Yesterday's blog post had nothing to do with it, but spectators going to the US Open tennis tournament and over the age of 12 will now have to prove they have gotten at least one dose of vaccine. There is still no mask mandate. The mayor's office initially said that only spectators in the stands would need proof of vaccination. The US Tennis Association extended that to apply to anyone coming onto the grounds of the tennis center. I don't think anyone in the NYC mayor's office or the USTA reads this blog, so I cannot take credit for what seems to me a very good decision. Now if they would only add a mask mandate given that people will be sitting shoulder to shoulder.
A large British study found that people infected with the Delta variant are twice as likely to be hospitalized than people infected with the Alpha strain. The analysis was of over 40,000 infections in England. The results add to the evidence that Delta may cause more severe illness. Fewer than two percent of the cases were in fully vaccinated people, so no conclusions were made on the difference in vaccination status.
A Florida court okayed school mask mandates there. Parents had argued that the state constitution requires keeping schoolchildren safe and secure and that masks accomplish that in this pandemic. More kids are hospitalized in Florida right now than at any other point.
Ida is expected to hit Louisiana as a Category 4 hurricane tomorrow. For comparison, Hurricane Katrina came to shore 16 years ago tomorrow as a Category 3 hurricane. Louisiana hospitals are preparing as best they can; there is not time to transfer patients in inland hospitals that would not in any case have room for them. There is no planning scenario for a Category 4 hurricane hitting while hospitals are full. This week, Louisiana recorded its highest ever single-day death toll, 139.
The father of a Texas anti-vaxxer currently being moved from an ICU to a hospice also had covid. The father still thinks the vaccines should not be mandated but said, "Personally for me, I'm not so hesitant about the vaccinations now. I've stared down that barrel and quite honestly, it scared the hell out of me."
Declassified portions of the Wuhan report say that US intelligence agencies have not been able to determine if the coronavirus came as a result of an accidental leak from a lab or emerged naturally. Five intelligence communities say the cause was "natural exposure to an infected animal through an animal infected with it or close progenitor virus." Another agency says, with moderate confidence, that the source was a "laboratory-associated incident" that most likely involved "experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by Wuhan Institute of Virology." All agencies agree that the virus is unlikely to have been created as any kind of biological weapon. They also do not believe Chinese officials knew about the coronavirus at the time of the outbreak.
Two quick one-liners that might be interesting. POTUS is suggesting that vaccine booster shots should perhaps be given earlier than at eight months after the second shot. Also, half of 12- to 17 -ear-olds have gotten at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. That's the only vaccine currently approved for teenagers, though Moderna has applied for such approval in Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment