New COVID travel ban starts, 1-2 inches of snow on the way, 'vaccine' declared 2021 word of the year
MONDAY NEWS HIT - The newest COVID-19 variant, omicron, has led to a new travel ban in the United States.
The ban applies to non-U.S. citizens wishing to enter the country from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, and Malawi.
The variant was identified by researchers in South Africa last week. Little is known about the new variant, such as whether or not it is more contagious than other variants of the virus.
President Joe Biden announced the new travel ban Friday. He said in a statement that he decided to implement the ban after he was briefed by Dr. Anthony Facui.
While the U.S. and other nations moved to limit travel with the emergence of the new variant, the World Health Organization urged leaders to not implement travel restrictions. WHO's regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement that any restrictions should be scientifically based.
More snow on the way
After receiving several inches of snow over the weekend, more snow is expected early this week in Metro Detroit.
Monday morning will be sunny before the clouds move in. Then, the snow will start in the evening. The snow is expected to start after 7 p.m. and fall overnight before slowing down around 4 a.m. About 1-2 inches of snow is expected.
Roads will be slick Monday night and Tuesday morning, making for a tricky commute.
"Vaccine" named word of the year
Merriam-Webster's word of the year is here: vaccine.
The COVID-19 vaccine began available to most people in 2021 after a year of the pandemic with no vaccine.
The dictionary said it expanded its definition of the word in May as a result of the pandemic:
- A preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body's immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease: such as
- An antigenic preparation of a typically inactivated or attenuated (see ATTENUATED sense 2) pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus) or one of its components or products (such as a protein or toxin)
- A preparation of genetic material (such as a strand of synthesized messenger RNA) that is used by the cells of the body to produce an antigenic substance (such as a fragment of virus spike protein)
Other words of the year include insurrection, perseverance, woke, nomad, infrastructure, cicada, Murraya, cisgender, guardian, and meta.
What else we're watching
- Michigan gas prices are down 3 cents from last week but still up $1.37 from last year.
- Michigan meat processors are getting money to help them recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Detroit police will discuss the brutal attack and rape of a 63-year-old woman during a press conference after a suspect was arrested.
- The Menorah in the D celebration was held at Campus Martius on Sunday. Freed journalist Danny Fenster was one of the honoree lamplighters.
- The WHO is disagreeing with travel bans over the COVID-19 omicron variant.
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Daily forecast
More snow is on the way. We'll see 1-2 inches by Tuesday morning.
Opening statements start in Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case
Prosecutors in Lower Manhattan will argue that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, was secretly abetting dead financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes with girls as young as 14.
The indictment against Maxwell is based on accusations from four women who say she recruited them to give Epstein massages that progressed into sexual abuse. Maxwell sometimes participated in the sexual encounters and was involved in paying at least one accuser, prosecutors allege.