COVID Bits

  • The W.H.O. and its partners now hope to provide Africa with about 30 percent of the vaccines the continent needs by February. Previously, the W.H.O. had hoped to provide 60 percent vaccine coverage by the end of this year.
  • “No one is safe until everyone is safe. In a way, it doesn’t matter if it is in Chad or in Bulgaria.”—Guntram Wolff, the head of Bruegel, the Brussels-based think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues.
  • More than 90 percent of Israelis older than 50 have been immunized against the coronavirus.
  • Unexcusable absence: An Alaska Republican state senator, Lora Reinbold, has asked to be excused from legislative sessions until next year. Seems that she has no way to fly to the state capital (Juneau) after she was banned from Alaska Airlines for violating mask   policies.
  • More than half (26) the states have pushed through laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health.
  • Sales of iPhones have exploded during the pandemic.
  • From July 25 to Aug. 22, Florida’s share of the nation’s nursing home resident deaths was 21 percent, and this state’s share of the nation’s nursing home staff deaths was 17 percent.
  • According to the CDC, nearly 43 percent of American adults were obese in 2018, thus at higher risk for medical conditions and death—especially during a pandemic.
  • Pinellas County is gearing up to spend up to $4 million—from American Rescue Plan funds—to incentivize vaccination for all county employees. If approved by commissioners, employees would receive $750 from the county by the end of 2021. Whatever happened to doing the right thing for the right reasons and not needing a bribe, oops incentive, beyond helping to save lives.
  • “My own final word to anti-vaxxers: If you refuse to get vaccinated and come down with COVID-19, don’t expect any sympathy from me. You asked for it. You got it. You deserve it.”—Bill Press, political commentator, host of the “The BillPressPod” and former co-host of CNN’s “CrossFire.”

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