The 15 voting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, along with representatives from federal science agencies and the health care industry, are participating in an emergency meeting online to weigh a proposal that the first COVID-19 vaccines should go to health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted living.
The issue of which risk groups should be prioritized for a COVID-19 vaccine has been a key topic at the group's regular public meetings over the past several months. The committee's goal is to use a COVID-19 vaccine to reduce severe illness and death from the disease and to lessen disruptions to society and the economy from the pandemic.
The coronavirus was present in the U.S. weeks earlier than scientists and public health officials previously thought, and before cases in China were publicly identified, according to a new government study published Monday.
The virus and the illness that it causes, COVID-19, were first identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, but it wasn't until about Jan. 20 that the first confirmed COVID-19 case, from a traveler returning from China, was found in the U.S.
ON A SUMMER DAY IN 1873, a cart stood on 6th Avenue in New York City filled to the brink with raw human waste. The cart was uncovered—its contents exposed to the air and to the passers-by who retched and gagged as they scurried away. Excrement dipped off the sides of the cart, and the sidewalks and gutters were smeared with the stuff. The stench was so strong that it could be smelled from more than a block away. It was another day in pre-sewer America.
The politics behind the creation of Nelson Rockefeller's Department of Environmental Conservation. Plus former US Supreme Court Justice and prominent labor lawyer Arthur Goldberg almost defeated Rockefeller in 1970.
Good morning! Happy December 🎄! Can you believe it’s already December? I certainly can’t. Two weeks to Bill of Rights Day 📜. Pouring rain and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 49 degrees. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. ☃️
I was up early enough 🌄 to get out for my walk but it was pouring rain at eight o’clock. So I canned my walk. Hopefully I’ll get out for my evening walk. 🚶🏻 I might also walk down to the library if it’s warm enough to walk down there. Work schedule is quiet 🕒 but I’m sure there will be projects later.
Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after noon. 🌧️ Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 44 by 5pm. South wind 11 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 28 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1934. 3.7 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.5° from the due south horizon (-45.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The sun is weak and low now, assuming that the rain and clouds part. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:40 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 19 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 46 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the south. Today will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 23 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. South wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light drizzle by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -2 occurred back in 1875.
I am in some ways glad that 2020 is winding down. ⏳ For me it was a pretty good year, certainly odd but I had a lot of fun with remote work. 💻 Snow is holding off so maybe I can get in a few more camping trips in before the end of the year. ⛺ I don’t mind the snow but when the snow banks are high it’s hard to find anywhere to park. 🅿 Plus all the neat places on the dirt roads are closed come winter. ❄ But April will be back in 2021 and things are likely to be less odd then. I’m hopeful that the vaccine will be successful and I can eventually start working downtown again. 🚍
Still not a great weekend on tap. 😕 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 42. Sunday, a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees.
This will be a stay at home 🏡 weekend, like many others when I’ll probably walk 🚶🏻 out to Five Rivers 🐦 for watching the birds and wildlife. Not much snow lately but it might be muddy there. The alternative would be to drive to Rennselear and Schodack Island and then stock up on groceries at Aldi’s. Haven’t made a trip there in a while. Staying home saves money which is good as I’ve had a lot of bills lately. Money 💵 is tight and I have a quarterly tax payment due December 15th.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Bill of Rights Day 📜 when the sun will be setting at 4:22 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 44 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.
