Updates: Surges, Vaccine Wall, Ketchup Shortage, Brain Disorders, Marshmallow Wars
Surges
I've recently written about worries over new surges. A piece in today's NYT declares the pandemic out-of-control in Michigan.
Sadly, the governor there has been cowed into tepid pleas for responsible behavior in lieu of concrete action. Hard to blame her after armed covidiots plotted to kidnap and execute her. I hope those assholes are on ventilators right now.
The surge there is blamed on the UK variant, which is apparently taking over the country. The good news is that the vaccines seem pretty effective against it. The vaccine makers are also working on boosters, expected by the end of the year.
That's good news. The bad news is that there's a...
Vaccine Wall
As predicted here a month ago, vaccination rates are hitting a wall. We're starting to run out of people who want the shots. It's starting to show, especially in red states in the South because of course it is. Mississippi, for example, can't find enough people to take available doses.
Maybe the Morgan Freeman PSA will help.
We can credit a lot of wall construction to the efforts of looney-bin anti-vaxxers, now aided by the wing-nuts and abetted by Facebook. The latter keeps announcing bans of the anti-vaxxers.
Somehow they can't quite find all the offenders, even though all you have to do is type "vaccine" in their own search box. To be fair, they may be making some progress as you have to go to the bottom of a groups search on that keyword to find the anti-vaxxers.
Shortages
I've written before about supply chain chaos due to the pandemic. So far, the feared second wave of toilet paper shortages hasn't materialized...yet.
But just when you think things can't get any weirder, now there's a shortage of ketchup packets. Restaurants are being forced to buy giant jugs of the stuff at Costco and pour it into those little plastic cups. In a glimmer of hope, Heinz is promising to catch up.
Meanwhile, problems are getting worse in the auto industry. Chip shortages are idling plants all over the place. It's causing shortages and driving up prices. Nobody expects the problem to resolve anytime soon.
