The Mu variant of the coronavirus is something to monitor — as it appears to partially evade immunity from authorized COVID-19 vaccines — but Delta's continued dominance means "Mu is not any immediate threat," NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios.
Why it matters:Sounding the alarm, Fauci says widespread vaccination is a priority to fight the coronavirus and cut down on the rate of new infections — which is currently 10 times higher than where it needs to be.
Tomorrow.io, the fast-growing weather and climate intelligence provider, unveiled Thursday a flood risk index for its data platform. The goal is to help cities, companies and others better prepare for extreme precipitation events.
Why it matters: The new product, first revealed by Axios, arrives following devastating flooding from Hurricane Ida, which left dozens dead in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York last week.
Americans are now getting infected with COVID-19 at 10 times the rate needed to end the pandemic, which will persist until more people get vaccinated, NIAID director Anthony Fauci tells Axios.
Threat level: "The endgame is to suppress the virus. Right now, we're still in pandemic mode, because we have 160,000 new infections a day. That's not even modestly good control ... which means it's a public health threat."
A group of researchers announced Wednesday that they have completed the first-ever comprehensive global habitat maps of the world's shallow tropical coral reefs.
The big picture: The first high resolution map of its kind, the map will allow users to gather detailed informations about coral reefs, including about their local sand, rocks, and seagrass, according to the Associated Press.
At least one person has died after a magnitude 7 earthquake struck near the Mexican resort city of Acapulco late Tuesday — causing buildings to shake over 230 miles away Mexico City.
Details: Power outages were reported in several states and parts of Mexico City following the 12-mile-deep quake, which hit some 2.5 miles from Los Órganos de San Agustín and eight miles from Acapulco, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
About 50 Detroit health care workers have filed a lawsuit against a hospital system, claiming its upcoming COVID-19 vaccine mandate violates the Fourteenth Amendment's protection of "personal autonomy and bodily integrity."
Why it matters: This is the second major legal test concerning vaccine mandates in the health care sector, after an unsuccessful lawsuit claiming a Texas hospital's policy requiring all staff be vaccinated against the virus was unlawful.
