Random and illustrative stories about the global pandemic and how businesses and various business sectors are trying to recover from it, with brief, occasional, italicized and sometimes gratuitous commentary…
• Here are the US Covid-19 coronavirus numbers: 47,916,190 total cases, resulting in 783,565 deaths, and 37,918,301 reported recoveries.
The global numbers: 254,168,146 total cases, with 5,1187,220 resultant fatalities and 229,827520 reported recoveries. (Source.)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 79.4 percent of the US population age 12 and older, and 68.3 percent of the total US population, has receive3d at least one dose of vaccine, while 68.8 percent of the 12-and-older population and 58.8 percent of the total population is fully vaccinated.
The CDC also says that 35.5 percent of the US population age 65 and older, and 15 percent of the total US population, has received a vaccine booster shot.
• The Wall Street Journal this morning reports that "Covid-19 cases are climbing in places like the upper Midwest, Southwest and parts of the Northeast, hindering the nation’s progress in ending a surge triggered by the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
"Nationally, the seven-day average of new cases appears to be edging back up after hovering just above 70,000 for several weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, halting what had been a decline from the Delta-fueled peak that began in September. While the Southeast cools off from its summer surge, other regions are under pressure, including places where colder weather has brought people back indoors where the virus can more easily spread.
"The stalled progress is an unwelcome turn as the Thanksgiving holiday nears, which will mean more people traveling and congregating indoors, as families gather to celebrate."
• Bloomberg has a fascinating story:
"Over dense forests and cocoa farms, a fleet of drones hummed en route to Ghana’s central Bosomtwe District. Upon reaching their destination Sunday, the red-and-white aircraft parachuted thermal packages containing cargo that’s long been awaited by the local Kokodei community: vials of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
"In the days ahead, these drones will shuttle tens of thousands of the shots developed by Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to some of Ghana’s most rugged, remote countryside as part of an effort to provide more equitable access to doses. Every four minutes, from dawn until dusk, drones operated by Zipline will depart from its distribution centers bearing the immunizations. The company has been tasked with bringing doses to 40% of Ghana’s population.
"This isn’t Zipline’s first time working with COVID vaccines and supplies, but highly effective messenger RNA shots have a strict requirement for storage at ultra-cold temperatures. Until ready for use, the Pfizer doses must be stored as cold as minus-130 degrees Fahrenheit — colder than the lowest readings ever recorded on Earth’s surface. Ghana is among the many low- and middle-income countries lacking the equipment and infrastructure to store and deliver these shots."
