The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 64 (564)

If you thought the covid restrictions at the Summer Olympic Games were tough, the ones at the Winter Games may blow you away. Using a "closed-loop" bubble system, the Winter Games could be the most restricted large-scale sporting event since the pandemic began. The bubble will encompass: "All Games-related areas, including arrival and departure, transport, accommodation, catering, competitions, and the Opening and Closing Ceremonies." In other words, athletes (there will be about 3,000), officials, broadcasters, journalists, and volunteers--anyone having anything to do with the Games--will eat, sleep, work, and compete within a bubble they enter on arrival and leave only on departure. Every person must also be fully vaccinated or spend their first 21 days in Beijing in solitary quarantine. Spectators will be limited to people residing in mainland China. At the Summer Games, there was no vaccine mandate and no quarantine for the unvaccinated. People were asked but not required to stay in an Olympic bubble. This is going to be interesting.

Looking at US cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks, the national toll fell by 25 percent. Three states--Alaska, Montana, and Wisconsin--had increases of over 20 percent in cases per capita; Montana's rate went up 36 percent. Four states--Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida--saw decreases of over 20 percent; Tennessee's rate declined 39 percent. The other states were scattered between a decrease of 19 percent and an increase of 19 percent.

An article on the CNN news feed reported that only 31 percent of "pregnant people" have been vaccinated. Pregnant people? Did I miss something in high school biology? The CDC is seriuously urging "pregnant Americans" (another CNN usage) and those who recently gave birth to get vaccinated. Pregnancy is on the CDC's list of health conditions that increase the risk of severe covid. 

Quickies: Covid deaths and hospitalizations are projected to decrease over the next four weeks. The Pan American Health Organization is buying millions of vaccine doses from the Chinese company Sinovac. The organization will then sell these doses to Latin American and Caribbean countries. Finally, you may have heard that Broadway shows are back. Well, some of the returns were pretty short. "Aladdin" closed 30 minutes before curtain on its second day back. Covid-related? Of course!

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 63 (563)

No thunderstorm and a different laptop. Let's see if I can hold a connection long enough to finish a post this morning. I'm working early voting again this afternoon and would rather not come home to making dinner and trying to write something. 

Employment and vaccine mandates top the news in so many ways today. Novant Health, a North Carolina hospital system, fired 175 employees who failed to comply with a mandatory vaccine policy. Of the 375 unvaccinated employees who were suspended and given five days in which to comply, 200 got a first dose of vaccine and kept their jobs. The company says that overall compliance is 99 percent. Employees given medical or religious exemptions must wear an N95 mask and other personal protective equipment while at work. 

United Airlines is also dealing with unvaccinated employees, today starting the termination process for 593 US-based employees who chose not to be vaccinated. Excluding those requesting exemptions, the company reports 99 percent compliance among US-based employees. Vaccination is now a condition of employment for all new hires. 

In a survey of 272 legal, compliance, and HR executives at companies across the US, those at 15 percent of the companies said that they would fire unvaccinated employees. However, 69 percent of the firms fear increased turnover after introducing vaccine mandates. Looking at job postings per million on the Indeed website, the number of jobs requiring vaccination rose 242 percent in one month. Two percent of personal care and home health positions now require vaccination as do 1.5 percent of child care jobs. In Arizona, 1.3 percent of positions require vaccination, the most of any state. 

A study of 270,000 people recovering from covid in the US showed 37 percent having at least one symptom of long covid three to six months later. The most common symptom was anxiety or depression, reported by 15 percent of the patients. Symptoms linked to long covid were 50 percent more common among covid patients than flu patients. Separate research found that 12.3 percent of secondary school students and 35.7 percent of school staff who had covid in England had ongoing symptoms. Students most often reported weakness or fatigue while staff most often reported shortness of breath. Coronavirus ... the gift that keeps on giving.

Diabetes is an underlying condition that puts people at increased risk should they catch covid. It is beginning to appear, though, that covid can lead some previously healthy people to develop diabetes by infecting insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Again, the gift that keeps on giving, though it would be more accurate to say that it keeps on taking. 

Finally, Pfizer has given child data to the FDA for initial review but has yet to submit a request for Emergency Use Authorization for children ages five to 11. I can think of a lot of parents who were hoping to have their children five to 11 vaccinated by now; this is not going to improve their outlooks. Were I to have children that young, I would not be happy with the news.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 62 (562)

Russia just recorded its highest daily death toll yet, 852 deaths in 24 hours. Supposed causes are the Delta variant and the slow vaccination rate. Vaccinations have slowed greatly in the past month. The majority of Russians not yet vaccinated do not plan to get vaccinated. Only 28 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. Russia's homemade vaccine, Sputnik V, has not been approved by the WHO; as a result, travelers only vaccinated with it will not be able to enter the US. 

New York has begun firing or suspending health care workers who aren't yet fully vaccinated. 

Probably because of the thunderstorm complete with hail, our router doesn't want to stay connected for more than about three minutes. I'm conceding defeat

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 61 (561)

Not the day I imagined, but it could have been much worse. My schedule's being thrown off course at least gave me the time to make bread. Bagels are coming tomorrow, but possibly not until after breakfast. This way, The Professor can have toast with his fried eggs should that be his breakfast choice. He's even been known to eat toast for dessert.

The US says it has more than 40 million doses of vaccine and is confident there will be enough for adult boosters and young children's first and second shots. Pfizer is just days away from asking for emergency use authorization for its vaccine in children ages five to 11. Let's hope they get it, because nearly 26 percent of covid cases nationwide are reported to be  in children. Over 70 million Americans are still not vaccinated. Low vaccination rates mean that many places are discarding expired doses. Doses unfortunately do not come in single-use sizes, and the vaccines only remain usable for six to 12 hours once a vial is opened. Moderna comes in vials holding 11 to 15 doses; Pfizer vials hold up to six doses; and Johnson & Johnson vials hold five doses. 

Tens of thousands of New York health care workers defied the state's vaccine mandate and were not vaccinated by today. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that vaccine mandates are legally allowed. What is being contested in two separate lawsuits is the state's refusal to allow religious exemptions. The governor has said that she will call up the National Guard or bring health workers in from Ireland or the Philippines should staffing help be needed. 

Sydney, Australia plans to start to lift covid restrictions in early October if milestones are met in vaccination rates. Should 70 percent of the state's population over the age of 16 be vaccinated by October 11, people will be able to attend weddings, funerals, and small gatherings as well as visit a hairdresser. Should 80 percent be vaccinated by late October, residents will be able to attend larger events and (I absolutely love what comes next) drink standing up in restaurants and bars. Unvaccinated people will still be barred from all these activities but will be able to go to church. More Australians stranded overseas will be able to return as well. By December 1, most venues will reopen, masks will no longer be required indoors, and restrictions on unvaccinated residents will be lifted. Melbourne is set to start to lift its restrictions October 26 when 70 percent of residents over the age of 16 are expected to be fully vaccinated. Nationwide, Australia currently has 41 percent of residents fully vaccinated and 63 percent having had at least one dose.

Nepal is joining the countries discussed in recent days as lifting or lessening restrictions. It began offering visas last week to foreigners landing at the airport in Kathmandu. Vaccinated tourists and those with negative PCR tests will no longer have to quarantine.

A Walmart employee in Louisiana reports that if he asks people to put on a mask or socially distance and they tell the manager, he has to "get coached." Get "coached" too many times, and he could be fired. When asked, a Walmart spokesperson did not dispute this. "Getting coached" fits in well with viewing the current times as something out of a dystopian novel.

The governor gave a briefing this afternoon. The best line was his advice to unvaccinated Virginians: Think how you want your obituary to read.

And that seems like a good place to end today's post.  

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 60 (560)

A witty introduction to my first topic escaped me, possibly because there is nothing witty about the content. Republicans in Florida are thinking about getting rid of vaccine mandates for measles and mumps. If there's no vaccine mandate for covid in their state, why should there be any other vaccine mandates? What's next? Polio? We should be thankful that smallpox has been eradicated, because that might have been on their list as well. 

A federal appeals judge has temporarily blocked New York City Schools from enforcing a vaccine mandate for teachers and other workers. The case has been referred to a three-judge panel on an expedited basis; there may be a ruling later this week. The mandate has no option of submitting negative test results. A similar statewide mandate goes into effect for hospital and nursing home workers tomorrow. The governor plans to use National Guard members and out-of-state workers to cover staff shortages if too many health care workers fail to meet tomorrow's deadline. Meanwhile, two federal judges in Tennessee have ruled in separate cases that local schools may require masks. This makes three times in two weeks that a judge has so ruled. 

Norway is lifting covid restrictions that have been in place since a day before I began keeping this daily pandemic blog. Says the prime minister, "It is 561 days since we introduced the toughest measures in Norway in peacetime. Now the time has come to return to a normal daily life." Coming to an end are social distancing and capacity limits on restaurants, businesses, and sports and cultural venues. Nightclubs may reopen as well. At the end of the month, the global advisory against nonessential travel will expire. Entry restrictions will remain for certain countries to be specified this week. 

Remember the shortages some 560ish days ago? Costco is again putting limits on how much toilet paper, bottled water, and certain cleaning products one customer can buy. They cite the rise in demand related to the Delta variant and supply chain problems. 

Here's an interesting one, or one the end of which will be interesting to see. A player for the Golden State Warriors National Basketball Association team requested a religious exemption from the NBA vaccine mandate. The NBA denied his request. The player says that he will only get vaccinated if he is forced to do so. Where it gets interesting is that he will not be able to attend any of his team's home games. That locale has no negative testing option; a person needs to be vaccinated to attend a sporting event. The NBA does allow unvaccinated players to play but they must be tested daily. I don't know if the team could force him to get vaccinated by doing something such as not paying him for home games in which he cannot play. I hope to find out how the situation works out. And in case you were wondering, no details were given on the basis of his request for a religious exemption.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 59 (559)

South Africa's state-owned rail company is going to run a "vaccine train" to get vaccines to people in outlying areas, small towns, and poorer regions.  Only 14 percent of South Africans are fully vaccinated. The train will spend three months traveling through the Eastern Cape province spending two weeks of time in each of seven different stations. The train can carry up to 108,000 doses and has nine coaches including accommodation coaches, kitchen and dining areas, a vaccination area, and consulting rooms. 

El Salvador will be giving boosters to people over the age of 60, frontline health staff, teachers, military, police, firefighters, and people with pre-existing health problems. Panama, Ecuador, and Chile are also giving boosters to at-risk populations. Israel continues to offer boosters to anyone over the age of 12.

Meanwhile, other areas are lifting or loosening restrictions. The Netherlands has had social distancing measures in effect for 18 months; people had to stay 1.5 meters away from each other. This has now been replaced with a health pass plan. Everyone over the age of 13 must show a health pass to enter bars, cafes, restaurants, and cultural venues including theaters. They must show full vaccination, a recent negative test, or a recent recover y from covid. The health minister said the pass requirement would be "as temporary as possible." Norway also no longer requires social distancing. Nightclubs can reopen and restaurants can return to capacity. Nepal will restart issuing tourist visas for vaccinated travelers. Tunisia is lifting a nightly curfew that has been in pace for over a year. 

Is loosening or ending restrictions a good idea? Possibly, but consider the case of the Canadian province of Alberta. Alberta dropped covid restrictions in June and even publicized the slogan "Best Summer Ever, Alberta 2021." Since then, the premier has twice re-imposed different restrictions and has appointed a new health minister. The province is flying patients to hospitals thousands of miles away because there is not room to treat them in Alberta. The nationwide rate for full vaccination in Canada is 69.7 percent. The rate in Alberta is 61.9 percent. It's not the lowest rate in the country, though; that belongs to Saskatchewan.

Finally, I found reference to a country, Peru, that jumped on the ivermectin bandwagon in May 2020, even including it in treatment guidelines. Some evanagelical groups touted it as being equivalent to vaccine. I'm actually surprised it took so long for the idea to travel north to the US, especially given the power of the interwebs.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 58 (558)

Just some quickies. It's been a long, full day. It seems that 10 percent of the American population falls into a category of "unvaccinated but willing." These are people who would get vaccinated if they knew how to make a reservation or had transportation or child care that they don't currently have.

The CDC committee agreed with the FDA that people over 65 should get boosters. They did not recommend boosters for frontline workers such as health care workers, teachers, etc. However, the CDC director overrode the committee and said these groups of people should get boosters. Since boosters are supposed to be six months after one's second vaccination, my number doesn't come up until mid-October. In the meantime, I plan to get a second shingles shot and a flu shot this coming week.  

Here's one that makes sense. Regions with high vaccination rates have low hospitalization rates. In fact, in communities with low vaccination rates, hospitals have 10 times the number of covid patients that hospitals in high-vaccination communities have.

The thrill of the day was getting my car back from the shop so I'm not house-bound this weekend. I did not have a good feeling about what the diagnosis and treatment would be, but some brake replacements and adjustments, and she's good to go.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 57 (557)

Feel-good story for today is right here. It at least put a big smile on my face. It also helps that last night's computer woes were likely weather-related, because it's so good so far this morning. Of course, I'm saving this draft to finish later and who knows what the tech gremlins may be up to then. Note: Tech gremlins appear to be taking the day off.

How has per-capita covid changed in the last two weeks? Cases in Alaska, Montana, and Wisconsin are up more than 20 percent; Montana is up 36 percent. Cases in Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida are down over 20 percent; Tennessee is down 39 percent. New infections relative to population are worse in 27 states and better in 23. Like quirky things? Covid has followed something of a two-month cycle: Cases stay up for two weeks and then start to decline. Delta started in July, just over two months ago, and is now going down in places. 

As Florida seems to be declining in their number of cases, the governor has named a new surgeon general who is opposed to both mask and vaccine mandates. In fact, his take on vaccines is that "There is nothing special about them compared to any other preventive measure." He was trained at Harvard of all places. How does he think Florida should deal with the pandemic? "Florida will completely reject fear. Fear is done." Dare I note that last week, one in every 400 Florida residents alive in March 2020 has died from covid. Only cancer and heart disease claimed more lives. 

If you shook your head and said, "Huh?" at the comment about rejecting fear, I have another eye-raising covid comment coming up. England is revising its travel rules. Travelers fully vaccinated with the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, or Janssen vaccines in the US, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, or an EU country will be exempt from quarantine as long as they arrive from a a green- or amber-list country. (Amber is the middle level in the green-amber-red hierarchy of countries England uses to denote riskiness.) People fully vaccinated with the same vaccines in Africa, Latin America, or other countries including India will have to quarantine for 10 days. Only after that will they be considered fully vaccinated. Critics of this plan say that it will promote vaccine hesitancy by suggesting that something is wrong with the vaccine and that is why where you get it is important. Here's what a government spokesperson had to say: "Our top priority remains protecting public health, and reopening travel in a safe and sustainable way, which is why vaccine certification from all countries must meet the minimum criteria taking into account public health and wider considerations." I don't know about you, but my written comment to that was "HUH??"

I did not know and actually find it strange that New Zealand has one of the highest per-capita distributions of KFC and McDonald's outlets in the world. The government is currently in talks with representatives of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell about giving vaccinations to customers as they wait in line. Instead of fries, it will be, "Would you like Pfizer with that order?"

African leaders are speaking to the UN General Assembly today, with Vaccine inequality predicted to be a major topic. I like a comment made by Norway's prime minister in her remarks to the Assembly: "Some countries have vaccinated their populations, and are the path to recovery. For others, the lack of vaccines and weak health systems pose a serious problem. In Africa, fewer than one in twenty people are fully vaccinated. In Europe, one in two are fully vaccinated. This inequity is clearly unfair." As a numerical example, in Congo, one in 1,000 people have gotten at least one shot. Think about that. One in two fully vaccinated in Europe, while one in 1,000 are partially vaccinated in Congo.

The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee has said that athletes and team members who want to use USOPC training facilities must be fully vaccinated by November 1, while athletes vying to represent the US in the Winter Olympics or Paralympics must show proof of vaccination. The International Olympic Committee has yet to  announce any international vaccine requirement. The status of spectators is also still undecided. 

Finally, a word or two about masks. The amount of protection they give depends on the quality of the mask and its fit. In one study, communities with mask mandates were found to have lower hospitalization rates than areas not requiring masks. Of course, masks could be all in the eye of the beholder. At a gas station in southwestern Germany, a cashier insisted that a customer put on a mask. They have been required in shops since right after the pandemic started. The man left the store and returned in an hour with a gun (illegal in Germany). The cashier again asked the man to put on a mask. The man then shot the cashier in the head. He later told police that he saw the cashier as "responsible for the situation because he was enforcing the rules."

 Maybe we should all break a rule in memory of that German cashier. I guess we could always enforce a rule, too. Personally, though, I kinda want to break one about now.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 56 (556)

Happy first day of autumn or, in the case of those far, far to the south, first day of spring. We've had a couple of days here that smelled like autumn, but for the most part summer has yet to say farewell.

The US has doubled its recent Pfizer order to one billion doses to be distributed to lower-income countries in 2022. POTUS was supposed to convene a virtual coronavirus summit today. One question sure to be asked relates to that billion-dose order just mentioned. Why should "rich" nations be giving third doses when so many "poor" nations haven't been able to give first doses? The US has set a goal of having 70 percent of the global population fully vaccinated by the 2022 UN General Assembly meeting. Other targets include having oxygen readily available, testing a minimum of one person per 1,000 each week before the end of 2021, or having test positivity rates less than five percent weekly in all countries. 

The CDC vaccination committee was meeting today to decide who should get boosters when. The FDA recommended boosters for people over the age of 65 and those in high-risk groups. The CDC committee would decide what conditions put someone at high risk. An Israeli study started the whole booster issue when it reported waning immunity several months after immunization. Other 

FRUSTRATING INTERMITTENT INTERNET MEANS THIS IS IT FOR TODAY.

DUE TO INTERMITTENT AND VERY FRUSTRATING INTERNET CONNECTION, THIS IS IT FOR TONIGHT. I'M TIRED OF FUCKING AROUND TRYING TO KEE A

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 55 (555)

I told The Professor that today's post would be the 555th day since I appropriated my blog for pandemic use. Only 111 more days 'til I'm at 666, the number of the beast. Or beastly virus, I guess. That day would come early in 2022, so it's quite possible that I will hit it.

The coronavirus has now killed as many Americans as the 1918-19 flu pandemic did, over 675,000.The population then was one third of what it is now, meaning that flu was worse in a proportional sense. Internationally, though, the flu pandemic killed about 50 million people. The coronavirus has so far killed only just over 4.6 million people. Says a medical historian at the University of Michigan, "Big pockets of American society--and, worse, their leaders--have thrown this away." Winter may bring a new surge of cases. The University of Washington has a model that projects 100,000 more deaths by January 1, 2022. The world was very different in the time of the flu pandemic. World Was I was raging, there were no vaccines, nor were there antibiotics for treating secondary infections. We now have jet travel and mass migrations; still, much of the world is unvaccinated. Globally, only 43 percent of the population have received at least one dose of vaccine. 

Demand is soaring for monoclonal antibody treatments, especially in states with low vaccination rates. Seven states--Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas--have used 70 percent of the federal supply of monoclonal antibodies. The governors of Florida and Texas have touted antibody treatments at the same time they decry mask and vaccine mandates. One antibody treatment costs about $2,100, while vaccines cost just $10 to $20 per dose. Monoclonal antibodies do lower the risk of transmission and offer early prevention of severe symptoms. Treatment does need to start as soon as possible after a positive covid test. The government is responsible for distributing monoclonal antibodies to the states. The White House press secretary reports, "Our role as the government overseeing the entire country is to be equitable in how we distribute. We're not going to give a greater percentage to Florida over Oklahoma."

The Winter Olympics start in Beijing and Zhangjikou, China on February 4. No decision has yet been made on whether spectators will be allowed. China has practiced a "zero tolerance" model with the coronavirus, finding and isolating every case to stop transmission. Harbin, a city of 10 million people, closed all businesses, gyms, cinemas, mah-jong parlors, etc. after one positive case was detected. It's not clear if this is compatible with permitting foreign spectators. China has been closed to most foreign visitors and has discouraged Chinese from traveling. China reports 4,636 deaths, with none since February, They also report 95,577 cases since early 2020, a total smaller than one-day new infection figures in the US and other countries. Interpret those numbers as you wish. 

Some experts say that there could be a covid vaccine for kids available by Halloween. Four things need to happen before possibility becomes reality. First, Pfizer needs to request FDA authorization for giving its vaccine to a new age group. Second, the FDA needs to amend the emergency use authorization to include younger kids. Right now, the Pfizer vaccine is fully approved for people ages 16 and older. It remains in emergency use authorization for kids ages 12 to 15.  Then, the CDC must review data and make its own recommendation. Finally, once the FDA and CDC recommendations align, a program of vaccination would need to be designed. The dose for children under 12 would be one third of the dose given to adults and older children. 

Then, the question becomes if parents will buy in and get their younger children vaccinated. There are 28 million children between the ages of five and 11. Vaccinations of older kids have lagged somewhat; only 40 percent of kids ages 12 to 15 are fully vaccinated. Some parents say they do not want to vaccinate their younger children because younger children are less likely to become seriously ill. Others say that the sample size in children's trials was too small. Overall, 20 percent of parents of 12- to 17-year olds say that they will "definitely not" vaccinate their kids, a sentiment shared by 25 percent of parents of children between five and 11, and 30 percent of children under the age of five. It's going to be interesting to see how things fall out if vaccination is approved for younger children.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 54 (554)

My first day working early voting. I served as precinct chief which meant picking the proper form out of a folder a couple of times and depositing the completed form into the proper envelope. I did a bit of note-taking for this post and a bit of reading. I also traded phone calls with the quilt guild's newsletter editor. Four hours passed fairly quickly. Now on to the coronavirus front.

Same old same old. Nationwide, 80 percent of ICU beds are in use, 30 percent of them by covid patients. We averaged 1,926 covid deaths per day over the past week, the highest such average since early March. The US death rates, adjusted for population, are over twice as high as those in Britain, over seven times as high as those in Canada, and over ten times as high as those in Germany. Almost one in four US adults has yet to get vaccinated. The unvaccinated are disproportionally people without college degrees and Republicans. 

Here's a statistic to add to those above. If Mississippi were a country, it would be the second worst-hit in the world, after Peru. Mississippi's death rate is 306 per 100,000 or one in every 362 people. Peru's rate is 612 per 100,000 people. The Mississippi death rates are, of course, tied to low vaccination rates. The governor has called POTUS's vaccine mandate an "attack on hardworking Americans." He continued, "This is an attack by the president on hardworking Americans and Mississippians who he wants to choose between getting a jab in their arm and their ability to feed their families." Don't ask me what the choice really is there, because I'm not seeing it

The US is relaxing travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international passengers from a number of countries including the UK, the EU, China, Brazil, India, South Africa, Ireland, and Iran. It will not apply to land crossings between the US and Canada or Mexico.

Short and could be sweeter. I won't fall back on a simple "we're fucked," but I'm not yet convinced we aren't.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 53 (553)

Arrgh! I hope ye be havin' a merry Talk Like a Pirate Day, though Son #2 says what day isn't Talk Like a Pirate Day. He may have a good point there. I didn't make many notes today; once The Professor and The Sons returned from their 100-mile ultra-marathon, I got busy with the aftermath. I like to tell people that I don't make heirloom quilts. I somewhat feel that way about clothes and haven't really made any clothes in years. This afternoon I hemmed the suit pants Son #2 needs for next weekend. DiL= is a bridesmaid in a wedding, and Son #2 needed suitable clothes for the occasion. The bride didn't think her mother would approve of Son #2's joker suit with the, if I remember correctly, green pants and long purple jacket. We got it for him as a birthday present the year we were in Hue, Vietnam for the birthday. Said suit is made of raw silk.

Anyway, why did the FDA advisory committee not recommend booster shots for all people older than 16? I found five reasons cited. First, they think it's too soon and it might be better to wait a bit longer for people at less risk. Second, there's not a lot of evidence out there; as one expert put it, there is a "sparcity of safety data." Related to this, they'd like more data and the chance to look through it for mistaken conclusions. For one, much of the data have not yet been peer reviewed. Also, most studies looked at antibodies at the exclusion of other important immune responses. Fourth, safety of younger adults and teenagers suggests waiting. People ages 16 to 29 are at higher risk of myocarditis; would a booster make this more probable? Finally, getting those who are not yet vaccinated, vaccinated will have more impact than boosters for already-vaccinated people. 

Alabama had more deaths than births in 2020. The 2020 counts were 64,714 deaths with 7,182 of those officially attributed to covid, and 57,641 births. There was no such gap during either world war nor during the flue pandemic of 1918. According to a University of New Hampshire study, half of the states joined Alabama in having more deaths than births in 2020. Only five states did so in 2019. Nationally, the birthrate has been declining for six years; the pandemic may be speeding that up. I'd ordinarily think of keeping the population  explosion under control as a good thing, but not if it's because so many people are dying of a mostly preventable disease. 

I start working early voting tomorrow, so getting practice at shorter posts may be a good thing. With the June primary, the crowds were so sparse that I could sit and take notes using my phone or a laptop. Crowds for a non-primary election will be larger. I heard that around 100 people voted in four hours Friday morning. It will be interesting to see if the crowds continue tomorrow.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 52 (552)

Another no-pandemic news day. With The Professor and The Sons an hour away so The Sons can run 100 miles (The Professor questions whether he is really their father since he can't see how any of his genetic material would become ultra-marathoners), I engaged in organizing and cleaning up stuff left over from our pack-it-all-up summer of 2020. Now to see if The Professor notices. I also got sections of a new quilt top pieced together until the arthritis in my right thumb made finishing potentially more painful than I wanted to risk. (See photo below.) I also visited Son #1's cat morning and evening. She's a Maine Coon, and we had quite the brushing session this evening. She never appeared this morning. With all that going on, I wrote down but three notes this morning. One was about the White House negotiating to buy 500 million more doses of Pfizer to donate overseas. Another was that all the lions and tigers at Washington, DC's National Zoo tested positive for covid. Finally, a study released by the CDC yesterday suggested that protection against covid hospitalization dropped significantly in the four months after the second dose of vaccine, but for the Pfizer vaccine only, not the Moderna. I wonder if the FDA advisory committee wants to re-think things.

Here's the quilt pieces. I'm still figuring out what I want to do for borders.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 51 (551)

The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee of the FDA discussed covid booster shots today. One source described this as a straightforward question: Is immunity waning, and will boosters restore it? This is actually a two-part question, and the research so far seems to have concentrated on the second part. Yes, boosters do increase the production of antibodies. It is not clear. though, if that is really needed. Dr. Fauci says that immunity is waning in the fully vaccinated and may offer less protection against the more severe variants of covid. Other scientists do not agree. Recommending boosters for immuno-compromised or the elderly is much less controversial. A CDC advisory committee will discuss this issue next week. Meanwhile, Israel is already contemplating a fourth shot, a booster booster.

 News Flash: FDA overwhelmingly (a vote of 16 to 2) recommended against approving a Pfizer booster for people ages 16 and older. One committee member explained, "It's unclear that everyone needs to be boosted, other than a subset of the population that clearly would be at high risk for serious disease." That sounds as if boosters for certain populations may still be open to discussion. Newer News Flash: The panel has voted in support of boosters for people 65 and older or who are at high risk of serious illness. I'm 65 now, so I guess that includes me.

New cases and hospitalizations across the US are starting to show signs of decline but remain much higher than earlier in the summer. Death numbers are still rising, averaging 1,900 per day, up almost 30 percent over the last two weeks. Vaccination rates have slowed; only 64 percent of eligible people in the US are fully vaccinated. There are new outbreaks in the Mountain West and West Virginia. Seven months ago, West Virginia was the vaccination pacesetter. Now, it has the lowest percent of people 18 and over fully vaccinated, just under 48 percent. Cases are nearing record levels, hospitalizations are approaching the state's pandemic high, and occupancy records are being set in ICUs across the state. The governor says the worst may be yet to come: "Maybe we won't peak until Halloween or Thanksgiving, and in all of that how many more are going to die, and die a horrible death, a death where you can't breathe?" Cheery, he is not.

As of October 25, in Seattle and its suburbs people attending recreational activities in most public places will have to show proof of vaccination or a negative test. This will apply to outdoor events with 500 or more people and indoor activities of any size--performances, movie theaters, conferences, restaurants, bars, and so on. New York City and San Francisco have similar restrictions already in place. As to whether they work, in France close to 90 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose of vaccine. The vaccination rate took a large upturn when it was announced that vaccination would be required for visiting a cafe.

The UN's General Assembly is about to have its annual meeting. The UN requires all its staff to be vaccinated, but lets foreign dignitaries and diplomats use the honor system. Since the meeting of the General Assembly counts as a "convention center," all those attending must prove they are vaccinated. They must also show proof before dining indoors, drinking, or exercising within the 16-acre UN campus. Russia's ambassador has said that the rules violate the UN Charter in that they are discriminatory. Brazil's President Bolsinaro has been outspoken about refusing to be vaccinated but is scheduled to address the Assembly early in the meeting. The chief UN spokesman says that discussions are underway to continue the honor system "in a way that is acceptable for all."

International quick takes: France's vaccination rate has gone up, but weekly demonstrations against the vaccine mandate continue. There are 180 expected across France on Saturday. New Zealand is keeping its travel bubble with Australia closed for at least eight more weeks. While cases in New Zealand are declining, they're still rising in Australia. Alberta is home to the worst outbreak in Canada and putting in "sweeping" new restrictions. The health care system there is said to be on the verge of collapse. In the week ending September 11, one in 45 people in Scotland had covid.

Two new words I saw for the first time this week (I may be very behind the times): scamdemic and plandemic. These are apparently terms from the conspiracy theory camp.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 50 (550)

Since the pandemic began, about 40 percent of state and territorial health officials have left their positions or been terminated. The Tennessee doctor fired after publicizing that kids over 14 could get vaccinated without parental consent likens vaccine mandates to the use of seat belts and car seats and driving sober. I read that, and thought that there's something wrong there. Using seat belts and putting your children in appropriate car seats protect you and yours; they do not really affect other people. If you aren't wearing a seat belt and crash your car, a second car involved in the accident is not affected by your not wearing a seat belt. Driving when impaired, though, directly affects not only you but also any other people involved in the accident. Similarly, not being vaccinated affects others by facilitating the spread of the virus and the potential creation of even worse variants. 

The fence around the Capitol is back up in anticipation of Saturday's demonstration asking for justice for the people arrested in connection with the January 6 insurrection. I hope they have more police on hand in the even the fence is again breached. At least neither side of Congress will be in session then. The whole right-wing uprising continues to scare me. The reaction from the right to POTUS's vaccine mandates is dangerously extreme. The governor of South Carolina, a Republican, has vowed to fight "to the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian." The governor of Mississippi, another Republican, says, "The vaccine itself is life-saving, but this unconstitutional move is terrifying." And a conservative Senate candidate in Ohio advises, "Only mass civil disobedience will save us from Joe Biden's naked authoritarianism." Among the terms used by the right-wing media to describe the mandates: authoritarian, fascist, totalitarian, tyrannical. I'm beginning to think that a case could be made for the Republican party's being declared a domestic terrorist organization.

Around 60 percent of all covid cases in Georgia over the last 60 days occurred in K-12 schools. Ohio has seen a 44 percent increase in cases among school kids; the rest of the population has increased only 17 percent. While the numbers of covid cases are finally falling, the numbers of deaths are increasing. We're seeing about 150,000 new cases per day, down eight percent over the past two weeks. In the same time, deaths are up 33 percent to a daily average of 1,888.

North and Central America are leading the international surge in covid. In the Western Hemisphere, cases went up 20 percent in one week. The increase was driven by North America, where new cases were up by one third. Cases in Alberta doubled in that one week. South America may catch up yet. The Delta variant has yet to make serious inroads there. 

Italy is about to start requiring residents to show a health pass to go to work. They will have to show receipt of at least one dose of vaccine or have recently recovered from covid. Without either of these, they will have to take a swab test every two days. Those who do not comply can be suspended from their job and fined up to 1,500 Euros ($1,760). Italy has the goal of fully vaccinating 80 percent of its eligible population by the end of September. They may actually get there. Right now, almost 75 percent of Italians ages 12 and older have received at least one dose, and at least 65 percent are fully vaccinated. Needing to show a health pass to go to work makes me wonder about how that might change the whole calling-in-sick thing. 

A health pass in order to go to work is one thing. Starting next month, people in Los Angeles County will have to show proof of vaccination to enter "drinking establishments" or to attend "outdoor mega events." Gotta be vaccinated to work; gotta be vaccinated to play. Just not in the same place.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 49 (549)

The coronavirus stats remain sobering. We've passed a new benchmark. Since the first reported infection back in 2020, one in every 500 Americans died of covid. Johns Hopkins University puts the current death toll at 663,913. According to the Census Bureau, the population of the US is 331.4 million. The rest is just arithmetic. There were 152,300 new cases each day last week. That's over 13 times the number of new cases on June 22. The 11,303 cases that day were the low point of 2021. As of Tuesday, we had 1,805 deaths per day over one week. The 2021 low point for deaths was July 5 when there were only 218 deaths. We've got 54 percent of the population fully vaccinated. Unfortunately, the rate of people getting a first dose each day is a four percent drop from last week and a 28 percent drop from one month ago. 

The CDC recommends that even fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of substantial or high community transmission. Over 99 percent of the population lives in counties designated as having substantial or high community transmission. There are really no safe spots to be found.

A consequence of those numbers and rates: Alaska's largest hospital has a line of people waiting in their cars to get into the emergency room. Medical teams have been forced to ration care. They are following "crisis standards of care" which translates to that they ae "unable to provide lifesaving care to everyone who needs it." They haven't done elective surgeries in some time, and rationed care may come to include dialysis and "specialized ventilatory support."

France could start suspending health care workers today if they are not yet vaccinated. The current number of unvaccinated health care workers is 300,000. Courts say that the unvaccinated workers cannot be fired, but if those workers cannot provide patient care, hospitals will be stretched even more than they currently are.

A couple of quickies: As of October 1, immigrants seeking permanent residency in the US must be fully vaccinated. The EU is creating a new biomedical authority designed to better respond to future pandemics. The EU is also donating another 200 million extra vaccines to low- and middle-income countries on top of the 250 million they have already promised by the end of 2021.

The Associated Press reports that 26 of the 50 largest public university campuses don't require vaccination. Universities with vaccine mandates are concentrated in the Northeast and California. Almost all with no mandates are located in states that restrict or outright ban vaccine mandates including Florida, Texas, and Arizona. The Press looked at three universities, one in the Northeast, one in Florida, and one halfway in between which just happened to be our local university. 

The University of Connecticut has a vaccine mandate. Eight hundred students have been granted exemptions; the university has basically approved all requests for exemption no matter what reason was given. About 11,000 of 19,000 undergraduates live on campus. All students must wear masks indoors.  Ninety-seven percent of students are vaccinated; those who are not  must be tested weekly. There have been 10 student infections since the semester began.

The University of Central Florida is running raffles to encourage students who are not yet vaccinated to be vaccinated. Raffle prizes include textbooks, computers, and $5,000 worth of tuition and fee waivers. The school is campaigning to get students "Vacci-Knighted." Yes, the school sports teams are the Knights. Professors cannot reduce class sizes and in some large classes, students sit in aisles to avoid sitting next to another person. Some 12,000 of 72,000 students live on campus. Masks are recommended but not required indoors. In the two weeks ending on September 11, there were 377 student infections.

The local university disenrolled forty-some students who did not report vaccinations or request exemptions. About 97 percent of students and 92 percent of staff have been vaccinated. Anyone exempt from vaccination must wear a mask indoors and outdoors. Until October 1, masks are required for everybody in indoor spaces other than dorms. There have been 255 student cases since the semester started in late August.

I didn't happen to come across anything funny or interesting even in a bizarre way as I was trolling the news this morning, so let me just remind everyone that Sunday, September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrgh.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 48 (548)

I found the most interesting article this morning about what it has been like to be an embalmer during the days of covid. I took copious notes, but know that if you found that very brief description fascinating, you'll want to read the whole thing yourself. Click here to jump there. So, what is it like? Well, at the start of the pandemic, embalming was actually not encouraged because of uncertainty over the virus and could it be transferred during embalming. It turns out that embalming is a good thing, because afterwards, you don't need to keep a body refrigerated. No need to park a mobile morgue out back of the funeral home; I guess a U-Haul or Penske truck would do. Between late November and early December 2020 and mid-March 2021, embalmers were routinely pulling intensely long shifts, long like 20-some hours long. And 65 percent of the bodies coming in had covid. The embalming business was pretty good already as baby boomers started to die. Covid may be the straw that breaks the camel's back. 

Covid bodies leaving an ICU are in much different condition than other bodies would be. Covid bodies tend to be tremendously swollen, and many have sepsis or secondary infections such as staph. Being on a ventilator means adhesive patches on one's cheeks (the facial kind). Sepsis is one possible result as is gangrene. Family members may have a hard time recognizing someone. The author spoke of embalming a husband and wife together or, sadly, all the members of one family. The Delta variant has meant that people are not in the ICU as long before they die; this makes the embalmer's job easier, sadly.

Warning: The material that follows may be disturbing. Embalmers typically use a major artery to inject embalming fluid and use an adjoining vein for drainage. Blood tends to settle out and gravitate to the dependent part of the body. The longer the body sits, the more the blood clots. Covid bodies dead only a few hours have major clotting issues. Clots can be "the size of pancakes," a phenomenon seen only with covid. The author noted that he had been an embalmer for 30 years at medium- to high-volume funeral parlors, with covid being unlike anything he had seen during those years. 

Okay, enough with embalming. How about policemen across California threatening to resign en masse over vaccine mandates. One issue is that some cities are not allowing regular testing as an alternative to vaccination. As of September 3, only 47 percent of Los Angeles Police Department staff were fully vaccinated, and only 54 percent had gotten at least one dose of vaccine. These percents are significantly lower than corresponding ones for the citizenry of Los Angeles County. Some cops are even refusing to be tested. And, as The Professor said in response to this, these are the people to whom we give guns and the right to use them. 

China has reported its first "school-centered" outbreak, traced to an elementary school. Authorities are fighting to contain it before hundreds of millions of people travel next month for the National Day Holiday. 

One in four hospitals reports over 95 percent of ICU beds occupied; a month ago, it was one in five. In June, it was lower than one in 10. Alabama has 700 ICU bed across the state. All are occupied. In Florida 24 hospitals had more ICU patients than beds last week. This Delta wave does not appear to be slowing much if at all. The Florida governor is moving to penalize cities and counties that have vaccine mandates even though new cases across the state now number about 15,000 per day. 

WHO wants booster shots delayed until every country has vaccinated at least 40 percent of its population. Every unvaccinated person gives the coronavirus another chance to mutate. I have found myself every now and then pondering whether the virus could mutate into a less serious variant or one that is harder to transmit between people. Would "positive" vaccines take hold as strongly as the negative ones seem to? Or would they simply and quickly die out? Are those even legitimate questions medically? I know that there are no stupid questions, but there seem to be some stupid answers. I may have to look into this more deeply.

 

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 47 (547)

It looks as if China could end up being the "global savior" with respect to covid vaccines. It's increasing exports of the Sinopharm, Sinovac, and CanSino vaccines, all of which can be stored at room temperature. It's been nine months since vaccines became available, and 58 percent of the global population has yet to get a first dose. The analytics firm Airfinity says that the US and other Western countries could vaccinate teenagers, give everyone a booster, and still have 1.2 billion doses that could go elsewhere. Meanwhile, COVAX anticipates getting 25 percent fewer doses than expected due to production problems and export restrictions. Companies make money when they sell vaccines to the countries that can pay for them as opposed to donating them to poorer countries. 

Worry about the Delta variant is causing some restaurants to again close indoor dining. Sales and visits are falling. The Economic Innovation Group says that a quarter of small business in the US have seen revenue fall in each of the past three weeks. Only eight percent saw any sort of revenue growth. Not everyone is as worried about Delta, though. Only three NFL teams--the Seattle Seahawks, Las Vegas Raiders, and  New Orleans Saints--are requiring fans to show proof of vaccination to enter stadiums filling to full capacity. 

New York City public schools open today. The city government is ending remote work and requiring workers to go back to their offices. City employees must be vaccinated or tested weekly. Teachers must also be vaccinated and have no test-out option. However, arbitrators ruled that the city must offer non-classroom assignments to teachers with medical or religious exemptions. There is no vaccine requirement for students unless they are participating in contact sports or some extracurricular activities such as band and theater. Two-thirds of the city's 12-to-17-year-olds are already vaccinated.

Dr. Fauci says that more vaccine mandates than proposed by POTUS could be required to get vaccination rates up enough. POTUS's mandates alone may not be enough to get us to herd immunity. Dr. Fauci indicated that he would support a vaccine mandate for any domestic air travel.

Of the 23 states with new case totals per capita higher than the national rate, 21 voted Republican in  the 2020 Presidential election. Sixteen are among the 17 states with the lowest vaccination rates. Since late June, there have been about 54,000 covid deaths with almost one in five being in Florida. A state with six percent of the national population accounted for 18 percent of the covid deaths this summer. Finally, of the 18 states with new death totals above the national average, 17 voted Republican in 2020.

Hospitals remain in crisis mode. A hospital in northern New York will stop delivering babies on September 25. Too many maternity workers resigned rather than get vaccinated. Washington State is taking on patients for whom Idaho has no room. In Washington, residents must wear masks when gathering indoors, students exposed to covid must quarantine, and many workers are under vaccine mandates. None of those apply in Idaho. Finally, a man who had a heart attack died after being told by 43 hospitals that they had no room for him. In other words, you may be out of luck if you have a heart attack or are in a car wreck right now.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 46 (546)

Good news: 26 states have fully vaccinated at least half of all their residents. Bad news: Hospitals are still filling up along with their ICUs. The US vaccination rate puts it last among Group of 7 nations in the percent of the population that has gotten at least one dose of vaccine. 

Today's post is going to have one topic since I got sucked into a very interesting article on an issue I've wondered about here before. What constitutes a religious exemption in terms of vaccination? Virtually all the major denominations have no prohibition on vaccinations. This means people are falling back on their "personal faith." Some private employers are taking a hard line here. United Airlines will put religiously exempt employees on unpaid leave as safety and testing procedures are developed and put in place. 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religious beliefs that are "sincerely held." I'm afraid that doesn't clear things up much for me. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says that religious exemptions don't have to be recognized by an organized religion and can be beliefs that are new, uncommon, or "seem illogical or unreasonable to others." That opens things up a lot except that exemptions cannot be based only on social or political beliefs. This puts employers in the potentially awkward place of having to distinguish between primarily political objections from people who also happen to be religious and objections that are truly religious. Vermont removed its vaccine exemption for non-religious personal beliefs in 2016. After that, the percent of kindergarten students with religious exemptions went from 0.5 to 3.7, suggesting that parents were taking advantage of religious exemptions when they were the only means of exemption available. 

So how would you evaluate the Paducah, Kentucky couple who cite faith as one of "many" reasons they don't want the vaccine. Among the other reasons are their perception that they vaccine was rushed, their reading about the vaccine's remote connection to abortion, and the similarities to the biblical "mark of the beast," a symbol associated with the Antichrist. They say that they are not overtly worried about the virus itself.

If you, like me, were wondering about buying exemptions online, they are readily available. There are multiple websites offering exemption letters. A Texas evangelist will provide letters online in exchange for a donation. A California megachurch is offering a letter to anyone who checks a box saying that they are a "practicing Evangelical that adheres to the religious and moral principles outlined in the Holy Bible." Such letters are not required but can be used to bolster claims of personal faith.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't? The rest of us are the ones who will be damned in the others don't get vaccinated.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 45 (545)

September 11, 2021 ... 20 years out from September 11, 2001. Many people have been posting where they were and/or what they were doing when they heard or saw the news of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. At the time I did some freelance writing, editing, and data analyzing for the county school system. I had just walked into the office of the person for whom I worked when the superintendent stuck her head in and said that the decision had been made to keep schools in session, not to close early. I asked what was going on given there were no weather alerts. They seemed surprised that I had not yet heard. Hey, I'd been taking Son #2 to school for his second period class since he spent first period at home doing distance learning. I hadn't had the television on and in the car listened to CDs not the radio. I ended up standing in line at the local Red Cross for six or seven hours to donate blood it turned out was not needed, at least not for Pentagon victims. 

There weren't many degrees of separation between here and there that day. Someone at church was a flight attendant with American Airlines; she knew several of the flight attendants who lost their lives. The sister of a teacher at Son #2's middle school was in a meeting on an upper floor of one of the towers that day; she did not make it out. There was a feeling of unity that day and in the immediate aftermath that seems light years away from today's divisions. I remember well members of Congress from both parties standing on the steps of the Capitol singing "God Bless America."If only we could view the coronavirus as the common enemy we had then.

Here in the present, Republicans are promising legal challenges to the vaccine mandates proposed by POTUS. Those mandates are based on a 51-year-old Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule that grants the government the power to protect employees from "grave dangers" at the workplace. In an email, POTUS's chief of staff referred to it as a "work-around." Ted Cruz and other Republicans say that this proves POTUS knows that the mandates are illegal. I don't want to disparage all Republicans, though, when there are Republicans such as the governor of Vermont, who had this to say: "I appreciate the president's continued prioritization of vaccination and the country's recovery as we move forward. As Vermont's experience shows, vaccines work and save lives. They are the best and fastest way to move past this pandemic." 

France's former health minister has been charged with "endangering the lives of others" for comments she made minimizing the pandemic. In January 2020, she said there was "practically no risk" and that the "risk of a spread of the coronavirus among the population is very small." I have to ask whether that's not what a lot of people in a lot of fields including some scientific ones were thinking at that time. XPot certainly made similarly dismissive statements even after it was clear that there was a real issue. I don't think we have a similar law with which to charge him, though.

Denmark is lifting all coronavirus restrictions as the vaccination rate for those ages 12 and older tops 80 percent. Covid is no longer considered a "socially critical" disease but is instead "an ordinary dangerous illness." They have had some level of restriction in place for 548 days, just a couple of day longer than I've been doing this blog. Are they loosening restrictions too soon? A virology professor at Aarhus University says, "I wouldn't say it is too early. We have opened the door but we have also said that we can close it if needed."

So will POTUS's proposed vaccine mandates help slow the pandemic? Public health experts say yes, but not in the short term. It takes at least six weeks for a two-dose vaccine to be fully effective. The dean of the Brown University School of Public Health says it will: "It's going to fundamentally shift the arc of the current surge.It's exactly what's needed at this moment." Two federal departments that already mandate vaccinations, the Department of Defense and the Veterans' Administration, say that their mandates are working, that people have been willing to get vaccinated. As for the time it will take for the mandates to have a real effect, Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at Harvard advises, "It's a lot quicker to put on a mask that it is to get a bunch of people vaccinated." Now if only the governors of Florida and Texas would listen.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 44 (544)

POTUS spoke yesterday and, while putting forth some badly needed mandates, did widen the political divide a wee bit. Top Republicans, not named in my source, are calling for a public uprising to protest the new vaccine mandates POTUS has proposed or imposed. We're already set for what I hope is not another January 6 next Saturday. I really don't want to see a second civil war added to history textbooks. The vaccine mandates proposed by POTUS would affect as many as 100 million Americans. All employers with over 100 workers would be required to have employees vaccinated. They would have to compensate employees for time taken off work to get the vaccination. Non-compliance would result in thousands of dollars in fines. Workers at medical facilities that receive Medicare or Medicaid payments must be fully vaccinated. Finally, all employees of the executive branch as well as contractors who do business with the federal government must be vaccinated. Will this work or is it, as some health experts said, too little, too late? POTUS also wants to double the federal fines for no wearing masks on planes or on federal property. He'd also like to see entertainment venues and arenas require vaccinations or proof of a negative test.

While the above might well be too little, too late, current numbers say we have to do something and do it  strongly and soon. (I wish "soonly" were a word.) Compared to the same time last year, new cases per day are up 300 percent along with 2.5 times more hospitalizations and twice the number of deaths. Looking back 20 years, we're seeing covid deliver the death toll of 9/11/2001 every two days.Every. Two. Days. The Washington Post and The New York Times must use different sources for their daily numbers, but both are bad. The Post says there were 162,020 new cases yesterday and 3,300 deaths. The Times reports 170,460 cases and 3,231 deaths. Dr. Fauci is reminding us that to tame the pandemic, those case numbers need to get below 10,00 per day on a consistent basis. I read the following in the coronavirus checker email I get each morning from The New York Times and started to list all the people I know who have had covid (no one I know has died of it ... yet): "Since January of last year, at least 1 in 8 people who live in the United States have been infected, and at least 1 in 505 people have died."

Onto something other than numbers, I don't think The Professor would do well if he taught at the University of Delaware. There, if a student tells a professor that they had a positive covid test, the professor is not allowed to tell the rest of the class that they may have been exposed. Instead, they should tell students that "given the current incidence of Covid-19 on campus, we should assume that we may have contact with individuals who are shedding Covid-19, perhaps unknowingly." Also, the university will not tell professors if a student in one of their classes has tested positive. Professors must rely on students to tell them the student was positive with covid. That's certainly not how I'd want The Professor to be treated. Ignorance is so not bliss in this respect.