Tag: pandemic

‘Blackmail’: Trump ‘blindsided’ officials with list of 7 demands for World Health Organization. ‘It was an enormous backfire’

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In the early days of the pandemic, President Donald Trump tried to handle the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) as if were just another business transaction — but he likely did not bank on Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ refusal to comply with his wishes. 

According to The New York Times, Trump had Andrew Bremberg, the American ambassador in Geneva, to deliver a list of seven demands to Tedros. He reportedly was not pleased when Tedros refused to negotiate.

Bremberg also released a statement criticizing the W.H.O. and placing blame on the organization for its failure to “rebuild trust among some of its critical member states.” Continue reading.

Rep. Dean Phillips, Problem Solvers Caucus Announce Bipartisan, Bicameral COVID package

Rep. Phillips joined Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), Senate leaders to announce a $908 billion emergency relief package

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, House Problem Solvers Caucus members Dean Phillips (D-MN) and Dusty Johnson (R-SD) joined a bipartisan group of Senators in announcing a four-month, bicameral COVID-19 emergency relief framework that will help American students, families, small businesses, workers, and health care providers during this crisis. The Problem Solvers Caucus, 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans, helped develop the bicameral package. 

A breakdown of the COVID-19 emergency relief framework can be found here.

This effort is the culmination of months of leadership from Phillips and the Problem Solvers Caucus, as members have worked to break through partisan gridlock on a COVID relief plan since they unveiled their “March to Common Ground” bipartisan framework in September. 

Reps. Dean Phillips (D-MN), Dusty Johnson (R-SD), Fred Upton (R-MI), Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)  joined Problem Solvers Co-Chairs Tom Reed (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) as well as Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), Mark Warner (D-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jeanne Shaheen (R-NH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Angus King (I-ME), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) to announce the COVID-19 emergency relief framework that will help American students, families, businesses, workers, and health care providers during this crisis. The Problem Solvers Caucus, made up of 25 Democrats and 25 Republicans, helped draft and endorsed the package.

Continue reading “Rep. Dean Phillips, Problem Solvers Caucus Announce Bipartisan, Bicameral COVID package”

As thousands of athletes get coronavirus tests, nurses wonder: What about us?

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On her day off not long ago, emergency room nurse Jane Sandoval sat with her husband and watched her favorite NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers. She’s off every other Sunday, and even during the coronavirus pandemic, this is something of a ritual. Jane and Carlos watch, cheer, yell — just one couple’s method of escape.

“It makes people feel normal,” she says.

For Sandoval, though, it has become more and more difficult to enjoy as the season — and the pandemic — wears on. Early in the season, the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan was one of five coaches fined for violating the league’s requirement that all sideline personnel wear face coverings. Jane noticed, even as coronavirus cases surged again in California and across the United States, that Levi’s Stadium was considering admitting fans to watch games. Continue reading.

How Mitch McConnell’s do nothing Republicans are killing you: Robert Reich

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The Senate adjourned and left town without even trying to pass a COVID disaster relief bill. By the time they return on November 30, based on current trends, an additional estimated 16,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19.

We pay these elected officials to keep us safe, and they’ve failed us. To them I ask: How much death and suffering must the American people endure before you act?

Remember: House Democrats passed a comprehensive relief bill all the way back in May. 

You, Mitch McConnell, have refused to lift a finger for months, and Senate Republicans have been happy to follow your lead. Continue reading.

How government incentives shaped the nursing home business — and left it vulnerable to a pandemic

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The fee-for-service system misses important priorities and practically invites fraud

For the family of Mary Catlin, who died after catching the coronavirus at a nursing home, the pandemic was an infuriating and avoidable tragedy. But for the owners of the Michigan nursing home, as hard-pressed as they were to avoid catastrophe, the infection also presented an opportunity.

On April 18, three days after Catlin died, Michigan created a series of “hub” nursing homes with wings or floors dedicated to covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The state would provide $5,000 per bed up front to each facility to help get ready, and promised an extra $200 a day for each patient. It was a powerful incentive, doubling the usual Medicaid payment.

Medilodge of Livingston, where Catlin lived, and four other nursing homes in the Medilodge chain — all given a below-average health inspection rating by Medicare, and three having been cited specifically for infection control deficiencies — were among the 21 facilities to sign up for the plan. Several scrambled to obtain ventilators to meet any demand. Continue reading.

Twin Cities clinic prepares COVID-19 survivors for the long haul

Program gives patients extended time with intensive care doctors. 

The first thing Greg Beaudoin wondered after 54 days on a ventilator, most of it in a medication-induced coma, was who was the blurry figure standing at his bedside?

“Greg,” a woman said, taking his hand. “My name is Sue. I’m your wife.”

More questions emerged in the following days as the mental fog slowly lifted and the Inver Grove Heights man realized that COVID-19 had robbed him of two months of living and left him with physical disabilities, some of which may be permanent. Continue reading.

Supreme Court relieves religious organizations from some covid-related restrictions

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The Supreme Court’s new conservative majority late Wednesday night sided with religious organizations in New York that said they were illegally targeted by pandemic-related restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to combat spiking coronavirus cases.

The 5-to-4 order was the first show of solidified conservative strength on the court since the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Trump chose to replace liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg following her death in September. The decision differed from the court’s previous practice of deferring to local officials on pandemic-related restrictions, even in the area of constitutionally protected religious rights.

“Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten,” said the unsigned opinion granting a stay of the state’s orders. “The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.” Continue reading.

USAID chief tests positive for coronavirus

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The acting administrator of the United States Agency for International Development informed senior staff Wednesday he has tested positive for coronavirus, two sources familiar with the call tell Axios.

Why it matters: John Barsa, who staffers say rarely wears a mask in their office, is the latest in a series of senior administration officials to contract the virus. His positive diagnosis comes amid broader turmoil at the agency following the election.

  • “The acting Deputy Administrator has been isolating since he began exhibiting symptoms late Monday, November 23, and will continue to until a retest is conclusive,” spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said in a statement issued after being contacted by Axios. Continue reading.

Biden calls for nation to unite in COVID-19 fight in Thanksgiving address

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President-elect Joe Biden called for Americans to unite ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday as coronavirus cases surge. 

“I know the country has grown weary of the fight, but we need to remember, we’re at war with a virus, not with one another. Not with each other,” Biden said in his Thanksgiving address from Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday. 

Biden described the U.S. as “a nation not of adversaries but of neighbors,” calling on Americans to love each other.  Continue reading.

Drug touted by Trump may not alleviate pandemic’s toll on the poor

People most impacted by COVID-19 may face barriers in getting costly treatments

Federal officials on Tuesday plan to begin shipping thousands of doses of the monoclonal antibody drug made famous when President Donald Trump praised it after his COVID-19 recovery. But experts worry the drug could be out of reach for some of the people it could most help, and may even exacerbate the pandemic’s racial and economic disparities.

When Trump praised the experimental drug made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in October, he promised it would be widely available for free. But widespread distribution isn’t possible because of limited manufacturing of the newly developed drug. 

“It is quite possible that inequities in access to monoclonal antibodies and other novel therapies will increase already well-documented health care disparities,” wrote Robert Goldstein and Rochelle Walensky, infectious diseases doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, in a Nov. 11 Journal of the American Medical Association article, noting that millions lost their employee-sponsored health insurance this year, including some who remain uninsured. That is likely to have worsened inequality in coverage for Black and Latino people.  Continue reading.