Covid Chaos: It Might Be Time to Hoard Ketchup
Here's a fresh round-up of Covid insanity . . .
1. We're looking at a nationwide ketchup shortagebecause of the pandemic. Because so many restaurants are now doing more to-go orders, they're going through a ton of packets . . . and prices are up 13% in 14 months.
We're also buying more bottles of ketchup at home than ever. In 2020, there were more than $1 billion in ketchup sales in the U.S. . . . that's 15% higher than 2019.
2. It might be time to stop obsessively sanitizing everything. As we've learned more about Covid, we've found that the chances of getting it from a surface are WAY lower than we originally thought.
The CDC says the chances of catching Covid from a surface are less than one in 10,000. And one chemist in Colorado says, quote, "If we took half the effort that's being given to disinfection and put it on ventilation, that will be huge."
3. Here's the latest weird trend people are using to fight their boredom: Hula Hoops. Wham-O says they've seen a big spike in demand for Hula Hoopsduring the pandemic . . . they sold one million last year, up 20% from 2018 and 2019.
4. Have you felt pressure to be productivewith your spare time during the pandemic? 43% of people say they have felt pressure . . . 49% say they haven't. People under 34 are twice as likely as people over 55 to say they've felt that pressure.
5. A gymnast from the University of Illinois is going viral after he got his career high score on a vault at a meet against Minnesota . . . then whipped out his Covid vaccine cardas part of his celebration.
6. Here are the updated stats on vaccinationsand Covid casesas of last night . . .
Covid vaccinations in the U.S.: 107.5 million people have received at least one dose, or 32.4% of the population. 62.3 million people, or 18.8%, are fully vaccinated.
New daily cases in the U.S.: 50,329 . . . with 415 new deaths. That brings the total to 31.4 million cases, with more than 569,000 deaths . . . and more than 24 million who've now recovered.
Total cases worldwide: 132.4 million . . . with more than 2.8 million deaths . . . and more than 106.7 million people who've beaten the virus globally.
Originally posted on April 6th, 2021