COVID-19 41 , CD3 DFL

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: January 8, 2021

Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan Statements on Attempted Insurrection at United States Capitol

On Wednesday, Governor Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan released statements responding to the attempted insurrection at the United States Capitol.

“I see the events unfolding in our nation’s capital today not just as a Governor, but as a former high school history teacher. The last time our nation’s capital was under siege was more than 200 years ago when our country was at war with the British,” said Governor Walz.

“Today, it wasn’t a foreign nation that seized the capitol building and attempted an insurrection. It was citizens of our own country, incited by our president and enabled by many political leaders, who made a direct assault on our democracy.”

U.S. Is Blind to Contagious New Virus Variant, Scientists Warn

It’s not too late to curb the contagious variant’s spread in the U.S., experts say — but only with a national program for genetic sequencing.

With no robust system to identify genetic variations of the coronavirus, experts warn that the United States is woefully ill-equipped to track a dangerous new mutant, leaving health officials blind as they try to combat the grave threat.

The variant, which is now surging in Britain and burdening its hospitals with new cases, is rare for now in the United States. But it has the potential to explode in the next few weeks, putting new pressures on American hospitals, some of which are already near the breaking point.

The United States has no large-scale, nationwide system for checking coronavirus genomes for new mutations, including the ones carried by the new variant. About 1.4 million people test positive for the virus each week, but researchers are only doing genome sequencing — a method that can definitively spot the new variant — on fewer than 3,000 of those weekly samples. And that work is done by a patchwork of academic, state and commercial laboratories. Continue reading.

Operation Warp Speed leader to stay on during Biden administration

Moncef Slaoui had told POLITICO in November that he was planning to step down by early this year.

Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser Moncef Slaoui said he plans to continue working on the government’s vaccine accelerator during the Biden administration, reversing earlier plans to step down soon.

Slaoui said the Biden team asked him to remain on as a consultant and he accepted. However, Slaoui didn’t say how long he would stay and indicated that his role could shrink in the coming weeks.

“I have decided to extend that in order to ensure that the operation continues to perform the way it has performed through the transition of administration,” Slaoui said during an Operation Warp Speed press briefing Wednesday. Continue reading.

Walz to loosen restrictions on indoor dining, other venues

Restaurants, bars, other venues can reopen with limited seating capacity starting Monday.

Gov. Tim Walz announced the limited reopening of bars, restaurants and other venues on Wednesday, which have been closed for in-person services since late November to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Also among the adjustments, youth and adult organized sports will be able to resume games on Jan. 14 with spectators, but must follow capacity limits for indoor or outdoor venues.

Starting Monday, bars and restaurants can reopen for in-person dining at 50% capacity and with a 10 p.m. curfew, according to a release from the governor’s office. Movie theaters, bowling alleys and museums can also reopen at 25% capacity. All venues must limit the total number of people inside to no more than 150, and masks are required. Continue reading.

The Trump administration approved faster line speeds at chicken plants. Those facilities are more likely to have covid-19 cases.

The Trump administration allowed 15 poultry plants to increase slaughter line speeds during the pandemic, an action that boosts production and makes it more difficult for workers to maintain space between one another. It also appears to have hastened the spread of the coronavirus.

Now the outgoing administration is rushing to finalize a rule that would make the faster line speeds permanent and expand them to dozens of other poultry plants — a move at odds with views held by President-elect Joe Biden.

“Whether it’s cattle, whether it’s beef, whether it’s pigs, whether it’s chicken, they’re moving down that line faster and faster and faster to increase the profit rate,” Biden said last year. “People are getting sicker. . . . People are getting hurt. The very thing we should be doing now is making sure these people are protected, that they have space six feet apart, that they have shields around them. Slow the process up.” Continue reading.

Sneezed on, cussed at, ignored: Airline workers battle mask resistance with scant government backup

As the man returned from the lavatory with a mask dangling from one ear, a flight attendant asked him to put it on properly.

“Why? Is something going on that I should know about?” the passenger asked, before grabbing the mask and ripping the string. “Damn it, I guess I can’t wear it now.”

Other passengers have verbally abused and taunted flight attendants trying to enforce airline mask requirements, treating the potentially lifesaving act as a pandemic game of cat-and-mouse. A loophole allowing the removal of masks while consuming food and beverages is a favorite dodge. Continue reading.

Trump’s Focus as the Pandemic Raged: What Would It Mean for Him?

President Trump missed his chance to show that he could rise to the moment in the final chapter of his presidency and meet the defining challenge of his tenure.

WASHINGTON — It was a warm summer Wednesday, Election Day was looming and President Trump was even angrier than usual at the relentless focus on the coronavirus pandemic.

“You’re killing me! This whole thing is! We’ve got all the damn cases,” Mr. Trump yelled at Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser, during a gathering of top aides in the Oval Office on Aug. 19. “I want to do what Mexico does. They don’t give you a test till you get to the emergency room and you’re vomiting.”

Mexico’s record in fighting the virus was hardly one for the United States to emulate. But the president had long seen testing not as a vital way to track and contain the pandemic but as a mechanism for making him look bad by driving up the number of known cases. Continue reading.

‘Covid can kill’: Lawmakers issue fresh warnings about virus after death of Rep.-elect Luke Letlow

Rep.-elect Luke Letlow’s coronavirus death this week has been met with shock and grief from fellow lawmakers, offering another stark example of the lethality of a pandemic that has killed more than 340,000 Americans.

Letlow, 41, died Tuesday at a hospital in Shreveport, La., succumbing to the virus just days before he was to be sworn in Sunday after winning a runoff vote this month for Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. The Republican was set to succeed his former boss, Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-La.), who did not run again after three terms.

Letlow, whose office announced that he had tested positive on Dec. 18, is the highest-ranking U.S. politician to die of the coronavirus. Continue reading.

After Inspiring Bipartisan Breakthrough on COVID Relief, Phillips Casts Leadership Vote

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) maintained his previously-announcedsupport for Speaker Pelosi after a bipartisan COVID-19 relief package was signed into law this week. Phillips released this statement following the leadership vote:

“In a conversation with Speaker Pelosi in November, I reiterated that my support for her leadership bid would not be contingent on a plum committee assignment or personal priorities, but rather on the passage of emergency relief for American families, workers, and small businesses,” said Phillips. “After making it my personal mission for more than four months, I am proud to have helped inspire bipartisan breakthrough and relieved that we delivered meaningful aid to Americans in need over the holidays. The work is far from over, and I will partner with Democrats, Republicans, and independents in Congress to ensure we meet future moments. As I begin my second term, our nation is in serious need of repair and we must begin the healing in our neighborhoods and in the halls of Congress.”

ICYMI: All Things Considered, National Public Radio, December 17, 2020

Congress shields patients from unexpected medical bills

Congress has agreed to shield patients from many big, unexpected medical bills — a practice that consumers and politicians have bemoaned for years but that eluded a federal solution until now.

A ban on what is known as surprise billing is woven into a pandemic relief package, which lawmakers approved late Monday. The ban is based mainly, but not entirely, on a bipartisan accord this month among three House committees and one in the Senate that had each tried to outlaw the practice before.

The issue involves often-large bills that patients are sent for care they did not realize was outside their insurer’s network. Such bills have become increasingly common even when patients use an in-network hospital. At times, emergency room visits can lead to bills for treatment by a physician who has not agreed to participate in the network. And when care is planned in advance, such as for surgeries, patients do not always know that some medical specialists, such as anesthesiologists, can be outside a network. Continue reading.

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