Coronavirus, week 55: Kids and Indians, Miller and Patrick

Per the header, I 'm going alternate national and global news this week before getting to Texana, and the second half of that header,

• By Indians, we mean not American Indians, but residents of the subcontinental country, as India looks more and more like the new Brazil. It's sad, but not really shocking. Both countries are lead by charismatic, authoritarian, populist heads of government. PM Narendra Modi may appeal to different populist ideas than Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, of course, but, in the big picture, there's lots of parallels. The two countries are also alike in having high degrees of income inequality and a fragile veneer on their BRICS exteriors.

India claims to have a small COVID death rate, per Worldometers, but that, and total case rate, is almost surely unreliable. The NYT agrees that there's certainly an undercount and likely a huge one. An Indian native doctor who's at the University of Michigan says the actual count is likely two-five times higher. That's in part because many Indian doctors are lying on death certificates. If this is all true, then India actually has a million COVID deaths and counting, and a death rate about that of Russia.

Meanwhile, Modi's answer? Pressuring Twitter to censor Tweets in India that are allegedly defamatory of his government. The new version of seditious libel, as India continues to slide further away from democracy. I shudder to think of the situation in Kashmir. I of course did a Twitter callout of Tulsi Gabbard on this.

• Kids? Michigan is kind of the poster child for the surge in juvenile COVID cases in the US.

• Long COVID, at least in older men, appears to be long indeed. SOO glad I didn't get it AND that I'm now shot up.

• Japan is being slow in its vaccination program AND saying that no participants need vaccination. The issue is spilling into Japanese politics. And, if I had money to go to Tokyo, and the time, no, I wouldn't.

• Derek Thompson is right: It's time, or even beyond time, to end outdoor masking rules.

• The NYT editorial board says Biden and the big vaccine makers both need to do more to make sure developing nations have more vaccines. Specifics include the biggie opposed by hypercapitalist conspirator Bill Gates — suspend patents. Biden has responded by offering 60 million AstraZenica doses globally. A start, but dodges the patents issue, and could be seen as "dumping" the most concerning vaccine, relatively speaking.

Biden's Department of Labor, a month late and under Democrat Congresscritter pressure, has finally released its COVID workplace guidelines.

 At the Atlantic, James Hamblin has his latest thoughts (but no new science) on the possibility of a "universal vaccine" for SARS, MERS, COVID-19 and possible future coronavirus assaults.

Texas

I don't know how I missed it, but Jeebus Shot Sid Miller is suing Lite Gov Danny Goeb over COVID restrictions under the Pink Dome. Getcher popcorn, especially since "Doctor" Steve Hotze is behind the suit and Jared Woodfill is the barratry specialist of record. I guess a COVID shot ain't a Jesus shot? What's more interesting yet is that Patrick actually has apparently abandoned his "duty to die," even though he's over 70 himself; the restrictions are ONLY on the Senate side of the Capitol, but Patrick has essentially done a cross-dome callout to House Speaker Dade Phelan to tell him to get his shit together. 

A Palestine doctor is working to overcome social-cultural resistance as well as actual medical fears to get people vaccinated.

She's got her work cut out for her. Even with just one-quarter of the state vaccinated, vaccine demand continues to drop. And, it's rural counties like hers, and presumably rural white wingnuts who have imbibed vaccine conspiracy theories or conspiracy cure theories who are a major part of the problem. I know. I live in one.

Both the feds and state officials have recommended resuming Johnson and Johnson shots.

Robert Rivard worries about the decline in demand for the COVID vaccine.