The Knox County Advisory Board of Health held an emergency meeting Wednesday, July 28, 2021.

According to the Knox News Sentinel, Dr. Buchanan said,

- there is no "plan to issue any additional pandemic safety regulations despite new federal guidance that masks should be worn indoors in communities where COVID-19 is spreading quickly."

- "At this time, I have concerns about their effectiveness," said Buchanan about whether county residents would ignore new regulations like a mask mandate. "I have concerns about their further decreasing people's willingness to take a vaccine."

- "With all the politicization and polarization, that makes us concerned about doing any further actions,"

"From the first to the fourth week of July, the number of people hospitalized in the Knoxville region increased from 16 to 106, according to Tennessee Hospital Association data. "

Just under 50% of those hospitalized are under 50 years old.

"Governor Bill Lee spoke at the Tennessee Cattlemen's Association Convention in Sevierville about several different topics on Friday.

"COVID is here to stay. We have a managed health issue to address just like many health issues in the state," he said. "Case counts will ebb and flow ... People understand the risks associated with it, and that they have personal responsibility decisions to make."

Lee said he does not plan to institute any new COVID-19 restrictions to prevent cases from rising after the state reported more than 2,000 new cases."

Although, "he signed Executive Order 82 which extends a "limited state of emergency" in the state until Aug. 31.

He specifically said that Executive Order 82 allows the state to continue receiving additional federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It also allows additional funding from the federal government to be used in National Guard and State Guard COVID-19 response efforts."

So, it's here to stay, a managed health issue. But we need more federal funds to manage this health issue. What won't he do for more federal funds. Then he won't tell his constituents to get a vaccine and act appropriately for this to, hopefully, go away like polio, small pox, etc.

During the period beginning at 12:01 am on Friday, July 30, 2021 and ending Thursday, August 5, 2021 at 11:59 pm, food, food ingredients, and prepared foods are exempt from sales tax. This includes qualified sales of prepared food by restaurants, food trucks, caterers, and grocery stores.

Sales of alcoholic beverages are not included in items exempt during this period.

During this time clothing, school supplies and computers may be purchased tax-free. Certain restrictions apply. Items sold online are also eligible. Items must be purchase for personal use, not for business or trade.

Check your receipts. Some systems may not have gotten updated.

John Lennon

"Instant Karma's gonna get you
Gonna knock you right on the head
You better get yourself together
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
What in the world you thinking of
Laughing in the face of love
What on earth you tryin' to do
It's up to you, yeah you"
...

As of 7/28/2021,

since the inception of COVID-19, approx. 1/23/2020...

the Knox County Health Department reports 43,441 coronavirus cases and 8,883 probable cases.

There have been 655 deaths due to coronavirus in Knox County.
That is up from 650 total deaths reported as of July 14, 2021. 5 deaths in 2 weeks.

Deaths by age group:

15 in the 18-44 age group (2%) (increase of 0.7% since 7/14/21)
104 in the 45-64 age group (16%) (increase of 3% since 7/14/21)
148 in the 65-74 age group (23%) (increase of 0.6% since 7/14/21)
388 in the 75+ age group (59%) (no change since 7/14/21)

As of 7/27/2021, there are 124 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in the Knox County region (up from 43 as of 7/13/2021), 32 in ICU (up from 11 as of 7/13/2021). Hospitalizations up from a low of 21 on 7/4/21 and has been rising since.

As of July 27, 2021, ICU bed available capacity is at 6.6%, with 317 total available ICU beds.

As of July 27, 2021, the TN Dept of Health reports the average positivity rate over the past 7 days is 12.5%, up from 5.6% on 7/14/2021.

Vaccinations reported, last updated 7/27/2021:
% with 2 doses - 46.14% (up from 45.42% on 7/14/2021)
% with at least 1 dose - 50.22% (up from 49.09% on 7/14/2021)

Unlike so many government officials in Tennessee who have made it clear that under no circumstances will they issue any new COVID restrictions, there are government and private entities across the country starting to require COVID-19 vaccines of their employees.

The Houston Methodist Hospital may have begun the trend. They required vaccines of their employees and won the lawsuit to allow the requirement. Then there was Indiana University's requirement for "students and staff must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for a medical, religious or ethical exemption, or unless a student is attending a fully online program." They won their lawsuit as well.

Vanderbilt University requires all faculty, staff postdoctoral fellows, new and returning students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021–22 academic school year. "St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis is now requiring employees to get vaccinated against coronavirus or be terminated."

The Department of Veterans Affairs on Monday became the first major federal agency to require health care workers to get COVID-19 vaccines

"New York City will require teachers, police officers and the rest of the 340,000 city employees to get coronavirus vaccines by mid-September or face weekly testing..." "California became the first state in the country to unveil a vaccine verification program Monday for all state and health care employees, requiring evidence of vaccination from employees by Aug. 2 or mandatory testing..."

"A group that represents nearly 500 bars in San Francisco said on Monday that customers will be required to show proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test showing a negative result in order to drink inside."

It goes on and on. We can be thankful to those that take this pandemic seriously. We can be angry or sad about those that don't.

As of June, 86 percent of Democrats had received at least one dose, compared with 52 percent of Republicans. All the states with the lowest levels of vaccination — Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming and Louisiana — voted heavily for Donald Trump. Barely half of Republican House members report being vaccinated.

GOP dumb as dirt. But then they did elect the previous president, T.

"Florida reports highest daily COVID-19 cases since January"

Florida on Wednesday reported 12,647 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily number of cases since late January, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The last time that Florida topped this number was Jan. 30, when it logged 14,654 cases. The U.S. registered 55,132 cases on Wednesday, meaning that Florida’s daily count made up about 23 percent of new cases reported by the CDC for that day.

Dumb as dirt. Bob Graham is probably gnashing his teeth. Lawton Chiles is rolling in his grave.

Bezos is scheduled to take flight this morning, Tuesday, July 20, 2021.

Same-day delivery: Amazon's Jeff Bezos set to make history with suborbital spaceflight.

"Weather permitting, Bezos is scheduled to launch Tuesday at 9 a.m. ET from a site in the West Texas desert southeast of El Paso. Blue Origin will stream the event live on its website beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET."

Ms. "Wally Funk, 82, a former test pilot who was one of the Mercury 13 women who underwent training in the 1960s to demonstrate that women could qualify for NASA's astronaut corps. Funk would be the oldest person to reach space."

59.3% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated.
47.7% of adults in Tennessee are fully vaccinated.
57.1% of adults in Florida are fully vaccinated.
70.9% - 77% of adults are fully vaccinated in 5 states (Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and Rhode Island).

Tennessee has the highest percentage increase of new cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days at + 340%. Arkansas has the highest count of new cases per 100,000 residents in the last seven days. Florida has the highest daily average of new cases in the past 7 days at 6,493.

And while rates are spiking nationwide -- up about 70% over the last week -- Florida’s rise is among the worst.

“Just four states accounted for more than 40% of all cases in the past week, with 1 in 5 of all cases occurring in Florida alone,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters during a briefing Friday.

"Jacksonville, Florida, COVID-19 cases almost doubled in 1 week." "The growth in cases has risen for four weeks in a row and is now at levels not seen since winter." Duval County, FL, "saw 4,428 new cases in the last seven days -- a 21.9% positivity rate." Baker, Bradford, Nassau, Putnam and Union counties’ positivity rates are even higher." "The state’s rate of positive tests rose to 11.5% from 7.8% the week before."

It just goes on and on around the country. Los Angeles has reinstated a mask requirement. Hospitals are filling up again. If only there was something we could do? Oh, yeah, get a vaccine! Stop drinking the conservative right kool-aid. Get a vaccine! Don't go to Florida. Get a vaccine!

As of 7/14/2021,

since the inception of COVID-19, approx. 1/23/2020...

the Knox County Health Department reports 42,935 coronavirus cases and 8,668 probable cases.

There have been 650 deaths due to coronavirus in Knox County.
That is up from 602 total deaths reported as of March 19, 2021. Forty-eight deaths in 4 months, average 12 deaths a month.

Deaths by age group:

14 in the 18-44 age group (2%) (increase of 27% since 3/19/21)
101 in the 45-64 age group (16%) (increase of 22% since 3/19/21)
147 in the 65-74 age group (23%) (increase of 5% since 3/19/21)
388 in the 75+ age group (60%) (increase of 6% since 3/19/21)

As of 7/13/2021, there are 43 COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized in Knox County, 11 in ICU. That's up from a low of 21 on 7/4/21 and has been rising since.

As of July 13, 2021, ICU bed available capacity is at 6.3%, with 317 total available ICU beds. However, I'm not sure how there is a total capacity for ICU beds of 317 when the current census reported is 397.

As of July 14, 2021, the TN Dept of Health reports the average positivity rate over the past 7 days is 5.6%.

Vaccinations reported, last updated 7/14/2021:
% with 2 doses - 45.42%
% with at least 1 dose - 49.09%

Spoofing is when a caller deliberately falsifies the information transmitted to your caller ID display to disguise their identity

Robocalls are when you receive a call and hear a recorded message instead of a live person.

Robocalls and spoofing have been a problem for a while and keeps getting worse.

Effective June 30, the FCC implemented a new technology to cut down on the calls uses a technology called Stir/Shaken. "STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of interconnected standards. STIR/SHAKEN are acronyms for the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) standards. "

From the New York Times,
"In short, the F.C.C. is trying to make sure that if you’re getting a call, the network on which it is being made is verifying the caller."

"The F.C.C.’s first step was setting a June 30 deadline for what it calls “voice service providers” (you know them as phone companies) to register their efforts to reduce the scourge of scams in a public Robocall Mitigation Database. So far, more than 1,500 of them have, the F.C.C. said.

Starting on Sept. 28, phone companies must refuse calls from providers that have not registered with the F.C.C."

"The carrier uses the STIR/SHAKEN technology to create a digital signature that authenticates the number’s path from start to finish."
...
“At the end they can say ‘Ah, this call is actually from this number,’” he said. “There is end-to-end verification, which gives you insight into the caller and how legitimate they are.”

According to Jim McEachern, the principal technologist for Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, “The key thing here is it was never intended to be a silver bullet,” he said, speaking of the F.C.C.’s new push with Stir/Shaken. “It was intended to be a tool to help.”

We can only hope this new technology helps. It does appear that our robocalls/spoofs have gone down in the past week but we'll wait and see.

The robocallers/spoofers will be working on ways around this new technology. Just recently the FCC issued a $225 million fine against a health insurance telemarketer for spoofed robocalls. Will it make a dent? It remains to be seen.

Branson is scheduled to take flight tomorrow morning, Sunday, July 11, 2021. The flight should take about 90 minutes and will go to an altitude of 55 miles.

They fly out of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, is scheduled to take his space flight July 20.

This is a lot of money.

Yeehaw!

After retiring we are cleaning out the house to rid ourselves of so much of our business remains. Among the 5 retired laptops we found, this is a Compaq Contura laptop from 1993. We believe it came with Windows 3. However,for the last couple of years we used it for a MS-DOS application only. It was Compaq's first attempt at making an affordable laptop. Sadly it will not boot up.

It weighs 7 lbs and is about the width/height of a current laptop, but is 1 and 1/2 inches thick. The screen is tiny at 7 inches wide.

Nearly 30 years old. Obviously we have too much stuff.

Another item we'll not force our relatives to sort through and toss.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Freedom!

In an 8-0 vote, Knoxville City Council gave the okay for KUB to "provide a public fiber broadband network (1-gigabit, symmetrical fiber) to its customers."
...
"According to KUB's proposal, service would start at about $65 a month and could begin as early as 2022. Service would extend to all of KUB's territory by 2029."

Over 3 years KUB electric bills will increase by about $10 to pay for broadband and improvements.

In partner with City of Knoxville, KUB is "exploring offering broadband access for lower income homes that might not be able to afford the service."

"The plan is inspired by Chattanooga's municipal broadband system, touted as one of the fastest and most reliable broadband networks in America."

County Mayor Glenn "Jacob's spokesperson Mike Donila told Knox News that Jacobs believed that KUB was a good community partner but that they should not be in broadband. "

TDEC is proposing significant changes in state environmental oversight of builders, developers, property owners, contractors and subcontractors in controlling runoff.

"Currently, construction sites are prohibited from disturbing 50 acres of property at one time unless they have applied for, and received, a special stormwater permit — a process that requires public notice and opportunity for comment. The proposed new rules would eliminate that permit requirement.

Smaller construction site disturbances — fewer than 50 acres — currently require twice-weekly stormwater monitoring inspections. The proposed new rules would keep the twice-weekly inspection requirement in place at sites with 50 or more acres undergoing construction activity, but reduce required inspections to once per week for smaller acreages."

Unbelievable. Another thanks to Gov. Bill (Donald Trump) Lee.

If the apartment complex proposal moves forward, the land could turn into a medium-income multi-family residential complex. This would add almost 300 units, ranging anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 in rent.
...
She says there's a lot of amenities along Alcoa Highway they don't have. This includes grocery stores, banks and even service stations.

"We need more people to be able to support the businesses that all of us in this area desperately want," Alcoa Highway Beautification council chair Kathy Proctor said.

Ha, ha, ha ... prior to the road construction in that area there was a grocery store, convenience store/gas station, a Subway, Hardees, and more for a long, long time. Slowly the road construction obstructions forced these businesses to shut down. I'm surprised how long the CVS drug store has lasted. Guess all those businesses won't be compensated for their losses.

More than 50 teen campers and adult staff members caught COVID-19 during an outbreak at a central Illinois church summer camp earlier this month, and at least one person was hospitalized, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The camp also didn’t require masks, according to the state health department.

When will they ever learn?

18,000 Covid-19 deaths in May, 2021, of which 17,850 we're unvaccinated person's.

"The same trend was true with hospitalizations: Fewer than 1,200 of the 853,000 people hospitalized last month were fully vaccinated against the virus."

"... the rapidly increasing prevalence of the more infectious delta variant, which Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday now makes up 20% of new cases. "

In other words, Get Vaccinated. And, even if you are vaccinated, Be Careful.