After a breakout session, we heard & saw the Whitney Houston video of America the Beautiful, as next Monday (1/17) is Martin Luther King Day. President Tony Andresen called the meeting to order, led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. David King provided our Invocation, ending with “If it is to be – it is up to me”. Tony welcomed guests and Club Members as “Zoomers” (attending via Zoom internet connection). For this meeting and at least the next two meetings, we are all “Zoomers".
The January Birthday Club 13 Rotarians are: Glenn Crawford, Michelle Biondo, Jim Porter, Rose Ryan, Paul Flucke, Tony Andresen, Mary Kingsley, Kim Beatty.
ANNOUCEMENTS:
. ZOOM meeting for the next two weeks (at least)
. The Program Committee Meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb 10th
. Geeks for Kids, Feb 5th is the Build Day
. Shoes for Orphan Souls: note there are a lot of really good shoe sales happening now (buy a bunch and contribute). The official kick off will come in February. We are also looking for storage space.
SICK BAY - Jim Porter – update: Jim was transferred to St. Luke’s South Rehab. He starts a 3 hour OT/PT regimen. We are hoping and praying he will be home by or before his 80th birthday on January 17th. It was suggested that we each send Jim a birthday card with our best wishes for his recovery.
TODAY’S PROGRAM:
Joe Privitera and Tony Andresen introduced Dr John Cascone M.D. Dr. Cascone is an infectious disease specialist in Joplin, Missouri, with KC connections & roots, and is affiliated with the University of Kansas Health System, St. Francis Campus. He received his medical degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Medicine and has been in practice for more that 20 years. Dr. Cascone updated us on the Covid-19 pandemic and where we are in 2022, especially in regard to the “new” Omicron variant. Dr Cascone’s presentation was data packed.
As Yogi Berra said “It’s like deja-vu, all over again.” Dr Cascone with the aid of several slides discussed the Covid -19 virus mechanics with its “T-cell” receptors and how it laches onto respiratory cells, highjacking them. We saw a timeline on major Historical Pandemics going back to the Bubonic Plague around 1350 and coming forward through Smallpox (1520’s), Cholera around 1820, the “Spanish Flu” of 1918, HIV/AIDS (1981 to current), and the Swine Flu (2009/2020).
We have had prior outbreaks caused by “coronaviruses”, namely SARS (2002/2003) and MERS (2015 to present). We saw a very informative COVID-19 TIMELINE, starting on Dec 12, 2019 with the initial outbreak (Alpha variant) in Wuhan City, China and how quickly & seemingly systematically it spread & mutated thereafter. The first reported US case was a little over one month later. The first human trail of vaccines began on March 17th, 2020. By May 28th, 2020 the reported US death toll attributed to Covid-19 was 100,000. By September 22, 2020 (5 months later) that total had doubled to 200,000. By Dec 14th the US death toll was over 300,000 and one month later, January 14th, it climbed to over 400,000. As of January 10th, 2022, the US has had 57.3 million confirmed Covid cased with 829,000 deaths. Worldwide those figures are 305 million confirmed cases with 5.46 million attributed deaths. Confirmed cases in both categories are “undoubtingly undercounted”.
The Delta variant originated (mutated) in India in December 2020 (one year later) and became the dominant US strain in January 2021 because of its increased transmissibility compared with the Alpha variant. It also brought increased severity with increased hospitalization rate and death. The Omicron variant originated in November 2021 (eleven months later) in Botswana & South Africa. The first US case “occurred” Dec 1st, 2021. By December 25th, 2021 the CDC estimated that Omicron accounted for 58% of all new US infections. The Omicron variant is now the dominant variant in the US. Omicron has an enhanced ability to enter cells. It has a replication advantage of being 70x faster than Delta! If there is any good news, the Omicron variant may be less lethal versus the Delta, in that the Delta tends to go deeper down into the lungs, whereas the Omicron does not. Omicron grows less well in the lung tissue than the other strains.
FACE MASKS: Here is a valuable take away. When you compare the four types of masking: none, cloth mask, surgical mask and N95 mask, the cloth and surgical offer slightly improving protection over no mask. The N95 mask provides 2.5 hours of protection against an unmasked person, versus 30 minutes in the next best mask alterative, which is 5 times the protection time. N95 masks each worn by two individuals provide the wears 25 hours of protection between each other! The “take away” here is get a “N95” mask & wear it.
VACCINES: If you are vaccinated, you are 5 times less likely to get infected. If you do become infected (“crossover”) you are contagious for a shorter period of time and are less likely to be severely hospitalized and possibly becoming a fatality. The “take away” here is clear.
COVID-19 TESTING: There are two general categories (1) Rapid antigen test (can be done at home), but is less sensitive than the PCR and (2) the PCR test which takes longer and requires a lab.
The Quote of the Day: “We may have all come over on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.” Dr Martin Luther King JR.