Showing posts with label 2020 Coronavirus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020 Coronavirus. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Pandemic Part 10. A new paradigm?

 


February 17, 2022

The Center for Disease Control estimates that, taking the massive spread of Omicron around the country into account and the final relatively high vaccination rate in the country, 73% of the nation is now immune from the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, i.e. COVID 19.

Nobody is really sure exactly what that means.  But it might mean that we're entering a phase where the virus doesn't disappear, but it's much less disruptive to society.

It's still the case, however, that it remains a danger for the unvaccinated.

March 1, 2022

Wyoming's public health emergency shall expire on March 14.

March 21, 2022

A new variant of Omicron has developed, which is about 30% more transmissible than the already more transmissible Omicron.  It's spiking in Europe and in Hong Kong has caused an outbreak with a massive death rate, mostly concentrated in the unvaccinated elderly.

China has reported its first deaths in many months.

According to experts, the world is about 50% through the probable course of the pandemic.

April 14, 2022

Over 1,000,000 Americans have now died from the COVID 19.

July 22, 2022

President Biden has COVID 19.

At this point, two members of our four member family also have, with one having had it quite recently and finding it awful, but being grateful accordingly for having been vaccinated.

A new, more traditional type of vaccine, has now been approved.

September 20, 2022

On 60 Minutes over the weekend, President Biden stated; "The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We're still doing a lot of work on it. But the pandemic is over."  The HHS Secretary later confirmed that position.

Epidemiologically, it isn't over, but then neither is the plague's pandemic either.  The statement has been criticized, with 400 people per day dying of the disease, but by and large it reflects the mood of the public which has largely gone back to a new post Covid introduction, world in which COVID 19 is part of the background.

December 15, 2022

The new defense spending authorization includes a requirement that the Secretary of Defense rescind vaccination requirements for troops because, well because that's the idiotic sort of thing that politicians like to stick into bills.

All of the troops should be vaccinated.

December 24, 2022

China, which has not accepted western vaccines, reported 37,000,000 new vaccinations in a single day.

January 2, 2023

A new variant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, now makes up 40% of the new cases in the U.S.

And Covid is still killing.

January 20, 2023

Governor Gordon Tests Positive for COVID-19

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –  Governor Mark Gordon has received results of a COVID-19 test that showed he is positive for the virus. The Governor is experiencing only minor symptoms at this time and will continue working from home on behalf of Wyoming. 

March 1, 2023

The Washington Post broke a story that the Department of Energy issued a report believing, with "low confidence", that the SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in a Chinese lab.

A really good analysis of this story can be found here:  

Why Scientists, Lawmakers & Diplomats Care Where COVID Began


In actuality, the Biden Administration early on ordered governmental intelligence agencies to get to the bottom of the virus' origin.  Eight intelligence agencies were assigned to the tasks, two of which have concluded, but with confidence doubts, that the virus was natural in origin. Two, we know now, felt the opposite, with it already known since 2021 what the FBI felt, with "moderate confidence" that the origin was a Chinese lab.  Two just haven't reported.

None of this kept some from claiming that it's now proven that the virus originated in the lab.

FWIW, private scientists, as opposed to intelligence agencies, overwhelmingly feel that it originated due to animal transfer in the Wuhan market.

March 18, 2023

Recent evidence points to raccoon dogs at the Wuhan market as the source.


April 11, 2023

President Biden declared the COVID emergency to be over.

August 22, 2023

Declared over or not, two new strains are on the loose and a new booster should be available mid September.

Last prior installment:

Pandemic Part 9. Omicron becomes dominant

Friday, February 11, 2022

Pandemic Part 9. Omicron becomes dominant

 


December 22, 2021

Well, with Omicron now becoming dominant, time for a new installment.

Israel is recommending a second booster.  It was the first country to recommend a booster shot in general.

The CDC warns that the Omicron may see 140,000,000 new cases in the United States in the next couple of months.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that it is a moral duty to be vaccinated.  The Catholic Bishop of Cairns, Australia, decried the role of ignorant and divisive parishioners in spread vaccine myths.

In a rare instance of some unity in politics, former President Trump stated in an interview how pleased he was that President Biden mentioned his administration's role in developing the vaccine. Trump went on to state that healing of the nation's divides needed to occur and urged people to get vaccinated, while also stating that he though mandates counterproductive.

December 31, 2021

An additional 200+ Marines have been discharged for refusing orders to take the vaccine.

Israel has approved a 4th booster shot.

January 10, 2022

Listening to the weekend shows, it's become clear that the new Coronavirus strategy is now "learn to live with it".  Going forward, it's going to be treated with annual (if not more frequent) vaccinations and treated upon infection.

Perhaps this was inevitable, but it also represents a global public health failure.  In the developed world, large numbers of the population refused to acknowledge the disease as fundamentally different and overall the world in general failed to act to prevent the spread of the disease in the Third World.  If there's a bright spot, a big if, it seems to be evolving towards less lethal.

Which doesn't mean it isn't lethal.  This will mean we'll have a period of years in which the unvaccinated and those who were vaccinated but who slip into disregard will in fact get killed by the disease until vaccination becomes general.

January 14, 2020

The US Supreme Court ruled that OSHA lacks the authority to impose mask mandates on conventional workplaces under the existing laws and regulations applying to it.

January 22, 2022

The state has hit an all-time new high for new infections.

February 3, 2022

The Army is discharging soldiers who refused to get the vaccine.  The discharges are for misconduct, so they are in fact bad conduct discharges, which will therefore carry some lifelong negative implications.

The Secretary of the Army also replied to Governor Gordon, and some other Governors, that this applies to National Guardsmen in spite of their letters of protest.

New Zealand is reopening its boarders.

Justin Trudeau and his family apparently have COVID.  His infection is coincident with a massive trucking industry protest over new rules applying to unvaccinated truckers.

February 11, 2022

The United States has sustained 900,000 deaths due to COVID 19.

A spike in deaths has occurred since January, principally due to the Omicron variant in the unvaccinated.  The US has the highest reported deaths of any country on earth, which is due to the resistance to getting vaccinated.

The American death toll now exceeds the number of deaths due to the Spanish Flu, which is a reported 675,000, although in reality due to the lingering effects of the disease, it was higher than that.  Put in context, however, given the population at the time, that would equate to approximately 2,000,000 Americans today.

Put back in context, it's clear the US is going to exceed 1,000,000 deaths due to COVID 19.

Last prior installment:

Pandemic Part 8. Enter Omicron

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

Pandemic Part 8. Enter Omicron

November 27, 2021

The new variant, dubbed Omicron right now, seems to be more infections.  It has multiple mutations.  Little else is known about it now.

It's appeared in Hong Kong.

New York has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the new Omicron variant of the disease arriving there.

The US has banned flights from a collection of southern African nations.

The Dow dropped 800 points in a day and oil plummeted.

Nov 27, cont:

By the end of the day, I suspect a lot of global travel restrictions will be in place.  Having said that, my suspicion is twofold; 1) it's already broken out of Africa, as supported by reports of it having made its way into Belgium, Hong Kong and the UK; and 2) the US will be slow to really restrict travel in a way that will address the problem, justifying New York's reaction.

My added prediction is that it will turn out the vaccines are in fact effective at preventing it and/or reducing its severity in break through cases.  Nonetheless, this will have no impact on getting people to accept getting vaccinated.

Nov 27, continued part two.  Some observations

Only 35% of South Africans are vaccinated.  Not because they don't want to be, but because distribution of vaccines in the Third World in general, and Africa in particular, is poor.

This points something out, however.  As long as this is the case, and South Africa's percentages are higher than most of Africa's, these mutations are going to keep on keeping on and sooner or later it will be the case that there will be a variant that vaccinations are ineffective as to, assuming that this isn't the case for this variant, and we'll be taking a big step backwards.

In other words, there needs to be a full scale effort to address the situation in the developing worlds.

Secondly, without even checking it, and even as we are all at the point where we know of people who have died, there will be those in the first world who are going to claim that the Omicron variant is proof of some giant conspiracy.  It isn't.  Rather, we don't have this beat yet.

November 29, 2021

Japan has barred entry to all non-resident foreigners.

Anthony Fauci appeared on all three weekend news shows and stated that the Omicron variant will get into the US eventually, but current measures are buying time, which can be used to figure out how to react to it.

Very little is actually known about the new variant, other than it appears highly infectious.

December 1, 2021

All National Guard and Reserve members have been ordered to be vaccinated.

December 2, 2021

The disease is now in the US, which I predicted, FWIW, that it already was. The first person to be diagnosed with it was fully vaccinated and has a mild case. The Californian had travelled to South Africa.

The day prior, the first identified case in Canada had been reported.  It's undoubtedly fairly far spread in North America by now.

How effective vaccinations are against this variant is not yet known, but the suspicion is that they are at least somewhat effective.  They may be as effective as with prior variants, or less so, it's just not known.  With this being the case, this entry is interesting:

Governor’s Legal Action Leads to Pause in Federal Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon welcomed a preliminary injunction issued today by the United States District Court, Eastern District of Missouri that halts implementation and enforcement of a rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that would impose a vaccine mandate on healthcare workers. Governor Gordon and Attorney General Bridget Hill entered Wyoming in this lawsuit, challenging the federal mandate. 

“This is welcome news for Wyoming’s rural healthcare facilities, which are already facing staffing challenges without additional unconstitutional burdens being placed on their employees by the federal government,” Governor Gordon said. “Healthcare employees should not be forced to choose between vaccination and termination.” 

The proposed mandate required nearly every employee, volunteer, and and contractor working at a wide range of healthcare facilities receiving Medicaid or Medicare funding to have received at least a first dose of the vaccine prior to December 6, 2021.

In its ruling, the court agreed to preliminarily enjoin implementation and enforcement of the rule because arguments made by Wyoming and a coalition of other states have a likelihood of success on the merits. Wyoming and the coalition have argued that CMS does not have authority to issue the mandate, and that it would impact the ability of healthcare facilities to effectively care for patients.

“Because it is evident CMS significantly understates the burden that its mandate would impose on the ability of healthcare facilities to provide proper care, and thus, save lives, the public has an interest in maintaining the ‘status quo’ while the merits of the case are determined,” wrote the court. 

The ruling applies only to the 10-state coalition that, along with Wyoming, includes Missouri, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and New Hampshire. Today’s ruling is a victory for Wyoming and these states, but the case is not over. The Governor and Attorney General will continue their efforts to challenge the mandate through this lawsuit.  

A copy of the order granting the Motion for Preliminary Injunction may be found here

Wyoming is taking a three-pronged approach to fighting the federal vaccine mandates, filing three separate legal actions to challenge this federal overreach. These include:

·  Filing a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for imposing a vaccine mandate on federal contractors and federally contracted employees. Wyoming is currently awaiting a ruling on a request for a temporary injunction in the case. 

·  Filing a second lawsuit to halt the Occupational Safety and Health Administration emergency temporary standard which mandates vaccines on employees of private Wyoming businesses with over 100 employees. This also resulted in a pause on the implementation of the ETS. 

·  The legal action involving CMS, which seeks to prevent the Biden Administration from enforcing the mandate on healthcare workers. This is what the court stayed today.

-END-

It should be noted that the caption has a typographical error in it.  It should be "Governors'", not "Governor's"

December 3, 2021

Numerous Omicron cases have popped up around the country, including a case in Colorado.  

It's almost inevitable that Omicron is going to spread around the country.  Early reports have it as more infective than other variants or at least as infective as Delta and early studies suggest, but don't yet prove, that it is likely to be able to break through with the vaccinated more easily.  It does seem that break through cases are "mild".

The origin of the multiple mutation Omicron remains a mystery, but a leading theory is that it mutated in a single individual over a long period of time, as that individual was likely immune compromised and couldn't clear the disease.  The suggestion is that the person was likely HIV infected, which is leading some to point out the need to address HIV in southern Africa.

December 6, 2021

There were mixed messages on the weekend shows about the new Omicron variant.

There has been some suggestion that its less severe in its infections than prior variants, but that message is tampered by the fact that the observed cases have included a lot of breakthrough cases in South Africa.  It seems to be more infectious.

A Moderna representative on This Week termed its emergence "the worst possible scenario".

Modern and Pfizer are expected to have vaccines developed within three months.

Everyone is urging that the unvaccinated get vaccinated and that those who have not been boosted receive boosters.

December 8, 2021

Pfizer has stated:  

Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it's clear from these preliminary data that protection is maximized with a third dose of our vaccine. 

It's also abundantly clear at this point that until that point at which a high percentage of  the population is vaccinated the disease will continue to mutate, and the pandemic will continue on.  This also makes it clear that populations in less developed parts of the world need to be vaccinated.

December 9, 2021

Pfizer announced that with the booster, its three shot (now) vaccine provides good protection against the Omicron variant.

New York and Maine have deployed some National Guard medics to facilities to deal with Delta outbreaks in those locations.

Mask mandates are now in effect in Denver.

December 14, 2021

1% of all US seniors have died from COVID 19.

The United States Supreme Court has turned away challenges of state mandates from three states.

40% of new cases in the UK are the Omicron variant.

27 members of the Air Force have been discharged for failing to follow the vaccination order. While I didn't see it in the article, this would presumably be a bad conduct discharge.

December 14, 2021 cont:

Governor Leads Coalition Penning Joint Letter to Defense Secretary over National Guard Vaccine Mandate Consequences

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon and four other Republican governors signed a letter to the Secretary of Defense today asserting that disciplinary directives to National Guard members serving in a state capacity “are beyond (the Secretary’s) constitutional and statutory authority.”

In the letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the Governors note that the Supreme Court has affirmed “that the National Guard is under the command and control of the Governor of each state unless those members are called to active service under Title 10.” The letter requests the Secretary reconsider directives that dictate whether training can occur, setting punishment requirements and requiring separation from a state’s National Guard for refusing to be COVID-19 vaccinated.

“Under Title 32 duty status, the Wyoming National Guard is under my command and control,” Governor Gordon said. “These directives are an overreach of the federal government’s authority.”

Joining Governor Gordon in signing the letter were Governor Pete Ricketts of Nebraska, Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi and Governor Mike Dunleavy of Alaska and Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. The full letter may be found here.

-END-

Frankly, as a former National Guardsman, I find the Governor's actions here simply appalling.

The National Guard is a reserve of the Army and Air Force, and are part of it.  You surrendered your liberty on this when you signed up, and that's just the way it is.

December 15, 2021

Canadians have been urged not to engage in non-essential international travel.

December 16, 2021

The University of Wyoming is keeping its mask mandate until mid-February.

December 17, 2021

Slightly over 100 Marines have been separated from the service for failing to receive vaccinations per orders.

December 18, 2021

Omicron has appeared in Albany County, Wyoming.  No doubt it's all over the state by now.

December 19, 2021

The Netherlands have entered a month long lockdown.

Harvard will be remote again for January.

December 21, 2021

The State of Wyoming is joining in a multi state appeal to the United States Supreme Court to resolve the legality of OSHA Coronavirus mandates.

President Trump, who earlier indicated he probably wouldn't get a booster, admitted before a crowd when asked by a Fox news personality if he had, that he did.  This elicited boos from the crowd.

December 22, 2021

The NHL is not going to the Winter Olympics due to COVID in an attempt to salvage the rest of its professional season, which is suffering due to ongoing Pandemic related cancellations.

Bill Gates cancelled his travel plans for the holidays.

President Biden addressed the nation on the new outbreak:

The longer the virus is around, the more likely variants form that may be deadlier than the ones that have come before.THE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon.  I promised when I got elected that I’d always give it to you straight from the shoulder — the good, the bad, the truth.

So, as we head into Christmas weekend, I want to answer your questions about the rising number of COVID cases — COVID-19 cases.

And I want to start by acknowledging how tired, worried, and frustrated I know you are.  I know how you’re feeling.

For many of you, this will be the first or even the second Christmas where you look — across the table will be an empty kitchen chair there.

Tens of millions have gotten sick, and we’ve all experienced an upheaval in our lives.

But while COVID has been a tough adversary, we’ve shown that we’re tougher — tougher because we have the power of science and vaccines that prevent illness and save lives, and tougher because of our resolve.

So, that — let me answer some questions that lay out the steps the Vice President and I are taking to prepare for the rising number of cases experts tell us we could expect in the weeks ahead.

First, how concerned should you be about Omicron, which is now the dominant variant in this country and it happened so quickly?

The answer is straightforward: If you are not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned.  You’re at a high risk of getting sick.  And if you get sick, you’re likely to spread it to others, including friends and family.  And the unvaccinated have a significantly higher risk of ending up in a hospital or even dying. 

Almost everyone who has died from COVID-19 in the past many months has been unvaccinated.  Unvaccinated.

But if you’re among the majority of Americans who are fully vaccinated, and especially if you’ve gotten the booster shot — that third shot — you’re much — you have much, much less reason to worry.  You have a high degree of protection against severe illness. 

And because Omicron spreads so easily, we’ll see some fully vaccinated people get COVID, potentially in large numbers.  There will be positive cases in every office, even here in the White House, among the unv- — among the vaccinated — among the vaccinated — from Omicron.

But these cases are highly unlikely to lead to serious illness.

Vaccinated people who get COVID may get ill, but they’re protected from severe illness and death.  That’s why you should still remain vigilant.

According to our doctors, even if you’re fully vaccinated, you should wear a mask when indoors in public settings.

Wearing a mask provides extra protection for you and those around you.  And I know some Americans are wondering if you can safely celebrate the holidays with your family and friends. 

The answer is yes, you can, if you and those you celebrate with are vaccinated, particularly if you’ve gotten your booster shot.

If you are vaccinated and follow the precautions that we all know well, you should feel comfortable celebrating Christmas and the holidays as you planned it.

You know, you’ve done the right thing.  You could enjoy the holiday season.

And thanks to the progress on vaccinations this fall, we’ve gone from nearly 90 million adults in July who had not even started their vaccination process to fewer than 40 million today.  Still too many, but down from 90 to 40.

All these people who have not been vaccinated, you have an obligation to yourselves, to your family, and, quite frankly — I know I’ll get criticized for this — to your country.

Get vaccinated now.  It’s free.  It’s convenient.  I promise you, it saves lives.  And I, honest to God, believe it’s your patriotic duty.

Another question folks are asking is: What can you do to make yourself and your family feel safer and be safer?  The answer is simple: Get your booster shot.  Wear a mask.

Our doctors have made it clear: Booster shots provide the strongest of protections.  Unfortunately, we still have tens of millions of people who are eligible for the booster shot who have not yet gotten it.  They’ve gotten the first two shots, but they’ve not gotten the booster.

Folks, the booster shots are free and widely available.  Over 60 million Americans, including 62 percent of eligible seniors, our most vulnerable group, have gotten their booster shots.

I got my booster shot as soon as they were available.  And just the other day, former President Trump announced he had gotten his booster shot.  It may be one of the few things he and I agree on.

People with booster shots are highly protected.  Join them.  Join us.  It’s been six months or more since my second shot.  If it’s been six months or more for your second shot — when I got my booster — you can get yours today if you’ve been six months or more since your second shot. 

Another question that folks are asking is: Are we going back to March 2020 — not this last March 2021, but March 2020 — when the pandemic first hit?  That’s what I keep getting asked.

The answer is absolutely no.  No. 

Here are three big differences between then and now: One — number one — the first one — more than 200 million Americans have been fully vaccinated.  In March of 2020, no one was fully vaccinated.  What that means is, today, as cases — a case of COVID-19 for a fully vaccinated and boosted person will most likely mean no symptoms or mild ones similar to the common respiratory viruses.

Over 200 million Americans should have the peace of mind that they did not have in March of 2020: They’re protected from hospitalization, and they’re protected from death.

Second point: We’re prepared today for what’s coming.  In March of 2020, we were not ready.  Today, we’ve spocktiled [sic] enough — we’ve stockpiled enough gowns, masks, and ventilators to deal with the surge of hospitalizations among the unvaccinated. 

Today, we’re ready.

And as I’ll explain in a few minutes, we’re going to be reinforcing our hospitals, helping them.

Number three, we know a lot more today than we did back in March of 2020.  For example, last year, we thought the only way to keep your children safe was to close your — close our schools. 

Today, we know more and we have more resources to keep those schools open.  We can — you can get 5- to 11-year-olds vaccinated — a tool we didn’t have until last month.

Today, we don’t have to shut down schools because of a case of COVID-19.  Now, if a student tests positive, other students can take the test and stay in the classroom if they’re not infected rather than closing the whole school or having to quarantine.

We can keep our K-through-12 schools open, and that’s exactly what we should be doing.

So, folks, let me summarize: We should all be concerned about Omicron but not panicked.  If you’re fully vaccinated, and especially if you got your booster shot, you are highly protected.  And if you’re unvaccinated, you’re at higher risk of getting severely ill from COVID-19, getting hospitalized, and even dying.

So, the best thing to do is get fully vaccinated and get your booster shot.

And, no, this is not March of 2020.  Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated.  We’re prepared.  We know more.  We just have to stay focused.  So that’s where we stand.

Now, let me tell you about the additional steps I’m ordering today to take on what is coming.  I know you’ve heard a lot of this in the news already this morning.

Three weeks ago, I laid out a COVID-19 Action Plan for this winter that prepared us for this moment.  Today, we’re making the plan even stronger.

First, we’re setting up our vaccination and booster efforts — we’re stepping it up significantly.  In the past two weeks, we’ve seen the highest vaccination rates since last spring.  And we aren’t as vaccinated, as a country, as we should be, though.  That’s why we have added 10,000 new vaccination sites on top of the 80,000 sites that are already we had — we already had in place, and even more will open in January. 

I know there are some parts of this country where people are very eager to get their booster, where it’s harder to get an appointment.  Excuse me.  (Coughs.)

So starting this week, I’ll be deploying hundreds more vaccinators and more sites to help get the booster shots in people’s arms. 

I’ve ordered FEMA — the Federal Emergency Management Agency –- to stand up new pop-up vaccination clinics all across the country where you can get that booster shot.

We’ve opened — (coughs) — excuse me — we’ve opened FEMA vaccination sites in Washington State and New Mexico recently as cases have increased.  And today, I’m directing FEMA to stand up new sites in areas where there is high demand.

These steps are going to help us add more — more and more booster appointments in over — just over the next few weeks. 

I also want to say a word to parents: If your children are not vaccinated, please get them vaccinated.  If you’re a parent -– understandably — who waited to see how the first shots went with other kids before getting your own kid vaccinated, you can stop waiting.  Six million children in our country ages 5 to 11 are vaccinated.  Get your children protected today — now.

And for those parents out there who have a child that’s too young to be vaccinated — that is under the age of five — I know this can still be a scary time.  But one thing — one thing you can and must do while we await vaccines for children under five: Get yourself fully vaccinated and boosted, as well as those around you — your children, your caregivers, your siblings.

It’s critical to mask up in public indoor places.

We know that our youngest children have only rarely been impacted by serious COVID cases — COVID-19 cases, but they can be further protected if they’re surrounded by vaccinated people.

And again, to folks who are not vaccinated: You may think you’re putting only yourself at risk, but it’s your choice.  Your choice is not just a choice about you; it affects other people.  You’re putting other people at risk — your loved ones, your friends, neighbors, strangers you run into.  And your choice can be the difference between life or death.

The longer the virus is around, the more likely variants form that may be deadlier than the ones that have come before.

Let me say again and again and again and again: Please get vaccinated.  It’s the only responsible thing to do.  And those who are not vaccinated are causing hospitals to overrun — become overrun again.

I just spoke to the governor of New York.  Every COVID-19 hospital [hospitalization] means someone with a heart attack, cancer, or other serious illness may not get that bed and that lifesaving care they need in the hospital.

Look, let me give it to you straight again: Omicron is serious, potentially deadly business for unvaccinated people.

Let me be clear: Thanks to the prior administration and our scientific community, America is one of the first countries to get the vaccine.  And thanks to my administration and the hard work of Americans, we led a rollout that made America among the world leaders in getting shots in arms. 

But uptake slowed this summer as vaccine resistance among some hardened.  Look, the unvaccinated are responsiblefor their own choices.  But those choices have been fueled by dangerous misinformation on cable TV and social media.

You know, these companies and personalities are making money by peddling lies and allowing misinformation that can kill their own customers and their own supporters.

It’s wrong, it’s immoral, and I call on the purveyors of these lies and misinformation to stop it.  Stop it now.

One of the other things that we know that has to be done is more testing.  Because Omicron spreads easily, especially among the unvaccinated, it’s critically important that we know who’s infected.  That means we need more testing.

And on that score, we are now [not] where we should be.

Yes, we have over 20,000 free testing sites.  Yes, we’ve used the Defense Production Act and spent $3 billion to greatly expand the number of at-home tests available for purchase online and at your local pharmacy.  And, yes, we’ve made sure insurance covers the PCR tests you get in a hospital or at your doctor’s office. 

But, starting next month, private insurance will all cover — also cover at-home testing so you can order a test online and get reimbursed.  We’re providing access to free at-home tests for those who may have insurance as well — may not have insurance, I should say, as well. 

But it’s not enough.  We have to do more.  We have to do better, and we will.

Starting this week, the federal government will set up emergency testing sites in areas that need additional testing capacity.  Before Christmas, the first several of these federal testing sites will be up and running in New York City with many more to come. 

This free testing is going to help reduce the waiting lines — the time you have to stand there and — and sometimes it’s an hour or more.

We’re going to continue to add federal testing sites where needed so that if you want an immediate test, there will be a place where you can go get it.

We also need to do better with at-home testing.  So, I’m announcing today: The federal government will purchase one half billion — that’s not million; billion with a “B” — additional at-home rapid tests, with deliveries starting in January. 

We’ll be getting these tests to Americans for free.  And we’ll have websites where you can get them delivered to your home. 

We have arranged for it to be easier for you to find a free COVID testing site near you on Google.  Just enter “COVID test near me” in the Google search bar and you can find a number of different locations nearby where you can get tested.

And we’re going to continue to use the Defense Production Act as we did earlier this month to make sure we’re producing as many tests and as quickly as possible. 

The bottom line is it’s a lot better than it was, but we’re taking even more steps to make it easier to get tested and get tested for free. 

Next, we are preparing hospitals for what’s coming.  Those 40 [million] unvaccinated adults have a good chance of getting COVID-19, and some of you will get very sick.  That will mean hospitals are going to get extremely stressed — extremely stressed again, both in terms of equipment as well as personnel to care for those who get sick.

That’s why my administration has stockpiled and pre-positioned millions of gowns, gloves, masks, and ventilators.  We used to call it PPP [PPE].  We’re ready to send them immediately to any state that needs more.

In addition, I have directed the Pentagon to mobilize an additional 1,000 troops to be deployed to help staff local hospitals and expand capacity.  That’s 1,000 military doctors, nurses, and medics.  We’ve already started moving — military — excuse me, medical teams.  They’ve already landed in Wisconsin and Indiana this week.

And this is on top of 300 federal medical — medical personnel that are now on the ground, having deployed since we learned about Omicron. 

Look, while we know staffing is the biggest need for our hospitals, some may need more beds as well.  We’re prepared.  I’ve directed FEMA to activate the National Response Center and begin deploying teams now to provide additional hospital beds.  We’ll begin to construct emergency capacity near hospitals, in parking garages, and nearby buildings to be ready if needed.

And the fuderal [sic] — the federal government is paying for all of this — period — all of it. 

Further, FEMA will deploy hundreds of ambulances and EMS crews so that if one hospital fills up, we can transport patients to beds elsewhere. 

This week, we will send dozens of ambulances to New York and Maine, because of the — because the COVID is spreading very rapidly, to help transport patients. 

Our doctors, nurses, hospital staffs have gone above and beyond during this pandemic.  The strain and stress is real.  I really mean it.  It’s real.  And we’ll have their backs though.  We have to let them know we have their backs. 

Finally, we’re making sure that COVID-19 no longer closes businesses or schools.  Last week, the federal court reinstated my administration’s vaccination-or-test — the vaccination-or-test rule for businesses with more than 100 employees. 

The rule requires employers with 100 or more employeesto protect their workers who are on site and indoors with a requirement that they be vaccinated or tested each week or go home.

These rules are going to keep workers safe.  And keep workers safe will help keep businesses open.  If people are vaccinated or tested, they are much less likely to get sick and less likely to spread it to others.  Customers are more likely to come in and shop because they know it’s a safe environment.

I know vaccination requirements are unpopular for many.  They’re not even popular for those who are anxious to get them. 

But my administration has put them in place not to control your life, but to save your life and the lives of others.  Over 400,000 Americans died from COVID this calendar year — and almost all were unvaccinated, almost all were preventable.

The rule is legal and effective, and it’s going to save thousands of American lives. 

We must also keep our K-12 schools open.  Look, the science is clear and overwhelming.  We know how to keep our kids safe from COVID-19 in school.  K-through-12 schools should be open.  And that safety is increased if schools require all adults who work in the schools to get vaccinated and take the safety measures that CDC has recommended, including masking.

I got Congress to pass billions of dollars in school improvements, ventilation, and social distancing.  Schools should be safer than ever from COVID-19.

And just Friday, the CDC issued test-to-stay guidelines, so schools can stay open and kids can stay in class even if a classmate tests positive. 

COVID-19 is scary.  But the science is clear: Children are as safe as — are — as safe in school as they are anyplace, assuming the appropriate precautions have been taken, and they’ve already been funded.

Let me close with this: I know you’re tired — I really mean this — and I know you’re frustrated.  We all want this to be over.  But we’re still in it, and this is a critical moment.  But we also have more tools than we’ve ever had before.

We’re ready.  We’ll get through this.

As we head into the holidays, I want us to all keep the faith.

I want to sincerely thank you for your perseverance, your courage, your countless acts of kindness, love, and sacrifice during these last two years. 

Throughout our history, we’ve been tested as a people and as a nation.  Through war and turmoil, we had to ask whether we’d be safe, whether we’d be okay, whether we’d be — get back to who we are.

We’ve always endured because we remember there is no challenge too big for America — I mean this from the bottom of my heart — no challenge.

We’ve come through better and stronger because we stay together as the United States of America.

That’s what we have to keep doing today.  We can do this together, I guarantee you.

May God bless you all, and may God protect our troops.  And happy holidays.  God love you all.  Thank you.

Q    Mr. President, on testing, sir, you said, “We have to do better.”  But public health officials have been saying, for months, you need to surge rapid test for just this moment. 

Is it a failure that you don’t have an adequate amount of tests for everyone to be able to get one if they need one right now?

THE PRESIDENT:  No, it’s not, because COVID is spreading so rapidly, if you notice.  It just — just happened almost overnight, just in the last month.  And —

Q    What’s your message —

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m going to answer his question.

Q    Mr. Pres- —

THE PRESIDENT:  And so, no, it’s not a failure, but the alarm bell went off.  I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did. 

And so, the question is: We had a lot of people who have access to a test, who could order them, could — could have their insurance pay for them, et cetera. 

But it all started — all of a sudden, it was like everybody rushed to the counter.  There was a big, big rush.  And I knew that was coming, so what I tried to do is meet with the companies and use the Defense Production Act to get a half a billion more tests and figure out how to get them to their homes, get them on the shelves in the store. 

I mean, so that — that’s what it’s all about.

Yes?

Q    Mr. President, what’s your message to Americans who are trying to get tested now and who are not able to get tested and who are wondering what took so long to ramp up testing?

THE PRESIDENT:  Come on.  What took so long? 

Q    That’s what — I’m hearing that from people who are trying to get tested now before the holidays. 

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, what took so long is — it didn’t take long at all.  What happened was the Omicron virus spread even more rapidly than anybody thought. 

If I had told you four weeks ago that this would spread by — a day-to-day basis it would spread by 50, 100 percent, 200 percent, 500 percent, I think you would have looked at me and say, “Biden, what are you drinking?”  But that’s what it did. 

Now, we don’t know what’s going to happen from here.  It looks — there’s some evidence that, in South Africa where a lot of this started, that it’s dropping off quickly, too.  We don’t know. 

But I do know that we’re not going to be in a position, like I said when we — remember we were having a problem with masks and gowns and the like?  I said, “I promise you.” 

Remember the critici- — I got questions from some of you.  “Why are you still paying for all these masks and gowns?  Why you stockpiling this?”  Because we don’t know.  It turns out we’re going to need them.

In the back, and then —

Q    Do travel bans work, sir, and will you reverse the travel ban now that Omicron is so prevalent here in the U.S.?

THE PRESIDENT:  I’m considering reversing.  I’m going to talk with my team in the next couple of days. 

Look, remember why I said we put the travel ban on: It’s to see how much time we had before it hit here so we could begin to decide what we needed by looking at what’s happening in other countries. 

And — but we’re past that now.  And so, it’s something that is being raised with me by the docs, and I’ll have an answer for that soon

Last prior installment:

Pandemic Part 7. The Litigation Edition

Friday, November 26, 2021

Pandemic Part 7. The Litigation Edition

 

November 5, 2021.

The state announced its suing over the Federal mandate applying to 100 employees today, even though the mandate turned out to be much less broad than anticipated, accepting masks in lieu of vaccination.

The mandate provides that employees of companies with 100 or more persons on the payroll must be vaccinated or tested weekly and wear masks.

Meanwhile, in Laramie a high school student who was arrested for being on school grounds in violation of her school district's mask order has sued the Governor, state health officials, local school officials and six local school districts.

The Goshen County school district rescinded its mask mandate.


The suit will fail, but like all such things it will kick around in the courts for months prior to that result.

In other news, the disease is experiencing a major surge in Germany and Eastern Europe.

There were large protests in New Zealand over its vaccine mandate.

November 10, 2021

Pfizer asked the Federal Government to allow boosters for all adults.  The Federal Government has in turn opened it up, so all adults may now receive boosters.

There was a protest outside a power plant at Wheatland yesterday over the mandates, although apparently the power plant isn't subject to them.

The Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern have gone to court to determine if they can impose mandates on their employees, which they wish to do. Their unions are resisting the efforts on the basis that the railroads didn't negotiate first. That is, the unions support vaccinations, but they wanted the railroads to negotiate on the incentives first.

The surge in Europe has now spread to Greece.

November 12, 2021

PBS's Big Bird stated on an episode of Sesame Street that he'd been vaccinated sparking the ire of conservative figures, including Senator Ted Cruz.

November 22, 2021

The University of Wyoming is not going to require staff vaccinations until the results of the pending lawsuits are known.

Austria went into a lockdown today, and has issued a nationwide vaccination mandate to go in effect February 1.

November 26, 2021

Denver is putting in place a mask mandate for public places.

A new COVID 19 variant has emerged in South Africa.

Prior Threads:

The 2021 Wyoming Special Legislative Session, Part III. The unvarnished views addition.


Pandemic Part 6. The Delta Surge




Worried.






Tuesday, November 16, 2021

I don't know if I should be comforted, or just sad, that . . .

 we've reached the point where things are beginning to sound like satire from the 1960s.

I haven't reviewed Dr. Strangelove, or the film Failsafe, here yet.  I'll have to get to that.  Dr. Strangelove was a satirical version of the same work, both being based on the novel Failsafe.  It's a tribute to Stanley Kubrick that the satirical version is remembered more than the straight drama.

For those who don't recall it or who haven't seen it, the plot is based on an Air Force general, Gen. Jack D. Ripper, going insane and launching the B-52s under his command on an unauthorized first strike, with nuclear weapons, on the USSR.  Once the bombers have passed their "failsafe" point, where they cannot be recalled, he makes his plot known.

The Dr. Strangelove version involves some heavy satire of 1950s and 1960s Cold War conspiracy theories. These theories really existed at the time.  One of them involved fluoridation of water, which some people really believed was a Communist plot, rather than a health move to strengthen teeth and reduce tooth decay, which was its real motives.  The film is full of really hilarious lines that related to this, including:

General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began? 
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack. 
General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. 1946, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works

And; 

Gen. Buck Turgidson: General Ripper called Strategic Air Command Headquarters shortly after he issued the go code. I have a phone transcript of that conversation if you'd like me to read it. 
Preisdent Merking Muffley: Read it. 
Turgidson: Ahem... The Duty Officer asked General Ripper to confirm the fact that he had issued the go code, and he said, uh, "Yes gentlemen, they are on their way in, and nobody can bring them back. For the sake of our country, and our way of life, I suggest you get the rest of SAC in after them. Otherwise, we will be totally destroyed by Red retaliation." Uh... "My boys will give you the best kind of start, 1400 megatons worth, and you sure as hell won't stop them now." Uhuh. Uh... "So let's get going, there's no other choice. God willing, we will prevail, in peace and freedom from fear, and in true health, through the purity and essence of our natural... fluids. God bless you all." And he hung up.
Turgidson: Uh, we're... still trying to figure out the meaning of that last phrase, sir. 
Muffley: There's nothing to figure out, General Turgidson. This man is obviously a psychotic. 
Turgidson: We-he-ell, uh, I'd like to hold off judgment on a thing like that, sir, until all the facts are in. 
Muffley: General Turgidson! When you instituted the human reliability tests, you assured me there was no possibility of such a thing ever occurring! 
Turgidson: Well, I, uh, don't think it's quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir. 
Muffley: General Turgidson, I find this very difficult to understand. I was under the impression that I was the only one in authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. 
Turgidson: That's right sir. You are the only person authorized to do so. And although I hate to judge before all the facts are in, it's beginning to look like General Ripper exceeded his authority.

Over the weekend, I read an op-ed by a candidate challenging Cheney for her seat, which contained the quote; "Biden’s vaccine mandate violates our constitutional rights to bodily integrity and to decline medical treatment."

Bodily integrity?

Now, I know what the candidate means.  And I'll further note that the candidate represents Federal employees in regard to the vaccine mandate for Federal employees.  What she means, essentially, is that requiring a person to get a vaccine amounts to something like a 4th Amendment violation to be secure in your person.

But it doesn't sound that way.

Part of the reason I fear that people won't put it that way, as they don't want to extend the rest of the argument, which is one of radical libertarianism which most people are pretty uncomfortable with.  Indeed, I'm getting a little bit of a scent in the wind that this is really about to start drifting the other way.

Radical libertarianism holds that a person is free to do whatever they want with their bodies with no societal restraint.  I.e, you can be a drug addict, drink  yourself to death, whatever.  Generally, the only limit is "as long as you don't hurt others".

Truly radical libertarianism doesn't have the latter aspect to it.  I.e, in the anarchical form you can hurt others, they just have the right to hurt you back.

Most people aren't for that.

Of course, generally the argument isn't posed this way at all, but candidates are very careful, for the most part, not to take the other step lest they go down a road that is too Kubrikesque.

What the candidate didn't say, we'd note, is that the candidate feels the vaccines are dangerous, or alter people's DNA, or contain microchips, or anything of that sort.  We know that they aren't any more dangerous than other vaccines, and we know that they don't alter your DNA in some scary chimera, and we know that they aren't part of a Bill Gates plot.  I've heard all of those things said. The most outlandish one, I'll note, is the claim that everyone who receives the vaccine will be dead within one year, a frankly absurd assertion.

The candidate didn't say anything about the candidate being vaccinated, either.

The candidate doesn't want to be associated with anything like that, of course, while still wanting the votes of people who feel that the vaccines shouldn't be mandated for any number of reasons, ranging from strong 4th Amendment beliefs, to strong religious beliefs to having fallen down into the conspiracy theory hole.

Which is emblematic of the entire political season.

Right now a lot of Republicans are being very careful not to say that they support insurrection while also being very careful not to say that they are condemning what happened on January 6.  They don't want to alienate the populists (whom ironically in many places include a large number of former blue collar Democrats).  We saw this in the race in Virginia.  The winning candidate walked a fine line between accepting Trump's endorsement and keeping him at more than arm's length.

The ultimate problem is how far you can go down that path before you've walked right into the conspiracy swamp without realizing it.  Plenty of conservative Germans did that in the late 1920s and early 1930s, only to find that while they never held conspiratorial beliefs about Jews themselves, they had walked into a dictatorship that marched into a Second World War.  While that sounds extreme, of course, it's clear by this point that Donald Trump began to work on a coup to retain power prior to the November election and he's working on fixing the 2024 election. The Republican Party hasn't won the popular vote for the Presidency in 22 years and now quite a few in the trenches are will to listen to theories that this is due to nefarious reasons, rather than it simply being due to the fact that, like it or not, the nation has evolved to the point where most of its citizens live in large cities.

All of which is a bit off point for where I was going.

I truly wonder if the candidate isn't vaccinated.  I have no idea, but my guess is that the candidate, like most, but not all, in the candidate's profession, have been, particularly where the candidate's spouse is appreciably older than the candidate and therefore more at risk.

Which of course gets to the flipside of radical libertarianism, which is that governmental bodies can and always have required people to do stuff they don't want to for the public good. The question is where you draw that line.

Wherever its drawn, I suspect its being redrawn right now, and not where those up in arms in this are would have it.  Wherever the Ritterhouse trail comes out, it's pretty clear that the nation is seriously reconsidering the libertarian expansion of firearms laws that has occurred over the past 20 years, and they're going to start retracting.  If that's correct, and I suspect it is, there's going to be a subtle shift here too.  

Picking up long-distance trends, even if they're four years out, is not easy to do, but it looks like the direction of the wind is in fact changing.

In the meantime, while I know its purely accidental, people ought to be careful about putting something into print that shows the same litigation driven instinct that caused us, when exercised on the left, to get to the anti-democratic point we're now at, and it'd be good to have these things proof read by somebody with a deep cultural knowledge.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who recalled Jack D. Ripper when I read the op ed.

And really, it'd be better just to be flat out honest and plain.  Whatever the reason for opposing the mandates is, just say it.  If it's that you don't believe the disease is risky, say that.  Or if you don't care if some die due to their decisions not to get vaccinated, say that.  If death is the price you're willing to pay to draw a line on individual freedom, say that.

But whatever is said, surely this isn't what the GOP race next year is really about.  And people ought to be really honest about that as well.

And they ought to be honest about their individual beliefs.  I'd bet dollars to donuts that the two state Senators feel that Trump tried to stage a coup, that they'd support mandatory vaccinations in nearly any other context, and that they'd have voted for the infrastructure bill (which I wouldn't have) had it been offered by a Republican.

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

They say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.  I suspect that's not true.

I think it's paved with personal compromises. Things we say but don't mean, mean but don't way, put up with when we disagree, and conduct we engage in as the world or others feel we should.  Pretty soon, we're goo far in to muster up the energy to change our courses.

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Pandemic Part 6. The Delta Surge


 July 30, 2021

Ready or not, and probably not, the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 has entered the state and infections are rapidly rising, concentrated among those who have not received a vaccination.

The state health officer has asked for Wyomingites to mask back up indoors in areas of  moderate to high transmission, which includes Laramie and Natrona Counties.

In Colorado, certain counties have been pointed out as areas of rapidly rising infections as well, including Denver County, where the recent Major League Baseball game and a concert are now regarded as superspreader events.

As a background to all of this, it's very clear that the global population is nowhere near the "herd immunity" level which is necessary to render COVID 19 extinct.  Perhaps this isn't too surprising, given the monumental nature of the effort necessary to achieve it, but what is surprising is that the developed world hasn't achieved it and the United States is clearly lagging far behind. This, too, comes at a point in time at which it nearly looked as if success had been achieved.

In the US a strong feature of the ongoing pandemic is a refusal of a certain part of the population to receive the vaccination that prevents it, this making the disease cross over from one which lurks ready to strike anyone to one which at this point is a preventable disease. Preventable disease itself has become the hallmark of modern American medical situations, in that most of the diseases that are real killers in the US are actually ones that are preventable.

Future historians and sociologist will study this in depth to attempt to determine what happened here.  We'll leave that for the time being, but what we would note is that the culture of the pandemic has really changed.  For the vaccinated the refusal to get the vaccine is absolutely baffling.  Many of those not vaccinated cite personal freedom as the basis of their views, but personal freedoms have always yielded in the United States to public emergencies with examples simply too numerous to mention.  Given this, at this point, many public entities are simply done with allowing for personal choice and have determined to make life difficult for those not getting vaccinated, up to and including firing those who refuse to receive vaccines.  The Federal Government is an all out effort to vaccinate its servants who remain unvaccinated, and President Biden is about to order the military to be fully vaccinated, something it amazingly has not implemented yet.

While it's a grim prognostication, in my view it's too late.  Whatever the hesitancy is caused by, we're going to be in for a third wave of the pandemic.  Many of the victims this time, indeed most of them, will be vaccination hold outs.  If the US achieves herd immunity, which is unlikely, it'll be through the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the disease among that population, which would be a tragic and lethal way to achieve it.  Having said that, and seemingly unnoticed by the unvaccinated, a growing bitter resentment against them by the vaccinated is really building with the distinct view that the unvaccinated are being lethally selfish.  With that being the case, there are now open comments in some quarters about simply letting the unvaccinated go ahead and risk death without sympathy from anyone else.  There is also building support for private employers to require vaccinations of employees.

The great added problem all of this is creating is that there is now a very real risk that the disease will evolve a vaccine resistant strain, setting everything back.  If that occurs, and my guess is that this is now inevitable, all the progress to date will be lost, and we'll return to the strict restrictions, and stricter, that were only recently lifted.  There will be enormous resistance to doing so, but a disease that's now killed 600,000 Americans will be in the gate to double that death toll, potentially, and the next public health crisis that results will be at least as severe as the current one.  My guess is we're mere weeks away from such a strain emerging somewhere.

In terms of the "somewhere", there are still vast reaches of the globe were very few are vaccinated and wish to be.  This is also a massive problem. Whereas in the United States the disease is circulating among those who, for the most part, could avoid it if they wished to, in the Third World it's circulating at a largely unknown rate among those who would avoid it if they could, but can't.

As noted, this will be a source for a great amount of study in the future.  How did a country which was a scientific and medical leader in the mid 20th Century end up one in which medicine was so disregarded?  Reading about it will be fascinating for future students of human behavior and history.  Living it, however, and seeing those dying in it, is quite a bit different.

August 1, 2021

The producers of a Clifford The Big Red Dog movie have pulled its release due to the Delta variant surge.

August 2, 2021

Dr. Fauci warned of more pain and suffering ahead, but didn't foresee shutdowns on the basis that there were sufficient numbers of vaccinated people to avoid them.

Senator Barrasso argued the CDC should be sued and found liable for malpractice, and urged people to get vaccinated.

August 3, 2021

And here we have a current, sobering, look at how the globe is doing in terms of vaccination progress.

Senator Lindsay Graham reports he has a break through case of COVID 19.

As can be seen, the US, in spite of vaccine resistance, is doing pretty well. It needs to do better.  Canada, which was having problems with vaccination rates for a while, has pulled head of the pack in terms of major nations.  Not noted on this chart, some small countries and ones with very unified governmental structures have achieved 100% vaccination.  The US, given the amount of vaccine it has, could rank right up there with Canada, but the curious political season, etc., has frustrated that.  Nonetheless, the US just hit 70% initial vaccination, so it's getting there, and the recent outbreak of the Delta variant has seemed to spark an increase in first time vaccinations.

In the Third World, however, vaccination rates are a disaster due to lack of vaccine. And given that, new variants of the disease are undoubtedly evolving.

August 4, 2021

As posted on another thread, the CDC has reimposed the moratorium on evictions.

August 5, 2021

Governor Gordon announced that he will not impose a mask requirement on schools this upcoming school year, leaving any such move to local districts.

Outside perhaps of Teton County, there is no political will for such a requirement, and therefore it will not occur.

Local hospitalizations have climbed back to the rate they were at this past January.

Japan is expanding its Covid restrictions.  China is reimposing its Draconian closures on some areas within its borders.

August 11, 2021

The University of Wyoming has reinstated a mask mandate.

Hawaii has reinstated restrictions.  Oregon is imposing indoor mask requirements.

August 17, 2021

Governor Gordon has indicated Wyoming will not being intervening in COVID in any fashion in spite of the increased numbers.

While not put this way, the politics of events are such that the state simply isn't going to act no matter how bad the spread of the Delta variant becomes.  While there's a chance one or two counties might, it's only a chance.

The Governor's office itself was shut down recently due to a COVID  infection.  The question does remain on whether some agencies with a high degree of independence might act on their own, but so far there is no hint that they shall.

In contrast, a single case has sent New Zealand back into a lockdown.

August 18, 2021

Wyoming's COVID death rate returned to the level it was in February.

New Mexico has put a mask mandate in place.

Pope Francis urged the unvaccinated to get vaccinations.  This came in the form of an advertisement for the US Ad Council backing vaccines.

Given this, perhaps it should be noted that Cardinal Raymond Burke, a highly respected and conservative Catholic Bishop, has been hospitalized for COVID 19. Cardinal Burke has been a critic of the vaccination efforts for various reasons and has somewhat gone from a respected critic of Pope Francis to a slightly sidelined critic whose views on some things bordered on becoming extreme.

August 21, 2021

Vaccination rates in Wyoming are now dramatically rising. So are infections, but this seems to have gotten the message through to a lot of people on vaccination.

August 28, 2021

Teton County has imposed a mask mandate.

September 1, 2021

Hot Springs County's schools are going virtual for thirteen days due to a COVID spike.

The National Guard is assisting clinics in Billings, Montana, due to a spike there.  The Idaho National Guard has been called out in that state for the same purpose.

Anti-vaxxers shut down a mobile vaccination clinic in Georgia.

September 2, 2021

Governor Gordon indicated Wyoming will not impose a mask mandate.

As a practical matter, there simply exists no political will to do this in the state at this point in time.

On a personal note, I now know one (unvaccinated) individual who has died of the Delta variant and another (unvaccinated) person who is going to, ages 60 and 40 respectively.

September 3, 2021

30% of the patients at Casper's Wyoming Medical Center are in the hospital due to COVID 19.  Most are under 65.

The school district will require individuals out of work due to COVID to take the time from their sick leave.

September 5, 2021

The hospital in Sweetwater County opened an additional wing to handle the influx of COVID 19 patients.

September 9, 2021

President Biden has asked OSHA to mandate that employers with over 100 employees be mandated to require those employees to have COVID 19 vaccinations.  He's also signed an executive order which will require Federal contractors to have COVID 19 vaccinations.

Over 100,000,000 Americans will be covered by the orders.

Governor Gordon, probably sensing more the wind where he lives than giving expression to his own opinions, or at least I suspect, noted the following:

Governor Gordon Statement Opposing Biden Administration's Vaccine Mandates

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon has issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by the Biden Administration mandating COVID-19 vaccinations

“The Biden Administration’s announcement to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or weekly testing for private businesses is an egregious example of big government overreach.

Our Constitution was written and fought for to protect our liberties as American citizens. This administration’s latest pronouncement demonstrates its complete disregard for the rule of law and the freedoms individuals and private companies enjoy under our Constitution. In Wyoming, we believe that government must be held in check.

I have asked the Attorney General to stand prepared to take all actions to oppose this administration’s unconstitutional overreach of executive power. It has no place in America. Not now, and not ever.”

This puts Attorney General Bridget Hill in the position of filing doomed litigation, or litgation that will be moot by the time it is taken up, but as a posturing matter, this no doubt really doesn't matter.

The Northern Arapaho Tribe, taking the opposite approach, is mandating that its employees be vaccinated.

Los Angeles' school district, the second largest in the nation, is requiring vaccinations for indivdiuals age 12 and up.

September 10, 2021

Laramie County's school district has mandated that students wear masks indoors.

September 11, 2021

France has banned unvaccinated U.S. tourists from entering the country.

The CDC released a study that the unvaccinated were 4.5 times more likely to get COVID 19 and 11 times more likely to die.

September 15, 2021

The legislature is apparently considering a special session to consider the Administration's COVID 19 mandates.

This would really be an odd exercise as the one that the legislature would be likely to be the most upset about, the OSHA entry into vaccination requirements, hasn't come into effect yet and is extremely likely to be tested in court before it does. Anything the legislature does will come up against the Supremecy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and therefore be ineffective, if it goes into effect, and put the state into a fight with the Administration where it can't win, but where it can end up spending money that it doesn't have.  It'll also serve to really fire up polarization in an area, and era, in which everything is already extremely polarized.

September 17, 2021

The University of Wyoming is extending its mask mandate through the fall.

The 2021 Wyoming Special Legislative Session.

September 21, 2021

The Pfizer accounted that its vaccination is safe for children 5 through 11 years of age.

The number of Americans who have died of COVID 19 has supassed the number who died from the 1918 Influenza, a number which must be tempered i consideration if we take into account that the country had about 1/3d of its current population at the time, meaning that the 1918 flu was still far more devestating, at least so far.

The school nurse in the Pine Bluffs school district resigned after that district's board determined to continue to allow children exposed to COVID 19 to attend school, as long as they wore masks. Citing the act and its impact on her professionally and personally, she resigned.

September 22, 2021

Governor Activates Wyoming National Guard to Provide Hospital Assistance

September 21, 2021

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming’s hospitals have sought additional support to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the surge in hospitalized patients. There are approximately 200 people with COVID-19 in Wyoming hospitals today, which is near the peak number the state has seen during the pandemic. Governor Mark Gordon has activated guardsmen who have stepped forward to provide temporary assistance to hospitals throughout the state.

Governor Gordon has called approximately 95 Soldiers and Airmen to State Active Duty orders, assigned to hospital locations at 24 different sites within 17 Wyoming cities. They will serve to augment current hospital and Wyoming Department of Health staff to help ease workloads imposed upon them due to large numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

“I am grateful to the members of our Wyoming National Guard for once again answering the call to provide assistance in our hospitals during this surge,” Governor Gordon said. “Our Guard members truly are Wyoming’s sword and shield, and their commitment to our state is something for which every Wyoming citizen can be thankful.”

Guard members’ responsibilities will include: assisting in environmental cleanup in hospital facilities; food and nutrition service; COVID-19 screening; managing personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies; and other support tasks. Some will also be trained to administer COVID-19 tests.

“The Delta variant has overwhelmed the medical institutions of states across this country. Our state is no different with most hospitals at or near capacity,” said Col. David Pritchett, director of the joint staff for the Wyoming National Guard. “The Soldiers and Airmen of the Wyoming National Guard are proud to jump back in to provide much needed assistance to our communities as we continue to battle the effects of COVID-19.”

The orders for guardsmen will be 14-30 day rotations, with the potential to extend beyond that, up until Dec. 31. The numbers and locations of guardsmen may change based on hospital needs.

--END--

September 24, 2021

In the reverse of the seeming norm, a lawsuit has been filed in Montana seeking to overturn a law there which probhibits employers from mandating vaccinations and masks.

October 8, 2021

120 American children have lost at least one parent due to a COVID 19 death.

October 9, 2021

Casper's ICU is full.

More Americans have died in 2021 of COVID 19 than in 2021 at this point.

A female student in Laramie was suspended for refusing to wear a mask and then arrested as she refused to leave school grounds.

News anchor Cheryl Hackett was terminated from KCWY for refusing to adhere to her employer, Gray Media's, vaccine mandate.  She is the second person in a Wyoming Gray Media outlet to be terminated for this reason in a week.

October 13, 2021



October 13, 2021

Governor Gordon Further Prepares Legal Challenge of Federal Overreach on Vaccine Mandates

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon is taking action to oppose President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The Governor and the Attorney General continue to prepare the State’s legal challenge to the threat of the Biden Administration’s proposed vaccine mandates, when they are finalized. It should be noted that the Biden Administration has yet to issue any specific policies that can be challenged in court.

“Four weeks ago, when the President issued his announcement regarding vaccine mandates, I immediately instructed Attorney General Hill to prepare for legal action to oppose this unconstitutional overreach,” Governor Gordon said. “Attorney General Hill has begun that mission and is continuing to strengthen alliances, improve potential arguments, and consider appropriate strategies.”

Governor Gordon noted that a joint letter from 24 attorneys general explained that the President’s edict is broad, inexact, and utilizes a rarely-used provision in Federal law that allows it to be effective immediately.

“This coalition of Attorneys General is well-prepared to fight the Biden Administration in courts when the time is right, and I am committed to using every tool available to us to oppose federal rules, regulations, and standards whenever they overreach. We are prepared to act promptly once these mandates are finally issued,” the Governor said. “Wyoming will not stand idly by to see any erosion of the constitutional rights afforded our citizens and their industries.” 

As the state prepares for its legal battle with the federal government, Governor Gordon stressed that as a conservative Republican, he continues to stand for smaller government that is closest to the people. Governor Gordon reiterated, “Government must resist the temptation to intrude in private sector interests.”

“It is neither conservative nor Republican to replace one form of tyranny with another,” he added. “Doing so is antithetical to our American form of government, even if it is for something we like. I will stand firm against unconstrained governmental overreach regardless of where or when it occurs.”

-END-

Politically Governor Gordon has nearly no choice but to take this approach, and of course he's faced with a special session of the legislature as well, something he may be trying to avoid. But the legal prospects for such a suit are small.

October 22, 2021

Russia is experiencing a record COVID surge.

More Wyomingites are presently hospitalized due to COVID 19 than at any prior point in the pandemic.  Deaths have also hit an all time weekly high. Almost all of the new victims are unvaccinated.

One in five of the prisoners in the Wyoming State Prison presently are infected with the disease.

October 24, 2021

The unvaccinated can expect to get COVID 19 every sixteen months, according to a recent study.

October 30, 2021

Wyoming has joined ten other states in a doomed effort to litigate the question of whether the Federal Government can require employees of its contractors to be vaccinated.

The rule hasn't gone into effect  It will in December.  It's unlikely this issue will be resolved by December, but when it is, it'll be resolved in favor of the Federal government.

Prior Threads:

Pandemic Part 6.