Tag: COVID-19

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

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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

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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the statements seemed less crazy when delivered in the calm voice of a rancher’s daughter instead of that of an outdated tangerine con man.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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

COVID-19 Changed Campaigns. Some of Those Changes Are Here to Stay

Leaders of 2020’s top congressional campaigns say tech advancements allow candidates to turn down fewer opportunities

The rise of the coronavirus pandemic came at a time when many of 2020’s political contests were getting real, forcing on-the-fly reassessments from campaign managers on everything from staffing decisions to voter-contact plans and how to allocate a candidate’s time.

As the 2022 midterm elections start to take shape and America inches toward a return to some semblance of normalcy, political operatives involved in several of the top races last cycle said the coronavirus-era campaigns forced a digital evolution that won’t likely ever be reversed. But they hope it will never again be embraced in full. 

“It showed us there’s a lot we can do,” said Ali O’Neil, who managed Democrat Jill Schupp’s competitive but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to unseat Republican Rep. Ann Wagner last year in Missouri. “By combining with a hybrid model, I think it could create more opportunities, not less.” Continue reading.

Help is on the Way: The American Rescue Plan Signed Into Law

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When President Biden signed into law the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) this week, it was a bold and historic response to a devastating pandemic that – for more than a year – has upended the lives of people in Minnesota and across the country.  The pandemic has taken more than 500,000 lives, strained our public health system, closed schools, and stolen millions of businesses and jobs.  

I strongly supported the American Rescue Plan after hearing from thousands of Minnesotans throughout this past year about the devastating toll the virus has had on their lives.  This new law will arm the nation with important tools to fight the deadly pandemic and deliver badly-needed resources to help restore the nation’s health and economic well-being.  It not only delivers much-needed support for coronavirus testing and vaccines, as well as help for front line health care workers, but also provides assistance for hard-hit families, businesses, farmers, veterans, and Tribal communities.  It will help reopen our schools safely, provide direct support and tax relief to struggling families, and give our states and communities needed resources to build resilience and build back better.

With a growing number of people in Minnesota and across the country getting vaccinated every day, I’m optimistic that this package represents a turning point in our year-long fight to crush the virus and to get Americans back on their feet.

Continue reading “Help is on the Way: The American Rescue Plan Signed Into Law”

White House would welcome Trump urging supporters to get vaccinated

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The Biden administration on Monday indicated it would welcome former President Trump getting more involved in vaccine outreach efforts, but signaled it would spend its time investing in local doctors and community leaders who might convince skeptical conservatives to get the shot.

“If former President Trump woke up tomorrow and wanted to be more vocal about the safety and efficacy of the campaign, of the vaccine, certainly we’d support that,” White House press secretary Psaki said at a briefing with reporters.

“Every other living former president … has participated in public campaigns,” she added. “They did not need an engraved invitation to do so. He may decide he should do that. If so, great. But there are a lot of different ways to engage to reach out to ensure that people of a range of political support and backing know the vaccine is safe and effective.” Continue reading.

Ron Johnson’s unscientific take on the coronavirus vaccine

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Reporter: “Did you get the vaccine or are you planning to get vaccinated?”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.): “No, I had covid, so I don’t believe, you know, I think that probably provides me the best immunity possible, actually having had the disease.”

— Interview on CBS 58 Milwaukee, March 10

Doctors, public health experts, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are clear: Get the coronavirus vaccine even if you had covid-19.

Yes, people who had the disease produce antibodies that provide immunity from the coronavirus. But that immunity fades over time, and the body’s natural response may not be enough to prevent a repeat infection 90 days after the first one, the CDC says.

Reinfections, both mild and severe, have been well documented since the coronavirus emerged in late 2019. For example, a nursing intern in the Netherlands with no issues in her immune system contracted covid-19 in the spring and again in the summer of 2020, with stronger symptoms the second time. A nurse in Ohio got the disease twice, seven months apart. Hundreds more cases have been reported worldwide, although experts say they are widely undercounted. Continue reading.