Tag: coronavirus

Christian nationalism is a barrier to mass vaccination against COVID-19

The Conversation Logo

While the majority of Americans either intend to get the COVID-19 vaccine or have already received their shots, getting white evangelicals to vaccination sites may prove more of a challenge – especially those who identify as Christian nationalists.

A Pew Research Center survey conducted in February found white evangelicals to be the religious group least likely to saythey’d be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Nearly half (45%) said they would not get the COVID-19 shot, compared with 30% of the general population.

Some evangelicals have even linked coronavirus vaccinations to the “mark of the beast” – a symbol of submission to the Antichrist found in biblical prophecies, Revelation 13:18. Continue reading.

How can all schools safely reopen?

The Conversation Logo

The question of when and how to open schools for full in-person learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the most consequential the U.S. currently faces. A wealth of evidencesuggests that schools can provide in-person instruction with a very low level of risk when safety protocols are successfully implemented. 

So, what do school districts, teachers, families and students need to know? As an infectious disease epidemiologist with more than 15 years of research experience – and as co-editor of the COVID-19 Literature Situation Report, which produces a daily summary of the most relevant newly published and pre-print literature related to COVID-19 – I offer answers to some of the most urgent questions about how schools can safely resume in-person instruction. Some of this evidence is gleaned from preprint studies that may change after they are peer-reviewed.

Will school make children more likely to transmit COVID-19?

Infection with the COVID-19 virus has been less common in school-age children, especially those in elementary school, than among other age groups. Evidence from Florida, Utah, Missouriand elsewhere indicates that less than 1% of school-age children have had COVID-19, despite most being in school in person. Most cases have not been linked to school exposures.

Rep. Dean Phillips: Big News This Week

Rep. Phillips banner

Hi Neighbors,

Happy Passover and a blessed holy week to those who are celebrating, and happy spring to all! I hope you’ll join me in reflecting on the importance of family, community, and working together to overcome adversity. 

Right off the bat, I have some exciting news to share: you are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine! All Minnesotans 16 and older can now register for a COVID-19 vaccine appointment. For now, demand will still exceed supply, and it may be frustrating and difficult to get an appointment. Vaccine shipments from the federal government will continue to increase over the coming weeks and safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines will be available at no cost to every Minnesotan who wants one. In the meantime, I urge you to ensure your information is up-to-date with your healthcare provider and to sign up for the Vaccine Connector so that you can get a vaccine as soon as possible.

COVID-19 Vaccines Open To These Groups
Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips: Big News This Week”

Minnesota COVID-19 hospitalizations back above 400

Star Tribune logo

But hope is vaccine will blunt most severe illness. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the past four weeks in Minnesota, but state health officials remain encouraged that vaccinations will prevent a surge in severe illnesses and deaths.

While doctors have reported younger patients and better outcomes than in the spring and fall pandemic waves, the 411 COVID-19 cases in Minnesota hospitals on Tuesday included 102 who needed intensive care due to breathing problems or other complications. The ICU number hasn’t been that high since Jan. 23.

Gov. Tim Walz offered a stay-the-course message to Minnesotans this week to continue mask-wearing and social distancing practices and to seek the first COVID-19 vaccine available to them — now that everyone 16 or older is eligible under the state’s distribution plan. Continue reading.

Top Trump adviser warned then-president on virus supply shortage, then pursued controversial deals

Washington Post logo

Democrats probe more than $1 billion in ‘haphazard’ supply contracts arranged by Peter Navarro, citing new documents

A top adviser privately urged President Donald Trump to acquire critical medical supplies in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak — and after the warning was ignored, pursued his own ad hoc strategy that committed more than $1 billion in federal funds and has since prompted multiple probes, according to newly released documents from congressional investigators.

Peter Navarro, who served as Trump’s trade adviser, warned the president on March 1, 2020, to “MOVE IN ‘TRUMP TIME’” to invest in ingredients for drugs, handheld coronavirus tests and other supplies to fight the virus, according to a memo obtained by the House’s select subcommittee on the coronavirus outbreak. Navarro also said that he’d been trying to acquire more protective gear like masks, critiquing the administration’s pace.

“There is NO downside risk to taking swift actions as an insurance policy against what may be a very serious public health emergency,” Navarro wrote to the president. “If the covid-19 crisis quickly recedes, the only thing we will have been guilty of is prudence.” At the time, there were about 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States and just two deaths linked to the outbreak. Continue reading.

Republicans seek to make vaccine passports the next battle in the pandemic culture wars

Washington Post logo

Republicans are opening a new front in the pandemic culture wars, attacking efforts by the Biden administration to develop guidelines for  coronavirusvaccination passports that businesses can use to determine who can safely participate in activities such as flights, concerts and indoor dining.

The issue has received an increasing amount of attention from some of the party’s most extreme members and conservative media figures, but it has also been seized on by Republican leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is considered a potential 2024 presidential candidate.

“We are not supporting doing any vaccine passports in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said Monday. “It’s completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply be able to participate in normal society.” Continue reading.

Rand Paul gets schooled by scientists — including one he cited — after lashing out at Anthony Fauci again

Raw Story Logo

“Sorry Dr Fauci and other fearmongers, new study shows vaccines and naturally acquired immunity DO effectively neutralize COVID variants. Good news for everyone but bureaucrats and petty tyrants!”

— Sen. Rand Paul in a tweet, March 21, 2021

That Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky often disagrees with infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci is well known.

Recently, the pair clashed at a Senate hearing when Paul, a Republican, argued against mask recommendations for people who have had covid-19 or have been vaccinated against it.

At the hearing, Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, pushed back against Paul’s characterization of wearing masks as “theater.” Continued caution is advised, Fauci said, as scientists study the new variants now circulating in the U.S. and other countries. Continue reading.

COVID-19’s fourth wave is hitting the US hard

The Hill logo

A fourth wave of coronavirus infections is beginning to mount in states across the nation as health experts and officials beg pandemic-exhausted Americans to stay vigilant.

The United States has reported an average of 65,000 new cases in the last seven days, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up about 10,000 cases per day since the most recent nadir two weeks ago.

Those figures are well below the January apex of the third wave of infections, when a quarter-million people a day were testing positive for the virus.  Continue reading.

Trump targets Fauci, Birx in lengthy diatribe

The Hill logo

Former President Trump on Monday went on a tirade against Anthony Fauciand Deborah Birx, two of his former top medical advisers on the COVID-19 pandemic, excoriating their decisionmaking during his administration on the day after CNN aired previews of comments by the top government health experts.

Trump issued a lengthy statement in which he argued that he ignored both Fauci and Birx while in office as a benefit to the country and boasted that he was responsible for getting vaccines rapidly developed and approved.

“Based on their interviews, I felt it was time to speak up about Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, two self-promoters trying to reinvent history to cover for their bad instincts and faulty recommendations, which I fortunately almost always overturned,” Trump said in a statement Monday. “They had bad policy decisions that would have left our country open to China and others, closed to reopening our economy, and years away from an approved vaccine—putting millions of lives at risk.” Continue reading.

Biden calls on states to keep mask mandates, pause reopenings

The Hill logo

President Biden on Monday urged state and local officials to reconsider lifting their coronavirus restrictions and to reinstate mask mandates that have lapsed as the U.S. faces an increase in cases.

“I’m reiterating my call for every governor, mayor and local leader to maintain and reinstate the mask mandate,” Biden said at an event intended to highlight the rapid increase in vaccine eligibility. “Please, this is not politics. Reinstate the mandate if you let it down.

Asked later if some states should pause reopening efforts, Biden said “yes.” Continue reading.