Tag: coronavirus

Texas Gov. Abbott says state is ‘very close’ to herd immunity. The data tells a different story.

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said “simple math” is behind the recent decline of coronavirus cases in his state: Take the number of people who have been vaccinated and combine it with the number who have been infected. The result, he argued, is something “very close” to herd immunity — the point at which enough of the population is immune that the virus can no longer easily spread.

“We remain very vigilant and guarded and proactive in our response, but there is simple math behind the reason why we continue to have success,” Abbott, a Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The equation “means, very simply, it’s a whole lot more difficult for covid-19 to be spreading to other people in the state of Texas.”

Experts have said that immunity from vaccinations and prior infections may have partly contributed to declining cases nationwide after the virus’s winter surge. But in Texas, the numbers Abbott cited don’t add up to herd immunity, according to estimates of that threshold. Continue reading.

Biden eyes bigger US role in global vaccination efforts

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The Biden administration is taking initial steps toward an expanded role in global COVID-19 vaccination efforts, while stopping short of sharing excess doses on a wide scale.

The federal government has been amassing doses, growing its supply into what will likely become a surplus as the rest of the world struggles with shortages.

In fact, the U.S. has purchased enough vaccines to immunize every adult in the country three times over. Aid groups now say it’s past time to start giving away the surplus. Continue reading.

FDA expects J&J vaccine pause to last “a matter of days”

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The U.S. FDA on Tuesday recommended an immediate halt of the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine, citing cases of a rare blood clot disorder that six women developed within two weeks of receiving the shot.

The latest: Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said at a briefing that she expects the pause to only last “a matter of days,” as health officials investigate the data surrounding the “extremely rare” blood clots.

Driving the news: The FDA’s recommendation was issued “out of an abundance of caution” and to prepare health providers to recognize and treat patients appropriately, since these types of blood clots require a different kind of treatment. Continue reading.

DeSantis takes legal action against the CDC — but some legal experts believe it’s a ‘political stunt’

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is pushing back against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) extension of the pandemic-related “no-sail” order for cruise lines.

According to the Miami Herald, DeSantis has filed a lawsuit against the public health agency in an attempt to expedite cruise ships returning to sea. In a press conference held on Thursday, April 8, DeSantis was joined by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R), and Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Jose “Pepe” Diaz (R) as he explained his reason for taking legal action.

“Today Florida is fighting back,” said DeSantis. “We don’t believe the federal government has the right to mothball a major industry for over a year based on very little evidence and very little data. I think we have a great chance for success.” Continue reading.

Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated. Many countries may not hit that target this year.

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In the United States, the good vaccine news keeps coming. For much of the world, things look bleak.

As of Thursday, just short of 20 percent of the U.S. population was fully vaccinated, giving some 66 million people a strong measure of protection against a disease that has already killed more than 500,000 Americans.

By contrast, Covax — a World Health Organization-backed push for equitable distribution — aims to secure enough doses to cover up to 20 percent of the people in participating countries by the end of 2021, but it may not meet that relatively modest goal, experts warn. Continue reading.

More than a half million Americans gain coverage under Biden

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WASHINGTON — More than a half million Americans have taken advantage of the Biden administration’s special health insurance sign-up window keyed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the government announced Wednesday in anticipation that even more consumers will gain coverage in the coming months.

The reason officials expect sign-ups to keep growing is that millions of people became eligible effective Apr. 1 for pumped-up subsidies toward their premiums under President Joe Biden’s coronavirus relief legislation. The special sign-up opportunity for Affordable Care Act plans will be available until Aug. 15.

Biden campaigned on a strategy of building on the Obama-era health law to push the United States toward coverage for all. As president, he’s wasted no time. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: April 9, 2021

Governor Walz Launches Industry-Focused COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Campaign

Campaign kicks off with food service industry workers

Gov. Walz at COVID Vaccination Center

As a part of the broader statewide ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves, MN’ campaign to make sure all Minnesotans have access to the COVID-19 vaccine,  Governor Walz launched an outreach effort focused on connecting workers in critical industries to the resources they need to get vaccinated. In the coming weeks, workers in priority frontline sectors will be vaccinated at community vaccination sites.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: April 9, 2021”

The $50 billion race to save America’s renters from eviction

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With judges ruling against a federal eviction ban, pressure mounts on the Biden administration to distribute billions in aid to renters

The Biden administration again extended a federal moratorium on evictions last week, but conflicting court rulings on whether the ban is legal, plus the difficulty of rolling out nearly $50 billion in federal aid, mean the country’s reckoning with its eviction crisis may come sooner than expected.

The year-old federal moratorium — which has now been extended through June 30 — has probably kept hundreds of thousands or millions of people from being evicted from their apartments and homes. More than 10 million Americans are behind on rent, according to Moody’s, easily topping the 7 million who lost their homes to foreclosure in the 2008 housing bust.

Despite the unprecedented federal effort to protect tenants, landlords have been chipping away at the moratorium in court. Six lawsuits have made their way before federal judges — with three ruling in support of the ban and three calling it illegal. Continue reading.

Democrats hope to extend new insurance subsidies before 2022 midterms

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Lawmakers say they plan to extend enhanced premium tax credits but haven’t laid out a specific plan for doing so

Health insurance shoppers who buy coverage on the state and federal exchanges are likely to see a discount in their premiums as soon as next month, thanks to the recent COVID-19 relief law, but prices could rise again in 2023 if Congress doesn’t extend new subsidies before then.

As Democrats consider what aspects of their health agenda their next legislative push may include, lawmakers say they plan to extend the enhanced premium tax credits that were authorized through 2022 in the COVID-19 relief law enacted last month, but they haven’t laid out a specific plan for doing so. 

The law increases the size of tax credit subsidies so that no one shopping on a state or federal health insurance exchange would pay more than 8.5 percent of their income on premiums in 2021 or 2022. In the past, people with income of more than four times the federal poverty level did not qualify for any subsidies for the insurance, and that limit would return if the extra help expires.  Continue reading.

Opinion: Why tearing down Fauci is essential to the MAGA myth

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MAGA political philosophy is not systematic, but it is comprehensive. Right-wing populism offers a distorted lens to view nearly all of life.

Through this warped lens, progress toward equal rights is actually the oppression of White people. Free and fair elections, when lost, are actually conspiratorial plots by the ruthless left. But perhaps the most remarkable distortion concerns the MAGA view of covid-19.

We have all seen the basic outlines of pandemic reality. Experts in epidemiology warned that the disease would spread through contact or droplets at short distances, which is how it spread. The experts recommended early lockdowns to keep health systems from being overwhelmed, and the lockdowns generally worked. The experts said Americans could influence the spread of the disease by taking basic measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing. The disease was controlled when people did these things. The disease ran rampant when they did not, killing a lot of old and vulnerable people in the process. Continue reading.