Soft drink producers have only a few days of carbon dioxide left. The UK is helping to bail out a US fertilizer manufacturer to help restart CO2 production—a shortage of which is hammering the UK and badly impacting the UK food supply. It’s a tangled and interesting web, and apparently most companies (and countries) were broadsided by the gas shortage and left without enough time to react to ease the problem.
Elevated gas prices are contributing to the CO2 production shortage. Heating costs in the UK could rise precipitously this winter.
Lunchables, Gatorade, and juice boxes are in short supply—you never know which shelves will be scant in the grocery stores now (although, given what we know about the CO2 supply, we can anticipate sodas to be scant soon):
So is anyone else sort of freaked out by these supply chain issues? Went to Macy's to get shoes; the guy said he usually had 8,000 pairs but today only had 400. The brake rotors for my wife's car were on backorder. The shelves at the paint store were half-empty. 1/
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) September 21, 2021
There are sporadic liquor shortages in the US, too. Some manufacturers can’t source enough glass for their bottles. Some producers are having trouble getting their products distributed because of trucking shortages.
The Biden Administration plans to address heat-related risks to workers. The CDC urged previous administrations to address heat risks to workers, but the task was never delegated. The current Administration is asking OSHA to begin work on addressing these dangers.
We’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth mentioning again: do your holiday shopping early this year.
Hundreds of community solar projects in Minnesota are stalled as company Xcel says it could take as much as 15 years to get its act together. A third-party investigation into the lack of progress is probably warranted.
Reflective streets help cool hot neighborhoods in Los Angeles. The Cool Streets LA initiative is working well and could be adopted elsewhere.
Here’s to hoping we avoid a government shutdown. In the meantime:
The White House is beginning to tell government agencies to prepare for a potential government shutdown if a stopgap bill is not signed into law by Sept. 30. https://t.co/8L5VfmLTsz
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 23, 2021
There was a major mass shooting at a grocery store in Memphis. 12 were injured, one is dead.
The world has 231.3 million COVID cases. The world has gained 3.6 million cases in the last seven days. There have been over 4.7 million deaths in total. The US has had a cumulative 43.5 million cases—about 900,000 cases were added in the last seven days. Over 700,000 Americans have died—over 12,000 in the last week. The US added over 133,000 new cases on Wednesday and over 2,200 deaths that day as well. The US is still leading global daily case gain.
This is an unpleasant (and non-sensical) development:
The Tennessee state government now recommends vaccinated residents be denied access to monoclonal antibody treatment to preserve supplies for those who are unwilling to get vaccinated and remain most vulnerable by their own choice. A new story from me: https://t.co/ikH6rPKfco
— Brett Kelman (@BrettKelman) September 21, 2021
Johnson and Johnson may move to seek 3rd doses for their COVID vaccine as well:
J&J booster 94% effective against severe COVID, company says https://t.co/FXcnBUDPnu
— Liz Szabo (@LizSzabo) September 21, 2021
Africa is still in desperate need of COVID vaccine distribution:
Looking regionally, he region with the highest coverage is the Western Pacific (67%, driven a lot by China’s big vaccination push) followed by the Americas (56%) and Europe (52%); Africa has the lowest coverage (4%). pic.twitter.com/G5E1B66E8W
— Josh Michaud (@joshmich) September 22, 2021
The FDA is giving the green light on 3rd doses for some folks, but the CDC is not voting in alignment with all of these recommendations. I’m furious, because at the moment it looks like the CDC is putting the brakes on 3rd doses for teachers and healthcare workers:
FDA Authorizes Booster Dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for Certain Populations
Leaves door open for broad definition of occupational exposure and high risk conditionshttps://t.co/9tkZthxCbu pic.twitter.com/yxiOOQ7i9v
— Infectious Diseases (@InfectiousDz) September 22, 2021
The national nursing shortage is putting patients at risk. Many large hospitals are struggling to maintain safe staffing ratios. Non-retirement turnover of burned-out nurses is a large contributor to the problem. Sadly, nurse opposition to vaccine mandates is also a factor.
The Mormon Church is going to require masks in temples as a COVID mitigation measure.
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