CBS News -
July 23, 2021
The NFL is warning teams that COVID outbreaks among unvaccinated players could cause games to be canceled. The league said it expects all players to get their shots by the time the season kicks off on September 9. In a new memo, Commissioner Roger Goodell said games would no longer be rescheduled and teams responsible for the cancelation would receive a loss on their record and players on both teams would not be paid.
Kaiser Health News -
July 23, 2021
The smoke and unrelenting heat pummeling the state have driven people to seek refuge at libraries, movie theaters, museums and other indoor venues. In areas with low covid-19 vaccination rates where people have largely abandoned masks and physical distancing, health officials are concerned the result will be covid outbreaks.
CNN -
July 22, 2021
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden told CNN's Don Lemon during a CNN Townhall that he expects Covid-19 vaccines could get full approval "quickly." "They're not promising me any specific date, but my expectation, talking to the group of scientists we put together... plus others in the field, is that sometime, maybe in the beginning of the school year, at the end of August, beginning September, October, they'll get a final approval," Biden said.
Kaiser Health News -
July 22, 2021
Should the nearly 60% of adult Americans who have been fully vaccinated seek out a booster or not? Is the protection that has allowed them to see loved ones and go out to dinner fading? Ultimately, the question of whether a booster is needed is unlikely to determine the FDA’s decision. If recent history is predictive, booster shots will be here before long.
AL.com -
July 22, 2021
Dr. Brytney Cobia said Monday that all but one of her COVID patients in Alabama did not receive the vaccine. The vaccinated patient, she said, just needed a little oxygen and is expected to fully recover. Some of the others are dying. “I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Cobia [on Facebook]. “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.”
AP -
July 22, 2021
Lagging vaccination rates among nursing home staff are being linked to a national increase in COVID-19 infections and deaths at senior facilities … Nationally about 59% of nursing home staff have gotten their shots, about the same as the overall percentage of fully vaccinated adults — but significantly lower than the roughly 80% of residents who are vaccinated, according to Medicare.
AP -
July 22, 2021
Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe illness and death. The best indicator: U.S. hospitalizations and deaths are nearly all among the unvaccinated, and real-world data from Britain and Israel support that protection against the worst cases remains strong. What scientists call “breakthrough” infections in people who are fully vaccinated make up a small fraction of cases.
AP -
July 22, 2021
COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray. “Our staff, they are frustrated,” said Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at UF Health Jacksonville … “They are tired. They are thinking this is déjà vu all over again, and there is some anger because we know that this is a largely preventable situation, and people are not taking advantage of the vaccine.”
Yahoo! Finance -
July 22, 2021
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, but that likely does not suggest a material shift in labor market conditions, with another month of strong job growth expected in July. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 51,000 to a seasonally adjusted 419,000 for the week ended July 17, the Labor Department said on Thursday.
AP -
July 21, 2021
U.S. life expectancy fell by a year and a half in 2020, the largest one-year decline since World War II, public health officials said Wednesday. The decrease for both Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was even worse: three years. The drop spelled out by the CDC is due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which health officials said is responsible for close to 74% of the overall life expectancy decline. More than 3.3 million Americans died last year, far more than any other year in U.S. history, with COVID-19 accounting for about 11% of those deaths. Black life expectancy has not fallen so much in one year since the mid-1930s, during the Great Depression.
Good Morning America -
July 21, 2021
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told lawmakers Tuesday the delta variant now makes up 83% of cases, up from 50% at the beginning of this month. … Walensky said the alarming increase was happening the most in unvaccinated areas and that they were "allowing for the emergence and rapid spread of the highly transmissible delta variant."
Fox News -
July 21, 2021
Azithromycin, an antibiotic used to treat COVID-19, was no more effective at freeing non-hospitalized patients of COVID-19 symptoms than a placebo, a study found. … What’s more, by day 21, five participants in the treatment group were hospitalized, compared with zero in the placebo group.
AP -
July 21, 2021
The mixed messaging can come from the same media outlet — and even the same source. On Fox News Channel on Monday, host Sean Hannity looked straight into the camera to deliver a clear message: “It absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated. I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccinations.” Yet Hannity followed up his statement by interviewing a woman protesting her college’s requirement that students be vaccinated, a segment appealing to people skeptical of the immunization push.
The Atlantic -
July 21, 2021
Rather than diverging politics, people’s willingness to get vaccinated might best be understood as a function of how they perceive risk. … Kaiser finds that among those who have gone in for their shots, more than half say the “main reason” was to reduce their personal risk of illness. Meanwhile, among the unvaccinated, one-half assert that COVID-19 case rates are now so low that further vaccinations are unnecessary.
The Hill -
July 21, 2021
Unvaccinated individuals believe the coronavirus vaccine is more dangerous than the virus, according to a poll conducted by Yahoo News and YouGov. The poll found 37 percent of unvaccinated individuals believe the vaccines pose greater health risks than the virus while 29 percent acknowledge the coronavirus is a greater health risk than the vaccines…
NPR -
July 21, 2021
Misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines can appear almost anywhere: from an uncle's Facebook post to a well-trusted news commentator. But where does it come from, and why do some myths spread further than others? … Step 1: Start with a kernel of truth … Step 2: Find an influencer to spread doubts and questions … Step 3: Pile on some related myths … Step 4: Make waves in mainstream media … Step 5: Morph to fit the messenger … Step 6: Repeat the cycle with new lies.