The ROad goes ever on and on ... Day 99 (599)

Lots of news items or maybe I was still hiding from reality. It will find me one day, I'm afraid, but hopefully not today.

Covid cases are approaching a record level in Austria, meaning a lockdown could be coming for unvaccinated people. There were 8,594 new cases Thursday, a 32 percent increase over Wednesday. Mitigation measures in Austria are instituted incrementally. When 500 ICU beds are occupied by covid patients, unvaccinated people excluding people recovering from covid will be barred from cafes and restaurants. When 600 ICU beds are occupied by covid patients, there will be restrictions on movement of unvaccinated people. Currently, 352 ICU beds belong to covid patients. Austria's 64 percent fully vaccinated is in line with the EU's average but one of the lowest in western Europe.

More new records: Germany just set a new daily case record--33,949. The record had been 33,777, set on December 18, 2020. The government calls it a "massive" pandemic of the unvaccinated. Ukraine just recorded a record 23,377 cases in 24 hours. Slovakia recorded a record 6,713. WHO has warned that Europe could see another half million covid deaths by February. Right now, the highest overall covid infection rate is England's, a rate of 1.72 percent. The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the use of Merck's antiviral molnupiravir to treat symptomatic covid patients. It will be used with people who test positive and have at least one risk factor, including old age. 

A US poll suggests Americans are tired of the pandemic (news flash!). Only 12 percent of American adults rated public health issues as a top national priority. Unfortunately, not paying attention to it will not help it go away. Indeed, it will only prolong it. Companies with over 100 employees have until January 4 to get those employees vaccinated. This covers 84 million private sector workers. Those who remain unvaccinated must undergo frequent testing that may be at the employee's expense. All 17 million workers at health care facilities receiving either Medicare or Medicaid funding must also meet a January 4 vaccination deadline. In an October 4 poll of 1,088 companies, 13 percent said that all workers would be required to be vaccinated, but 11 percent said they were only requiring vaccination for employees who come into a office to work. Those working only from home would be exempt. In the case of the federal vaccination requirement, "fully" vaccinated means having received two shots of Pfizer or Moderna or one shot of Johnson & Johnson; it does not include boosters. 

Speaking of boosters, WHO is asking Latin American and Caribbean countries to hold off on boosters and delay vaccinating children and allocating more doses to the most vulnerable people. There is not enough vaccine to take care of everyone at the same time.

Finally, Trieste, Italy saw thousands of vaccine-skeptical people protest against vaccine mandates in the streets last month  Now, there is a covid outbreak linked directly to those protests. Said the region's president, "It is the moment to say with clarity: Enough idiocy."

Or, in the words of another smart person: "Don't be an ass."