New COVID-19 cases continue to drop in Washington state and the nation, but the coronavirus’ spread is persistent and continues to affect nations around the world. The pandemic appears to be winding down in the United States in a thousand subtle ways, but without any singular milestone, or a cymbal-crashing announcement of freedom from the virus.

The global death toll from COVID-19 topped 5 million on Monday, less than two years into a crisis that has not only devastated poor countries but also humbled wealthy ones with first-rate health care systems.

In the United Kingdom, some are pushing to delay an in-person U.N. climate change conference that had already been postponed a year because of a COVID spike in the country. Russia is experiencing a ‘fourth wave’ as they struggle with a vaccination rate of about 35%.

But while many developing countries don’t have enough vaccines, Western countries are providing booster shots or have too many shots for the parts of their populace who don’t want to be vaccinated. In the U.S., fights continue over how many exemptions from vaccine mandates can be allowed among large employers and the government.

In Oregon, almost two weeks after Gov. Kate Brown mandated vaccines for public employees, data shows some local governments, especially in rural parts of the state, have allowed large chunks of their employees to take advantage of religious or medical exemptions. In the city of Medford, where 44% of the city’s emergency medical technicians asked for and received exceptions, only 56% of the city’s EMTs are fully inoculated against COVID-19. In Spokane, Washington, a few firefighters who opted to leave rather than be vaccinated might return for work, if the firefighters’ union gets their way. They would not return in their original job, but in a different role in the department,  city spokesman Brian Coddington said.

We’re updating this page with the latest news about the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Seattle area, the U.S. and the world. Click here to see previous days’ live updates and all our other coronavirus coverage, and here to see how we track the daily spread across Washington.

Article Source: The Seattle Times