Tag: pandemic

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.

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.