Category: COVID-19

Fox News Attacks Biden For Implementing Fox’s Own Vaccine Policy

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Fox News is turning the White House’s upcoming push for COVID-19 vaccinations among the federal workforce into just another front in its right-wing culture war and campaign to undermine public health — even though Biden’s upcoming policy will be seemingly identical to Fox’s practices in its own offices.

To be exact, federal workers would reportedly be given the choice of either showing proof of vaccination or instead submitting to regular testing. This policy will in fact be very similar to what is already going on at Fox News’ own offices, under a program called the “Fox Clear Pass” in which employees who provide their vaccine information are allowed to bypass daily health screenings. But Fox hosts have railed against the possibility of vaccine passports as “segregation,” “medical Jim Crow,” and “East German-style ‘show me your papers.'”

And in Fox’s telling, the upcoming policy is an insult to regular people across America — who are now being dubbed “unvaccinated Americans” — and an effort to dominate them. (Just to be clear, over 60 percent of the adult U.S. population has been fully vaccinated by now.) Continue reading.

Covid-19 linked to cognitive decline, acceleration of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, research finds

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Covid-19 may be associated with cognitive decline and acceleration of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, researchers reported Thursday.

Researchers with an international consortium looking to understand the long-term consequences of Covid-19 on the central nervous system are finding memory issues and biological markers similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s disease patients. Both diseases have been marked by inflammation of the brain.

Dr. Gabriel de Erausquin, a professor of neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, and colleagues studied more than 200 adults 60 and older from Argentina who were infected with Covid-19. Continue reading.

‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe

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NOTE: This article is provided free of charge for all to read.

The internal presentation shows that the agency thinks it is struggling to communicate on vaccine efficacy amid increased breakthrough infections

The delta variant of the coronavirus appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads as easily as chickenpox, according to an internal federal health document that argues officials must “acknowledge the war has changed.”

The document is an internal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slide presentation, shared within the CDC and obtained by The Washington Post. It captures the struggle of the nation’s top public health agency to persuade the public to embrace vaccination and prevention measures, including mask-wearing, as cases surge across the United States and new research suggests vaccinated people can spread the virus.

The document strikes an urgent note, revealing the agency knows it must revamp its public messaging to emphasize vaccination as the best defense against a variant so contagious that it acts almost like a different novel virus, leaping from target to target more swiftly than Ebola or the common cold. Continue reading.

Charlie Kirk’s pro-Trump youth group stokes vaccine resistance as covid surges again

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Turning Point USA and its affiliates are urging students to resist mandates and spreading baseless claims about ‘medical raids’ as part of a bid for donations

A young emergency room doctor stood before dozens of students in a Tampa convention center this month and gave them a script for resisting coronavirusvaccines.

“You say, ‘I’m 18 years old. I have no health conditions. Based on the five-year mortality data, I have a highly likelihood of dying from flu versus covid, and I don’t get the flu vaccine, so I’m not going to get this one,’” Sean Ochsenbein, a 33-year-old attending physician in Johnson City, Tenn., told students gathered for a summit hosted by the conservative youth group Turning Point USA, according to a recording of the session obtained by The Washington Post. “Drop the mic. You’re done. That’s it.”

That presentation is just one way the group led by Charlie Kirk, 27, has recently sought to rally young people against vaccine mandates. Continue reading.

Anti-Vaxxer Faces Felony Charges For Deranged Threats Against Fauci

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A Maryland anti-vaxxer is facing charges for threatening National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci over email– going as far as to warn the face of America’s COVID-19 response that he would be “hunted, captured, tortured and killed,” among other things– according to court documents that were unsealed on Tuesday. 

According to the affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint, Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr. committed two violations– threatening a federal official and sending interstate communication containing a threat to harm, both of which are felonies. 

The documents also include the absolutely deranged emails Connally allegedly sent to Dr. Fauci from late December of last year to as recently as last week. Continue reading.

14 Minnesota counties fall under new federal mask recommendation, for now

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Gov. Tim Walz says vaccine availability puts Minnesota in “100%” control of its destiny when it comes to fall K-12 classes, events such as State Fair. 

The guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday was in response to a COVID-19 wave fueled by the delta variant of the coronavirus that has caused widespread infections in other states and appears to be emerging in Minnesota.

Fourteen Minnesota counties had infection rates Tuesday that were high enough to trigger the federal mask recommendation, including Scott County in the Twin Cities area. The other 13 are smaller counties with rates that can fluctuate widely from week to week.

Exactly how the guidance will be implemented in Minnesota is unclear, but a joint statement by the state departments of health and education said, “We will be using the updated CDC guidance to inform our state guidance, including our school guidance coming out in the near future.” Continue reading.

States that cut unemployment early aren’t seeing a hiring boom, but who gets hired is changing

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States that scaled back unemployment aid have seen a decline in teen employment and an increase in workers over 25, early evidence finds

The 20 Republican-led states that reduced unemployment benefits in June did not see an immediate spike in overall hiring, but early evidence suggests something did change: The teen hiring boom slowed in those states, and workers 25 and older returned to work more quickly.

A new analysis by payroll processor Gusto, provided to The Washington Post, found that small restaurants and hospitality businesses in states such as Missouri, which ended the extra unemployment benefits early, saw a jump in hiring of workers over age 25. The uptick in hiring of older workers was roughly offset by the slower hiring of teens in these states. In contrast, restaurants and hospitality businesses in states such as Kansas, where the full benefits remain, have been hiring a lot more teenagers who are less experienced and less likely to qualify for unemployment aid.

The findings suggest hiring is likely to remain difficult for some time, especially in the lower-paying hospitality sector. The analysis also adds perspective to the teen hiring boom, revealing that more generous unemployment payments played a role in keeping more experienced workers on the sidelines, forcing employers to turn to younger workers. It indicates teen hiring could slow further in September, as unemployment benefits are reduced across the country and young people return to school. Continue reading.

Biden administration considering vaccine requirements for all federal workers

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President Biden on Tuesday said his administration is considering making it mandatory for federal workers to get the coronavirus vaccine.

The president’s comments, which echoed those of his press secretary hours earlier, came one day after the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announcedit will require its front-line health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“That is under consideration right now, but if you’re not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought you were,” Biden said during a visit to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Continue reading.

Minnesota’s COVID-19 hospitalizations, positivity rate increase

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Children 12 and older need to receive first doses this week in order to be considered fully vaccinated by the traditional start of fall K-12 classes. 

State officials urged more Minnesotans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in response to an uptick in pandemic activity, including a rise in hospitalizations, that is being fueled by the more infectious delta variant of the coronavirus.

“It’s really a new thing that we’re dealing with — not the same old COVID that you think of from a year ago,” state infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann said Monday, linking the variant first identified in India to 75% of new infections in Minnesota.

While 66.5% of eligible Minnesotans 12 and older have received at least a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Ehresmann said that has left gaps in the state where the virus has spread and caused more severe illness. The 153 COVID-19 hospitalizations reported Monday were an increase from 90 two weeks ago, and Ehresmann said almost all involved unvaccinated individuals. Continue reading.