The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 8 (508)

The known total of global covid cases is now over 200 million. Think it's going away anytime soon? The second 100 million cases happened in half the time of the first 100 million. The global total for deaths is now at 4.2 million. Note that both of these figures are surely undercounts. More of the deaths have been in the US than any other country, some 614,000. Give Brazil credit for 550,000 and India, for 425,000. Mexico with 240,000 and Peru with 200,000 fill out the top five. Britain, Colombia, France, Italy, and Russia have each had over 100,000 deaths.

Sydney remains locked down until at least August 28. Victoria just entered a new seven-say lockdown after eight new cases were discovered, with five that could not immediately be linked to known cases. Ibiza, known as Spain's party island, is looking for young private detectives ages 30 to 40 to find illegal parties before they start and tip off the police. If you're thinking what a good job this might be, they only want professional detectives, not amateur ones. 

After the WHO director's comments on first-world nations stopping booster shots until third-world ones have had a chance to get 10 percent of their population vaccinated, Dr. Fauci made a distinction between booster shots and additional doses of vaccine. Some groups, such as the immunocompromised, may need larger doses of vaccine for adequate protection, so their third shot would not be a booster as much as simply a third shot.

So far, they've tied about 500 cases of covid to the Milwaukee Bucks' winning the NBA championship. People shouting and cheering inside what looked to be a full arena and at watch parties outside not to mention a victory parade gave covid many, many opportunities to spread. Fifty-two percent of Wisconsin residents are fully vaccinated. The New York Auto Show scheduled for August 20-29 has been canceled. I wonder what other large-scale events might follow.

The New Jersey governor had some sharp words for the unvaccinated: "You've lost your minds. You are the ultimate knuckleheads. And because of what you are saying and standing for, people are losing their life."

More businesses are issuing vaccine mandates or offering bonuses to employees who get vaccinated. Pfizer will require all US workers and contractors to be vaccinated or tested weekly. Vanguard is offering a $1,000 reward to fully vaccinated employees. Tyson Foods says that vaccination is now a condition of employment for all US workers, and is offering $200 to front-line workers who verify that they are fully vaccinated. On the mask mandate front, the United Auto Workers and several auto companies have said that all auto workers will be required to wear masks at unionized plants, offices, and warehouses. This would include fully vaccinated workers.

The description of current covid sufferers is "younger, quicker, sicker." In California, case counts of millenials ages 18 to 34 have climbed faster than any other age bracket. They're 554 percent above the rate for millenials in a comparable two-week period in early June. Over the same period, cases for people ages 35 to 49 rose by 479 percent, while cases for people ages 65 to 79 rose by 222 percent. Some experts say that the high rates for millenials are a result of lower vaccination rates; others couple that with a devil-may-care, it's-not-going-to-hurt-me attitude. 

Here's a fact to drop into a conversation sometime. In 2020, 6,707 Americans renounced their US  citizenship, up 237 percent over 2019. Most people renouncing American citizenship are ultra-wealthy. Evidently, only the US and Eritrea tax people based on citizenship rather than residency. If you're an ultra-wealthy American and don't mind living abroad, your tax bill can be cut. An international tax lawyer based in Poland who specializes in helping people renounce their US citizenship says that there are likely to be another 20,000 or 30,000 people who want to renounce but can't get an appointment to do so. The wait for an appointment at the Canadian embassy is now a year and a half. Bern, Switzerland has a backlog of more than 300 cases.

The governor of Virginia did a covid press conference this afternoon. Early in the pandemic, he did them daily; I don't think they're on any regular schedule now. His big announcement was issuing a vaccine mandate for state employees. They need to verify their vaccination status by September 1 or submit negative test results weekly. I watched the press conference using Facebook, meaning that I had a running stream of comments to the right of the conference screen. More appeared to be negative than positive, but perhaps the positive people were busy working or doing something else, not sitting in front of a computer or television. Some comments were downright scary. One person equated getting a vaccination with being raped. Someone else asked if the vaccines work, then why hasn't covid gone away. Multiple people urged state workers to walk out. Several people also suggested border closures because that's how the virus is getting in. One person went so far as to say that the troublesome border was the one with West Virginia.

The Olympics close on Sunday. I must admit I am surprised at the low numbers of Olympics-related cases being cited. I wonder what might show up a week or two after everyone has gone home, though with the Paralympics coming later this month, there may be a number of people staying. Pandemics sure do keep us guessing.