Chris Witmore, a professor in archaeology and classics at Texas Tech University, remembers his grandmother washing her plastic tableware. ‘Disposable kings’Īt first, plastic cutlery was considered reusable. By World War II, an even newer material had worked its way into the cutlery mix: plastic.
By the early 1900s sleek and rust-resistant stainless steel started to make an appearance. More ornate sets could be made of gold or ivory, or even be collapsible for traveling light. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge.Ĭutlery for the masses was commonly made of wood, stone, or shells. Learn more about our non-profit activities at /plastics. CNBC's Sam Meredith and Robert Towey contributed to this report.National Geographic is committed to reducing plastics pollution. A spokeswoman said no changes are currently planned.ĭelta has 35 scheduled flights between the U.S. United, which has the most scheduled service, with 87 flights, is set to resume nonstop flights between its Newark, New Jersey, hub and Cape Town next month. and South Africa scheduled for December, according to aviation consulting firm Cirium. and South Africa are limited compared with other international destinations, but the sudden changes in travel rules make it difficult for customers to book and could further delay the return of lucrative international business travel. The new restrictions come just as carriers and aerospace manufacturers such as Boeing have been upbeat about a resurgence in travel demand, particularly international routes next year.įlights between the U.S. The fresh travel restrictions followed reports of the new variant in places as distant as Botswana, Belgium, Israel and Hong Kong. "They always do when something with Covid arises," he said.Īirline and other travel stocks plunged Friday. Oil prices took heavy losses on the news.Īsked about the market losses, Biden said the reaction didn't surprise him. The designation of a new variant of concern coupled with mounting alarm from health officials sent global markets into a tailspin Friday. To that end, he urged members of the World Trade Organization to waive intellectual property protections for Covid vaccines. The emergence of this new strain in South Africa, Biden said, also underscores the importance of making vaccines accessible to people all over the world. In a statement announcing the travel ban, Biden urged already immunized Americans to get their booster shots and urged parents to take advantage of the new vaccine doses approved for children ages 5 to 11. It is not clear how severe infections would be for vaccinated patients.Įxperts fear a sharp upswing of Covid cases in South Africa's Gauteng province - where the heavily mutated strain of the virus was first identified - could mean it has greater potential to escape prior immunity than other variants. Health experts are deeply concerned about the transmissibility of the omicron variant given that it has an unusual constellation of mutations and a profile that is different from other variants of concern. "We don't know a lot about the variant except it is a great concern, seems to spread rapidly," he said.Īlso on Friday, the World Health Organization assigned the newly identified variant the Greek letter omicron and formally recognized the strain, previously referred to as lineage B.1.1.529, as a "variant of concern. "I've decided we're going to be cautious," Biden said to reporters Friday following the announcement of the travel restrictions. all announced restrictions on travelers from southern Africa Friday, even as Belgian officials announced that several cases of omicron variant Covid had already been identified there. Anthony Fauci, as a growing list of countries issued their own travel bans.Ĭanada, the European Union and the U.K.
exempted from the vaccine requirement because of low availability there.īiden was briefed on the variant Friday by White House chief medical advisor Dr. The decision came less than three weeks after the administration lifted pandemic travel restrictions on visitors from more than 30 countries, including South Africa in favor of vaccine requirements for international tourists. Malawi, Namibia, Mozambique were among the 51 countries the U.S.
President Joe Biden said in a statement that moving forward he will be "guided by what the science and my medical team advises." There was no indication Friday of how long the bans will remain in place.
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