The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 254 (754)

Dr. Fauci hasn't said much lately or not much has been reported about what he has said. He's saying now that cases could rise over the next few weeks (which indeed they are as will be discussed  in the next paragraph) and a surge in the fall is "highly likely." He cites the waning of immunity (got my second booster this morning!) and relaxation of restrictions (I'll be wearing a mask at the quilt show) as major factors. 

It seems that the caseloads across the US are evening out and starting to rise. Swift rises are the case in Washington, DC and New York City. More moderate rises are happening in Alaska, Vermont, Colorado, Rhode Island, and New York State. Every mention of caseloads that I see has a caveat, so let me cite it here. With the growth of home testing, any caseloads reported are undercounts. This means any rises seen are likely going higher and faster. 

The list of politicos testing positive continues to rise. So far POTUS and VPOTUS (or would that be plain old VICE?) are testing negative. So far, we're talking at least four members of the House of Representatives including the Speaker, at least one Senator, two Cabinet members, FLOTUS's press secretary, and POTUS's sister. The sister is not really a politico, but we'll go with guilt by association or relation.

Three local officials in Shanghai have been fired in response to the growing covid wave there. When the Chinese government says "zero covid," they mean "ZERO covid." The lockdowns that started out as having fixed end dates no longer seem to have any. Residents are running low on or out of food. While groceries can be delivered by phone order, the day's allotment runs out very quickly.

A federal appeals court reversed an earlier decision that blocked the White House from requiring federal workers to be vaccinated. Two steps forward and one step back?

Finally, US life expectancy has fallen for the second year in a row. The overall expectancy is now 76.6, the lowest in at least 25 years. Personally, I'm hoping I have more than ten years left in me, but that's all I'll say to avoid jinxing myself.