Tag: COVID-19

Fauci urges Trump to tell supporters to be vaccinated

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The nation’s top infectious disease expert warned Sunday that a new wave of COVID-19 infections could be on the way while urging former President Trump to tell his supporters to be vaccinated.

Speaking with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday,” Anthony Fauci pointed to surges across the European Union and warned that Europe’s case trends tend to be a few weeks ahead of similar trends in the U.S.

Europe “always seem to be a few weeks ahead of us,” Fauci said, adding that it was “absolutely no time to declare victory” over the virus. Continue reading.

COVID will rage on longer because Republicans and white evangelicals refuse to get vaccinated: analysis

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Ever since the start of the pandemic Americans have been asking each other, “When there’s a vaccine are you going to take it?” At first many were wary because Donald Trump was president and not many felt he could be trusted to not push the FDA to approve the vaccine to get re-elected. And in fact, he came close, promising Americans it would be available in October. (His Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said September.) 

In response many mocked those who were vaccine hesitant, saying they would be risking death. The real story there was because of how the virus spreads, they wouldn’t only risking death, they would potentially be helping to spread it.

But now that 100 million Americans have received their first coronavirus vaccine shot, more than 2 million shots a day are being given, and as of May 1 all adult Americans will be eligible to get vaccinated, “herd immunity” isn’t too far away.

Or is it? Continue reading.

Despite Encouraging Downward Trend, U.S. Covid Deaths Remain High

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Coronavirus cases are trending downward across the United States as the country’s vaccine rollout picks up speed. But despite the large drop in new infections since early this year, the U.S. death rate remains at nearly 1,500 people every day. That number still exceeds the summer peak, when patients filled Sun Belt hospitalsand outbreaks in states that reopened early drove record numbers of cases, though daily deaths nationwide remained lower than the first surge last spring. The number of new reported cases per day remains nearly as high as the summer record.

At the same time, officials in Texas and Mississippi have lifted mask mandates while other states are ending capacity limits on businesses.

Most experts believe that the worst days of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak are behind us. About 66 million Americans have been at least partially vaccinated, and the rate of doses administered has risen to about 2.3 million per day from around 1.2 million per day in late January and continues to grow. Continue reading.

Infectious diseases expert: COVID variants are a “whole new ballgame”

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The U.S. is playing a “whole new ballgame” in terms of controlling the coronavirus now that variants are spreading across the country, Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CBS News on Friday.

Why it matters: Osterholm said the U.S. could face another surge from the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and has since been detected throughout the U.S. Multiple studies have suggested that it likely spreads more easily than the original strain of the virus.

What they’re saying: “We are, I think for the moment, in the eye of a hurricane with regard to the good news, the vaccine’s coming, but the big challenge [is] with this new variant that has arrived here from Europe,” Osterholm told CBS News. Continue reading.

Mayors decry partisanship over covid relief, saying city needs are real

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Few provisions in President Biden’s American Rescue Plan have drawn as much partisan opposition as the $350 billion designated for state and local governments. Republicans denounced the funding as a giveaway to mismanaged blue states and cities. But many mayors strongly disagree with that criticism.

“I am a Republican,” said John Giles, mayor of Mesa, Ariz. “I hear what people are saying about the wisdom of borrowing money to finance the relief act. But I can tell you that the consequences of not doing that would be extreme and painful. So I’m disappointed to see this turn into a partisan conversation.”

Giles was speaking by telephone from Mesa and said he could see from his window a long line of cars waiting to receive a 50-pound package of food to help feed their families. He said this has been a weekly scene every Friday for most of the past year. Continue reading.

Why experts say it’s especially important for heart patients to get a coronavirus vaccine

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More than 30 million people in the United States have heart disease, which alone kills hundreds of thousands each year. It’s also a significant risk factor for developing serious complications from another major threat right now: covid-19.

That’s because the disease caused by the coronavirus often attacks the lungs, forcing the already injured heart to fight that much harder.

Both the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology are urging eligible individuals — including heart patients — to get vaccinated. The American College of Cardiology has even issued a health policy statement to provide guidance on how to prioritize certain cardiac patients for vaccination. Continue reading.

Covid-19 death rates higher in states with GOP governors: Study

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A new study shows that while states led by Democratic governors were overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic in the early months of the crisis, per-capita rates of Covid-19 cases and deaths eventually became most severe in states with Republican governors—a finding the researchers attribute to diverging approaches to public health policies that affected the spread of the virus.

“From March to early June, Republican-led states had lower Covid-19 incidence rates compared with Democratic-led states. On June 3, the association reversed, and Republican-led states had higher incidence,” reads the study, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Medical University of South Carolina.

“For death rates,” the authors added, “Republican-led states had lower rates early in the pandemic, but higher rates from July 4 through mid-December.” Continue reading.

Biden in TV speech tells Americans, only we together can defeat the virus

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President Biden’s task Thursday night was daunting as he marked the first anniversary of the week when the coronavirus forced America to shut down. He needed to acknowledge the loss of more than 529,000 lives to the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic suffering, while offering a sense of optimism that the future can and will be brighter.

The first 50 days of Biden’s presidency have offered examples of his leadership style — and how it differs so dramatically from that of former president Donald Trump. Thursday’s speech from the White House provided another revealing glimpse. Instead of a president saying, “I alone can fix it,” Biden said he can only succeed with the help of others.

Leaning against the lectern and looking directly into the camera, he said, “I will not relent until we beat this virus. But I need you, the American people. I need you. I need every American to do their part.” That contrast in leadership styles underscored what the transition from the 45th president to the 46th has meant. Continue reading.

The $1,400 stimulus payments are already posting to some bank accounts, but others could face delays

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Some taxpayers reported a pending-payment notice in their bank accounts on Friday, saying the funds would be available on March 17. Look for ‘IRS TREAS 310 – TAXEIP3.’

Now that President Biden has signed the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill into law, millions of desperate Americans are wondering the same thing: When will I get my money?

Some people got their answer Friday. Just one day after Biden signed the legislation into law, a reader in Alexandria, Va., found a pending post in his bank account labeled “IRS TREAS 310 – TAXEIP3” for $6,892.90 for his family of five.

The IRS refers to the stimulus money as an economic impact payment, or EIP. Continue reading.

Fox & Friends whines about Biden ‘kicking’ Trump over COVID: ‘We don’t need to go over the 500,000 dead’

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“Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade on Friday bitterly complained that President Joe Biden didn’t give enough credit to former President Donald Trump for his response to the novel coronavirus.

While reviewing Biden’s address to the nation, Kilmeade said that the president should have credited Trump for the Operation Warp Speed program aimed at speeding up vaccine development.

Kilmeade also seemed upset that Biden mentioned the horrific toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the United States, as so far the disease has killed more than 525,000 Americans. Continue reading.