Day 720: The Tiniest Victims

The news of the day was looking to be our poo again, but China has decided to cull a bunch of hamsters because eek, tailless rat COVID, of course:

Officials said on Tuesday that it was not clear that the virus had been transmitted to humans from imported hamsters. But they called on residents to surrender hamsters imported since Dec. 22 to be tested and euthanized to prevent any further spread.

“They’re excreting the virus, and the virus can infect other animals, other hamsters and also human beings,” said Thomas Sit, assistant director of Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation department. “We don’t want to cull all the animals, but we have to protect public health and animal health. We have no choice — we have to make a firm decision.”

Massachusetts cases were up about one and a twelfth percent again today. The MDPH is still putting the data in a random spot instead of the archive.