Guam Kingfisher at San Diego Zoo (Taken 3.2.22) |
When you walk around the San Diego Zoo or San Diego Zoo Safari Park, each animal has a placard with the animal name, sometimes the scientific name, some factoid about it, and then a little bar on the bottom that tells you their status: stable, threatened, endangered.
Today it was a busy Thursday and since we planned on Nova's game at 4:30 and Darren had his Safari Park interview at 3:15, I wandered around by myself for a couple hours before catching the bus to Hoover High.
I never noticed this beautiful guy -- the Guam Kingfisher -- as he called out his captivating sequence of whistles, and his placard said "EXTINCT. This bird was native to Guam and after non-native brown tree snakes made it to the island, wiped out their population entirely, except for where they exist in zoos. I kind of became obsessed with it. Extinct means a whole new thing when you can see something that quite practically no longer exists.
By sheer coincidence, I was whistling with my favorite gray parrot and a zoo ornithologist came by and let me ask him a million questions. He said there are breeding and reintroduction programs but the pandemic has made transporting animals nearly impossible. He also answered my questions about the turaco, his specialty, and the gray birds with the flamingos, which he called "the screamers." Yes, they lay eggs often he said, but the female is too old so they're never viable.
But back to that little Guam Kingfisher. It was pretty powerful how thinking about this one little bird's extinction had me spiral thinking about mortality and climate change and this attack on Ukraine and well, I think we all know we're pretty well fucked. But on the bright side, maybe this little guy's plight can also give us a ray of hope.
(In case you're wondering, Nova's team was short of a full squad, and got spanked by their opponents, though they played hard and were all smiles after their game.)
Stay safe out there.
- COVID-19:
- White House Updates COVID-19 Plan
- White House COVID Plan Stresses 'New Moment' in the Pandemic — Congressional funding necessary to step up access to treatment, enhanced surveillance - MedPage Today (3.2.22)
- The White House has a new plan for COVID-19 aimed at getting things back to normal - kpbs (3.2.22)
- White House rolls out next COVID-19 plan: 8 details - Becker's Hospital Review (3.2.22)
- New Biden pandemic plan: Closer to normal for the nation - AP News (3.2.22)
- Masks No Longer Required, But Strongly Recommended Indoors - County News Center (3.2.22)
- COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide - WHO (3.2.22)
- Omicron subvariant doubling every week in US: 5 things to know - Becker's Hospital Review (3.2.22)
- Politics:
- Virtual Press Conference on Ukraine situation, COVID-19 and other global health issues - WHO (3.2.22)
- Jan. 6 panel says it has evidence Trump broke laws in trying to overturn the election - npr/kpbs (3.2.22)
- Let’s Recall What Exactly Paul Manafort and Rudy Giuliani Were Doing in Ukraine - ProPublica (3.2.22)
- Ukraine is Just the Beginning: SECRET DOCUMENT REVEALS Putin’s Long War on Europe - Byline Times (3.1.22)
- Other Reading:
- Parents Urged to Get Tweens, Teens Caught Up on Vaccinations - County News Center (3.2.22)
- HPV
- Meningococcal disease
- Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (grouped in one vaccine called Tdap)
- Influenza
- Chickenpox
- Government:
- White House
- Statement by President Biden on Texas’ Attacks on Transgender Youth
- Remarks By President Biden On Building A Better America
- Statement by the President on the United Nations General Assembly Vote Condemning Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine
- Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by First Lady Jill Biden at the University of Wisconsin-Superior
- Press Gaggle by Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre
- COVID-19 Press Briefing by White House and HHS Public Health Officials, March 2, 2022
- FACT SHEET: The United States Continues to Impose Costs on Russia and Belarus for Putin’s War of Choice
- Statement by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on the Visit of President Iván Duque Márquez of the Republic of Colombia
- Remarks by President Biden Before Marine One Departure
- Remarks by President Biden in State of the Union Address (as delivered)
- A Message to the Congress on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Ukraine
- Notice on the Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Ukraine
- Dept of Defense
- State Dept
- Dept of Justice
- DHS
- Joint Statement of Intent Between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Israel National Cyber Directorate
- Secretary Mayorkas Designates Sudan and Extends and Redesignates South Sudan for TPS
- Labor
- Interior
- Global COVID-19 Stats (JHU 3.2.22 9:21pm):
- 440,172,104 Known Cases/54,747,544 28-Day New Cases
- 5,972,607 Known Deaths/277,824 28-Day New Deaths
- US COVID-19 Stats
- CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Data Tracker
- American Academy of Pediatrics Children and COVID-19 Dashboard
- JHU
- 79,143,716 Cases/3,417,881 28 Day New Cases
- 954,518 Deaths/57,656 28-Day New Deaths
- CDC Data Tracker:
- +42,129 New Cases/78,900,375 Known Cases
- +1,898 New Deaths/950,112 Known Deaths
- 691,012,865 Doses Delivered
- 553,778,476 Doses Administered
- 253,752,684 Partially Vaccinated
- 215,775,839 Fully Vaccinated
- 65% of Total Population
- 69.1% of Population ≥ 5 Years of Age
- 73.5% of Population ≥ 12 Years of Age
- 75% of Population ≥ 18 Years of Age
- 94,552,155 Boosters (43.8%)
- California COVID-19 Stats:
- State of California Safe Schools For All Hub
- Vaccination progress dashboard
- Coronavirus: Resources for Californians
- R-effective: 0.71
- 84,386,935 Doses Delivered/71,697,868 Doses Administered
- 3,513,263 Partially Vaccinated/27,827,565 Fully Vaccinated
- 14,091,435 Boosters Administered (56.8%)
- 6,027 New Cases/8,388,683 Total Cases (15.4 new cases/100k)
- 216 New Deaths/84,928 Total Deaths (216 new deaths/100k)
- 2.6% 7-day test positivity rate
- 3,987 COVID-19 Hospitalizations (-142 patients, -3.4% from prior day)
- 740 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized in CA (-32 patients, -4.1% from prior day)
- 2,015 ICU beds available (-128 from prior day)
- San Diego County
- Free Testing Sites and Schedule in San Diego
- Vaccination Locations San Diego
- Vaccination Dashboard
- COVID ActNow Daily Updates for San Diego Metro
- San Diego Unified School District COVID Dashboard
- State Data:
- R-effective: 0.56
- 1,376 New Cases/739,136 Total Cases
- 4.5% Daily Positivity
- 11 Deaths/5,029 Total Deaths
- 417 COVID-19 hospitalized patients (-7 patients, -1.7% from prior day)
- 75 COVID-19 ICU hospitalized patients (-8 patients, -9.6% from prior day)
- 219 ICU beds available (-12 from prior day)
- County Data:
- County of San Diego Influenza Watch
- 1,606 Total Cases
- 3 Deaths
- 0 Outbreaks
- 31 New Cases Last Week
- County of San Diego COVID-19 Watch
- County of San Diego Weekly Update
- 952 New Cases/739,176 Total Cases
- Case rate: 22.0 per 100,000 residents overall
- 30.9 for fully vaccinated people
- 28.8 for fully vaccinated + boosted people
- 72.2 for not fully vaccinated San Diegans.
- 11 New Daily Deaths/5,045 Total Deaths
- 7,505,325 Doses Received/6,872,783 Doses Administered
- 2,926,057 Partially Vaccinated/2,573,086 Fully Vaccinated
- 1,169,223 Booster Doses
- 11,446 Newly Fully Vaccinated Since Last Week
- 81.7% 5+ Population Fully Vaccinated/77% Total Population Fully Vaccinated
- 6.8% Daily Test Positivity/5.2% 7-day average/6.9% 7-day average after 7-day lag/5.4% Test Positivity (14-day average)
- 78.5% Case Investigation
- +23 Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations
- +3 Day Over Day COVID-19 ICU Patients
- -11.4% Day Over Day COVID-19 Hospitalizations (417 patients. -64% over 30 days)
- 23% ICU Capacity (75 patients. -65% over 30 days)
- 47 Staffed ICU Beds Available
- 58 Community Outbreaks (7-day)
- 28 in TK-12th grade school settings
- 5 in daycare/preschool/childcare settings
- 5 in business settings
- 4 in government settings
- 4 in retail settings
- 2 in healthcare settings
- 2 in distribution warehouse settings
- 1 in an emergency services setting
- 1 in a restaurant setting
- 1 in a college/university setting
- 1 in a community-based organization setting
- Universities:
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