RationalWiki:What is going on with the coronavirus?/August 2021

August 2021
Ohio judge orders hospital to treat ventilated patient with Ivermectin, as per the patient's wife's wishes. Liberty University, which reopened with no mask, vaccine, or other Covid protocols in place, has gone into a campus-wide quarantine, as Covid infections surge. In a paper, released by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases, they've identified a new strain of Covid. This is the "most mutated" variant yet, and it could be more infectious and evade vaccines. According to Right Wing Watch using social media, Milo Yiannopoulos has self-diagnosed himself as having COVID-19, and wait for it, he has injected himself ivermectin to cure it. Although members of the US intelligence community are divided on the origins of Covid-19, they're certain it wasn't developed as a bioweapon. [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58273322 Meanwhile, a conspiracy theory stating that the coronavirus leaked from the US Army base Fort Detrick in Maryland is gaining popularity in China. The PRC government is almost certainly helping to spread that lie.] Delta Air Lines has said that due to high medical costs of hospitalising unvaccinated staff, they will charge a monthly $200 (€170, £145) health premium for unvaccinated workers. [https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article253786678.html Caleb Wallace, a Texan man who played a major role in galvanizing public opposition to mask orders, is now dying from COVID-19. According to his pregnant wife, his doctors say they're out of options. He has three children who may be left fatherless because of his decisions]. Update: Wallace has died from COVID. According to government data, 54.6% of the Dominican adult population has received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine New York's death toll under reported 12,000 deaths new governor Kathy Hochul reveals. Right-wing lawyer for many of the Jan 6th insurgents, John Pierce, who claimed he wouldn't get vaccinated, even if forced to, is apparently now on a ventilator and unresponsive. [https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202108210009 Taiwan's Level 2 Covid restrictions ease a bit. The number of people who can meet indoors increases from 50 to 80. The number of people who can meet outdoors increases from 100 to 300. But other restrictions will stay in place until 6 September and possibly until the end of the year.] The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine now has full FDA approval, replacing the emergency use authorization in place previously. Anti-vaxxers are now reportedly refusing blood transfusions from vaccinated donors, because they believe they're tainted. The Egyptian government has made vaccination mandatory to everyone over 18 in schools and universities, both public and private. The students will not have to register for vaccination as their institutions will vaccinate them either way. Fiji's outbreak isn't going away - the island nation of about 950,000 people is now reporting 9 deaths per day - despite 90% of the population having had 1 dose and 40% being fully vaccinated. [https://www.npr.org/2021/08/20/1029916190/save-water-because-covid-19-orlando-florida-oxygen Orlando, Florida usually treats its water with liquid oxygen, but those supplies are now being heavily redirected towards hospitals for COVID treatment. As a result, the city is concerned about running through its potable water supply and is asking residents to cut back.] Pope Francis encourages people to go forward with the COVID vaccine and says that getting it is "an act of love". [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-58277503 Sydney will stay under lockdown until the end of September. A curfew is also in place between 9:00 at night and 5:00 in the morning.] The Delta variant spreads in New Zealand which is of great concern as NZ has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the OECD at only 20% Five cases have all been linked to the first case It is likely the lockdown measures will continue One case of community spread is all it took for New Zealand to [https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/126100337/covid19-live-nz-moves-to-alert-level-4-from-midnight-after-positive-man-travels-to-coromandel lockdown for 3 days for most of the country.... with Auckland locked down for at least 7 days] [https://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/58228049 Due to Tokyo's ongoing struggle against Covid, spectators will not be allowed at the delayed Summer Paralympics. The state of emergency in place in the city will continue and be extended to other parts of Japan.] [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58226678 People in England and Northern Ireland who've had two Covid vaccines no longer need to self-isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with someone who's tested positive for the virus. That was already the case in Scotland and Wales.] Plans by students to stop a COVID vaccine mandate on all students, lecturers and staff at Indiana University have been blocked by the SCOTUS. The Pentagon is moving toward making COVID-19 vaccines obligatory for all defense employees. Update: The National Guard and the US Coast Guard have come out to require mandated COVID vaccines by mid-September. Studies show that antibodies from the Sinovac vaccine fade below threshold levels after 6 months, and a booster shot will be required. As many as 8,500 mostly elderly people will require another vaccination, after an anti-vax nurse in Germany switched the vaccine for a saline solution. Canberra, along with all of the Australian Capital Territory, goes into a snap one-week lockdown. New Zealand is to keep its borders closed for the rest of the year to guard against Covid variants. Despite Jersey having one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe with 79% of all islanders double-jabbed, police were called to a youth drop-in vaccination site due to harassment by anti-vaxxers. After Florida and Texas relax almost all Covid precautions, including mask mandates, and no requirement for contact tracing in Texan schools, the predictable surge in cases has resulted in Florida requesting 300 additional ventilators from the Federal government, and Texas requesting aid from out-of-state health workers. [https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/08/10/1025463260/alabama-just-tossed-65-000-vaccines-turns-out-its-not-easy-to-donate-unused-dose Due to low demand, tens of thousands of Pfizer vaccine doses are expiring and being tossed out. Most recently, Alabama threw away 65,000 doses, and Arkansas tossed 80,000. Millions more will likely expire soon as well]. Florida governor Ron DeSantis ® says the state's Board of Education is considering withholding salaries as a means of punishing school superintendents who decide to implement mask mandates in classrooms. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-58136277 Nearly all remaining anti-Covid restrictions are lifted in Scotland. Nightclubs reopen. Large outdoor gatherings are allowed. Face masks, however, still have to be worn in indoor public places and on public transport.] Anti-vaxxer talk radio gobshite Dick Farrel dies after contracting covid. [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-58086808 Wales moves to Covid alert level zero. All businesses and premises can reopen and social distancing rules are scrapped. Face masks are, however, still required in most indoor public places.] Some anti-vaxxers are declaring themselves vegan to get around an employers' requirement that they should get vaxxed according to the Daily Telegraph, because the vaccines have been tested on animals as legally required. [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/566272-arkansas-governor-says-he-regrets-signing-ban-on-mask-mandates Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson ® says he regrets signing a ban on mask mandates in schools as Delta cases are now spiking rapidly. He's asking the state legislature to pass a new law reversing the ban.] A Barbie doll is made in the likeness of Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, co-developer of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. Days after the St. Louis County Council, in Missouri, voted to end the county’s mask mandate, hundreds of attendees are being advised to quarantine, following a positive Covid test by one of the protestors who attended. People fully vaccinated in the EU and the US can now visit Britain without having to quarantine.> Sky News Australia has been banned from uploading videos onto YouTube for a week, for breaking YouTube's policy of uploading misinformation about COVID-19.