Tag: coronavirus

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: May 1, 2021

Governor Walz Joins Bipartisan Leaders in Minnesota Legislature to Call for Action on Police Reform

On Thursday, Governor Walz joined bipartisan leaders in the Minnesota Legislature to call for action among Minnesota Senate Republicans on police reform, following the passage of meaningful police reform legislation in the Minnesota House.

“The accountability we saw last week for George Floyd is the floor – not the ceiling – of what we need to do in Minnesota to advance police reform. True justice comes through real, systemic change to prevent this from happening again,” said Governor Walz. “I applaud the effort in the Minnesota House to advance meaningful legislation that would make Minnesota a leader in effective and fair law enforcement policies, practices, and behaviors. I urge the Republicans in the Minnesota Senate to listen to Minnesotans and take action.”

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: May 1, 2021”

White House to restrict travel from India

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The White House will restrict travel from India starting at midnight on Tuesday, May 4, White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced on Friday.

Driving the news: The Biden administration cited a steep rise in coronavirus cases in the country and the possible emergence of multiple variants.

GOP Governor Candidate Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Convention

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Jensen to share the stage and legitimize views of America’s leading anti-vaxxer, the doctor behind the ‘Plandemic’ documentary, a QAnon enthusiast, and more

Saint Paul, MINNESOTA — This weekend, Scott Jensen will share the virtual stage with a group of notorious anti-vaxxers at the conspiracy-drenched Truth Over Fear Summit, a three-day online gathering aiming to “share invaluable and eye-opening insights into the truth behind the headlines, Covid-19, the rushed vaccine, and the Great Reset.” 

The Anti-Vaccine Conference

Also speaking at the event is a rogues gallery of conspiracy theorists who, like Jensen himself, have done tremendous harm throughout this pandemic by peddling junk science to the American people, including:

Continue reading “GOP Governor Candidate Scott Jensen to Speak at Anti-Vax Convention”

Democrats demand release of secret vaccine contracts inked under Trump

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Dozens of congressional Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday urged top Biden officials to release unredacted copies of multi-billion-dollar coronavirus vaccine contracts that the Trump administration negotiated in secret with major pharmaceutical companies last year—and refused to divulge to lawmakers.

In a letter (pdf) to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, 50 lawmakers from the House and Senate argue that public knowledge of the specific terms of the vaccine contracts “has become all the more important as manufacturers talk of boosters and seasonal immunizations, while considering ‘post-pandemic’ price increases.”

“Taxpayers should know how their funds were spent and what secret deals were reached.”
—Rep. Lloyd Doggett

“Taxpayers are serving as the angel investors in Covid-19 vaccine and therapeutic development, assuming the costs and risk,” the letter reads. “It is imperative that they also receive a stake in the outcome as well as complete transparency on how billions of tax dollars have been spent and what terms were agreed to and may still be renegotiated.”

Numbers can trip you up during the pandemic – here are 4 tips to help you figure out tricky stats

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The COVID-19 pandemic thrust many news consumers into a world of statistics and deep uncertainty. An endless swirl of numbers – case counts, infection rates, vaccine efficacy – can leave you feeling stressed, anxious and powerless if you’re not confident you know what they really mean.

But when used effectively, statistics can help you know more, trust more and avoid surprise and regret when the unexpected occurs. People also tend to want them and find them useful when weighing uncertain risks and making decisions. 

I’m a decision psychologist. I study how people understand and use numbers as they’re figuring out risks and making choices. I then try to improve how numbers are communicated to help people make better decisions. Here are four ways that stats in the news can confuse you – and my advice on how to understand them. Continue reading.

A quarter of women say they are financially worse off a year into pandemic, Post-ABC poll finds

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A Washington Post-ABC News poll underscores the ongoing struggles that women and people of color face as they deal with job loss, caring for children, and rising food and rent costs

Women and people of color are the most likely to say they are financially worse off today than before the pandemic began, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, underscoring the struggles many Americans are still facing even as the broader economy shows signs of improvement.

A quarter of women say their family’s financial situation is worse today than before the coronavirus-related shutdowns began in March 2020, compared to 18 percent of men, the poll finds. And 27 percent of non-Whites say they are worse off now vs. 18 percent of Whites.

The findings highlight the ongoing financial hardships that many families are facing a year into the global health crisis. Women and workers of color were far more likely to lose jobs when the pandemic took hold last spring and wiped out millions of service-sector jobs in restaurants, hotels, spas, salons and non-urgent health-care fields. Women have also borne the majority of the child-care responsibilities as schools and day-care centers shuttered and classes moved online, requiring additional parental involvement. Continue reading.

State Department urging Americans to leave India as COVID-19 cases surge

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The State Department is urging all Americans to leave India as the country grapples with a devastating wave of coronavirus cases that is pushing its health system to a breaking point.

In a level 4 travel alert, the highest level that can be issued by the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in India sounded the alarm over the availability of medical care and pressed Americans to take advantage of the daily flights that are available out of India back to the U.S.

“Access to all types of medical care is becoming severely limited in India due to the surge in Covid-19 cases. U.S. citizens who wish to depart India should take advantage of available commercial transportation options now. Direct flights between India and the United States are offered daily, with additional flight options available to U.S. citizens via transfers in Paris and Frankfurt,” the embassy said. Continue reading.

Michigan’s Covid Wards Are Filling Up With Younger Patients

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Even as vaccines roll out, more younger people in Michigan are being hospitalized than at any other point in the pandemic. And they’re coming in sicker.

ROYAL OAK, Mich. — At Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, in one of America’s worst coronavirus hot spots, entire units are still filled with Covid-19 patients. People weak with the virus still struggle to sit up in bed. And the phone still rings with pleas to transfer patients on the verge of death to units with higher-tech equipment.

But unlike previous surges, it now is younger and middle-aged adults — not their parents and grandparents — who are taking up many of Michigan’s hospital beds. A 37-year-old woman on a ventilator after giving birth. A 41-year-old father. A 55-year-old autoworker who has been sick for weeks.

“We’re getting to the point where we’re just so beat down,” said Alexandra Budnik, an intensive care nurse who works in a unit with lifesaving machines, or circuits, that are in short supply. “Every time we get a call or every time we hear that there’s another 40-year-old that we don’t have a circuit for — it’s just like, you know, we can’t save them all.” Continue reading.

Anti-vaxxers are wearing Yellow Stars of David to protest coronavirus vaccines: report

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Anti-vaccine protesters likening themselves to Jews during the holocaust were harshly criticized on Saturday.

Nazis required Jews to wear yellow Jewish stars and other holocaust badges to the lands they controlled during World War II.

Twitter user Chloe Adelstone posted a picture of a man in the United Kingdom misappropriating the symbol. She said, “I shouted at them and they gold me I was a Nazi for wearing a mask.”

How Covid Upended a Century of Patterns in U.S. Deaths

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The U.S. death rate in 2020 was the highest above normal since the early 1900s — even surpassing the calamity of the 1918 flu pandemic.

A surge in deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic created the largest gap between the actual and expected death rate in 2020 — what epidemiologists call “excess deaths,” or deaths above normal.

Aside from fatalities directly attributed to Covid-19, some excess deaths last year were most likely undercounts of the virus or misdiagnoses, or indirectly related to the pandemic otherwise. Preliminary federal data show that overdose deaths have also surged during the pandemic.

A New York Times analysis of U.S. death patterns for the past century shows how much 2020 deviated from the norm.

A shift in a downward trend

Since the 1918 pandemic, the country’s death rate has fallen steadily. But last year, the Covid-19 pandemic interrupted that trend, in spite of a century of improvements in medicine and public health. Continue reading.