Data Report

SUMMARY - In his upcoming memoir, Sonny Boy, film actor Al Pacino details his near-death experience when he was infected with Covid-19 in 2020. While he was at home, he briefly did not have a pulse and emergency medical technicians had to revive him. He claims that he did not have an out-of-body experience.

LINK - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/al-pacino-near-death-experience-covid-19-1236025228/

Despite public perception, Covid-19 is still with us, both as a nation and globally. We are currently afflicted with KP.3.1.1 and we do not yet know the extent to which XEC (as it is presently named) will affect us.

It is wise to still mask, not just for Covid-19 but for the upcoming cold and flu season.

Yet, even for those of us who are still taking Covid precautions (the "Covid Cautious," as we are sometimes referred to), would there ever be a time safe enough to unmask?

The question is not intended to be inflammatory; If there are conditions for which we expect the population at-large to mask so that the spread of Covid-19 is arrested, then there should be conditions, however stringent, for them to not mask.

What conditions would need to exist in order for you to not wear a mask in public?

I suppose that there is considerable overlap for what would be considered "traditional survivalism" with this topic in that they both involve a heightened amount of self-reliance above and beyond that of a typical citizen.

** Having adequate food & non-food supplies to survive distribution disruption caused by any number of events is an obvious goal. Every family is different; Every person is different and so even a generalized list of what supplies may be needed may not be entirely effective.

** Having the means to maintain your property through non-motorized means would well be another obvious goal. Having a bicycle (perhaps even a "storage bicycle" or simply a bicycle plus a bicycle trailer) for emergency transportation needs. A snow shovel instead of a snow blower (obviously only useful for colder climates)... And so forth.

** Having a non-Internet means for long-distance communication (HAM radio, perhaps? Meshtastic?) in the event of conventional communication options being unavailable.

It is important to remember that the ideal situation is with efficiency of travel, not merely the absence of travel.

Efficiency is not relegated to one aspect of travel, such as fuel efficiency or amount of materials moved. Efficiency must be gauged in all aspects including the carbon footprint of how the vehicle was created, the amount of pollution caused by the vehicle during normal operation & the carbon footprint for creating the energy needed for the vehicle to operate.

The Covid pandemic has forced society, at least for a brief while, in imagining an otherwise unthinkable scenario in terms of travel efficiency on a macro level. It demonstrated that environmental benefits from reduced travel could be witnessed at significant levels and in the short-term.

Should society desire it (and it should), we should take that lesson and expand upon it to its reasonable conclusions.

Mass transit is an inescapable extension of the lesson learned from the initial phase of the Covid pandemic. Reducing motorized individual transportation, regardless of energy source, should be a priority of all civilizations. Reduction is not elimination; We must be pragmatic in our goals to be more efficient.

An increase in non-motorized transportation (ie bicycles, tricycles, and the like) is another desirable goal. It is important to note that society needs to be attentive in how such modes of transportation are constructed; Construction with exotic materials inevitably creates a larger carbon footprint.

Our sources of energy should be varied. While it would be highly desirable to eliminate coal, petroleum & natural gas, such an objective is not feasible in the short term. What is more pragmatic would be significant reductions of these types of energy sources.

Nuclear energy must be part of our carbon footprint reduction plan. Although politically undesirable, we must acknowledge that modern nuclear power plants are far safer and efficient than plants constructed in the 1970s and 1980s. Granted, nuclear energy should not dominate our energy resource plan but we must be willing to commit to it if we are serious in lowering our carbon footprint. As much as solar & wind would benefit us, they are still too inefficient to power our nation alone.

We must also address hydro-electric. This form of energy needs to be reduced as our planet now has so many hydro-electric dams that it has affected the spin of our planet through the unnatural displacement of water. Hydro-electric power is not as ecologically-friendly as once presumed and we must acknowledge this fact.

Although I am hopeful that society will eventually arrive at more efficient travel, it will likely not occur until more calamities happen. The arc of our progress always tends to be that society needs great crises before significant action of any kind occurs.

SUMMARY - Health Canada today has approved the latest Pfizer mRNA Covid-19 vaccine for use in the country of Canada. Like the Moderna mRNA vaccine, this latest vaccine targets the KP.2 lineage of the Covid-19 virus. The timeline for when Canadians will be allowed to receive these vaccines is up to individual provinces and territories.

LINK - https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-canada-approves-pfizer-biontech-s-updated-covid-19-vaccine-1.7050091

Perhaps one suggestion when discussing "The Spanish Flu" is to not call it as such. My understanding of that pandemic is that it was inaccurately named for political and social reasons. We should be mindful to be dispassionate and accurate in the naming of these ailments; Using "localized" names creates stigmas which stifle global cooperation in dealing with pandemics.

For instance, the scientific community no longer calls "MPox" by its original name (Monkeypox) because it conveyed an inaccurate meaning that the ailment originated and/or spread through monkeys when, in fact, it was first encountered in a monkey and it likely originated in both a different species and in a different area.

It is wise to look at our responses to prior pandemics of all types and learn how the global community can respond more efficiently for when such pandemics strike again.

SUMMARY - Health Canada, the Canadian government's department for national health policy, has approved the latest Novavax Covid-19 booster vaccine. The new Novavax vaccine targets the JN.1 Covid-19 variant which is a predecessor of more recent Covid-19 variants, such as KP.2 & KP.3.1.1.

LINK - https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-canada-approves-updated-novavax-covid-19-vaccine-1.7044469

SUMMARY - Health Canada has approved the latest Moderna Covid-19 booster, which targets the earlier KP.2 strain, today for use in its latest round of vaccinations. Vaccines produced by Pfizer and Novavax are still seeking Health Canada approval as of Tuesday (2024-09-17). It’s not known when the vaccine will be delivered to the provinces.

LINK - https://globalnews.ca/news/10759861/covid-19-moderna-vaccine-kp2-variant-approved/