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Thursday, December 9, 2021

Wake-Up Call: COVID Cases Surging

😷200 MILLION FULLY VACCINATED: The U.S. reached the milestone of 200 million Americans being fully vaccinated against Covid-19 yesterday, but the 60 percent of the population that translates to hasn't been enough to stop the virus from surging again. Despite all the concern over the omicron variant, the increases for now are due almost entirely to the delta variant. New cases in the U.S. have risen to almost 119,000 a day this week, up from nearly 95,000 on November 22nd, according to AP, and hospitalizations are up 25 percent from one month ago. Deaths are now close to 1,600 a day on average, back up to where they were in October, and the total death toll in the U.S. is closing in on 800,000.

 
Meanwhile, in some good news about the vaccine, Pfizer said that data suggests that while being fully vaccinated with two doses of its vaccine may not be enough to prevent infection with omicron, getting a booster increases antibodies able to fight it off by 25-fold. Those without a booster should still be able to avoid severe disease or death. Pfizer's chief scientific officer, Dr. Mikael Dolsten, told AP: "Go and get your third boost as soon as possible."

➤BIDEN HOSTING 'SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY' STARTING TODAY: President Biden is hosting the first-ever White House Summit for Democracy starting today, at which he'll urge participants from some 110 countries to to reverse a decline in democracy amid rising authoritarianism around the world. World leaders and civil society experts will be participating in the two-day virtual summit, which has been promoted as an opportunity to collaborate on fighting corruption and promoting respect for human rights. White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will call on participants to dedicate themselves to, quote, "reversing the democratic recession and ensuring that democracies deliver for their people." AP notes the summit comes as the U.S. is facing its own serious challenges to its democratic institutions and traditions.
 

➤MEADOWS SUES JAN. 6TH HOUSE COMMITTEE AS IT MOVES ON CONTEMPT CHARGES AGAINST HIM: Former President Donald Trump's last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, sued the House committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol yesterday, saying that two subpoenas should be invalidated that he claims are "overly broad and unduly burdensome," including one to Verizon for his cell phone records. At the same time, the committee chairman pledged to go forward with bringing contempt charges against Meadows after he didn't show up yesterday for a scheduled deposition in response to a subpoena. Meadows' attorney had said last week that his client would cooperate with the committee, but then reversed on Tuesday and said he wouldn't.

➤NAVY SEAL TEAM COMMANDER DIED IN TRAINING ACCIDENT: One day after reports that a Navy SEAL team member had died after a Virginia training accident, Naval Special Warfare Command said Wednesday that it was the commanding officer of SEAL Team 8, 43-year-old Commander Brian Bourgeois. Bourgeois fell while fast-roping down from a helicopter in Virginia Beach on Saturday, and died two days later in the hospital. The circumstances of how he fell after still under investigation, with Fox News reporting a Navy official said it wasn't clear if the rope separated from the helicopter. The U.S. Naval Academy said Bourgeois' would be honored at this Saturday’s Army-Navy football game with several tributes.



➤CEO WHO FIRED 900 PEOPLE DURING ONE ZOOM CALL SAYS HE BLUNDERED THE EXECUTION: You've likely heard the story of the mortgage company CEO who fired 900 employees at once in a Zoom call last week and all the criticism over it. Now Better.com CEO Vishal Garg is apologizing, admitting he didn't handle the whole thing well. Garg has posted a message on the company's website saying he's, quote, "deeply sorry" for how he carried out the termination of those employees, saying it "made a difficult situation worse." In the apology, which is actually addressed to the other 91 percent of employees who weren't fired, he said, "I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better. I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution."

➤MAYIM BIALIK AND KEN JENNINGS TO CONTINUE HOSTING 'JEOPARDY!': Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings will continue to share their Jeopardy! hosting duties in 2022. The show tweeted Thursday, "We are delighted to let you know our excellent and experienced team in front of and behind the camera will continue into 2022. @missmayim and @kenjennings will share hosting duties through the end of #Jeopardy! Season 38 and Michael Davies will remain as executive producer."

🔥FATHER AND SON ACCUSED OF STARTING WILDFIRE THAT THREATENED LAKE TAHOE: A father and son have been charged with reckless arson in California, accused of starting the wildfire that threatened Lake Tahoe over the summer. The attorney for the two men, 66-year-old David Scott Smith and 32-year-old Shane Smith, denied they were responsible. He said they were simply in the area where the wildfire started, called 911 several times to report it, and warned campers in the area about it. The Caldor Fire, which was reported on August 14th, burned more than 346 square miles and hundreds of homes. The tourist community of South Lake Tahoe was ultimately spared.

➤PANTONE UNVEILS COLOR OF THE YEAR FOR 2022: VERY PERI: The Pantone Color Institute has named Very Peri as its color of the year for 2022, a periwinkle shade that the company says combines the steady tranquility of blue with an energetic infusion of red. This is the first time Pantone created a color instead of choosing one from its pre-existing archive. The company cited all the world has gone through with the pandemic in explaining its choice, with Executive Director Leatrice Eiseman saying, "It was really important for us to come up with a new color, because we have a very new vision of the world now." She added, "The color symbolizes the future. . . . it has that sprightly, joyous attitude that we're talking about, that carefree confidence, and creative spirit."


🍲SURVEY REVEALS JUST HOW MUCH PEOPLE PLAN TO EAT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:  People plan to chow down during the Christmas season. Researchers in the UK polled 2,000 adults who celebrate the holidays, and based on the results, they say 264 million slices of turkey will be consumed over the holidays, along with 250 million potatoes, about 208 million boxes of chocolate, and 366 million glasses of wine. The survey showed the top food items people plan to eat are: roast potatoes, turkey, ham, gravy, and beef.

➤‘DOOMSCROLLING,’ AND ‘AFFIRMATIONS’ AMONG MOST-SEARCHED HEALTH TERMS ON GOOGLE THIS YEAR:  Google’s new Year in Search report looks at the biggest trends of the year by analyzing what people around the world have been searching for. This year, it revealed one of its most-searched health terms was “affirmations,” which Google says was “searched this year more than ever before worldwide, with the most search interest in Kazakhstan.” Another popular search term was “doomscrolling,” which refers to when you continue to read social media in times of distress while anticipating more bad news. Other terms searched for more than ever before include “soulmate,” “mammography,” “body positivity,” “retrograde,” and “how to maintain mental health.” People were also thinking a lot about the climate emergency, as some other top-searched terms were “how to conserve,” “sustainability,” and “impact of climate.”

➤U.K. AND CANADA JOIN DIPLOMATIC BOYCOTT OF BEIJING OLYMPICS: The diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics expanded by two more countries yesterday, with Canada and U.K. joining the U.S. and Australia in saying they won't send any government officials or other dignitaries. The U.S. was first to announce a boycott on Monday over China's accused human rights abuses against its Uyghur Muslim minority. China calls the boycotts "political posturing" and a smear campaign, and said after the U.S. announced its boycott that it would, quote, "pay a price," but gave no details about any potential reprisals.

🏌TIGER WOODS TO PLAY IN PNC CHAMPIONSHIP WITH SON: Tiger Woods announced yesterday that he will play in the PNC Championship next week with his 12-year-old son Charlie, his first return to competition after a February car crash that left his right leg badly injured. Woods tweeted, "Although it’s been a long and challenging year, I am very excited to close it out by competing in the PNC Championship with my son Charlie. I’m playing as a Dad and couldn’t be more excited and proud." The father and son tied for seventh a year ago in the unofficial event that teams up family members. It's being played on December 18th and 19th at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club Orlando.

🎾SERENA WILLIAMS WON'T BE PLAYING IN AUSTRALIAN OPEN: Serena Williams confirmed yesterday that she won't be playing in the Australian Open in January, the season-opening major that she's won seven times. The 40-year-old Williams hasn’t played since retiring from her first-round match at Wimbledon this summer with a hamstring injury. She told the Australian Open's website, "While this is never an easy decision to make, I am not where I need to be physically to compete. . . . I will miss seeing the fans, but am excited to return and compete at my highest level."


🏈BEARS QUARTERBACK FIELDS SET TO RETURN AFTER MISSING TWO GAMES: Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields is set to return after missing two games with three cracked ribs, head coach Matt Nagy said yesterday. He'll be starting this weekend against the Green Bay Packers. Fields, who isn't sure exactly when the injury happened, last played when he left in the second half of a loss to Baltimore on November 21st.

🏒NHL'S COYOTES MAY BE LOCKED OUT OF ARENA DUE TO UNPAID TAXES, FEES: The NHL's Arizona Coyotes may be locked out of their home arena in less than two weeks over unpaid taxes and fees. The city of Glendale told the Coyotes it plans to deny them access to the Gila River Arena if the team doesn't play the taxes and arena charges it owes by December 20th. City manager Kevin Phelps says Glendale is owed some $250,000 in unpaid city taxes. The Coyotes said in a statement last night, "We have already launched an investigation to determine how this could have happened and the initial indications are that it appears to be the result of an unfortunate human error. . . . We will make sure by tomorrow morning, the Arizona Coyotes are current on all of our bills and owe no state or local taxes whatsoever."

🌜MOON TO ALIGN WITH 3 PLANETS FRIDAY EVENING:  There’s going to be a bit of an astrological event in the sky. Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus will be easy to see in the sky throughout most of December, but tomorrow (December 10th), the crescent moon will fall in line with those three planets. The moon will be at the top of the line, appearing in the southwestern sky shortly after nightfall. The celestial alignment will be visible around the world, even from cities where light pollution washes out dimmer stars. All you’ll need to see it is cloud-free weather, but using a telescope or a pair of binoculars can reveal some of the bigger moons of Jupiter and Saturn. You should also keep your eyes peeled for shooting stars, as the some leftover meteors from the Geminid meteor shower could still be streaking through the sky.



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