The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 82 (582)

From a dearth of coronavirus news yesterday to more than I can reasonably read today. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Wishing for the new laptop hasn't brought mail delivery yet, so I'll once again tackle the mini-keyboard and jumping cursor.

Seattle, Washington is preparing to fire hundreds of police officers who refused to get vaccinated. This means that detectives may be putting their case loads on hold to answer 911 calls. Interestingly, as far as police not wanting to be vaccinated goes, covid was/is the largest cause of death for law enforcement officers in both 2020 and 2021. A former police chief and now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice explains that police "are a little more skeptical" and "are not used to being told what to do." This last point intrigues me. Is there not a chain of command within the department? Milwaukee has reached an agreement that unvaccinated police wear masks on duty except when eating and drinking at a safe distance from others. The police union calls this a "penalty." The issue of law enforcement vaccination is not limited to the US. In Victoria, Australia, 43 police staff have been "stood down" and are using accrued leave. They face losing their jobs if they do not get vaccinated.

On Saturday, Russia had over 1,000 deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic, a situation described as "near critical." Vaccinations are at a standstill, with 55 percent of Russians saying that they are not afraid of getting covid. In one poll, two-thirds of respondents reported believing that the coronavirus was a human-generated bioweapon.

Random intriguing factoid: Superman's motto "Truth, Justice and the American Way" is out; the motto "Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow" is in. Not quite as catchy but definitely more global.

Tokyo's mid-August covid peak was nearly 6,000 new cases daily. That wasn't that long ago, but the count of new cases daily is now routinely below 100, the lowest it has been in the last 11 months. Japan never did have lockdowns though they did declare states of emergency; it's not clear how well these were enforced. One factor helping keep cases down is that wearing masks is something the Japanese are used to doing. There was also bad weather in late August that kept people at home.

The current US average is around 85,000 new cases per day, down by over 8,000 from last week. Deaths are also down. Will we avoid a seasonal spike as cold weather sets in? That's not clear, but low vaccination rates will not help. Concern has also been expressed that boosters are going to widen the gap between vaccinated Americans and vaccine-hesitant Americans. Many counties in the northernmost reaches of the US are already seeing cases rise as temperatures drop. The top five states in terms of new daily cases per capita are Alaska, with 125 cases per 100,000 residents followed by Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Idaho, all with at least 67 cases per 100,000 residents. The states with the fastest rising caseloads are Vermont, Colorado, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota. Minnesota has seen a 12 percent climb in two weeks.

Besides its human casualties, covid is also making the public health system a casualty, the aftereffects  of which could last for years. The New York Times reviewed hundreds of health departments in all 50 states. The verdict? Local public health is less equipped to confront a new pandemic than it was at the start of 2020. The loss of personnel has been significant. Many quit or retired because of burnout, abuse, or having been threatened. Over 500 top health officials have left their jobs in the past 19 months. Legislatures have approved over 100 new laws that limit state and local health powers. Hundreds more laws are under consideration. Governors, lawmakers, and county officials are bring given more power to undo health decisions. Large segments of the public have turned against agencies. Finally, billions of dollars have been geared toward stemming the current emergency rather than building toward the next emergency.

My fingers are crossed that I will not be fighting a midget laptop tomorrow. The new one has arrived; I shall now attempt to get it set up.