Tag: COVID-19

Trump Was Sicker Than Acknowledged With Covid-19

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When he was hospitalized with the coronavirus in October, his blood oxygen levels had plunged and officials feared he was on the verge of being placed on a ventilator.

WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump was sicker with Covid-19 in October than publicly acknowledged at the time, with extremely depressed blood oxygen levels at one point and a lung problem associated with pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, according to four people familiar with his condition.

His prognosis became so worrisome before he was taken to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator, two of the people familiar with his condition said.

The people familiar with Mr. Trump’s health said he was found to have lung infiltrates, which occur when the lungs are inflamed and contain substances such as fluid or bacteria. Their presence, especially when a patient is exhibiting other symptoms, can be a sign of an acute case of the disease. They can be easily spotted on an X-ray or scan, when parts of the lungs appear opaque, or white. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz scales back some COVID-19 restrictions in Minnesota

Caps on indoor gatherings such as wedding receptions increased from 10 people up to 50. 

Gov. Tim Walz is scaling back indoor crowd restrictions, designed to slow the spread of COVID-19, amid improving measures of pandemic activity.

Wedding receptions and private indoor gatherings can increase, as of noon Saturday, to 50 people rather than 10 — though facilities still can’t exceed 25% of their fire code capacity. Similarly, restaurants can host up to 250 people, but must operate at no more than 50% of capacity and maintain social distancing of groups.

Restaurants also can remain open until 11 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., despite concerns that viral transmission happens in later hours when customers become less cautious. Continue reading.

Biden says U.S. will have enough vaccine for 300 million people by end of July

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The administration used options in existing contracts to purchase another 200 million doses, increasing supply by 50 percent

President Biden said Thursday that his administration had finalized deals for another 200 million doses of the two coronavirus vaccines authorized in the United States, giving the country enough vaccine by the end of July to cover every American adult.

In remarks capping an afternoon tour of the National Institutes of Health, Biden said the federal government had purchased 100 million more doses from Pfizer and German company BioNTech, as well as 100 million more from Moderna, using options built into existing contracts with those companies.

The announcement was the centerpiece of an emotional address from Biden, who made a point of speaking through his mask as he called it a “patriotic responsibility” to wear one. Continue reading.

Psaki defends White House’s definition of reopening schools amid criticism

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White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday defended the Biden administration’s definition of having schools “open” during the coronavirus pandemic amid criticism that the goal is not ambitious enough and has already been met across parts of the country.

Psaki faced multiple questions during her daily briefing with reporters after she said Tuesday that Biden’s goal of having schools open within his first 100 days office meant more than 50 percent of schools were holding at least one day of in-person learning each week by the end of that time frame.

But some were quick to point out that many districts around the country were already doing at least one day of in-person learning under hybrid models, and questioned why the administration was setting the bar so low. Continue reading.

UBLC lawmakers announce 2021 Legislative Agenda

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SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – On Wednesday, the United Black Legislative Caucus announced its 2021 Legislative Agenda aimed at eliminating racial inequities and helping Black Minnesotans bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic. The priorities are aimed at addressing disparities regarding economic opportunity, housing, education, health and human services, public safety, transportation, and environmental justice.

“The challenges facing Black Minnesotans are numerous, persistent, and urgent, and have been greatly compounded by COVID-19’s impacts on their health and economic security,” said Rep. Rena Moran (DFL – Saint Paul), UBLC co-chair. “Black Minnesotans deserve bold progress to eliminate disparities rather than incremental changes, and this agenda represents actions lawmakers can take this year to ensure everyone can share in our state’s success.”  

“Even before the pandemic, Minnesota had some of the worst racial disparities in the nation,” said Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL- Mendota Heights), co-chair of the UBLC. “The agenda we are bringing forward today is an important step forward in closing critical gaps for Black Minnesotans to ensure we all have an opportunity to succeed and thrive. There are significant annual economic costs to the state by failing to address these disparities and it continues to lead to a less prosperous Minnesota for all.”

The agenda includes many important actions lawmakers can take to strengthen the future for Black Minnesotans such as:

  • ·Removes barriers to economic security, including high unemployment rates, a significant wage gap, barriers to starting a business, and systemic roadblocks towards building generational wealth.
  • Tackles the systemic racism Black Minnesotans have faced in homeownership through redlining, displacement, and barriers to capital, in addition to facing discrimination as renters.
  • Invests in students to help them achieve, including measures to address Minnesota’s opportunity gap – the worst in the nation – and COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black learners.
  • Addresses key health disparities, including poor maternal and child health outcomes.
  • Ensures investments in transportation infrastructure consider the needs of Black communities toward our entire region’s success.
  • Focuses on reforming Minnesota’s legal system to address disproportionately harmful impacts on the Black community.
  • Delivers economic justice by recognizing Black neighborhoods are disproportionately subject to air and water pollution and live and work in areas more vulnerable to certain climate-related disasters.

At the start of the current legislative session, membership of the UBLC grew from six to 10, with eight House members and two senators, highlighting an increasing diversity among lawmakers better reflective of their constituencies. The UBLC’s legislative priorities build upon the work of the House Select Committee on Racial Justice – which Rep. Moran and Rep. Richardson co-chaired in 2020 – which issued a series of recommendations to address systemic racism.

More information about the UBLC’s priorities can be accessed on this fact sheet. Video of the caucus’s press conference will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

New Plan for Vaccines and Restaurants


Hi Neighbors,

From meeting with constituents to advocating for Minnesota small businesses to supporting accelerated COVID-19 vaccine distribution, it’s another busy week in Washington. Here’s what I’ve been up to: 

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I had a great meeting with Climate Generation about the importance 
of combatting climate change in the 117th Congress

Saving Our Restaurants

Minnesota chefs got some love during the Super Bowl, but the COVID-19 pandemic is putting the survival of America’s 500,000 independent restaurants and their 11 million employees in jeopardy. As a new member of the House Small Business Committee, I helped lead my colleagues in calling for immediate support for restaurants, which are uniquely impacted by the pandemic. Restaurants are the heart of our communities, and a targeted grant program should be a top priority in our relief negotiations.

Continue reading “New Plan for Vaccines and Restaurants”

Masks should fit better or be doubled up to protect against coronavirus variants, CDC says

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NOTE: The following article is provided for all to read free of charge by The Washington Post.

Making the seals tighter to prevent air leakage can reduce people’s exposure by more than 95 percent in laboratory tests.

Federal health officials Wednesday urged Americans to consider wearing two masks as one of several strategies to better protect themselves against the threat of more contagious variants of the coronavirus.

Two methods substantially boost fit and protection, according to a CDC reportand updated guidance on its website. One is wearing a cloth mask over a disposable surgical mask. The second is improving the fit of a single surgical mask by knotting the ear loops and tucking in the sides close to the face to prevent air from leaking out around the edges and to form a closer fit.

Both of those methods reduced exposure to potentially infectious aerosols by more than 95 percent in a laboratory experiment using dummies, the report said.

Opinion: The K-shaped recovery requires help for lower wage workers

Click through national news stories these days and you could be easily confused about how our economy is doing. Click one story and you can read that the stock market is soaring — a “record-breaking” year, some call it. Click another and read that one in six Americans struggle to get enough to eat.

Readers are likely to find themselves reflected in one or the other of those recent stories, not both.

While no income group or community has been untouched by COVID-19, the economic recession it has triggered may be the most unequal in modern history. Underlying economic and racial disparities have been heightened. Continue reading.

Report reveals how Trump’s team conspired to protect his interests as COVID-19 ransacked the US

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Former President Donald Trump’s administration is under fire for hindering the government’s pandemic response and rolling back Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coronavirus mitigation guidelines in an effort to protect his interests. 

According to CNBC News, the latest reports stem from documentation compiled during the House Oversight investigation launched back in September 2020. Based on the documents, the Trump administration is said to have intentionally suppressed COVID-19 testing by rolling back the CDC guidelines.

To justify the scaling back of COVID testing, former Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) scientific advisor Paul Alexander argued there was little significance in testing asymptomatic individuals, according to emails obtained by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. Continue reading.

Newly Released Emails Show Trump Appointees Tried To Slow Virus Testing

Newly released emails written by a former Trump administration official show just how deep the effort to slow down the testing of Americans for the coronavirus went, as political appointees sought to meet Donald Trump’s demand to make the number of cases look smaller in an effort to bolster his reelection chances.

The emails were released by the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis, which has been investigating Trump’s failed pandemic response. The Washington Post first reported on the emails, which the committee says prove there was political interference in the Trump administration’s virus response efforts.

The emails were sent by Paul Alexander, a Trump political appointee who was behind an effort to get the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop testing asymptomatic people who had been exposed to the coronavirus. Alexander was the same official who Politico reported in December was behind the push for a “herd immunity” strategy, in which Alexander wanted millions of people to be infected with the coronavirus to build community resistance to it and end the pandemic — a strategy public health officials said was dangerous and could have led to many more deaths. Continue reading.