COVID-19 virus concentration in U.S. sewage and new daily clinical cases per 100,000 people, 26 January 2020 - 22 December 2021. Wastewater samples in December 2021 revealed record levels of COVID-19 virus across the U.S. Clinical data: USAFacts. Graphic: Biobot Analytics

Wastewater samples reveal record levels of COVID-19 across U.S.

By Alicia Victoria Lozano 2 January 2022 (NBC News) – With at-home Covid-19 tests in high demand and their efficacy in question, health departments from California to Massachusetts are turning to sewage samples to get a better idea of how much the coronavirus is spreading through communities and what might be in store for health care […]

COVID-19 daily cases per 100,000 in Miami-Dade County, Florida, 24 December 2021. Graphic: Covid Act Now

COVID-19 case rates spike to record levels across the U.S. in December 2021

28 December 2021 (Desdemona Despair) – Bill Gates tweeted, “Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic.” In a seven-tweet thread, he went on to say that the Omicron variant “is spreading faster than any virus in history” and it “will be the […]

Fox News entertainer Jesse Watters calls for the assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference on 20 December 2021. Watters encouraged his supporters to ‘ambush’ the infectious-disease expert with a ‘kill shot’. Fox News had no comment. Photo: Ron Filipkowski / Twitter

Fox News host Jesse Watters publicly calls for assassination of Dr. Anthony Fauci – Fox News says violent words “taken out of context”

By Allison Quinn and Justin Baragona 21 December 2021 (The Daily Beast) – Anthony Fauci has called for Fox News host Jesse Watters to be axed from the cable channel for encouraging his supporters to “ambush” the infectious-disease expert with a “kill shot.” [UPDATE 21 Dec 2021: Fox News has defended the violent language as […]

Video shows a large, nighttime tornado whirling in Sacramento, Kentucky, illuminated only by lightning, on the night of 10 December 2021. Video: ABC News

Night of devastating tornadoes likely kills more than 100 in Kentucky – “The Mississippi River Valley and Ohio River Valley are increasingly vulnerable to more tornadic activity with time”

By Suman Naishadham and Seth Borenstein 12 December 2021 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – The calendar said December but the warm moist air screamed of springtime. Add an eastbound storm front guided by a La Nina weather pattern into that mismatch and it spawned tornadoes that killed dozens over five U.S. states. Tornadoes in December are unusual, but […]

Map showing the near-surface air temperature differences from the 1981-2010 average for January to September 2021. Data are from the ERA5 reanalysis product. Graphic: C3S / ECMWF

State of the Climate in 2021: Past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record – “Extreme events are the new norm”

GENEVA, 31 October 2021 (WMO) – Record atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and associated accumulated heat have propelled the planet into uncharted territory, with far-reaching repercussions for current and future generations, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The past seven years are on track to be the seven warmest on record, according to the provisional WMO […]

Global carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels, 1959-2021. Global CO2 emissions bounced back after COVID-19 restrictions and reached pre-pandemic levels in 2021. Graph: Global Carbon Project

Global carbon emissions rebound to pre-pandemic levels after unprecedented drop in 2020 – “The fast recovery in CO2 emissions, following last year’s sharp drop, should come as no surprise”

By Pep Canadell, Corinne Le Quéré, Glen Peters, Pierre Friedlingstein, Robbie Andrew, and Rob Jackson 3 November 2021 (The Conversation) – Global carbon dioxide emissions have bounced back after COVID-19 restrictions and are likely to reach close to pre-pandemic levels this year, our analysis released today has found. The troubling finding comes as the COP26 climate talks […]

Missouri Governor Mike Parson answers media's questions on Tuesday, 13 July 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri. Parson, a Republican, is digging in on his belief that mask mandates don't work despite a health department analysis showing reduced COVID-19 infections and deaths in cities that require face coverings. The Republican governor on Thursday, 2 December 2021, ripped into a report on the analysis by The Missouri Independent. Photo: Shelly Yang / The Kansas City Star / AP

Missouri health department found mask mandates work, but Republican governor didn’t make findings public – “It’s devastating to see what the Missouri governor did”

By Rudi Keller, Derek Kravitz, and Smarth Gupta 1 December 2021 (Missouri Independent) – Mask mandates saved lives and prevented COVID-19 infections in Missouri’s biggest cities during the worst part of the delta variant wave, an analysis by the state Department of Health and Senior Services shows. But the analysis, conducted at the request of Gov. […]

Map showing the percent change in reported 12 month-ending count of U.S. drug overdose deaths by jurisdiction, April 2020 - April 2021. Graphic: National Center for Health Statistics / CDC

U.S. overdose deaths reached record high as pandemic spread – Drug overdoses killed more than 100,000 Americans in yearlong period ending April 2021 – “These are numbers we have never seen before”

By Roni Caryn Rabin 17 November 2021 (The New York Times) – Americans died of drug overdoses in record numbers as the pandemic spread across the country, federal researchers reported on Wednesday, the result of lost access to treatment, rising mental health problems and wider availability of dangerously potent street drugs. In the 12-month period […]

Map showing the area of the Gulf of Mexico covered by the U.S. oil and gas lease sale on 17 November 2021. Source: US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Graphic: The Guardian

“Huge climate bomb”: U.S. auctions off oil and gas drilling leases in Gulf of Mexico after climate talks – “Coming in the aftermath of the climate summit, this is just mind boggling”

By Oliver Milman 17 November 2021 (The Guardian) – Just four days after landmark climate talks in Scotland in which Joe Biden vowed the US will “lead by example” in tackling dangerous global heating, the president’s own administration is providing a jarring contradiction – the largest ever sale of oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf […]

Projected coal demand in the Stated Policies Scenario in the World Energy Outlooks 2021, 2020, and 2016. The International Energy Agency’s flagship outlook in October 2021 projected that under nations’ existing policies, global demand doesn’t begin falling again for several years. Then it declines but in 2050 is still at 70 percent of today’s levels. The IEA’s roadmap for reaching net-zero global emissions by 2050 requires a 55 percent decline by 2030. Graphic: IEA

After COP26: The long road to phasing down coal – “It is hard to shut down coal facilities because few countries have sufficient spare capacity in their electricity systems to be able to do so”

By Ben Geman 16 November 2021 (Axios) – Let’s leave to history to see whether the COP26 deal to “phase down” coal instead of “phase out” makes any real-world difference, but what’s clear is that any meaningful “phasing” at all is hard. Why it matters: Coal is the most carbon-intensive fuel. Any pathway to meeting the Paris Agreement […]

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