Category: COVID-19

Virus resurgence menaces economy just as rescue programs unravel

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A new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists.

The resurgence of the coronavirus is threatening to undercut the U.S. economic recovery and upend Americans’ plans to return to work just as the sweeping social safety net that Congress built during the pandemic is unraveling.

That one-two punch — a new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs — is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists who say that while widespread business shutdowns are unlikely, renewed fears of the virus alone can slow the economy just as it’s getting back on track.

That could dampen hiring and keep some workers on the sidelines of the job market — stalling or even reversing the labor recovery, the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. New unemployment claims jumped last week to 419,000, well above expectations and the highest since mid-May, the Labor Department reported on Thursday. Continue reading.

GOP Senator Dismisses COVID Deaths Of 400 Children

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Sen. Roger Marshall, a Republican of Kansas and an obstetrician, dismissed the deaths of 400 children who have died from COVID-19 during a Senate hearing Tuesday with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky.

Sen. Marshall’s remarks were based on his false claim that “probably zero” of the 400 children who died of COVID (that number has not been confirmed) had no pre-existing condition.

“Children are not supposed to die,” Dr. Walensky told Sen. Marshall, right before he delivered his remarks dismissing their deaths, as if having a pre-existing condition makes it acceptable for a child to die of COVID-19. Continue reading.

CDC to urge vaccinated people to resume wearing masks indoors in some circumstances as delta variant spreads

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The recommendation would reverse guidance by the agency in May saying that vaccinated individuals did not have to wear masks indoors or out because of protection afforded by vaccines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend on Tuesday that vaccinated Americans wear masks indoors in certain circumstances, citing the highly transmissible delta variant.

The recommendation, to be unveiled at a 3 p.m. news briefing, would alter the agency’s May 13 guidance saying that vaccinated individuals did not have to wear masks indoors or out because of the protection afforded by vaccines. At the time, cases were dropping sharply and the delta variant, which is 1,000 times more transmissible than earlier versions of the virus, had not gained significant traction in the United States.

President Biden and CDC director Rochelle Walensky have repeatedly said there is a “pandemic of the unvaccinated” because unvaccinated people make up the vast majority of patients hospitalized with the disease. But the delta variant has been a game-changer for the United States, sending cases surging throughout the country, and there is concern that although vaccinated people are unlikely to become severely ill, they may still be able to become infected and spread the virus. Continue reading.

Sen. Ted Cruz’s COVID-19 ’Guarantee’ Comes Back To Haunt Him Exactly 1 Year Later

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The Texas Republican’s prediction was “utterly, completely, in every possible conceivable way wrong,” said MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Thursday reminded Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) of his exactly year-old “astoundingly, beautifully wrong” prediction that Democrats would forget about the COVID-19 pandemic if Joe Biden won the 2020 election.

“If it ends up that Biden wins in November — I hope he doesn’t, I don’t think he will — but if he does, I guarantee you the week after the election, suddenly all those Democratic governors, all those Democratic mayors will say everything’s magically better,” Cruz predicted.

“You won’t even have to wait for Biden to be sworn in,” the Donald Trump apologist continued. “All they’ll need is Election Day and suddenly their willingness to just destroy people’s lives and livelihoods, they will have accomplished their task. That’s wrong, it’s cynical and we shouldn’t be a part of it.” Continue reading.

A Deadly Political Divide

Two Americas are on display as political conversations turn to vaccines and election results. 

Listen in on a late 20th century conversation about politics, and the banter might be about whether trickle-down economics works, or whether the federal government ought to be paying people welfare without imposing a work requirement. Fast-forward a couple of decades, and the debate might be a bit more personal, with cultural issues like abortion, gay marriage and gun control dominating the conversation and defining the two sides.

Today, the political divide has become more drastic, and more dire, with implications for life-vs.-death and democracy-vs.-autocracy. America, recovering from a deadly pandemic and a painful political campaign season, is increasingly divided into two starkly different camps: those who refuse to get vaccinated against COVID and those who got their shots; and those who think the 2020 election was rigged and those who are convinced the nation barely averted a turn toward an autocratic government.

Pollsters, accustomed to asking such quaint queries as “Do you support such-and-such?” and “Do you think the country is headed in the right direction or wrong direction?” are now posing questions they never imagined they’d ask – or have to ask. Continue reading.

Opinion: Some Republicans are pushing people to get vaccinated. It may be too late.

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There is one striking thing that distinguishes this pandemic from all previous ones in history — the speed with which humankind came up with a vaccine. It is unprecedented and still breathtaking that, within months of the arrival of a novel coronavirus, scientists were able to develop and test several vaccines that proved to be highly effective at preventing serious illness. But what science has given, politics seems to be taking away. Despite having ample supplies of the vaccine, the United States is stuck with roughly 60 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated, ensuring that the pandemic will linger, perhaps forever. Given the tools to end this tragedy, we are choosing to live with it.

As the Economist points out, the anti-vax movement in America today is unprecedented. There have always been people who objected to vaccinations, but they were on the fringe, a smattering of naysayers. The price of these rejectionists was usually small — a few outbreaks of measles every now and then. This time, it’s different. In the midst of a raging pandemic that has killed more than 600,000 Americans, we’ve seen the rise of a vast right-wing conspiracy theory about the vaccines. It has been stoked by influential figures in the conservative media and tolerated, even encouraged, by powerful Republican politicians.

The results are damning. As of June, 86 percent of Democrats had received at least one dose, compared with 52 percent of Republicans. All the states with the lowest levels of vaccination — Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Wyoming and Louisiana — voted heavily for Donald Trump. Barely half of Republican House members report being vaccinated. Continue reading.

Rep. Ronny Jackson tries to play gotcha with the press on Democrats and vaccines — but it backfires

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U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is demanding the media hold the Democrats’ “feet to the fire” and find out “how many” Democrats in the House and Senate “are willing to say whether or not they’ve been vaccinated?”

When told by a reporter every Democrat in the House and Senate is fully vaccinated, Jackson wanted “evidence.”

The press, especially CNN, has kept a running tally for months of every member of the House and Senate and their vaccination status. Continue reading.

As GOP supporters die of Covid, the party remains split in its vaccination message

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Analysis: Top Trump supporters keep casting doubt on Covid-19 vaccines. Ahead of next year’s midterms, that means missing a chance to give Trump credit.

WASHINGTON — As the delta variant of the coronavirus courses through the American bloodstream, the Republican Party can’t make up its mind about vaccines.

Former President Donald Trump has said that people should get inoculated but also that he wants to respect their right to choose not to. For the most part, he’s been as reluctant to urge vaccinations as his political base has been resistant — perhaps leery of crossing his own voters, even though deaths are higher in traditionally conservative regions.

While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., urged Americans to get dosed this week and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., released a photo of his injection, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation that played down the risk of the virus, which has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S. Continue reading.

Doctor reveals what she tells dying COVID patients who beg for a vaccine after thinking the pandemic was a hoax

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An Alabama doctor has revealed heartbreaking details about her recent conversations with patients dying from COVID-19, amid a surge in cases caused by the Delta variant in the state with the lowest vaccination rate in the nation.

“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID,” Dr. Brytney Cobia wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.

“A few days later when I call time of death, I hug their family members and I tell them the best way to honor their loved one is to go get vaccinated and encourage everyone they know to do the same,” Cobia added. “They cry. And they tell me they didn’t know. They thought it was a hoax. They thought it was political. They thought because they had a certain blood type or a certain skin color they wouldn’t get as sick. They thought it was ‘just the flu’. But they were wrong. And they wish they could go back. But they can’t. So they thank me and they go get the vaccine. And I go back to my office, write their death note, and say a small prayer that this loss will save more lives.” Continue reading.

GOP candidate for governor, physician Scott Jensen speaking with anti-vaccine group founded by doctor charged in Jan. 6 Capitol attack

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GOP candidate for governor Scott Jensen is slated to participate in a virtual event with a group that strongly questions COVID-19 vaccine safety and effectiveness and was founded by a doctor arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Simone Gold, a physician who founded America’s Frontline Doctors, tweeted on Mondaythat Jensen is among speakers for a July 27 livestream hosted by her group. 

“Don’t miss the critical information you need to navigate the deception and confusion of the Chinese Coronavirus lockdowns and the derelict public health response,” an event flyer says. “Content will include brilliant and ethical doctors speaking truthfully and delivering the verified science and data.” Continue reading.