Coronavirus

From Texas to Mississippi, states dismantle COVID-19 safety protocols at people’s peril

Mar 19, 2021 04:21

Instead of gritting teeth for another couple of months before a solid majority of adults are vaccinated, governors and mayors are relaxing or ending restrictions on businesses and public gatherings from Massachusetts to Texas, from California to Mississippi, from Michigan to Utah, from South Carolina to Nevada, from Maryland to Washington, and from New York to Arizona.
CDC insisted surgical masks were enough. Caregivers of color suffered most

Mar 18, 2021 14:42

Studies suggest that the highest overall risk of infection was among the front-line workers — many of them workers of color — who spent the most time with patients earlier in their illness and in sub-par protective gear, not those working in the COVID ICU.
Review of Trump era CDC guidance confirms political manipulation of agency's COVID response

Mar 18, 2021 14:38

A top-to-bottom review of Trump-era coronavirus guidance was seen as confirmation of widespread fears that the Trump administration—members of which repeatedly downplayed the severity of the pandemic—manipulated guidance coming out of the nation's leading public health agency to make it fit with the White House's views and political objectives.
More EU nations suspend use of AstraZeneca vaccine over blood-clotting concerns

Mar 18, 2021 14:33

The list of countries temporarily suspending use of the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca has grown after France, Germany, Italy, and Spain announced they were taking the precautionary step in light of reports of possible links to blood clots.
Peace-building suffers during pandemic obsession

Mar 17, 2021 10:45

Evidence suggests that committed foreign aid being redirected from peace-building programs into efforts to deal with COVID-19 is likely to have even more of an impact on the ground than a decrease in foreign aid. A further reduction in funding and troops for UN peacekeeping missions is also likely.
Experts warn of protracted pandemic amid ‘vaccine apartheid’

Mar 17, 2021 10:41

The US has been criticized for purchasing 200 million more COVID-19 vaccines for its own citizens and pushing poorer countries and vulnerable populations to the back of the queue, while experts estimate that low-income countries will experience wide access after 2022.
GOP-run states saw higher COVID death rates, study shows

Mar 15, 2021 12:58

States with Democratic governors had the highest incidence and death rates from COVID-19 in the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, but states with Republican governors surpassed those rates as the crisis dragged on, a study released recently found.
Vaccine passports a cause for hope and concern

Mar 15, 2021 12:47

Disparities along income and racial lines have persisted in vaccination campaigns. For example, in the United States Black Americans have received the vaccine at half the rate of white Americans, and the disparity is even larger for Hispanic Americans.
Wealth gained by US billionaires amid COVID could pay for two-thirds of relief bill

Mar 14, 2021 14:15

The billionaire wealth growth represents two-thirds of the $1.9 trillion cost of pandemic rescue plan, which has been attacked by the GOP as too expensive.
The real deadly global pandemic: Acute food shortages as the world panics over COVID-19

Mar 11, 2021 06:01

As the pandemic continues to upend lives across the world, it has impacted the entire food supply chain.