coronavirus 22 , CD3 DFL

DFL Party Condemns Hate Crimes Directed at AAPI Community

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA — DFL Party Chairman Ken Martin released the following statement denouncing the rise in hate crimes directed at the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community:

“Over the last four years, coinciding with the ascent of Donald Trump, the United States has seen a tragic rise in the number of hate crimes taking place across the country.

“This past year, the AAPI community in particular has seen a dramatic increase in racist attacks and hate crimes due to the bigoted dog-whistling some have engaged in to deflect blame for the COVID-19 pandemic and then-President Trump’s mismanagement of it. These attacks and the dog-whistling that helps inspire them has to stop. The AAPI community here in Minnesota does so much each and every day to contribute to the rich tapestry of life in our great state and it is incumbent upon leaders across the political spectrum to speak out against this hate and against this violence.”

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: March 19, 2021

Governor Walz Announces More Than 2 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered

First million doses took more than two months to administer, second million doses took less than one month to administer

On Thursday, Governor Walz announced that Minnesota has administered more than two million COVID-19 vaccine doses. While it took more than two months for the state to administer the first million doses, it took less than one month to administer the second million doses. Minnesota has been able to increase vaccination rates as supply has increased from the federal government and Governor Walz continues to expand capacity in the state’s vaccine distribution network.

House passes Rep. Liebling bill to increase COVID-19 vaccine payment rate for MA enrollees

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today the Minnesota House passed legislation, authored by Rep. Tina Liebling (DFL – Rochester), to raise the payment rate for administering COVID-19 vaccinations to Medical Assistance (MA) enrollees. Administration of COVID-19 vaccines is more complex than other vaccines such as the flu shot, resulting in higher costs for providers. The bill takes advantage of recent federal action to give providers the higher rate available under Medicare.

“As more doses of COVID-19 vaccines become available, this bill takes advantage of the American Rescue Plan passed by Democrats in the U.S. Congress to help more Minnesotans get vaccinated,” Rep. Liebling said. “Some of the COVID vaccines have unique requirements, including very cold storage. This bill will help cover costs for pharmacies, clinics, and other providers, with the goal of increasing the number of providers administering the vaccine as supplies increase.”

The rate currently paid for Medical Assistance enrollees is $12.84 per dose. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently updated the Medicare rate to an average of $40 per dose. Under the American Rescue Plan, the federal government will provide 100% matching funds for COVID-19 vaccine administration to MA enrollees at the higher Medicare rate.

The bill next goes to the Minnesota Senate for its consideration. Video of the floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

A number of Republican lawmakers are saying no to COVID-19 vaccines

Republicans are at odds over the wisdom and efficacy of taking the COVID-19 vaccine, undermining national efforts to defeat the coronavirus and reinforcing the views of GOP base voters already reluctant to participate in the ramped-up inoculation program.

Although the top GOP leaders, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), were quickly vaccinated in December — and encouraged the public to follow suit — a number of high-profile rank-and-file members say they intend to ignore the advice.

Some of those holdouts say they’re concerned the vaccine poses a greater health threat than COVID-19 itself. Others have indicated they don’t want to jump ahead of constituents in line for vaccines of their own. And still others note that, because they contracted COVID-19 over the past year, they have the antibodies to fight the disease in the future, precluding the need to be inoculated. Continue reading.

Trump moved Navy hospital away from Seattle to punish his critic as COVID-19 wreaked havoc: report

Former president Donald Trump diverted a U.S. Navy hospital ship last year, in the early days of the pandemic, from Washington state to California as a show of favoritism, according to a new book.

ABC News chief White House correspondent Jon Karl published a new book, Front Row at the Trump Show, out Tuesday with new reporting on the former president’s decision in March 2020 to redirect the Navy hospital Mercy away from Seattle, where it had been deployed to help the region’s hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, in excerpts published by Politico Playbook.

“Don’t you think we should send it to California?” Trump told advisers, according to Karl. “Gavin has been saying such nice things about me.” Continue reading.

The Covid Queen of South Dakota

Gov. Kristi Noem’s state has been ravaged by her Trumpian response to the pandemic — but that hasn’t paused her national ambitions

At first, the angel of death skipped over South Dakota. This pleased the Snow Queen.

It was Fourth of July weekend, and Gov. Kristi Noem was hosting Donald Trump for fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Covid-19 had already killed 122,000 Americans. Still, Noem cleaved closer to Trump’s failed policies than any other governor. In public, she recited Trump’s talking points: Covid was a Democratic plot to take over the country, masks were optional, and we’re open for business. Superficially, the statements seemed less crazy when delivered in the calm voice of a rancher’s daughter instead of that of an outdated tangerine con man. She even had South Dakota host a clinical trial for hydroxychloroquine, the president’s preferred snake oil.

Noem made the bet that the novel coronavirus would miss her rural state, and so far she had been mostly right. As the holiday approached, South Dakota had lost only 97 people. Of course, those 97 died horrifically. Early in the crisis, ICU nurse Adam Drake monitored a Covid-positive young man at Rapid City’s Monument Health Hospital. The man was intubated and allowed no visitors, per Covid protocol. He was heavily sedated and remained unresponsive until the 27-year-old Drake held up an iPad with the man’s family on the other side of a video call. Then tears ran down the man’s face. He died a few days later. Continue reading.

Death in the prime of life: Covid-19 proves especially lethal to younger Latinos

THERMAL, Calif. — Her lungs aching with each breath, Blanca Quintero, a 53-year-old cancer survivor, sought care for the coronavirus from physicians almost two hours away in Mexicali, Mexico, because her calls to doctors here went unanswered.

Was she being overlooked in the flurry of the winter surge or simply ignored, another instance of the mistreatment she and other Latino patients have faced as Spanish-speaking immigrants, she wondered.

Was the risk of venturing across the border worth it? Yes. Continue reading.

Teens fuel COVID-19 activity in Minnesota

Race is on to vaccinate higher-risk elderly adults amid COVID-19 case growth in lower-risk teenagers.

Teenagers are fueling a slight uptick in COVID-19 activity in Minnesota, which on Tuesday reported an increase in the positivity rate of diagnostic testing to 3.9%.

The Minnesota Department of Health has reported 6,818 more diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the seven-day period ending Tuesday, and 10% involved teenagers age 15 to 19, whose risks for viral transmission increased earlier this year with the return to in-person classes and youth sports activities.

No other five-year age group has sustained more confirmed infections since Feb. 1 with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Continue reading.

Dems, GOP prep dueling messages on Covid bill

GETTING THE WORD OUT: One of the most common and simple mantras about politics is people vote by how their pockets feel. Democrats are racing to control the narrative around their Covid relief bill, launching a PR campaign to tell the country it’s turning the corner because of this latest $1.9 trillion package as well as efforts to secure more vaccinations.

This quote from President Joe Biden, who said yesterday that $100 million in checks will be in Americans’ pockets within the next 100 days, encapsulates Dems’ push: “Shots in arms and money in pockets.”

Democrats are making the bet that this major piece of legislation will give them a boost in 2022, when they will be playing defense in an effort to protect their slim majorities in both the House and Senate. Every Democrat supported the bill, except one Dem member in the House, while no Republicans voted for it. And right now, polling is on Dems’ side. A new CNN/SSRS poll released this week finds that 61 percent of Americans favor the coronavirus relief package, while 37 percent oppose it. Continue reading.

‘We want to be educated, not indoctrinated,’ say Trump voters wary of covid shots

The responses of focus group participants suggest they can be persuaded — but perhaps not by politicians, including the former president

Be honest that scientists don’t have all the answers. Tout the number of people who got the vaccines in trials. And don’t show pro-vaccine ads with politicians — not even ones with Donald Trump.

That’s what a focus group of vaccine-hesitant Trump voters insisted to politicians and pollsters this weekend, as public health leaders rush to win over the tens of millions of Republicans who say they don’t plan to get a coronavirus shot. If those voters follow through, it would imperil efforts to achieve the high levels of immunity needed to stopthe virus’s spread in the United States, experts fear.

“These people represent 30 million Americans. And without these people, you’re not getting herd immunity,” said Frank Luntz, the longtime GOP pollster who convened Saturday’s focus group over Zoom. The group followed what Luntz characterized as a remarkable arc: By the end of the two-hour-plus session, all 19 participants (one dropped out early) said they were more likely to get vaccinated, and Luntz said he had begun nationwide polling to see which messages resonated with a broader population. Continue reading.

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