In February last year, I was blogging about how mass shootings in the US were happening constantly, and 86 people had been killed at the time of the Parkland massacre (528 ended up dying that year, according to data from the massshootingtracker.org project). Unfortunately, the current year has followed a similar pattern (347 people have been killed), and as the NY Times put it: "In a country that has become nearly numb to men with guns opening fire in schools, at concerts and in churches, the back-to-back bursts of gun violence in less than 24 hours were enough to leave the public stunned and shaken..."

The shootings have taken a darker tone this time, as hate speech has been added to the motivation of these horrible events, like the ones that just happened in El Paso, TX.

The US has more than 3.7 million confirmed cases of Covid-19, making it the country with the highest number of cases in the world. Lately, the news has focused on how states that rushed to reopen as quickly as possible, such as Texas and Florida, have seen a steady and exponential increase in the total number of cases.

Next to California, which has also seen a sharp increase in the number of cases, mainly in Los Angeles County, those states are getting closer to matching the numbers of New York. It feels like a cautionary tale that "going back to normal" won't be the pre-COVID-19 normal until there is an effective vaccine or treatment in place.

Fortunately, the an mRNA vaccine trial preliminary report in the NEJM stated the vaccine induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified. Crossing the fingers for the next phases of those promising results.

A couple of days ago we were visiting the old windmill in Świnoujście, and when we were heading back to the car, I looked back and saw this amazing view of the mill's silhouette and the people walking by, while feeling the fresh summer breeze on our faces. Nice memory.

In 2018, the employment rate in the European Union was 73.2%, compared to 72.2% in 2017, as reported by Eurostat. These results show continuous growth in the region, as can be seen in the chart above. Fortunately, the dip recorded after the financial crisis of 2008 is no longer present.

On the 25th of April, Joe Biden announced he was joining the crowded Democratic primary race. The aggregate polls show an interesting trend. Even before his announcement he was leading the polls, but there was a clear bump in his numbers afterwards. It will be interesting to see what happens in the months ahead. Will those trends continue, and will the main race be between him and Bernie Sanders, or will another candidate get into the top spot? Time will tell.

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