Ep. 92: News Roundup Week of 7/12/21

Heart & Home

More than 150 people have died in devastating floods across parts of western Germany and Belgium, as rescue operations and the search for thousands unaccounted for. Flooding has now spread to streets in Switzerland and the Netherlands. ——— The British government threw the holiday plans of tens of thousands of people into disarray Friday night when it reversed plans to open up travel from France because of concerns about a COVID-19 variant circulating in the country. As infections rise, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered all health care workers to get virus vaccine shots by Sept. 15 and mandated special COVID-19 passes to go to a restaurant or a shopping mall. The new measures come amid worries over the delta variant. On Friday, The Eiffel Tower reopened in Paris for the first time in nine months as France introduced new restrictions to tame the delta variant. Visitors 18 and older will have to show a pass proving vaccination, a negative coronavirus test or recent recovery from the virus to visit the tower. Daily capacity is restricted to 10,000 people a day, with elevator capacity to 50% and masks will be required. Health care workers in Greece will be suspended if they refuse to get vaccinated under a new mandatory policy announced Monday by the country’s prime minister. In March, Italy was first in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for all health workers ———- For the second time in less than three months, an exploding oxygen canister has caused a lethal fire in a Covid-19 hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, killing nearly 100 people. ——— Los Angeles County returned to an indoor masked mandate on Thursday this week after Covid cases doubling in 3 weeks in this country. The new order will require everyone, regardless of whether they are vaccinated, to wear face coverings in most indoor public places. It takes effect at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday. Some 1,537 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, according to county health officials, an 83% increase over the previous week. Seven counties in the Bay Area issued recommendations that residents wear masks indoors, even if they are fully vaccinated, citing rising Covid-19 infections and the rapid spread of the Delta variant. Two Northern California counties—Sacramento County and neighboring Yolo County—took the same step earlier this week. ———- Wildfires that torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate burned across 10 parched Western states on Tuesday, and the largest, in Oregon, threatened California’s power supply. Nearly 60 wildfires tore through bone-dry timber and brush from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires. ———- A pool deck suspected of being at the root of the Champlain Towers South building collapse in Surfside, Florida had been a problem for more than 25 years, according to a newly disclosed permit. Also on Wednesday, nearly two dozen 911 calls were released by the Miami-Dade Police Department. You can hear the confusion and disbelief among residents and neighbors after the partial collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium in the beachside town of Surfside, Florida, in the early hours of June 24. Frantic 911 calls came in from residents who were trapped inside after approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex's 136 units were destroyed in the collapse at around 1:15 a.m. A judge has decided that the land can be sold. The expected sale could bring $100 million dollars, which will go to the families of the victims. —— The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is instructing airlines to inspect their Boeing 737 fleet for faulty altitude pressure switches that could potentially pose a safety risk. ——- Two recalls were announced by Johnson & Johnson for five of their sunscreens and Ford for Explorers built 2013-2017.