Should we thank the Delta variant that the fully vaccinated rate for the US is now at 50 percent, and the partial rate is at the 70 percent that might have been close to herd immunity had the novel coronavirus not mutated into something even more novel? And how should we greet Delta's cousin, the Delta Plus variant? Plus has now been found in South Korea, Britain, and the US along with another dozen countries. It appears to be more transmissible, better able to attack lung cells, and less responsive to antibodies. Oh joy! And we thought Delta itself was bad.
Japan has a new tactic with which to get people to follow covid rules--public shaming. Monday saw the release of the names of three people who acted to avoid contact with authorities after returning from South Korea or Hawaii. All tested negative at the airport but failed to follow up or respond to requests for their locations or other information. The government said in May that about 100 people daily were flouting covid border control rules. It said then that it would soon start disclosing names, which it now is starting to do. Of course, this would not get off the ground at all in the US thanks to our right to privacy not to mention HIPAA protection.
So far there have only been about 300 covid infections inside the Olympics, but some Japanese say that seeing the Olympics being held has encouraged them to relax about the virus. The demand for medical services remains high. Tokyo currently has 3,231 covid patients in hospitals, 114 of them in serious condition. There are 8,270 people on waiting lists to be admitted to hospitals.
Wuhan, China has discovered its first case of local transmission since last spring, and will test all 11 million residents in response. Testing that number of residents took only two weeks last spring, which somewhat amazes me. Bangladesh continues its nationwide lockdown. Dhaka's three main hospitals have no ICU beds available and are running out of medical oxygen. The country recorded over 5,600 deaths in July; those 5,600 account for a fourth of all deaths since the pandemic started. The government has issued an exemption to keep ready-made garment industry factories open and working.
The CDC has added 16 destinations to its "very high" covid travel risk list. If you would like to visit Andorra, Curacao, Greece, Guadaloupe, Iran, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Libya, Malta, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, or the US Virgin Islands in the near future, you perhaps should think twice.
According to one epidemiologist, Florida is still one month away from the peak of new cases.Worst-case scenarios show the state's hospital bed capacity exceeded in September. It takes roughly five weeks to get from a first injection to full immunity. Schools and universities will re-open in less than five weeks. Experts say that the only way to have an impact on the expected Labor Day wave is to have extra protective measures. Governor DeSantis has other ideas, saying, "In Florida, there will be no lockdowns. There will be no school closures. There will be no restrictions and no mandates."
Pandemic pessimism is back, though I never knew it had gone anywhere. Only 45 percent of people polled say that the coronavirus situation is getting better. This is the first time all year that Americans' pessimism outweighs its optimism. In June, 17 percent of the public expected disruption to travel, school, work, and public events to continue into 2022. Now, 42 percent do. In general, the survey found "little evidence that people are altering their behavior from earlier this summer to avoid the virus." The virus is clearly more dangerous to unvaccinated people than it is to vaccinated ones. So why do one third of vaccinated Americans say they are at least somewhat worried, compared with one fifth of those who are not vaccinated.
Finally, bring on those employer vaccine mandates! When asked if they would get vaccinated if their employer mandated it, one in three unvaccinated Americans said that they would.
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