Biking around Garden City, I saw all the recycling bins are still full. Commissioner Garson of the second ward sent out this email earlier today,

B&L Disposal, the Township’s recycling company, is experiencing delays in recycling collection due to staffing shortages related to COVID-19. Kindly keep your recycling at the curb.

This is a phenomena likely to rapidly expand as Covid continues to spread unchecked.

Yesterday’s Covid numbers for DelCo blew past any previous records by almost a factor of two. The state’s positivity rate from the PA database was 28%. DelCo registered about 1 in 500 residents in a single day. Figure each of those will require several more to quarantine and you have the recipe for a worker shortage. Even if schools decide to open next week, its not clear to me how the test to stay program will keep up with the likely number of close contacts. And, like elsewhere, schools will likely face difficulties keeping enough teachers in classrooms.

In what passes for good news in 2021, although Covid hospitalizations have been rising steadily since Thanksgiving, so far there remains sufficient ICU beds for patients in southeast Pennsylvania. The county continues to offer vaccinations. If you haven’t yet, get the booster as soon as you can.