CNN | Ron DeSantis’ Florida boast is falling apart

(CNN) – New cases of Covid-19 in the United States have fallen in the last two months to about 55,000 a day. That seems like a whopping number until you compare it with the more than 200,000 daily cases reported in early January. Deaths have also fallen, to about 1,000 a day from more than 3,000. Concern is growing that the US may be at the start of yet another rise in cases.

These numbers are promising, but the ups and downs and ups tell an important lesson about keeping perspective in a pandemic. Today’s promising numbers would have been horrific at this time last year and are hardly as good as they need to be. The pandemic is nothing if not dynamic, with ever-shifting expectations and outcomes.  —read more—

CNN travel | How safe is it to stay at a hotel right now? Experts weigh in

(CNN) — After a long year or more of sticking close to home, escaping to a stunning destination and a fancy hotel room may rank high on your to-do list.

Staying in a hotel is very low-risk if you’re vaccinated, separated from other people, and going straight to and from your room, said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

If you’re not traveling alone, “you certainly should not be sharing a hotel room with someone who is not in your immediate household, unless the other person is fully vaccinated,” Wen said.  —read more—

CNN | Latin America’s grueling battle with Covid-19 isn’t letting up

A woman attends the burial of her mother, who passed away due to COVID-19, in Manaus, Brazil.

Bogota, Colombia (CNN) – More than 100 days since the first Covid-19 vaccinations in Latin America, the pandemic is still dangerously resurging in some areas. The region’s recent battle with the coronavirus remains marked by disparities, with some countries boasting of positive vaccination trends while hospitals in neighboring nations collapse under waves of new cases.

Particularly worrying are high Covid-1 mortality rates in Brazil, Peru, Chile and Paraguay — a likely sign that local health systems are being stretched beyond their capacity.

“Mortality increases when this happens because patients have difficulty finding the care they need, and health workers are overburdened by tending to too many people at once,” said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization, last week.  –read more—

CNN BUSINESS | Cleveland Clinic and IBM hope their tech partnership could help prevent the next pandemic

Cleveland Clinic will become the first private-sector institution to have one of IBM’s quantum computers on-site.

New York (CNN Business) – After a year in which scientists raced to understand Covid-19 and to develop treatments and vaccines to stop its spread, Cleveland Clinic is partnering with IBM to use next-generation technologies to advance healthcare research — and potentially prevent the next public health crisis.

The two organizations on Tuesday announced the creation of the “Discovery Accelerator,” which will apply technologies such as quantum computing and artificial intelligence to pressing life sciences research questions. As part of the partnership, Cleveland Clinic will become the first private-sector institution to buy and operate an on-site IBM quantum computer, called the Q System One. Currently, such machines only exist in IBM (IBM) labs and data centers.  —read more—

CNN BUSINESS | $300 a day for a Kia Rio. Why rental cars prices have gone insane

New York (CNN Business) – Here’s what you need to know if you’re planning on a spring break trip to Orlando next week: Renting a car — if you can find one — could cost you at least $300 a day. That’s possibly more than you’ll spend for air fare, hotel rooms or tickets to theme parks.

A year ago, air travel came to a near halt, leading to a glut of rental cars. Rental companies parked their cars in unused lots at ballparks around the nation, and cars were rented for a fraction of their normal price — or sold as used cars. The industry sold off more than a half a million cars, about a third of their combined fleets, just to generate cash they needed to survive the crisis.

Following a year of deep losses, rental car companies have been unable to rebuild their fleets, especially with auto plants shut by a shortage of computer chips needed to build cars.  —read more—