Tag: pandemic

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

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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?

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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

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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

Continue reading “After Inspiring Bipartisan Breakthrough on COVID Relief, Phillips Casts Leadership Vote”

Congress shields patients from unexpected medical bills

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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.

What’s in the COVID-19 relief bill, and what’s not in it

WASHINGTON — Congress is set to pass a massive bipartisan emergency relief bill that’s intended to aid Americans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Summaries from House Democratic appropriators say it includes:

Direct payments

—$166 billion in another round of economic impact payments that will go directly to Americans.

—$600 stimulus checks for individuals that begin phasing out at an income of $75,000 and $1,200 for married couples phasing out at an income of $150,000, as well as $600 for each child dependent. Continue reading.

Democrats say more COVID relief needed after current measure becomes law

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Democrats are arguing that more coronavirus relief legislation will need to be enacted early in the incoming Biden administration, even as they tout the $900 billion package that lawmakers unveiled on Monday.

Democrats are highlighting provisions in the agreement that they fought for, including extended unemployment benefits, a second round of direct payments and rental assistance. But they wanted the package to be bigger and say the relief in the $900 billion measure is insufficient.

“I would hope that as we see the need for what we have done in this nearly $900 billion legislation that we’ll vote on today, that everyone understands it’s a first step,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor Monday. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: December 23, 2020

Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan Encourage High School Youth Impacted by COVID-19 to Apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance

On Monday, Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, and Department of Employment and Economic Development  Commissioner Steve Grove facilitated a virtual roundtable discussion with high school youth to encourage student workers who have been laid off due to COVID-19 to apply for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

High school students who’ve lost their job due to COVID can apply for unemployment at uimn.org.

Governor Walz Updates Minnesotans on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

On Tuesday, Governor Tim Walz joined the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to provide updates on the COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Minnesota. 

On Monday, December 18, the first COVID-19 vaccine shipments arrived in Minnesota. Governor Walz visited the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center to greet the very first shipment’s arrival. On Tuesday, December 19, the Governor returned to the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center to applaud as the Minneapolis VA administered their first vaccine to nurse Thera Witte. In the past week, almost 3,000 frontline health care workers have been vaccinated for COVID-19.

Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Update: December 23, 2020”

Congress passes massive coronavirus relief and government spending package

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The House and Senate passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill and a $1.4 trillion government funding measure Monday night after months of gridlock on Capitol Hill.

Why it matters: The bill’s passage comes before many of the existing coronavirus relief measures were set to expire on January 1. It also staves off a government shutdown.

The big picture: While the plan is roughly half the size of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act Congress passed in March, it is still one of the most expensive rescue packages in modern history. Continue reading.

Millions of Christmas presents may arrive late because of Postal Service delays

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Unprecedented package volume has paralyzed the agency, leading managers to divert vast shipments of mail across the country

Competing crises are slamming the U.S. Postal Service just days before Christmas, imperiling the delivery of millions of packages, as the agency contends with spiking coronavirus cases in its workforce, unprecedented volumes of e-commerce orders and the continuing fallout from a hobbled cost-cutting program launched by the postmaster general.

Nearly 19,000 of the agency’s 644,000 workers have called in sick or are isolating because of the virus, according to the American Postal Workers Union. Meanwhile, packages have stacked up inside some postal facilities, leading employees to push them aside to create narrow walkways on shop floors.

Some processing plants are now refusing to accept new mail shipments. The backlogs are so pronounced that some managers have reached out to colleagues in hopes of diverting mail shipments to nearby facilities. But often, those places are full, too. Meanwhile, packages sit on trucks for days waiting for floor space to open so the loads can be sorted. Continue reading.