The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 14 (514)

The national vaccination rate in the US has risen to what it was in June. California will require all teachers and school staff to be vaccinated or tested weekly; Dr.Fauci approves. The CDC today urged pregnant women to be vaccinated, saying that no increased risk of miscarriage had been found connected with vaccination. Three major airlines--Southwest, American, and Delta-- will not require employees to be vaccinated. I don't plan on flying anytime soon, but I think United, which is requiring vaccinations, would be my first choice. 

Reacting to the Delta variant, Oregon has joined Louisiana and Hawaii in reinstating a statewide mask mandate. Hawaii is limiting gatherings to no more than 10 indoors and 25 outdoors. Indoor events at bars, restaurants gyms, and places of worship are limited to 50 percent of capacity. Masks are required at all times except when eating or drinking. On July 1, there were 40 hospitalizations in Hawaii related to covid; there were 246 yesterday. Of those 246, 235 were unvaccinated. An executive of the Health Care Association of Hawaii warns, "The numbers tell us that the worst of the surge is in front of us." Two judges in Texas have ruled that local leaders can issue temporary mask mandates despite the governor's order forbidding them. There were almost 20,000 new cases in Texas yesterday, nearly double what there were two weeks ago. The ICU at Houston's Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital is full, with 63 percent of the patients being covid cases. 

As covid cases surge, so are testing requests. The number of people seeking tests in California has more than doubled from a month ago when case counts were at the lowest point of the year. The requests for tests are rising nationwide. The surge is being driven by vaccinated people concerned about breakthrough infections. Germany will stop paying for covid tests for people unvaccinated by choice. After October 11, only people under 18, pregnant women, or people with medical reasons not to get vaccinated will be able to be tested free of charge. I've actually thought of that as an incentive for people to get vaccinated. If people have to repeatedly present test results coming from the last 72 hours and they've got to pay for the tests themselves, getting vaccinated would save money.

Authorities in northern Germany say that 8,600 people there may have been injected with saline solution, not vaccine, by a Red Cross nurse. The nurse's motives are not known , but she had posted skeptical views about vaccines on social media. The unit leading the investigation is the one that investigates politically motivated crimes. 

A Sydney man has been charged with breaching public health orders. He spent over a week in Byron Bay before testing positive. With the lockdown in place, travel more than six miles from one's home is generally not permitted. The man claims he was inspecting properties, travel that is exempt from lockdown rules. Authorities are investigating the truth of his claim. He evidently did not believe in the virus, did not wear a mask, and did not do any sort of distancing. He is currently in a hospital. When he is released the police want strict bail conditions.

Volunteers are digging graves in Indonesia, and coffin makers are making three time as many coffins daily as they used to. It too over a year for Indonesia to exceed 50,000 deaths but only nine weeks to double that. 

The WHO director has warned that unless things change, the world could see 100 million more covid cases by early 2022. The "official" count now is around 200 million, but the real number is much higher. Looking at how case numbers have doubled in a relatively short time in countries around the world, I can't say that I think we won't hit 300 million in early 2022. Maybe we should have a pool on when we see the 300 millionth case. I thought about saying "when and where," but I don't expect we'll know the specific place. It could even be right here in the good ole US of A.