Consider yourselves warned that today is Monday and on the coming Sunday we will retire to Son #2's cabin for eight days with no wifi and only intermittent cell coverage. I expect that I will do what I did last year and write a daily post while there then post them all when I get back here. Day 500 will happen while we're there, probably with champagne to toast.
Today is being called Freedom Day in Britain as covid restrictions stop, and the prime minister is in quarantine after being exposed to the health minister who has tested positive for covid. Covid case numbers continue to surge, hitting level seen during the January surge. Death and hospitalizations are not up, though, ... or, as Son #2 would add ... yet. The prime minister is in quarantine for 10 days as part of the National Health Service's test, trace, and isolate program, a cell phone app that pings users who have been in close contact with someone who tested positive. The prime minister initially said that he would take part in a pilot program that would let him avoid quarantine, but angry public backlash changed his mind. He said that it is time to move away from government restrictions and to an era of personal responsibility, and that the easing of restrictions was "irreversible." That said, there are already rumors about new restrictions to be put into effect in the fall. Frighteningly, at least to me, the chief scientific adviser has said that 60 percent of covid hospital admissions had received two doses of vaccine. At least in the US, I think they are only counting a case in a fully vaccinated person as a breakthrough infection if the person requires hospitalization.
Singapore saw 163 new covid cases on Monday, the largest daily number since August 2020. One hundred six of the cases were linked to the Jurong Fishery Port while 19 were linked to karaoke bars. The health minister says that the two clusters are linked and that the numbers are likely to rise in the coming days. At least their vaccination campaign is moving faster than most of the other Asian ones with 47 percent of the residents fully vaccinated. Singapore's population is almost six million, and there have been 63,000 cases and 36 deaths.
Canada's vaccination rate is now higher than the US rate. According to the stats in that article, 49 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated, and 70 percent have gotten at least one dose. The same percents for the US were given as 48 percent full and 55.5 percent with at least one dose. In the EU, 43 percent are fully vaccinated while 55.7 percent have gotten at least one dose. Canada certainly looks like the winner to me.
News flash! The Olympics have not yet been cancelled or postponed, though 33 staff members or contractors who are Japanese residents working on the Games have tested positive, as has a teenage alternate on the US women's gymnastics team. I'd been wondering what would happen to a team when a member or members tested positive. Athletes who are close contacts of someone who tests positive, such as a teammate, will be allowed to compete if they test negative within six hours of competition. I'm waiting to see if a team will be unable to field enough players to compete. The International Olympic Committee's sports director notes that "there is no such thing as zero risk" and that the Olympic Village would be a "covid-safe environment but not covid free." Speaking of the Olympic Village, there is video of a male gymnast jumping on one of the cardboard beds to show just how strong it is. As for intimacy, the playbook outlining safety measures advises athletes to "avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact such as hugs, high-fives, and handshakes." Over the weekend, 87 percent of Japanese surveyed were worried about Japan's hosting the Games. And Toyota, one of the prime corporate sponsors,, has said that it will not run any Olympic-themed ads during the Games.
To complicate K-12 school in the fall, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children over the age of two wear masks when returning to school regardless of their vaccination status. I know parents who are worried that a vaccine might not be available for their children under the age of 12 until early 2022. I wonder what they'll think of this wrinkle.
3 comments:
Well, my grandkid age 7 has no problem wearing masks, and I think his 2.5 year old sibling will probably figure it out too if needed.
Of course, there are always the naysayers....
Did I share my cynical view that this is a deliberate policy to get the bump of infection now rather than in the winter where it would overlap with winter vomiting virus and 'flu? New vaccinations have tailed off although they may be an uptick with the announcement that you'll need both jabs to go to a nightclub.
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