Category: COVID-19

From ports to rail yards, global supply lines struggle amid virus outbreaks in the developing world

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Some back-to-school products could be hard to find for American consumers in the coming weeks

Fresh coronavirus outbreaks are forcing factory shutdowns in countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh, aggravating supply chain disruptions that could leave some U.S. retailers with empty shelves as consumers begin their back-to-school shopping.

The overseas work stoppages are just the latest twist in almost 18 months of pandemic-related manufacturing and transportation woes. The new infections come as two of the largest U.S. railroads last week restricted shipments from West Coast seaports to Chicago, where a surge of shipping containers has clogged rail yards.

Supply headaches stretching from Asian factory towns to the American Midwest are intensifying as the economic recovery tries to outrun the highly infectious delta variant. Aftershocks from earlier limits on a major Chinese port following a rash of covid-19 cases are expected later this month to worsen backlogs at U.S. West Coast facilities. Continue reading.

Experts warn unvaccinated are greatest threat to pandemic recovery

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Experts are warning that the greatest threat to the pandemic recovery in the United States are the large swaths of Americans who remain unvaccinated. 

Over the past few weeks, the U.S. has seen a surge of coronavirus cases across the country in the wake of the highly infectious delta variant. The new strain has particularly wreaked havoc in states with low vaccination rates.

The state of Missouri has recently become a U.S. hot spot, averaging more than 2,100 cases per day over the last seven-day period, according to data from The New York Times. About 41 percent of the state population is fully vaccinated. Continue reading.

With virus surge, US to keep travel restrictions for now

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WASHINGTON — The United States served notice Monday that it will keep existing COVID-19 restrictions on international travel in place for now due to concerns about the surging infection rate because of the delta variant.

It was the latest sign that the White House is having to recalibrate its thinking around the coronavirus pandemic as the more infectious variant surges across the U.S. and a substantial chunk of the population resists vaccination.

It was also a reversal from the sentiment President Joe Biden voiced earlier this month when he said his administration was “in the process” of considering how soon the U.S. could lift the ban on European travel bound for the U.S. after the issue was raised by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her visit to the White House. Continue reading.

‘A tipping point’: Government officials, health groups move to require coronavirus vaccines for workers

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NOTE: This article is provided to all to read free of charge by The Washington Post.

New vaccine mandates are being rolled out at VA, in California, New York City, the Mayo Clinic, among other places.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, which runs one of the nation’s largest health systems, announced Monday it would mandate coronavirus vaccines for its front-line workers, becoming the first federal agency to do so and signaling what some experts said could be a national pivot to such requirements.

Faced with the explosive growth of a new virus variant, the state of California and the city of New York gave workers a choice: Get vaccinated or face weekly testing. And an array of hospitals from coast to coast, including the prestigious Mayo Clinic, declared they would require staff to get vaccinated, following a joint plea from the nation’s major medical groups.

Health-care leaders say the moves represent an escalation of the nation’s fight against the coronavirus — the first concerted effort to mandate that tens of millions of Americans get vaccinated, more than seven months after regulators authorized the shots and as new cases rip through the nation. VA’s mandate applies to more than 100,000 front-line workers, New York City’s applies to about 45,000 city employees and contractors, and California’s applies to more than 2.2 million state employees and health workers. Continue reading.

COVID-19 could cause male infertility and sexual dysfunction – but vaccines do not

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Contrary to myths circulating on social media, COVID-19 vaccines do not cause erectile dysfunction and male infertility.

What is true: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, poses a risk for both disorders.

Until now, little research has been done on how the virus or the vaccines affect the male reproductive system. But recent investigations by physicians and researchers here at the University of Miami have shed new light on these questions. Continue reading.

Today at noon: Frontline Worker Pay Working Group meets for the first time

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Saint Paul, Minnesota — Members of the Frontline Worker Pay Working Group are scheduled to meet for the first time today at 12pm. An agenda and pre-submitted public testimony are available here. Live video will be available here. 

The working group was established during the June 2021 special session to make recommendations to the Legislature on how to disburse $250,000,000 in direct financial support to frontline workers. In developing its recommendation, the working group must consider factors including a frontline worker’s increased financial burden and increased risk of virus exposure due to the nature of their work.

The working group must submit proposed legislative language implementing its recommendations to the Governor, Speaker of the House, and Senate Majority Leader by September 6, 2021. The Legislature would need to meet in a special session to pass and send a bill to Gov. Walz. 

What: Frontline Worker Pay Working Group holds its first public hearing
When: Wednesday, July 28 at 12pm
Where: Minnesota Capitol, Room G-3
Who: Members of the Frontline Worker Pay Working Group

The Delta Variant Is the Symptom of a Bigger Threat: Vaccine Refusal

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There are almost as many reasons for vaccine hesitancy and refusal as there are unvaccinated Americans. But this problem, not the variant, lies at the root of rising infection rates.

After an all too brief respite, the United States is again at a crossroads in the pandemic. The number of infections has ticked up — slowly at first, then swiftly — to 51,000 cases per day, on average, more than four times the rate a month ago. The country may again see overflowing hospitals, exhausted health care workers and thousands of needless deaths.

The more contagious Delta variant may be getting the blame, but fueling its rise is an older, more familiar foe: vaccine hesitancy and refusal, long pervasive in the United States. Were a wider swath of the population vaccinated, there would be no resurgence — of the Delta variant, or Alpha variant, or any other version of the coronavirus.

While mild breakthrough infections may be more common than once thought, the vaccines effectively prevent severe illness and death. Yet nearly half of the population remains unvaccinated and unprotected. About 30 percent of adults have not received even a single dose, and the percentage is much higher in some parts of the country. Continue reading.

Anti-Mask Protester Assaults Breast Cancer Patient At Los Angeles Hospital

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Anti-mask protesters brawled with a breast-cancer patient outside a Los Angeles hospital Thursday, with one anti-masker shoving and punching the woman.

The right-wingers swarmed Cedars-Sinai Breast Health Services to protest the hospital’s mask policy, Vice reported. Patient Kate Burns told them to go away.

“I’ve just gone through f—ing breast cancer,” Burns said in footage captured by local videographer Vishal Singh. “And you motherf—— are here.” Continue reading.

The Most Influential Spreader of Coronavirus Misinformation Online

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Researchers and regulators say Joseph Mercola, an osteopathic physician, creates and profits from misleading claims about Covid-19 vaccines.

SAN FRANCISCO — The article that appeared online on Feb. 9 began with a seemingly innocuous question about the legal definition of vaccines. Then over its next 3,400 words, it declared coronavirus vaccines were “a medical fraud” and said the injections did not prevent infections, provide immunity or stop transmission of the disease.

Instead, the article claimed, the shots “alter your genetic coding, turning you into a viral protein factory that has no off-switch.”

Its assertions were easily disprovable. No matter. Over the next few hours, the article was translated from English into Spanish and Polish. It appeared on dozens of blogs and was picked up by anti-vaccination activists, who repeated the false claims online. The article also made its way to Facebook, where it reached 400,000 people, according to data from CrowdTangle, a Facebook-owned tool. Continue reading.

CDC: Vaccinated people in COVID hotspots should resume wearing masks

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidance on Tuesday recommending that vaccinated people wear masks in indoor, public settings if they are in parts of the U.S. with substantial to high transmission, among other circumstances.

Why it matters: The guidance, a reversal from recommendations made two months ago, comes as the Delta variant continues to drive up case rates across the country. Millions of people in the U.S. — either by choice or who are ineligible — remain unvaccinated and at risk of serious infection.

Details: Community leaders in areas with high transmission rates should encourage vaccination and masking, the agency says. Continue reading.