DaveRant

Electric charging stations coming to Hwy 12

Washington State’s Clean Energy Fund will install 320 charging stations at average $30,000 each in 11 counties.

Energy Northwest, the contractor, (also the former WPSS group who built the Packwood Power Station including the surge tank on Snyder Mt.) said the grant will fund five EV charging stations from White Pass to Interstate 5, probably at existing gas stations. 

Each station usually consists of a 50 kilowatt DC fast charger (50 minutes for full charge) next to a level 2 same as a home charger (five hours) allowing about 200 miles per full charge. 

Info:  energy-northwest.com

Yakima LT Care patients & caregivers have received
Moderna’s vaccine

The vaccinations were done by a partnership between the federal government and CVS and Walgreens, part of President Trump’s Warp Speed rollout. 

Editor Note: Two of my wife’s elderly cousins also received the vaccinations near Spokane last week.

Info:  shpr.fyi/ltvaccines 

Will our COVID
be critical?

Hospitals now have a simple and quick scoring system based on 10 parameters in a complete blood count (CBC) with differential within 3 days of hospital presentation to predict those with COVID-19 who are most likely to progress to critical illness.

Info:  shpr.fyi/covidscore

Quantum communication established over 27 miles

Quantum computing is the use of quantum phenomena such as superposition and entanglement to perform computation. Computers that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers.^[1]:I-5 Quantum computers will be able to solve certain computational problems, such as integer factorization (which underlies RSA encryption), substantially faster than classical computers.

With quantum computers, encrypted communications using current best highly secure methods will no longer be secure. But far better encryption methods will become possible. 

Quantum communication at distance and without error is extremely challenging.

In a paper published in PRX Quantum, the team presents for the first time a demonstration of a sustained, long-distance teleportation of qubits made of photons (particles of light) with fidelity greater than 90%.

The qubits were teleported over a fiber-optic network 27 miles long using state-of-the-art single-photon detectors, as well as off-the-shelf equipment.

Info:  shpr.fyi/quantum27mi

Camp Prime Time offers Christmas Tree recycling

Since 1986, Camp Prime Time has served families with a seriously/terminally ill or developmentally disabled child  at Clear Lake just above Rimrock Reservoir. It provides a camping experience in the great outdoors where families can enjoy themselves in a supportive atmosphere at no cost to the family.

Camp Prime Time is offering a Christmas tree chipping and recycling program Saturday through Jan. 10 at Papé Machinery in Yakima.

Prime Time volunteers will accept trees and financial donations from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day at 3110 Fruitvale Blvd. (the former Washington Tractor site). All ornaments and decorations must be removed.

Partly excerpted from The Yakima Herald-Republic

Info:  campprimetime.org

COVID-19 Conspiracies and Beyond: How Can Physicians Deal With Patients’ Misinformation?

Shaming and judging just don’t work.

Three recent studies address this issue. 

I. You don’t have time to convince them they’re wrong. 

Instead, if you can show respect for them like asking why they believe it, you may be able to point them in a better direction.

II. Their peers are offering them social support and a form of good news. 

“Together we’ll fight and beat the powerful ‘feds’ with their fake scare,” giving them a positive role to play  — they’ll save the country!

Ask if a lot of people believe that. They’ll usually admit some don’t believe it. Ask who doesn’t believe it.

III. People taking an all-or-nothing approach to risk behavior, known often as the “F— it,” effect or “It’s beyond my control,” is rampant when we’re all suffering pandemic fatigue. Everyone will do at least some small thing to help, “At least wear a mask when you visit your grandmother.”

Info:  shpr.fyi/dontshame

Dave Bunting

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration at a meeting of its Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) on Dec. 10 recommended emergency use authorization (EUA) of a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer, Inc., in partnership with BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH. The FDA followed that by approving the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use! The vaccine is being distributed via President Trump’s Warp Speed ultra-fast processes to Americans. Approval and distribuition of the similar Moderna vaccine should follow next week.
Info: shpr.fyi/fdaadvmtgpfizer

FDA Vaccine Approval Process
JAMA conducts weekly interview “Conversations” on current leading health and medical issues with the top people involved in those issues. The interviews are available to the public via YouTube.

Peter W. Marks, MD, PhD
Screenshot from YouTube Interview
On Oct. 6, 2020, Howard Bauchner, MD, Editor and Chief of JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and the JAMA Network had a conversation with Peter W. Marks, MD, PhD, Director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) presently working on approval of COVID vaccines.
His opening question to Marks was, “How does it feel to hear all the world asking the question, ‘When will the vaccine be approved?,’ when you lead the only organization that will answer it?”
The process starts when the Center receives from a drug company an application for approval for Emergency Use Approval (EUA) or for the full Biologic Use License. The Center is handling many such applications at all timer.
The Center for Biologic Licenses has about 250 people working in it plus they seek and incorporate input from many other organizations working on related issues.
Each application for approval, even for an EUA, is hundreds of thousands of pages long and includes:
1) detailed information about each of the typically 30,000 people who have received the vaccine on trial, as well as
2) the drug company’s analysis of that information.
The Center does its own analysis of the information, analyzing the 30,000 patients’ individual data in parallel with the drug company’s analysis.
Such applications are divided into units for analysis by pertinent units within the Center. 

Marks emphasized that safety is first and foremost in these analyses.
The primary test for any vaccine is that test patients are no different after the vaccine than before it.
The Center must balance the need for safety against the need to get the vaccine out and in use to begin saving lives. Lives are lost for every day the vaccine is delayed.
Marks said the workers are very dedicated to the work, and further described the balance that each worker must handle between their important progress toward approval of the vaccine to begin saving lives against demands of their personal lives. Most Center workers are young with children at home. He said workers sometimes get only two hours of sleep in their nights.
The process requires at least two months of follow-up on every test patient after vaccination, after the second vaccination for those that require two.
The decision to approve, or to not approve and examine further, is made at a meeting in a public venue by an Advisory Committee made up of many experts in every aspect of the vaccine. The Advisory Committee meetings are available to the public.
He described how these experts are all very knowledgeable and confident in their knowledge so their discussion may be quite argumentative as people try to convince others that their position is correct.
He said the meeting very strictly prohibits outside bias, such as political bias or bias from the drug company. For example, he said the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Stephen Hahn, his boss, would not participate in the COVID Advisory Committee meetings because he is at a political level.
After initial approval of one vaccine, the Center would continue examining it, watching for any problem among the trial patients, along with the other vaccines coming along in the approval process.
Bauchner asked Marks a “crystal ball” question, “When will we have an approved coronavirus vaccine?”
Marks’ reply was, “Possibly we could approve vaccines from some companies before the end of the year.”
I recommend readers view the entire interview using this link:
Info: shpr.fyi/fdaapprvprocs

“What we can say now is that, among 42,000 people given the vaccine, there were no serious negative effects within two months after receiving the vaccine.”

Paul A. Offitt, MD
Image Children’s Hospital
So said Paul A. Offit, MD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, member of FDA Advisory Committee that recommended approval of Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 10 after being asked, “What can we tell people?”
The first people to get the vaccine will be frontline hospital and other caregivers who must be in contact with COVID-diseased patients, nursing and long term care facilities workers and patients, and those with serious vulnerabilities. All of these 20 or more million additional vaccinated people will be monitored for adverse effects. So, by the time the vaccine becomes available to us, we will have monitored many more millions of vaccinated people, some of them for up to six months, so we will have learned even more about any adverse effects.
Basic Immune System
The basics of our fantastic God-created immune system:
Info: shpr.fyi/immunity
Having enough Vitamin D can hugely improve COVID outcomes
Vitamin D deficiency on admission to hospital was associated with a 3.7-fold increase in the odds of dying from COVID-19, according to an observational study looking back at data from the first wave of the pandemic.
Nearly 60% of patients with COVID-19 were vitamin D deficient upon hospitalization, with men in the advanced stages of COVID-19 pneumonia showing the greatest deficit.  
Vitamin D is absolutely essential for good health.
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is found in oily fish, fish liver oil and egg yolks and in vitamin supplements.
Large amounts of vitamin D is also be made in our skin in sunlight. In winter, though, few of us get much sunshine.
The US Institute of Medicine suggests that an average daily intake of 400–800 IU is adequate for 97.5% of individuals.
Info: shpr.fyi/vitdcovid

Dave Bunting

Robot Pilot clobbers human pilot

The DARPA event, focused on artificial intelligence and air combat, hints at one possible future for military aviation.

The event this week was the third stage in what’s called the AlphaDogfight Trials. The first trial in the series, held last fall, was very much rookie algorithms trying to figure out aviation fundamentals, explains Col. Dan Javorsek, the manager of the event at DARPA and a former F-16 aviator and test pilot. “What you were basically watching was the AI agents learning to fly the plane,” Javorsek says. (His call sign is “Animal,” a reference to the Muppets.) “A lot of them killed themselves on accident—they would fly into the ground, or they would just forget about the bad guy altogether, and just drive off in some direction.” In other words, Maverick or Iceman would probably just laugh at them.

While this DARPA competition had the flying happening in digital skies, real-life flight in an actual fighter jet is intensely physically demanding on the aviators on board—something I had the chance to experience firsthand in an F-16. Pulling hard turns or accelerating quickly produces dramatic G forces, and if the pilot and crew don’t manage them correctly, they could pass out. Artificial intelligence might someday fly a plane in combat, but if a pilot were to hypothetically be on board, he or she is going to want to be able to stay conscious throughout the fight. In other words, any algorithm with control of the stick will need to consider what humans can withstand. Or, if the AI is in charge of an uncrewed drone, then it wouldn’t need to worry about the impact of Gs on a person at all.

The lead AI algorithm, created by Heron Systems, battled a human pilot who flew a digital F-16 in a virtual reality-style simulator on Thursday. Heron’s agent defeated the human (call sign, Banger) by five to zero. “I think technology has proven over the past 20 years that it’s able to think faster than a human, and react faster, in a precise, pristine environment,” Banger reflected in a conference call with the media after the event.

You can watch the dogfight in the video linked below—it begins at the 4:40:00 mark.

https://youtu.be/NzdhIA2S35w

 

I flew in an F-16 with the Air Force and oh boy did it go poorly

Your body probably isn’t ready to fly in a fighter jet.

Somewhere high above New Jersey, I yanked the oxygen mask off my face, worried I was about to throw up.

Maj. Jason Markzon, the pilot of our F-16 fighter jet, had just steered the plane through two tight, hard turns, part of an aviation procedure called the G-exercise. A moment later, Markzon—whose Air Force call sign is Flack—abruptly rolled the aircraft on its side, a maneuver known as a knife-edge pass that put the plane’s stubby wings perpendicular to the ground. He brought us back to horizontal, then pulled the plane hard to the right. I groaned.

The crushing turns and fast choppy maneuvers were physically punishing—a roller coaster ride I wanted to end. “Do you mind leveling out?” I asked.

“Rob, how’s it going, man?” Flack asked, his voice coming in through the speakers in my red, white, and blue helmet.

“I do not feel well,” I replied.

We had taken off some 20 minutes earlier, all eight stages of the jet’s afterburners lit and rocketing us down a runway at MacArthur Airport on Long Island. We screamed off the ground and into a partly cloudy blue sky on a windy morning in late May. Moments after becoming airborne, Flack pulled back on the control stick in his right hand, sending us into a 60-degree climb at something north of 400 mph.

The seats on an F-16 are reclined at an angle of 30 degrees, so a 60-degree climb feels like you’re going straight up. We flew to about 10,000 feet. That took all of about 30 seconds and hit us with 5.4 Gs, or more than five times the force of gravity. I weigh around 155 pounds, but at that acceleration, it felt like I weighed more than 800. Flack ended the climb by leveling us out with a slow roll. For just a moment, we were upside down.

I weigh around 155 pounds, but at that acceleration, it felt like I weighed more than 800.

I didn’t vomit. Not then, anyway.

Info: shpr.fyi/robotpilot

Both above excerpted from Popular Science, Aug. 2019,
by By Rob Verger

Ice Caves and Lava Tubes
On earth where the temperature is usually higher than freezing, that is, above the freezing point of water, water is normally liquid. But on other planets whose surface temperature is below the freezing point of water, water is normally a rock forming part of the “ground,” the surface of the planet.
On Mt. Rainier, we have water flowing in creeks beneath the ice. We call them ice caves.
Around lava flows we also have liquid lava flowing beneath rock, cooled solidified lava, and if the lava runs out leaving them hollow, we call them lava tubes.

Huge lava tubes on Moon and Mars suggested as ideal sites for bases.
We can find lava tubes on planet Earth, but also on the subsurface of the Moon and Mars according to the high-resolution pictures of lava tubes’ skylights taken by interplanetary probes. Evidence of lava tubes was often inferred by observing linear cavities and sinuous collapse chains where the galleries cracked,” explains Francesco Sauro. The morphological surface expression of lava tubes on Mars and the Moon is similar to their terrestrial counterpart. Speleologists thoroughly studied lava tubes on Earth in Hawaii, Canary Islands, Australia and Iceland.”
“We measured the size and gathered the morphology of lunar and Martian collapse chains (collapsed lava tubes), using digital terrain models (DTMs), which we obtained through satellite stereoscopic images and laser altimetry taken by interplanetary probes,” re-minds Riccardo Pozzobon. “We then compared these data to topographic studies about similar collapse chains on the Earth’s surface and to laser scans of the inside of lava tubes in Lanzarote and the Galapagos.”
Researchers found that Martian and lunar tubes are respectively 100 and 1,000 times wider than those on Earth, which typically have a diameter of 10 to 30 meters. Lower gravity and its effect on volcanism explain these outstanding dimensions (with total volumes exceeding 1 billion of cubic meters on the Moon).
Thus the martian tubes are likely a half mile wide and the lunar ones many miles wide, and both 25 or more miles long, the size of a large city.
“What is most important is that, despite the impressive dimension of the lunar tubes, they remain well within the roof stability threshold because of a lower gravitational attraction,” explains Matteo Massironi, professor of Structural and Planetary Geology at the University of Padua.
Francesco Sauro concludes: “Lava tubes could provide stable shields from cosmic and solar radiation and micrometeorite impacts which are often happening on the surfaces of planetary bodies. Moreover, they have great potential for providing an environment in which temperatures do not vary from day- to night-time.”
Info: shpr.fyi/lavatubes
Martian rivers and other water flows may have occurred beneath sheets of ice
New research finds martian valleys resemble rivers running under glaciers on Earth, mean-ing ancient Mars may have been a more frigid world than once thought.
The evidence that water once existed on Mars is unmistakable: The planet is covered in valleys that appear carved by flowing water. For decades, these epic ravines and branching riverbeds beckoned planetary scientists to imagine a 3.5-billion-year-old world that was both warm and wet, covered with lakes and rivers — possibly hosting an environment conducive to life.
But new research suggests Mars might not have been the balmy paradise scientists once envisioned. Now, the evidence seems to suggest that rivers may not have covered its surface, but instead flowed deep under large sheets of ice.
To come to this conclusion, the researchers performed a statistical analysis of the shapes and patterns of 66 networks of valleys on Mars, which are composed of over 10,000 individual valleys. They then com-pared these to similar features on Earth.
They found that 14 of the martian sites appeared to have characteristics reminiscent of above-ground rivers. But 31 seemed to be carved out by either glacial or subglacial melt-water, more like terrain found near former glaciers on Earth.
Info: shpr.fyi/waterunderice
-Dave Bunting

The Virus

As of Aug. 3, 2020:
Total Americans:

Recovered/Recovering:         4,494,631

Cases:                          4,649,102

Fatalities:                         154,471

Washington State:

58,715 cases, 1,600 fatalities

Lewis County.:

189 cases, 3 fatalities

Yakima County:

10,047 cases, 205 fatalities

 

The governor is requiring masks in public and prohibiting businesses from serving unmasked customers along with many other limitations.

Our vulnerable people must continue to Stay at Home!

Our frontline workers and nursing home workers and patients must be perfectly protected!

We all must continue masks, separation, sanitation and slowing its spread so that we keep the hospitalizations curve flattened and protect our most vulnerable!

MMA champions wear masks! Roller derby queens wear masks! President Trump
wears a mask!

We’re learning to live with this virus as we must and as we have learned to live with influenza- it’s not going away.

The rest of us must get back to work! We’re not dummies; we will protect ourselves by masks, separation and sanitation, thereby preventing any large increase in hospitalizations.

Total American household expenditures, the foundation of our nation, are $30 trillion.

We pay these dollars for goods and services made by other workers who then spend their paychecks, another $30 trillion, paying them to others for products and services, and so on up through the nation.

Taxes along the way pay for our health care, education, peace, security and everything.

The once or twice paltry $3 trillion (borrowed) government stimulus is miniscule compared to this power of we consumers spending our paychecks up through our nation.

Those who walk 8,000 steps daily have half the mortality of those who walk 4,000 steps.

In this observational study that included 4840 participants, a greater number of steps per day was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality.

Chance of death for 8000 steps/day was half the chance for 4000 steps/day.

Info: shpr.fyi/4kvs8ksteps

Mental health being damaged by
doom scrolling

Coronavirus deaths (473,000 worldwide and counting), unemployment rates (around 13 percent in the US), protesters in the street on any given day marching for racial justice (countless thousands)—the faucet of data runs nonstop. There are unlimited seasons, and the promise of some answer, or perhaps even some good news, always feels one click away.

But it’s never one click away.

Those who scroll all day looking for it don’t find it.

That means there’s a “lot of demand on cognitive processing to make sense of this, compounding the stress and anxiety they’re already feeling.

While Twitter and Facebook, when used responsibly, can have positive effects on mental health, they can also lead to anxiety and depression.

“In this situation, we engage in these more narrow, immediate survival-oriented behaviors. We’re continuously in fight-or-flight mode,” a researcher says.

Info: shpr.fyi/covidscrolling

Comet NEOWISE has is delighting skywatchers around the Northern Hemisphere. But what makes this comet so special?

The comet made its closest approach to the sun on July 3 but, until now, was only visible in the sky before dawn. Now, for keen observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the comet has been getting higher in the evening sky, sparkling northwest below the Big Dipper constellation, according to Joe Masiero, deputy principal investigator of NEOWISE (NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the NASA space telescope that first spotted the comet).

One of the most fascinating details about Comet NEOWISE is that it won’t return to our skies for another 6,800 years. But that’s not the only thing that makes this icy space rock special. So let’s take a dive into what makes Comet NEOWISE unique — and a little weird.

 

Info:

https://www.space.com/comet-neowise-strange-facts.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2765550&m_i=woFORoBt8khMUWn9%2BgcGIqt9Y3t5bvlpjADuChJsp12ykPGBLo4Tm2tZkBGwUbCsIDgA_KAqQFs6iHtndtfgr1X4otPQMeCvOoHqljwwwm

 

In Sweden only one percent of purchases are made with cash.

 

Sanitizing Masks
A lot of large vaporized hydrogen peroxide systems are being set up in cities around the country to help sanitize masks but UV is a more feasible low tech and low volume option for first responders and individual healthcare workers often found in rural areas.
UV light penetrates the mask and works by damaging the molecular bonds that hold together the nucleic acids (DNA or RNA) of the viruses or bacteria and stops them from infecting and/or replicating within a human cell, according to Malley. The UV light used is short wave and cannot be seen by the human eye so to effectively kill the virus requires an understanding of the amount of light energy or UV intensity and the length of time the mask is dosed.
Malley stresses that it is important that masks are clean because any substance on the inside or the outside of the mask, even something as simple as sunscreen, cosmetics or lip balm, could block the UV light.
“In a perfect world, masks should be worn once and dis-carded,” said Malley. “But in a pandemic, with all the supply shortages and strains on healthcare system infection control practices, disinfection practices like ultraviolet light offer alternative disinfectant options for PPEs.”
Info: shpr.fyi/uvsanitizemasks

Here’s a good video about a clinic using ultraviolet to sanitize masks:
Info: shpr.fyi/uvsanitizmasks

COVID virus has a “G” variant that is much more contagious
All viruses have variants, small differences in their makeup, that are sometimes called mutations, though mutations usually refer to more major changes.
When discovered, at a glance, the mutation seemed trivial. About 1,300 amino acids serve as building blocks for a protein on the surface of the virus. In the mutant virus, the genetic instructions for just one of those amino acids — number 614 — switched in the new variant from a “D” (shorthand for aspartic acid) to a “G” (short for glycine).
But the location was significant, because the switch occurred in the part of the genome that codes for the all-important “spike protein” — the protruding structure that gives the coronavirus its crownlike profile and allows it to enter human cells the way a burglar picks a lock.
And this “G” variant is becoming more dominant.
Its ubiquity is undeniable. Of the approximately 50,000 genomes of the new virus that researchers worldwide have up-loaded to a shared database, about 70 percent carry the mutation, officially designated D614G but known more familiarly to scientists as “G.”
“G” hasn’t just dominated the outbreak in Chicago — it has taken over the world. Now scientists are racing to figure out what it means.
Individual particles of the regular virus can remain in air for hours but most become non-contagious in a minute or two.
But particles of the G variant are hardier and can remain contagious for many minutes. If an infected person, who may have no symptoms, breaths these particles into air, they can infect another person entering and breathing that air many minutes later even if they never met or even saw each other.
This even further reduces the value of tracing which identifies and traces people who were “together” for several minutes. This variant can and is infecting people who were never “together” but who simply passed through the same space even minutes apart.
The mutation doesn’t appear to make people sicker, but a growing number of scientists worry that it has made the virus more contagious.
“Virus particles containing the G form of spike on their surface were approximately 3-6 times more infectious,” says Montefiori.

Dr, Deborah Birx in the Task Force Briefing on July 8, said, “Whatever occurred happened almost simultaneously across the south and we’re investigating that very closely to really see the etiology behind that, because that can help us as an early warning signal, and help us in guidance to the American people.”
Possibly what happened was that the “G” variant arrived there and has contributed to the recent infections increases.
Encouragingly, the research found that immune factors from the serum of infected people work equally well against engineered viruses both with and without the D614G mutation. That’s a hopeful sign that vaccine candidates in development will work against variants with or without that G mutation, Choe says.
Info: shpr.fyi/covidgvariant

The Virus
As of July 6, 2020:
Total Americans:
Recovered/Recovering: 2,756,456
Cases: 2,886,267
Fatalities: 129,811
Washington State:
35,898 cases, 1,359 fatalities
Lewis County.:
75 cases, 3 fatalities
Yakima County:
7,489 cases, 160 fatalities

 

Yakima County’s daily new infections number finally has been below 100 many days recently after being above 100 for many weeks but continues to be higher than the entire rest of Washington State combined. The governor is requiring masks in public and prohibiting businesses from serving unmasked customers but has allowed Yakima County to proceed to Phase 1.5, a relief to many.
Our vulnerable people must continue to Stay at Home!
Our frontline workers and nursing home workers and patients must be perfectly protected!
We all must continue masks, separation, sanitation and slow-ing its spread so that we keep the hospitalizations curve flattened and protect our most vulnerable!
Tough guys wear masks! Pretty girls wear masks! Trump supporters like me wear masks!

Although infections have risen inevitably as we’ve reopened, very happily hospitalizations have NOT RISEN but continue to decline! Infections will soon subside to a flat permanent (though regrettably high) level as we re-understand the importance of and return to masks, separation and hand washing.
We’re learning to live with this virus as we must and as we have learned to live with influenza- it’s not going away.
Our flat level of infections will continue until we reach herd immunity requiring 65% of Americans becoming immune either by having recovered from it or by the hoped-for vaccine.
The rest of us must get back to work! We’re not dummies; we will protect ourselves by masks, separation and sanitation, thereby preventing any large increase in hospitalizations.
Total American household expenditures, the foundation of our nation, are $30 trillion. We pay these dollars for goods and services made by other workers who then spend their paychecks, another $30 trillion, paying them to others for products and services, and so on up through the nation.
Taxes along the way pay for our health care, education, peace, security and everything.
The once or twice paltry $3 trillion (borrowed) government stimulus is miniscule compared to this power of we consumers spending our paychecks up through our nation.

-Dave Bunting

The Virus
On June 29, 2020 Total Americans:
Recovered/Recovering: 2,419,196
Cases: 2,545,565
Fatalities: 126,369
Washington State:
31,752 cases, 1,310 fatalities
Lewis County.:
70 cases, 3 fatalities
Yakima County:
7,008 cases, 154 fatalities

Yakima County’s daily new infections number finally went below 100 recently for the first time in weeks, but continues to be higher than the entire rest of Washington State combined. The governor has now required masks in public and prohibited businesses from serving unmasked customers.
Our vulnerable people must continue to Stay at Home!
Our frontline workers and nursing home workers and patients must be perfectly protected!
We all must continue masks, separation, sanitation and slowing its spread so that we keep the hospitalizations curve flattened and protect our most vulnerable!
Tough guys wear masks! Good gals wear masks! Trump sup-porters wear masks!
Infections have risen inevitably as we’ve reopened. They will subside to a flat, permanent, regrettably high level as we re-understand the importance of and return to masks, separation and hand washing.
We’re learning to live with this virus as we must and as we have learned to live with influenza- it’s not going away!
Our flat level of infections will continue until we reach herd immunity requiring 65% of Americans–250 million of us– becoming immune either by having recovered from it or by the hoped-for vaccine.
The rest of us must get back to work! We’re not dummies; we will protect ourselves by masks, separation and sanitation, thereby preventing any large increase in hospitalizations.
Total American household

On June 22, 2020 Total Americans:

Recovered/Recovering:2,155,722

Cases: 2,275,645

Fatalities: 119,923

Washington State:

28,680 cases, 1,270 fatalities

Lewis County.:

49 cases, 3 fatalities

Yakima County:

6,283 cases, 138 fatalities

Yakima County’s daily new infections numbers continue to be higher than the entire rest of Washington State combined. The governor has now required masks in public and prohibited businesses from serving unmasked customers.

Our vulnerable people must continue to Stay at Home!

Our frontline workers and nursing home workers and patients must be perfectly protected!

We all must continue masks, separation, sanitation and slowing its spread so that we keep the hospitalizations curve flattened and protect our most vulnerable!

The rest of us must get back to work! We’re not dummies; we will protect ourselves by masks, separation and sanitation, thereby preventing any large increase in hospitalizations.

Total American household expenditures, the foundation of our nation, are $30 trillion. We pay these dollars for goods and services made by other workers who then spend their paychecks, another $30 trillion, paying them to others for products and services, and so on up through the nation.

Taxes along the way pay for our health care, education, peace, security and everything.

The once or twice paltry $3 trillion borrowed government stimulus is miniscule compared to this power of we consumers spending our paychecks up through our nation.

Dave Bunting

Red sky at night; sailor delight! Red sky at morning; sailor no warning?
A huge dust cloud from the Sahara is coming across the Atlantic and will arrive on southern US coast through the next week.
Forecasters say the dust cloud will make extra bright both sunrises and sunsets, and that it will reduce atmospheric instability and thus storms and hurricanes as well.
Info: shpr.fyi/dustcloud
Loss of sense of 
smell often precedes COVID symptoms
Anosmia, also known as smell blindness, is the loss of the ability to detect one or more smells. Anosmia may be temporary or permanent.
A study of over 3,000 hospital staff who tested positive for COVID antibodies found 95% of them lost their sense of smell prior to any other symptoms.

Info: shpr.fyi/anosmia

Black Hornet 1 oz. palm-size surveillance drone for combat troops
  In August, US Army troops in Afghanistan deployed a new reconnaissance tool: palm-size drones that weigh just over an ounce. The Black Hornet remote-control micro-copters stream hi-def video and photos, and their diminutive dimensions—and ability to fly without a GPS signal—make them especially adept at ducking into buildings, bunkers, and caves. FLIR developed a proprietary composite to minimize weight without sacrificing durability, so the wee spies can fly in 15-knot wind, remain airborne 25 minutes, and venture as far as 1.5 miles on a charge. Thanks to a revamped rotor design and flight control software that works much like an autopilot, the Black Hornet is unusually easy to fly using a tablet and a pistol-grip-style controller. Soldiers carry one version for daytime use and another equipped with a thermal camera for low-light conditions. Learning to maneuver them takes just minutes, quickly (and dramatically) increasing a squad’s situational awareness.
Info: shpr.fyi/palmdrone
Low-cost steroid 
cuts COVID deaths
 by one-third
Clinical trial of dexamethasone, a low-cost steroid treatment, cut the risk of death by one-third for coronavirus patients on ventilators and one-fifth for those on oxygen.
Info: shpr.fyi/steroid
Ultraviolet light 
an alternative 
for disinfection
One potential chemical alternative is ultraviolet light. Breckenridge Grand Vacations, which owns 800 rooms across five resorts in the ski town of Breckenridge, Colorado, scooped up 50 Puro UV disinfection lights, which kill pathogens illuminated for 15-30 minutes. The lights are deployed when humans aren’t present, and up to now have been used primarily in hospitals.
Info: shpr.fyi/ultraviolet
Sunlight Disinfects
Sunlight contains three types of ultraviolet light — UVA, which tans your skin (and ages it) and can cause eye damage; UVB, which burns and also ages skin; and UVC, which is “the most harmful one” because it’s quite good at destroying genetic material, explains Juan Leon, a virologist who focuses on environmental health at Emory University. Luckily, he notes, the sun’s UVC rays don’t reach us because they are filtered out by Earth’s atmosphere.
Sunlight can be a good disinfectant with other pathogens. Leon notes that’s why in the developing world, the World Health Organization recommends sterilizing water by putting it in plastic containers and leaving it outside in the sun for about five hours.
The researchers noted that simulated sunlight was capable of rapidly inactivating the SARS CoV-2 on the stainless steel coupons. Results showed that 90 percent of the infectious virus was inactivated in just 6.8 minutes in saliva solution and in 14.3 minutes in a culture media. The sunlight required for this is similar to the summer solstice seen at 40oN latitude at sea level on a clear day, wrote the researchers. They added that similar inactivation was seen at a slower rate when levels of sunlight were lower.
This study is the first to show that UVB levels found in natural sunlight can actually inactivate SARS CoV-2 on surfaces.
Carrying our masks on our dash in sunlight disinfects them.
Info: shpr.fyi/sunlight