The CDC has followed WHO in declaring Delta to be a "variant of concern." Evidently there is a more serious category above that, "variant of high consequence." Let's hope Delta doesn't get that far. It's doubling every two weeks, something the Alpha variant did on its way to becoming the dominant strain in the US. Dr. Cyrus Shah, covid-19 data director at the White House, says that by the time more Americans are fully vaccinated, in some five to six weeks, Delta "will be the majority of US cases ... important to start building protection now." The Pfizer vaccine is said to offer "very good" protection, while Astra-Zeneca's protection is "substantial but reduced" efficacy. Coming on Delta's heels is Lambda, a variant first found in Peru and now associated with "substantive rates of community transmission in multiple" countries in the region. And we can't forget Gamma which is apparently fueling an outbreak in the Yukon.
Covid death totals go up and down depending on how one counts covid deaths. Federal guidance is to rely on death certificates where covid was determined to be a factor. They want to count only people who die of or from covid as opposed to people who die with covid.
On the vaccination front, some pediatricians in the US are vaccinating as many adults as children. They'll vaccinate the parents who bring the children in to save them a trip to get vaccinated elsewhere. WHO has warned not for the first time that the virus is spreading faster than vaccinations. Royal Caribbean has postponed the inaugural sailing of the Odyssey of the Seas after eight vaccinated crew members tested positive. All 1,400 crew were vaccinated on June 4 and will be considered fully vaccinated on June 18. The positive cases were identified after vaccination but before full efficacy. Six of the eight crew members are asymptomatic; the other two have mild symptoms.
Up to 10,000 people could be allowed to watch Olympic events in Tokyo. Spectators currently would be capped at 5,000 or 50 percent capacity, whichever is smaller. I'm tempted to put on a character's voice to say, "They call that a crowd?" We have a different idea of crowd size here in the US. The Los Angeles Dodgers had over 50,000 fans at Tuesday's game; they called it "Reopening Day." The Kentucky Derby was run before a crowd of 51,000. A crowd of 70,000 watched a recent boxing bout. Topping them all, the Indianapolis 500 was conducted before a crowd of 135,000. Now that's what I call a crowd. You would not find me even in the 5,000 mentioned for a possible Olympics crowd.
The US is expected to be added to a list of countries from which the EU will admit tourists. It's not clear if the CDC vaccination card will be accepted as a vaccination passport; it was not intended to serve as one. It wasn't clear if a negative test result might also be needed. I should ask The Professor if he still wants to go to Germany to meet with a colleague there. If so, he should start checking into things now rather than his usual at the last minute.
1 comment:
It looks like we're not going to be vaccinating the under 18s. Our national vaccine rollout is coming to the end now, bookings opened yesterday for vaccination of the 21-25 age group and the remaining over 18s should be called by the end of the week. My cynical view was that it would be a booking for a jab months away but laddo booked yesterday for a jab on Sunday morning so on that I'm glad to be wrong. It still looks like we're running on a 12 week gap between the two which means my son would get his second one at the end of August. The powers that be think we would be better vaccinating the world rather than the under 18s.
I don't fancy foreigh travel at the moment, it's the extra queuing at the airports at each end that would put me off. It's bad enough in normal times but the extra paperwork must make it worse. I've seen quarentine rules change twice now and the scrum as holidaymakers try to change flights to get back before a rule change comes into effect does not appeal at all. There's too much uncertainty, you can fly out with no restrictions and be faced with an unexpected two week quarentine coming back.
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