Greetings!
A year into Revitalize, during which we did not miss a week, we determined that with the publisher in San Francisco and Oakland on combined work, meeting some of our favorite reporters and experts as well as family time, all we could offer is a very brief edition. We hope that you find our brevity is the soul of both wit and debate.
We lead with the more good and continued hesitancy bad new from the posted on June 30 New York Times’ State of the virus:
- Reports of new cases have held steady in recent weeks at around 12,000 a day, the lowest totals since testing became widely available.
- For the first time since March 2020, the country is averaging fewer than 300 coronavirus deaths each day.
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The highly infectious Delta variant continues to spread, driving up case totals in parts of Missouri and raising concerns about vulnerability in other areas with low vaccination rates.
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Even with ample supply, the vaccination drive continues to sputter. Fewer than a million doses are being administered most days, and less than half the country is fully vaccinated.
In this shortened version we omit international data yet here is a quick summary of June 29, 2021, which shows that on that day there were
- 34,529,950 Total Cases
- 13,210 New cases
- 619,996 Total Deaths
- 318 New Deaths
+318 New Deaths
We recommend a deeper dive into state data that can be found if click the Link to The New York Times state data tables.
A short Issue demands two articles that contradict each other. First we offer a great podcast from Slate (also available in a transcript) that posted late last week where Dr. Monica Gandhi tells us "Why you shouldn’t worry about the Delta variant (if you’re vaccinated)." It is a must read or listen and when you are done jump to The Los Angeles Times reporting on Tuesday that "L.A. County urges everyone to wear masks indoors as Delta variant spreads." The County acted because “With the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus continuing to spread statewide, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is recommending that all residents wear masks in public indoor spaces—regardless of whether they've been vaccinated for Covid-19.”
The Washington Post offers us its weekly update and answer session and has a must-read answer to the question “What does 90 percent effective mean?”
We close with Slate’s William Saletan’s "Trump’s Coronavirus infection was much worse than we knew." Saletan concludes that “By lying about it, he led others to their deaths.”
From the Admiral’s Club at SFO and poolside in Culver City as well as newsrooms virtual and real across the U.S. here is Revitalize for July 1, 2021:
