August 11, 2021 11:25 AM
Morning Reads for National Son and Daughter Day
Good morning, and happy National Son and Daughter Day! Here are some ways to celebrate, but also call your parents.
Now, on to the news!
Pat Conroy
- This new, totally unnecessary COVID surge in Georgia has predictably overwhelmed our hospitals. (Alternate link.)
- Meanwhile, Georgia universities are headed back to class this fall without a vaccination or mask requirement, which is a scary combination in a state with a dismal 41% vaccination rate.
- Two coaches in Jonesboro have been charged with murder and child cruelty in the death of a high school basketball player.
- A grand jury in Cherokee County has indicted 14 people for running a human trafficking ring under the guise of a fake charity.
- The woman in the U.S. House of Representatives who believes the people of Northwest Georgia are beholden to her – and not the other way around – is suspended from Twitter again.
- Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites has been around for 90 years.
Alice Walker
- In some good news, COVID vaccinations have doubled across the United States since last month.
- California has become the first state to mandate COVID vaccinations for teachers.
- Some Florida school administrators are risking their salaries to defy Governor Ron DeSantis’ anti-mask executive order.
- Kathy Horchul will be New York’s first female governor. (Good riddance, Andrew Cuomo!)
- A former college criminal justice instructor has been charged with setting California’s second-largest fire ever.
- The Texas House Speaker has signed arrest warrants for Democrats who fled the state to avoid a quorum over a voter suppression bill. (Alternate link.)
- China has sentenced a Canadian businessman to 11 years in prison for spying. (Alternate link.)
- A British embassy worker accused of spying for Russia has been arrested in Germany.
- The Taliban has seized three more provincial cities in Afghanistan.
- Russia and China are holding combined military drills over concerns about Afghanistan.
- At least 65 people have died in the Algerian wildfires.
Flannery O’Connor
- A dog in Connecticut ran over two miles from home hoping to find her owner at work.
About Author
Holly Croft
Holly is an archivist at one of Georgia's institutions of higher learning. In a past life, she was a legislative assistant on Capitol Hill. She cares a lot about records management, open records laws, and privacy laws. Political persuasion? It's complicated. What's not complicated is that she's proudly equal parts Bulldog and Tar Heel.
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I got this email yesterday evening from my beekeeping club. It’s going to be a long while until it is safe again. We will be doing Zoom meetings again.
“We are disappointed to send this out, but the two club boards have agreed that meeting in person next week for our Jamboree scheduled for August 21 at the Farm Bureau is too risky and needs to be postponed. We have included some information at the bottom of this email that relates to our decision. There were strong feelings that meeting indoors was unwise and meeting outdoors in the middle of August would be too hot…
Rationale for postponing by Dr. Cory ****** (PhD, teaches immunology at UGA):
The game has changed with delta. The delta variant is much more infectious than previous SARS-2 viruses. The infectivity is in the range of chickenpox, making it one of the most highly infectious respiratory viruses known. The virus is MUCH worse than influenza (the “flu”). The variant is putting people as young as children in hospitals. Individuals that are not vaccinated make up >95% of hospital cases and an even proportion of the deaths. Folks that are vaccinated are generally avoiding hospitalization. However, people that are vaccinated can get the disease and spread it- even if they are asymptomatic. Ideally, everyone should shift from fabric to N95 (or KN95) hospital-grade masks due to the infectiousness of this variant.
A very good website for tracking viral spread and vaccination status is https://covidactnow.org
Below shows COVID cases for Clark County. Note the huge spike in cases after UGA students returned last year in mid-August! That will occur again with a vengeance because UGA currently has less controls in place than last year.
(There was a graph here)
And below shows cases for Oglethorpe County. The viral levels are similar to last year in the fall- but going up. The infection rate is very bad.
(Another graph)
The lack of adequate infection controls in surrounding counties (no mask mandates in Oconee and Oglethorpe County schools and low vaccination rates in Clark and Oglethorpe) and lack of best-practice controls (social distancing, mandated masks and vaccines) in the UGA classrooms will allow the virus to continue spreading significantly in the region over the next few months.
Cory *******
President, Oglethorpe County Bee Club
I went to a graveside service this past Saturday for a 42 yo man who died from Covid. His wife was still on oxygen at the service. Neither had been vaccinated or wore masks. Neither one of them had any chronic illnesses.
40 people were there. Only ten of us wore masks.
I just ordered some N-95 masks yesterday. They are at least $1.10 each on Amazon from the 3M store . I expect that price will be going up in the near future.
I use N-95 respirators at work sometimes when I work with moldy materials. In 2020, we couldn’t reorder any because they were astronomically priced but were finally able to get some at the pre-pandemic price in May 2021. You’re right; that price isn’t going to stick.
I still use cloth masks with a 2.5 PM activated carbon filter insert and don’t feel much of a need to change, as that gets me pretty close to an N-95’s protection without the discomfort.
If you are ordering N-95s on the internet, 3-M is definitely a solid brand, but they aren’t the only ones, of course. Just make sure there’s the NIOSH seal on the mask to verify that it’s an N-95 made to standard. Also, I’ve seen some from Kimberly-Clark and others that have writing stating NIOSH’s approval, but they’re… odd to me. N-95s should have adjustable straps (and folks who use them should get them fitted twice a year if they’re being used in a hazmat situation), so be aware of that, too.
Also, I deleted my first paragraph? Oops. Anyway, I’m really sorry about your friend.
It’s a tragedy. I have sadness but also anger. It’s like a friend who drives drunk or doesn’t use their seatbelt. It’s an easily preventable cause of death, two vaccine shots or a good face mask could have changed everything.
Hi. Person who works in respiratory protection and PPE world. Specifically in the world of NIOSH certification. Just want to clarify a couple of things for you all.
N95s and other respirators protection is not just based on filtration. A large component of it is FIT. Which is why respirator use in US workplaces require fit testing (if resp protection is a requirement for the job) per OSHA requirements. So while your cloth mask with filter may get you to 90-95% filtration, that does not translate to N95 protection always. Dont fall into a false sense of security with this.
N95s and other respirators do not have to have adjustable straps. The vast majority do not. Generally, you will find adjustable straps with elastomeric (gas mask type) respirators. But disposables do not.
N95s come in MANY shapes and sizes. From molded, to vertical flat fold, to horizontal flat fold, to elastomeric. To check if you have an authentic one, refer to the NIOSH Certified Equipment List. Manufacturers and their models are listed there. You can cross reference with what is written on the mask.
Hope that helps!
A California surfing school owner who was charged with killing his two children in Mexico is a follower of QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories who thought the children “were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them,” federal officials say.
Matthew Taylor Coleman, 40, was charged Wednesday with foreign murder of U.S. nationals in connection with the death of his 2-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Coleman confessed to the killings, telling the FBI he used a spear fishing gun to stab them, authorities said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-dad-killed-his-kids-over-qanon-serpent-dna-conspiracy-n1276611
Anyone who follows Q-Anon, well the heck with you, you guys are crazy. Stay away from me and my family.
Doesn’t Marjorie Greene believe in Q-Anon? I think so. I hope you are reading this, Bull, you are part of this crap.
Defending a Q-Anon believer means you are part and parcel of this madness. Why don’t you leave and move to some other country. We do not need you here.