If you’re tired of the pandemic and just want to go back to normal, David Frum at The Atlantic has news for you: It’s all the stupid people who refuse to take the vaccine that are prolonging our COVID misery.
Oh, wait, that’s not it exactly. In actuality, it’s all Trump’s fault. Frum, once a leading voice of the conservative establishment, declares: “Pro-Trump America has decided that vaccine refusal is a statement of identity and a test of loyalty.”
Read the full story
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey on Tuesday slammed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for recently “updating” its guidelines on masks.
Earlier this week, the agency changed their policy to recommend that some vaccinated individuals resume wearing masks in certain situations. Additionally, the group suggested that all K-12 students continue to wear masks when returning to the classroom this fall.
Read the full story
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the national eviction moratorium mandated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is unconstitutional. The court said in its ruling that the matter ultimately needed to be resolved by Congress.
The three-judge panel ruled that the CDC engaged in federal overreach by mandating that tenants who are unable to pay their rent and are in breach of their rental agreements may not be evicted. The CDC had implemented a moratorium in response to millions of people losing their jobs due to governors shutting down their state economies to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Read the full story
An untreatable fungus is spreading in health facilities in Washington, D.C., and Dallas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC issued an update Thursday regarding Candida auris, an emerging strain of fungus resistant to medication causing infections, fever and death. The fungus was detected in two hospitals in Dallas and a nursing home in Washington, D.C., the Associated Press reported.
Read the full story
The Biden administration will reportedly keep restrictions allowing border officials to expel most migrants for another month, The Monitor reported Wednesday.
The Trump administration implemented public health order Title 42 prohibiting some individuals from entering the U.S. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Border officials encountered nearly 190,000 migrants at the southern border in June and over 100,000 of those were rapidly expelled under Title 42, according to CBP.
Read the full story
Gov. Doug Ducey has called on Arizona’s congressional delegation to urge the Biden administration to maintain Title 42 restrictions, which allow federal officials to prohibit entry into the U.S. for those posing a potential health risk.
“I am writing to you today to share details of the impact this dangerous and misguided idea would have on Arizona and to request your assistance on behalf of the people of Arizona in urging the Biden administration to maintain these critical protections,” Ducey wrote last week in a letter to Arizona’s 11 members of Congress.
Read the full story
As the COVID-19 pandemic seems in many ways to be winding down, journalists and academics are reflecting on the performance of our official institutions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in handling this global health disaster.
The New York Times Magazine recently published an article titled “Can the C.D.C. Be Fixed?” by Times staff writer and editorial board member Jeneen Interlandi. As her analysis shows, the actions of the nation’s health protection agency throughout its COVID-19 response does not bode well for its ability to steward the nation through future catastrophes, or even more ordinary public health issues.
Read the full story
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdoses are on the rise in Florida. Specifically, the death toll rose by about 37 percent from 2019 to 2020 in Florida.
One of the most notable trends was the amount of synthetic opioid fentanyl in Florida, and how so many people have become dependent upon drugs to cope with the COVID pandemic and economic hardship.
Read the full story
When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer budgeted $5 million of taxpayer money for the state’s vaccine lottery, she aimed to incentivize a nine percentage point rise in first COVID-19 injections.
It doesn’t seem to be working.
Read the full story
On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) was sued by a watchdog group after the agency failed to hand over requested documentation of communication between the government agency and the leaders of various teachers’ unions, Fox News reports.
The suit was filed by Americans for Public Trust (APT), a nonprofit based in Washington D.C. The group alleges that the documents they previously requested via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) could prove that there was “undue political influence” expressed over the CDC by teachers’ unions, which ultimately dictated the CDC’s lockdown recommendations.
Read the full story
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine plans to double down on an incentive program to encourage more Ohioans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine as cases are on the rise in the Buckeye State.
Speaking to reporters at a ribbon cutting celebrating the completion of a highway project in Columbus, DeWine said he expects to announce a new program soon in an effort boost the state’s vaccination percentage, which ranks as one of the lowest in the nation.
Read the full story
Fully vaccinated Americans do not need to receive a booster shot to protect against the Delta variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration said in a press release.
“People who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe disease and death, including from the variants currently circulating in the country such as Delta,” a joint statement said on Thursday.
Read the full story
Congressman Bob Good (R-Virginia-05) is one of several Republican representatives who refused to wear a mask in the House this week, leading to warnings and fines.
“I’ve received a warning and a $500 fine for my effort to stand up against Speaker Pelosi’s anti-science rule, which is clearly just for political theater. Speaker Pelosi’s mask mandate on the House floor is not about science, it’s about control and virtue signaling for the TV cameras. This week, I stood my ground, and refused to dignify this ridiculous rule by continuing to comply,” Good said in a statement Thursday.
Read the full story
Fully-vaccinated Virginians no longer need to wear masks in most places, including indoors. On Friday, Governor Ralph Northam updated his mask mandate, effective Saturday, to align with new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance released Thursday.
“Virginians have been working hard, and we are seeing the results in our strong vaccine numbers and dramatically lowered case counts,” Northam said in his announcement.
Read the full story
Fulton County parent Danielle Denlien urged — unsuccessfully — that members of the Fulton County School Board abolish the COVID-19 mask mandate they impose upon students. But before she could finish, a law enforcement officer escorted her away from the podium.
Read the full story
Virginians who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer have to wear masks in small gatherings or when outdoors alone, according to a Thursday announcement from Governor Ralph Northam. Effective immediately, he also amended Executive Order 72 to allow the lesser of 1,000 spectators or 30 percent capacity at recreational sports, two weeks earlier than originally planned.
Read the full story
Tractor Supply is incentivizing its workers with $50 additional pay and any necessary time off to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The company, headquartered in Brentwood, clarified that they wouldn’t be mandating the vaccine. Instead, Tractor Supply stated that the decision to be vaccinated should remain between the employee and their primary care physician. This arrangement would also extend to its workers in Petsense, another retailer owned and operated by the company.
Additionally, Tractor Supply announced that it had partnered with an undisclosed third-party provider to host vaccination clinics at their eight distribution centers and their store support center.
Read the full story
Tennessee ranks 33rd of the 50 states for the percentage of COVID-19 vaccines it has distributed versus the number of doses it received, data show.
The ranking was revealed by Becker’s Hospital Review, and is available here. Becker’s updated the data on Tuesday.
Read the full story
The first confirmed case of the United Kingdom COVID-19 variant strain in Virginia has been identified, according to a press release on Monday from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and the Department of General Services Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS).
What is currently known to be the only case in the Commonwealth so far was discovered in a sample from an adult residing in Northern Virginia with no recent travel history reported. The case was confirmed by DCLS using next-generation sequencing and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been informed of the matter, the release said.
Read the full story
Roughly 140,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive in Virginia on Wednesday after the state had initially placed an order with the company last week, the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) said in a news release.
Shipments of Moderna’s vaccine, approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, as well as Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine are being delivered to healthcare facilities and health departments across the Commonwealth this week. The two vaccines are going to 96 “geographically diverse locations” in the state, according to the release.
Read the full story
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced Tuesday that it is adopting newly revised COVID-19 quarantine guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that were released earlier this month.
VDH and the CDC recommends people who test positive for coronavirus or may have been exposed to quarantine for a full 14 days, but the new guidelines have two additional alternatives for a shorter length of isolation.
Read the full story
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced on Friday that the Commonwealth is preparing to receive 480,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine by the end of December based on new information from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed.
As Governor Ralph Northam noted during a coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted last week to officially recommend healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents as top priority for vaccination.
Read the full story
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said that initial doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine could arrive in the state as early as mid-December.
During a coronavirus press briefing Wednesday afternoon, the governor shared details on the state’s COVID-19 vaccination plans instead of implementing new statewide restrictions.
Read the full story
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased this month, more Tennessee counties are re-issuing mask mandates. Tennessee has nearly 250,000 confirmed cases, 88 percent of which have recovered.
Montgomery County issued the most recent mask mandate on Tuesday. Other counties with mandates include Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford, and Sumner. These mask mandates adhere to guidelines issued under Governor Bill Lee.
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) defended Dr. Anthony Fauci’s COVID-19 advice after President Donald Trump’s remarks.
The senator also stated that people weren’t doing enough to counteract the spread of the virus.
Twitter removed a tweet from a top White House coronavirus adviser, saying that, contrary to official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, masks don’t prevent the spread of the virus.
On Saturday, Dr. Scott Atlas tweeted that evidence showed masks don’t work, according to NBC News. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released guidance in April urging Americans to wear masks in public to prevent the spread of coronavirus after weeks of recommending the opposite.
Read the full story
Facebook’s team of fact-checkers claimed Saturday that The Tennessee Star’s article comparing mask-wearing and infection rates is both “partly false” and “factually inaccurate.” But the social media giant made a judgment based on the content and conclusions of an entirely different article by The Federalist.
The Star based its article on a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Read the full story
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last month in which the nearly 71 percent of individuals infected with COVID-19 reported “always” wearing their mask. This opposed to the 4 percent of infected individuals who “never” wore masks.
The number of individuals infected with COVID-19 positively correlated with the consistency of mask-wearing. The report didn’t address the possible correlation between face mask hygiene and COVID-19 infection, such as proper handling and disposal of masks. It also didn’t differentiate the respondents’ mask types.
Virginia plans on spending nearly $121 million on CARES funding for COVID-19 vaccine equipment and advertisement. This according to a proposal draft, reportedly submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last week.
Nearly $6 million will be spent on equipment: over $111 million on administration and staffing and $3 million in a “public education campaign.”
Read the full story
The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) on Monday launched a new pandemic metrics dashboard with more specific, aggregated data to show where COVID-19 is spreading in Virginia’s different regions and any changes occurring over time.
The new dashboard will be updated weekly and features three different tabs: About the Data, Daily Region Metrics, Weekly Transmission Extent. Additionally, School Metrics from the CDC are included within the dashboard.
Read the full story
In an effort to get ahead of COVID-19, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced the state would begin testing wastewater at a network of water treatment plants across the state.
Information from the new Coronavirus Wastewater Monitoring Network can be found at coronavirus.ohio.gov.
Read the full story
Williamson County residents must wear face coverings or masks in public to fight COVID-19 starting Tuesday.
County residents will have to wear masks or other coverings in public until at least August 3.
Read the full story
U.S. Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) this week weighed in on the topic of telehealth.
Alexander said the government should permanently extend at least two of the most important temporary changes in federal policy made to help patients see doctors by phone or video during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the full story
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the ban on all non-essential travel along the Mexican and Canadian borders will be extended for an additional 30 days.
The governments of Mexico, Canada and the United States mutually agreed to keep their borders closed off to non-essential traffic for another month as they continue to fight the spread of coronavirus, acting DHS secretary Chad Wolf said Monday. The announcement came just two days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the U.S.-Canada border ban would be extended.
“In close collaboration, the US, Mexico, and Canada have each agreed to extend restrictions on non-essential travel across their shared borders for 30 additional days,” Wolf said in a prepared statement.
Read the full story
The State of Connecticut has gotten on board with the CDC to report negative test results to help the agency better track the spread of the coronavirus, leaving Ohio and Maryland as the only holdouts in complying with federal law.
Read the full story
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday released its first batch of data on coronavirus patients in the United States, showing that while older adults are more likely to experience severe problems with the virus, younger adults are also falling seriously ill.
Read the full story
Governor Bill Lee issued Executive Order No. 14 Thursday afternoon declaring a state of emergency in the state in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 COVID-19 for the purpose of facilitating the treatment and containment of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Read the full story
Fever, cough and shortness of breath are symptoms to watch for with the coronavirus, the CDC says.
Read the full story
The coronavirus death toll in the United States hit nine on Tuesday, even as more areas around the world report infections.
Read the full story
As of Jan. 21, the Buckeye State had experienced 3,468 cases of hepatitis A in a statewide community outbreak that officially began Jan. 1, 2018, according to data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sixty-two percent of patients were hospitalized, and 16 died.
Read the full story
The number of reported tuberculosis cases in Tennessee increased 10 percent between 2017 and 2018, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Read the full story
Suicide prevention has to be a priority for everybody. We must destroy the societal imposed shame placed on those who seek help.
Read the full story