Welcome to another week of Robertson’s Reportings! As 2022 begins, cases of COVID-19 have dramatically increased. While September of 2021 brought a surge in cases of the Delta variant, this year brings widespread fear over the Omicron variant. Fortunately, the Omicron is less serious than the Delta variant; however, Omicron spreads very quickly. In the last week, approximately 26.5% of COVID-19 tests taken in North Carolina were positive, meaning almost 350,000 NC tests were positive in the last week. Even the classrooms at Page look smaller because many students are at home in quarantine.

Twelve people died in a row house fire in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning. The smoke detectors were last inspected in May of 2021, so it’s unsurprising that four of them were not working properly at the time of the fire. Eight of the victims were children, and four were adults. Only eight people were able to evacuate the building on their own, as the only way to escape the second floor where the fire spread was through windows. While the source of the fire is unofficial, a child who escaped the fire told investigators that a Christmas tree caught fire.

On another tragic note, Piranha attacks in Paraguay killed four people and injured 20 others in the last week. Many of the victims were found with bite marks on their face, but their actual deaths were considered asphyxia by submersion. Officials are investigating the unusual behavior, as piranhas do not normally aggress humans with the exception of during a drought or during their breeding season which runs from October to March. In addition, attacks are not normally severe enough to result in fatalities.

See you next time on Robertson’s Reportings, coverage you can count on!

Photo Credits: CBC