The federal government said Friday that it is legal for companies to require workers to get coronavirus vaccines. Companies can also offer unlimited rewards to workers to get vaccinated, as long as the employer doesn’t administer the vaccine.
Why it matters: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finally cleared legal questions tied to how employers can increase the country’s vaccination rates. View the post here.
Some users on the TikTok social media app seem to think they’ll be left with the world to themselves after vaccinated people die off.
The videos, hashtagged with “#unvaccinated” and other high-interest terms designed to appear on users’ “For You” recommendations, have been viewed thousands and thousands of times, and are just a fraction of the misinformation spread on the platform, reported Vice.
“I am Optimus Prime,” says one video, using audio from the 2007 movie “The Transformers,” “and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting.” Continue reading.
The U.S. vaccine map looks a lot like a map of how states vote in presidential elections, with most blue states vaccinating at levels well above the national average and GOP states bringing up the rear.
The politics of COVID-19 have been partisan from almost the onset of the pandemic, and polls consistently show that Republicans, particularly men, are more hesitant than Democrats to get vaccinated.
The deep-blue state of Vermont has the highest share of its population with at least one vaccine dose, at 65 percent, according to data compiled by The New York Times, followed by Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Continue reading.
Declining infections signal a new phase, but not the end of pandemic’s impact.
Larry Farber couldn’t walk a mile last month without stopping three times to catch his breath, the aftereffect of a COVID-19 illness so severe that the 64-year-old was hospitalized twice and received powerful steroids and oxygen support to breathe.
Amy Crnecki wasn’t hospitalized for COVID-19, but the 38-year-old still can’t dance with her daughter without fear of crushing fatigue.
“I just want to be able to play outside with my kids,” she said, “and play a game of basketball and not feel winded and feel like, ‘I shouldn’t have done that.’ ”
The two Minnesotans, diagnosed with COVID-19 during the same week in November, are part of a poorly understood group of people whose health has suffered long after infection and who could continue to struggle after the pandemic recedes. The number of COVID “long haulers” remains a mystery in a pandemic that otherwise has been one of the most measured, modeled and mapped events in human history. Continue reading.
On Thursday, Governor Walz announced the end of Minnesota’s statewide mask requirement, aligning Minnesota with new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance on face coverings. Minnesotans who are not fully vaccinated are strongly recommended to wear face coverings indoors.
“This great day is possible because vaccines have proven to be effective,” said Governor Walz. “Once you are fully vaccinated you are protected. You can confidently return to the people you love and things that you miss – all without a mask. The message is clear — get vaccinated and let’s put the pandemic behind us once and for all.”
Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: May 14, 2021”Fatigue and continued breathing problems were most common symptoms along with neurological and cognitive issues.
Lingering breathing problems and complications in the weeks and months after suffering COVID-19 illnesses were most common in women and in patients who didn’t need hospitalizations or suffer severe initial infections, a new Mayo Clinic study found.
The roundup report offered several surprises about the first 100 patients to receive care through Mayo’s rehabilitation program for so-called “long haul” post-COVID symptoms. Only 25% of the patients had been hospitalized for COVID-19, according to the study by Dr. Greg Vanichkachorn and colleagues that was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
“We are not seeing that hospitalization is a huge risk factor for this prolonged COVID state,” said Vanichkachorn, medical director of Mayo’s COVID-19 Activity Rehabilitation Program (CARP). Continue reading.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a partisan divide has existed over the appropriate government response to the public health crisis. Democrats have been more likely to favor stricter policies such as prolonged economic shutdowns, limits on gathering in groups and mask mandates. Republicans overall have favored less stringent policies.
As political scientists and public health scholars, we’ve been studying political responses to the pandemic and their impacts. In research published in the summer of 2020, we found that “sub-governments,” which in the U.S. means state governments, tended to have a bigger impact on the direction of pandemic policies than the federal government. Now, as data on last year’s case and death rates emerge, we’re looking at whether the political party in the governor’s office became a good predictor of public health outcomes as COVID-19 moved across the country.
Looking at states’ COVID-19 case and death rates, researchers are finding the more stringent policies typical of Democratic governors led to lower rates of infections and deaths, compared to the the pandemic responses of the average Republican governor. In preparation for future pandemics, it may be worth considering how to address the impact that a state government’s partisan leanings can have on the scope and severity of a public health crises. Continue reading.
The CDC announced in new guidance Thursday that anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, regardless of crowd size.
What they’re saying: “If you are fully vaccinated, you are protected, and you can start doing the things that you stopped doing because of the pandemic,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will say at a White House press briefing.
Caveats: The guidance does not apply to those traveling on planes or public transit, health care settings, correctional facilities or homeless shelters. Continue reading.
An unreleased State Department report on the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic reportedly blames the former president for “delayed” warnings to Americans and a “void of U.S. international leadership.”
According to excerpts of the State Department’s draft COVID-19 Interim Review obtained by Politico, diplomats and other career agency officials expressed frustrations with former President Trump’s response to the virus.
The draft document reportedly argues that Trump’s withdrawal from international forums weakened U.S. global leadership in responding to the health crisis. Continue reading.
A Minnesota man posted a video of himself that appeared to show him stealing a vial of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in order to “test it at a lab.”
The man, who has been identified by his social media accounts as Thomas Humphrey, filmed himself at what appeared to be the beginning of a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at a CVS pharmacy on Thursday.
He can be heard saying, “I just want to read it. I just—you know, I’m taking the vaccine, I just want to read it,” he then reached across a counter and grabbed a white box.” Continue reading.
