18 months after it emerged, Covid-19 has killed more than five million people worldwide.
Covid has killed 750,000 people in the United States.
77% of eligible Americans have received at least one shot of a vaccine, but October saw protests against Federal government and private employer vaccine mandates.
Unvaccinated workers across the United States are facing job losses as a growing number of states, cities and private companies start to enforce mandates for inoculation against COVID-19. In Washington state, 1,887 state employees, or about 3%, were terminated or left their positions over the mandate that they be fully vaccinated or lose their jobs.
Russia closed all nonessential businesses for a week to combat the fourth surge of Covid-19. Only 34% of Russians are vaccinated, citing distrust of the government.
UK medical professionals have issued an urgent plea to the British government to reimpose Covid restrictions. The call comes amid a high level of infections in the country and as hospitals are seeing an influx of Covid patients. Health leaders warned on Tuesday that the U.K. risks “stumbling into a winter crisis.” Making matters worse, U.K. experts are watching a new mutation of the virus closely.
Other News in September 2021
In Afghanistan, the Taliban have assumed control of the country, restricted education for girls and rights of women, and
Why did Afghanistan fall so quickly to the Taliban? Secretary of Defense Austin explained:
“We need to consider some uncomfortable truths: that we did not fully comprehend the depth of corruption and poor leadership in their senior ranks, that we did not grasp the damaging effect of frequent and unexplained rotations by President Ghani of his commanders, that we did not anticipate the snowball effect caused by the deals that Taliban commanders struck with local leaders in the wake of the Doha agreement, that the Doha agreement itself had a demoralizing effect on Afghan soldiers, and that we failed to fully grasp that there was only so much for which — and for whom — many of the Afghan forces would fight. We provided the Afghan military with equipment and aircraft and the skills to use them. Over the years, they often fought bravely. Tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police officers died. But in the end, we couldn’t provide them with the will to win. At least not all of them.”
Nearly 200 container ships are parked off the California coast due to understaffed ports and a shortage of truck drivers. A single large ship can hold 24,000 containers – enough to fill three shopping malls. Retailers are warning of empty shelves for the holiday season and are starting Black Friday sales a month early.
The Texas heartbeat abortion ban passed last month has been temporarily blocked after a US federal judge ruled that it violated the constitutional right to abortion. The harshest abortion law had been in place for one month, and was immediately challenged by lawsuits.
Texas passed a law prohibiting transgender student-athletes from competing as their current gender preference, but rather the sex declared at birth. Meanwhile, Netflix employees walked out in protest over transphobic jokes in Dave Chappelle’s latest stand-up comedy special.
The first malaria vaccine has been approved, and plans to vaccinate sub-Saharan Africa are underway. Malaria kills more than 400,000 a year – two-thirds of them African children.
President Biden proclamed Oct. 11 as a day to honor Native Americans, their resilience and their contributions to American society throughout history, even as they faced assimilation, discrimination and genocide spanning generations. The move shifts focus from Columbus Day, the federal holiday celebrating Christopher Columbus, to Indigenous Peoples Day.
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) flew into space on a suborbital mission aboard Blue Origin. After touchdown, he warned how vulnerable and thin the atmosphere is, noting how fast he flew from the life-sustaining light and warmth of Earth to the cold death of space.
A UN analysis showed that 15 major fossil fuel-generating countries will produce roughly 110% more coal, oil, and gas in 2030 required to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and 45% more than to limit the rise to 2 degrAees. Scientists have said limiting warming to those thresholds is critical to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
A “cyclone bomb” riding on an “atmospheric river” dumped record amounts of rain on California and the Pacific Northwest, dousing widespread wildfires, but barely making a dent in rainfall totals accumulated during a record drought. Even with all the runoff, California’s largest lake – Shasta Lake – only went from 21% to 22% full. Simultaneously, a nor’easter storm flooded streets and prompted water rescues in northern New Jersey, and New York declared a of emergency. Press reports and politicians blame climate change for intense and frequent storms.
