203,001,679 total cases
4,299,920 dead
182,367,225 recovered
In the US:
36,543,338 total cases
633,116 dead
29,859,062 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
It looks like the military will be requiring COVID vaccination by 9/15:
Using the Johns Hopkins site seven-day averages of new reported cases, Florida has set a new record high of 33,688, approaching twice the previous record of 17,991 set on January 5.
Hawaii has set a new record high of 635, more than twice the previous record of 255 set almost a year ago.
Cases aren’t yet setting new records, but are approaching it in
Puerto Rico
Texas
Arkansas
Alabama
Missouri
…and the rates are rising in several other states, if not yet approaching record levels.
I hope there is a bullet next to the Show Me state on that list, as our AG is busy suing any city that attempts to implement public health restrictions. That should help our placement to move up!
Actually, Missouri is not as bad (yet) as you would think. Their last average reported daily case number is 3.214, still far from the 5241 on November 11 or the lesser peak of 4171 on January 8. It’s still going up, but not as rapidly now. Still, if he’s suing anyone trying to remediate things, that could all change.
I don’t see how they could crack down on this. The EMTs who administered my vaccine didn’t fill in most of it - just their (first) name and the manufacturer. They handed me a pen and had me fill in my own name, date of birth, administration date.
I actually had to call weeks later to get the lot numbers when it became apparent the cards might be relied upon in the future. The kind lady gave me the number over the phone after I told her my name and date of birth, and per her instructions I wrote it down with my own pen at a gas station parking lot.
Coincidentally Florida passed a law prohibiting the use of vaccination cards for screening/passport purposes.
ETA: Keeping with the news focus of this topic, a federal judge issued an injunction against that law prohibiting vaccine passports, as applied to cruise ships.
~Max
That IS breaking news, at least for US readers, and is worth citing:
U.S. judge says Florida can’t ban cruise ship’s ‘vaccine passport’ program | Reuters
In a preliminary ruling issued on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami said Norwegian would likely prevail on its argument that the “vaccine passport” ban, signed into law by DeSantis in May, jeopardizes public health and is an unconstitutional infringement on Norwegian’s rights.
As I understand it Norwegian Cruse claims a First Amendment right to interact with customers unmasked…
Well, I would not want to be the judge on this case. I think lending credence to that argument could make bad precedent for anti-maskers. If there was a federal mandate on passenger vaccination rates that conflicts with Florida law I think it would be better to rule that the federal mandate is supreme, than to lend any credence to the 1st amendment argument.
~Max
I don’t see anything about masks in their complaint, one way or the other:
Norwegian Cruise Line line sues Florida over COVID-19 vaccine passport ban | TheHill
In the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Miami-headquartered cruise line argued that the state’s prohibition on vaccine requirements violate the First Amendment by blocking communications between a business and customers, as well as the Fourteenth Amendment by limiting the ability of a company to keep its employees and customers safe.
I think they are claiming that they have a first amendment right to ask passengers if they are vaccinated, and a 14th amendment right … I’m struggling to understand how the 14th amendment applies, honestly. Maybe they think Florida is trying to kill their passengers without due process?
Without “incorporation” the First Amendment only applies to Congress.
~Max
Why are some politicians actually TRYING to stop cities or schools or whatever from following health guidelines for the safety of the public?
Can’t they just get the fuck out of the way? Do they actually feel the need to CAUSE more disease for some reason?
My district (Dallas) just announced we are mandating masks, in direct defiance of the governor’s executive order saying no government institution can mandate masks.
I am so proud.
I wonder how much the parents will support the mandate. The school board meetings where masks are discussed are quite contentious. I can’t imagine that those parents who virulently oppose masks in school are going to go along with a local district mask mandate when the state says it’s not allowed.
Florida is also dealing with something similar, with some districts going against state mandates:
There’s a really, really big difference between Dallas-Dallas and the suburbs. I am sure some people will be upset, but I expect the majority will be supportive.
The ones who are not will file lawsuits.
I’d expect they’d be contentious in both directions. Parents who don’t want their unvaccinatable under-12’s exposed are probably also going to throw a fit. And Delta seems to get children a lot more than the earlier variants did.
I’m just as glad to not be on a school board in Florida.
Speaking or which:
I am SO glad I don’t have small children right now, and I’m not on a school board. (Although I expect my local schools to require masks, and I don’t expect that to be contentious.)
From our company president:
Hey Gang:
The Governor, King County Executive and Seattle Mayor have just announced in the last hour that most State, County and City employees are required to get a COVID vaccine by October 18th. It’s now a condition of employment. The exception, at this point, is employees covered by union agreements. COVID testing alone will no longer suffice. The new rule is essentially: get vaccinated or get fired.
According to the guidelines I’ve read thus far, “ This also includes contractors… with the state .” That could include us since we sell and do stuff for various local and regional entities. Will those of you working with state or local government agencies (DSHS, ports, cities, etc) let me know who you are currently serving. If we touch any affected agency and go on-site , please let me know. We may be asked to prove you/we are vaxxed. I want to stay ahead of this, so please take this seriously and identify which agencies are currently active with us and if you are needing to go on-site with them. If this becomes an issue for us, we may need to have a conversation about how to respond. In the meantime, let’s identify where we might have an issue. If you have questions, you all know how to find me.
Here’s a link to the Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/gov-jay-inslee-expected-to-announce-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-for-washington-state-employees/ . The most amazing part of this story is how many employees the State, County and City have. Almost 100,000! Sheesh.
On a brighter and happier note, I just cracked open a Fortune Cookie containing great wisdom: SURROUND YOURSELF WITH GOOD PEOPLE. Well that’s done!! Now I better go back to Panda Express to find out what I’m supposed to do next!!!
whoops, sorry, this is the breaking news thread and what I originally had here wasn’t really on topic.
Pretty much saying everything I’ve been saying the last two weeks. The CDC does a lot right but it’s behind, and it is creating a false sense of security among the vaccinated. Vaccines are clearly much less effective at reducing infection – that’s not even debatable anymore.
On average, vaccines do a good job of protecting against severe outcomes; however, averages can be tricky things, especially when the CDC does not have good data. If you are over 80, if you are immunocompromised, if you have heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, are obese, have pulmonary difficulties, you are on the wrong end of average.