Coronavirus vaccine and Delta variant updates for 9-17-2021

<p>This is Vaccine 411, the latest coronavirus vaccine information for September 17th, 2021.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Idaho public health leaders yesterday expanded health care rationing statewide. Individual hospital systems in Alaska and Montana have also implemented rationing policies. Increases in COVID-19 patients are exhausting medical resources so those resources are allocated to those most likely to survive.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>A government watchdog says the Department of Homeland Security must improve its COVID-19 response at the U.S.-Mexico border. Customs and Border Patrol says they don’t have the resources to test symptomatic migrants and has been relying on local public health systems and nongovernmental organizations to handle things.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>No, vaccine refusal is not just an American conservative thing. France's health minister said 3,000 health care workers across the country have been suspended without pay for refusing to get vaccinated. The deadline was September 15. France has recently seen mass demonstrations opposing the government's vaccine policies.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We’ll see if that also happens in Italy. A measure was approved yesterday that applies to all public and private-sector workers and will come into force Oct. 15 that deploys Green Pass requirements. Workers face fines of up to $1,700 and employers who don’t check their workers will also be fined. The new Green Pass mandate will affect about 18 million people. But Italy’s full vaccination rate is already a very high 75%.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It's one health condition causing another. A new study ties the pandemic to an “alarming” increase in obesity in U.S. children and teenagers. That speeds up a problem that was already happening, but now the increase is called profound. The sad irony being the pandemic seems to be increasing obesity, and in turn obesity puts people at risk for more severe cases of COVID.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>In the United States cases were down 9%, deaths are up 29%, and hospitalizations are down 5% over 14