coronavirus 8 , CD3 DFL

CDC extends eviction moratorium through July

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday announced a one-month extension to the nationwide pause on evictions put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The eviction moratorium, which was set to expire this month, will now last through July under the new order, which is expected to be the final extension, the CDC said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation’s public health,” the CDC said in a statement. “Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19.” Continue reading.

Nearly 900 Secret Service members were infected with the coronavirus. A watchdog blames Trump.

Almost 900 Secret Service members have tested positive for the coronavirus since March 2020, according to a watchdog report, and many of those infected had protection assignments that included the safety of the president and vice president.

The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington published a report Tuesday detailing how 881 Secret Service employees had tested positive between March 1, 2020 and March 9, 2021. The data, which came from a Freedom of Information Act request to the Secret Service, found that 477 members of the special agent division had been infected. Described by the Department of Homeland Security as “the elite agents you see protecting the President and Vice President,” special agents are also responsible for a number of safety assignments overseas and in the United States, such as protecting the president and vice president’s families, presidential candidates and visiting foreign leaders.

CREW said it’s unclear “whom the special agents who tested positive were assigned to protect or when, exactly, they tested positive.” Continue reading.

Unvaccinated in Missouri could be lesson for the rest of the U.S.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the U.S. emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, Missouri is becoming a cautionary tale for the rest of the country: It is seeing an alarming rise in cases because of a combination of the fast-spreading delta variant and stubborn resistance among many people to getting vaccinated.

Intensive care beds are filling up with surprisingly young, unvaccinated patients, and staff members are getting burned out fighting a battle that was supposed to be in its final throes.

The hope among some health leaders is that the rest of the U.S. might at least learn something from Missouri’s plight. Continue reading.

Fox News and Trump are still pushing hydroxychloroquine. Here’s what the data actually shows.

The rapid decline of the coronavirus in an increasingly vaccinated American public has allowed us all to focus on other related, but formerly less pressing, things. High on that list thus far has been whether scientists and the media were too anxious to dismiss the lab-leak theory — a valid debate with real implications.

But also pretty high on that list — and rising — for a small but passionate number of people is something else they claim President Donald Trump was right about all along: hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment.

“There was a study that came out that said that hydroxychloroquine actually helped people survive,” Fox News’s Steve Doocy said Monday morning. “And, of course, that was one of the things that Donald Trump came out and said, ‘I’ve heard good things about it.’ Next thing you know, [Anthony S.] Fauci was standing right over, blows him up, and the left wing applauds.” Continue reading.

White House announces allocation plan for 55M more global vaccine doses

The White House on Monday announced where the U.S. would send 55 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated for other countries.

The Biden administration had already committed these doses as part of a pledge to allocate 80 million by the end of June, and an initial 25 million doses, announced earlier this month, have “begun shipping,” the White House said.

Officials gave more details Monday on where the remaining 55 million doses would be headed and the timeline for their shipment. Continue reading.

Medicaid enrollment swells during the pandemic, reaching a new high

The number of Americans relying on Medicaid swelled to an apparent all-time high during the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 74 million Americans covered through the safety-net health insurance, new federal figures show.

From February 2020 through January, Medicaid enrollment climbed nationwide by 9.7 million, according to a report, based on the most recent available data, released Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Some people signed up last year as the pandemic’s economic fallout took away their jobs, income and health benefits. But according to federal health officials and other Medicaid experts, much of the increase is because of a rule change that was part of the first coronavirus relief law adopted by Congress last year. Continue reading.

The quest for a pill to fight viruses gets a $3.2 billion boost

Antiviral drugs could help bring this pandemic to a close — and prepare for the next one

Before this pandemic is over, scientists are preparing to fight the next one.

Borrowing from the model used to create drugs that transformed HIV from a death sentence into a manageable disease, the Biden administration announced Thursday a $3.2 billion plan to stock the medicine cabinet with drugs that would be ready to treat future viral threats — whether a hemorrhagic fever, influenza or another coronavirus.

Anthony S. Fauci, chief medical adviser to the administration, and David Kessler, chief science officer for the covid-19 response, began brainstorming the idea late last year. With remarkably effective vaccines rolling out, their initial focus was on drugs that could make the next pandemic less devastating. But as virus variants emerged and it became clear that even a historic vaccination campaign wasn’t likely to eradicate the coronavirus, they accelerated the deadline. Continue reading.

Phillips Helps Lead Bipartisan Letter to SBA Urging Immediate Relief for Shuttered Venues

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, Small Business Oversight Subcommittee Chair Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Reps. Angie Craig (D-MN), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) and Roger Williams (R-TX) led more than 200 of their House colleagues in a letter to SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman urging immediate action to stabilize and improve the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which provides emergency assistance grants to venues that were unable to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program – which was created in the bipartisan COVID-19 relief package spearheaded by Rep. Phillips and the Problem Solvers Caucus – includes more than $16 billion in grants for stages, museums, theaters, and other venues that were forced to closed due to the pandemic. However, the SBA has approved fewer than 500 grants, including just 3 in Minnesota, despite receiving more than 14,000 applications nationwide. Phillips’s letter requests a detailed explanation of ongoing issues with the program and demands that SBA accelerate the release of relief funding to struggling venues across the country.

“The slow pace is becoming increasingly untenable for the small businesses in our districts,” wrote Rep. Phillips and his colleagues. “Their banks have threatened to call in the full amount of small business loans, they do not have the funds to pay their landlords full rent, and they cannot retain staff. We are hearing from venue operators who are days away from closing their doors if these funds are not sent soon. These small businesses not only provide good jobs and contribute economically to our local communities, they contribute to the spirit and local culture as well. We must act now.”

Many Post-Covid Patients Are Experiencing New Medical Problems, Study Finds

An analysis of health insurance records of almost two million coronavirus patients found new issues in nearly a quarter — including those whose Covid infection was mild or asymptomatic.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sought medical care for post-Covid health problems that they had not been diagnosed with before becoming infected with the coronavirus, according to the largest study to date of long-term symptoms in Covid-19 patients.

The study, tracking the health insurance records of nearly two million people in the United States who contracted the coronavirus last year, found that one month or more after their infection, almost one-quarter — 23 percent — of them sought medical treatment for new conditions.

Those affected were all ages, including children. Their most common new health problems were pain, including in nerves and muscles; breathing difficulties; high cholesterol; malaise and fatigue; and high blood pressure. Other issues included intestinal symptoms; migraines; skin problems; heart abnormalities; sleep disorders; and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression. Continue reading.

NIH study suggests coronavirus may have been in U.S. as early as December 2019

A research study run by the National Institutes of Health has turned up evidence of possible coronavirus infections in the United States as early as December 2019, weeks before the first documented infection in this country.

The new report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, bolsters earlier studies indicating that the virus entered the country under the radar and may have been spreading in the first two months of 2020, well in advance of warnings to that effect from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A volunteer in Illinois who gave blood on Jan. 7, 2020 — in a study unrelated to the emergent virus — tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, according to the NIH report. It noted that the antibodies typically take 14 days, on average, to develop, and this “suggests the virus may have been present in Illinois as early as December 24, 2019.” Continue reading.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: