Tag: COVID-19

The vast majority of current COVID-19 deaths in the US are among the unvaccinated: report

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In the United States, around 65% of the adult population has, according to the New York Times, been at least partially vaccinated for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Vaccination rates tend to be higher in blue states than in red states, some of which have recently seen spikes in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. And according to reporting in the Associated Press, the vast majority of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. are, at this point, among the unvaccinated.

Associated Press journalists Carla K. Johnson and Mike Stobbe report, “An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that “breakthrough” infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1200 of more than 853,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 0.1%. And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 COVID-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average.”

Johnson and Stobbe note that AP “analyzed figures provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” adding that “the CDC itself has not estimated what percentage of hospitalizations and deaths are in fully vaccinated people, citing limitations in the data.” Continue reading.

Inside the extraordinary effort to save Trump from covid-19

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His illness was more severe than the White House acknowledged at the time. Advisers thought it would alter his response to the pandemic. They were wrong.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar’s phone rang with an urgent request: Could he help someone at the White House obtain an experimental coronavirus treatment, known as a monoclonal antibody?

If Azar could get the drug, what would the White House need to do to make that happen? Azar thought for a moment. It was Oct. 1, 2020, and the drug was still in clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration would have to make a “compassionate use” exception for its use since it was not yet available to the public. Only about 10 people so far had used it outside of those trials. Azar said of course he would help.

Azar wasn’t told who the drug was for but would later connect the dots. The patient was one of President Donald Trump’s closest advisers: Hope Hicks. Continue reading.

CDC extends eviction moratorium through July

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.”

Continue reading “Phillips Helps Lead Bipartisan Letter to SBA Urging Immediate Relief for Shuttered Venues”