| 6 | Portugal (1,655) | Portugal (1,659) |
| 7 | Spain (1,607) | Spain (1,619) |
| 8 | Mexico (1,550) | Peru (1,587) |
| 9 | Peru (1,545) | Mexico (1,571) |
| 10 | Brazil (1,462) | Brazil (1,551) |
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Items below include a deep dive into why injectable vaccines aren’t as good as other delivery-method vaccines such as nasal sprays, yet another promising new treatment, the Czech Republic suffers a cruel fate after trying to stand up to bully-boy EU, and more on the spoiled 15 million vaccine doses.
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Please stay happy and healthy; all going well, I’ll be back again on Thursday.
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