RSV, the respiratory infection that overwhelmed U.S. hospitals in November, has dropped from a peak of 21,000 cases to around 1,700.
Seasonal flu cases are dropping too, but not as quickly, and several states still have what the CDC calls “very high” flu case counts. But the CDC’s data is still a couple of weeks behind, so we still do not know how holiday gatherings and airport crowds might have spread the flu.
The more concerning news, however, is the spread of COVID-19 as we enter the third year of the pandemic. The WHO says the newest variant is the “most transmissible yet,” and wastewater tests in the United States show a sharp increase in positive tests. The wastewater samples have been a strong indication of where new COVID-19 cases will show up eventually. The positive wastewater samples are highest in the Northeastern U.S.
Do you know offhand who Patty Murray is? At the moment she is third in line to the presidency of the United States because she is the president pro tempore of the Senate. That puts her just behind Vice President Kama Harris while the U.S. House of Representatives can’t decide who should be the speaker of the House, usually the second in line to the presidency.
President Joe Biden is heading to the U.S.-Mexico border this weekend after he laid out a new plan to make it easier to send some migrants away rather than allowing them to stay while courts process their cases. The president’s new plan would allow 30,000 migrants a month to enter from a handful of countries but only if they have U.S. sponsors who file paperwork on their behalf before they arrive. In fiscal year 2022, U.S. Border Patrol agents say they “encountered” migrants 2.7 million times along the southern border.
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