DR. ANTHONY FAUCI

More “pain and suffering” is coming as the number of confirmed new cases of coronavirus continue to climb, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top expert on infectious disease in comments on a television interview show on Sunday.

However, he doesn’t anticipate that the situation will get bad enough to trigger the lockdowns that brought the economy to a near-halt and closed schools and colleges all across the nation.

“So, we’re looking, not, I believe, to lockdown but we’re looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we’re seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is to get vaccinated and this would not be happening,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

“Vaccination hesitancy” is pronounced not only in rural areas but also among young adults. The New York Times is reporting that less than half of all Americans ages 18 to 49 have been inoculated, while over two-thirds of those over 50 have been vaccinated.

Not enough water, now too much?

Thunderstorms are on the way to areas of the Mountain West, according to the National Weather Service, signaling the possibility of flash flooding.

The downpours are predicted to strike Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington and Montana, but will probably skirt Oregon and California, where rain could help contain the Bootleg and Dixie fires.

As for the West Orange County area, we won’t notice much of an impact. Daytime highs will range from 89 degrees on Monday to 82 on Thursday with no threat of precipitation.

U.S., China still top medal counts

As has been the case almost since the Tokyo Olympics began, the United States and China are leading in separate lanes of the medal count.

As of 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon (Pacific time), the U.S. team has 59 medals, followed by China with 51, Russian Olympic Committee with 44 and Japan and Australia tied with 31.

However, in the race for the most first place medals, China is in the lead with 24, followed by the U.S. (20), Japan (17), Australia (14) and the ROC (12).