On the Eastern European front, things are not improving in Russia. They set a new record with 1,028 new cases in 24 hours. The overall death toll is now at 226,353. The Russian cabinet has suggested a non-working week, and Moscow city is urging businesses to let at least a third of their workers work remotely. A steep rise continues in Poland with over 5,000 new daily cases for the first time since May. Most were in an eastern province with one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. New cases in the Czech Republic went above 3,000 for the first time since April. Ukraine has the lowest vaccination rate in Europe; only 15 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
There is good news and bad news on the variant front. The good news is that it so far is not classified as a variant of concern. The bad news is that the Delta variant has mutated. The Professor has proposed calling this new variant Delta-Squared, but I don't expect the global health powers will even learn of his idea let alone implement it. I'm going to call it that here, though, so there is a clear distinction between the original Delta variant and its own variant. Delta-Squared is estimated to have caused six percent of cases in Britain in the week of September 27. It could be slightly more transmissible than Delta, but that's not at all clear yet. Delta-Squared remains rare outside of Britain but has been seen in small numbers in Denmark and the US. There has also been a case in Israel, an 11-year-old boy trying to enter the country at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The UK has had the highest rate of daily covid cases and deaths per million people in Western Europe. There were 223 deaths on Tuesday, the highest daily figure since March. Governmental talking heads and health experts have been debating what action or actions should be taken in response. Across the globe, it is likely that vaccinations will become compulsory for most Western Australia workers by the end of this year.
Some US schools are trying a test-to-stay approach in which students who may have been exposed to covid may continue to attend school as long as they test negative daily. The CDC calls it a "promising practice" and is working on evaluating the strategy's effectiveness.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children's Hospital Association have declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health due to prolonged isolation, uncertainty, and grief. During the pandemic, emergency room visits for young people with mental health emergencies rose by 24 percent for ages five through 11 and by 31 percent for ages 12 through 17. The emergency room visits identified as potentially the result of a suicide attempt were up over 50 percent in early 2021 compared to the same time in 2019 among young women ages 11 through 17. The president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says, "We are caring for young people with soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness, and suicidality that will have lasting impacts on them, their families, their communities, and all our futures. We cannot sit idly by."
In Chicago, 21 police officers have been placed on leave without pay for failing to follow the city's vaccine mandate. The Washington State Patrol reports that 127 officers, some six percent of the total workforce, have left, 74 commissioned officers and 53 civilian workers. At least 150 members of the State Police Association of Massachusetts have resigned or intend to. More than a little related to law enforcement, the Homeland Security Secretary has tested positive for covid. He was fully vaccinated and so far has only mild congestion. He was "near" POTUS at an outdoor event Saturday. The depressed pessimist in my thinks that XPot (the eX-Potus) got through his case of covid but what if POTUS were to get covid and not get through. Can you imagine the mileage XPot would try to get out of such a situation? I don't want to.
As tidbits, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Bryer rejected a request from health care workers in Maine who wanted the court to block the state's vaccine mandate based on their religious objections. And an In-N-Out (it's a burger joint) in San Francisco was temporarily shut down on October 14 because they were not checking patrons for proof of vaccination. The In-N-Out has since reopened but only for takeout. In-N-Out's corporate headquarters has said that they should not be acting as vaccine police for the city.
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