“3 million new US Covid-19 cases were diagnosed in just the past 13 days. The United States has tallied over 3 million new Covid-19 cases in 2021 so far, John Hopkins University reports.
It took 167 days to reach the first 3 million cases, from January 22, 2020 (when JHU reported the
first US coronavirus case) to July 8, 2020. So far, 23,044,857 cases and 384,204 deaths have been reported from Covid-19 during the entire pandemic, per JHU.” CNN

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The photo above is one of our personal “at home” fight against invading Mealybugs.

After our having eliminated one Variety of Mealybug https://pbase.com/britestar/image/171258746 on a plant in a totally different part of the Solar Room, another variety is now attacking a hibiscus about 30 feet away. I check my house plants daily. This infestation quickly popped up out of nowhere overnight. I’ve also never seen this species of Mealybugs before. Since no new plants have been introduced to the Solar Room, I have no idea where they could have come from.

With the COVID pandemic getting worse in the outside world & our being trapped at home, coming under attack in a different way inside the sanctuary of our home is disheartening. These days, no place seems safe from pestilence of one sort or another.

Left alone, the mealybugs will rapidly spread and eventually kill the plant. So the plant needs immediate attention. This plant patient only has a 50/50% chance of recovery. I’ve lost so many house plants this year to various insect species invasions. In all the years that I’ve grown house plants (most of my life), I have never seen anything like what I’ve been seeing in 2020/2021.